Mansell wheel
The Mansell Wheel is a railway wheel patented by Richard Mansell, the Carriage and Wagon superintendent of the South Eastern Railway in the UK [1]. The design was created in the 1840s and was eventually widely used on passenger railway stock in the UK. This is an interesting example of a composite wooden wheel. The drawing (right) is from an old railway design book[2] from the early 20th Century.
Overview
The reason for using wood was to reduce the noise. Having a wooden centre eliminated the ringing noise that emanated from early railway wheels. Made from teak this type of wheel endured for a long time. Besides the reduction in noise there was an increased safety factor. While some of this might be attributed to the extra attention paid to what were specifically passenger carriage wheels, the potential for casting faults was also reduced.
The wooden centres acted as electrical insulators so Mansell wheels would not operate the track circuits used in railway signalling. However, this problem was solved by fitting copper bonding to the wheels.
References
Further reading
- Railway Mechanical Engineering, a practical treatise by engineering experts, Volume 1. the Gresham Publishing Company Ltd. London, 1923. The design and construction of carriages and wagons section by S Warner Carriage and Wagon Superintendent London and South Western Railway.