This recently came into my possesion and I would appreciate any information about its history. Thank you, btw nice site
Whoa and woe...
Although there might be someone in this world that will look at it and say who the mfg was and what model number the wheel is, I rather doubt that will occur.
If you can find some sort of engraved numbers or names on it someplace then you could improve your chances a wee bit. But given the amount of rust, I doubt if you will find anything ledgeble.
The rim appears to be concave which implies that it might have had a tire around it. That leads me to believe it is from a child's tricycle.
What diameter is it? Take more photos of it at different angles and include a ruler next to it to give an indication of the size. That "MIGHT" jog someone's memory as to what it is, but I still think it is doubtful you will find any information about it.
Barring someone recognizing it due to some really rare configuration of some part of it (which "I" certainly don't see), the best "History" I think you can get is that it appears to have gotten wet several times in the past and is now rusty.
Sorry.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Verify that there is not a missing part off the opposite side from the flange such that a circular "wall" could be attached to hold a tire on the rim.
Assumming that it is truely a flanged wheel, I can't see it being hefty enough to be from a full sized railroad car. Except MAYBE from some very early era (pre 1840's???). Those spokes are not big enough nor do they appear to be attached well enough to support the rough service of a railroad.
Maybe it is from some sort of baggage cart that ran on rails between the yard and a warehouse?
You might post photos on the Chaski Machinist board(http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/to see if someone over there has any wild ideas
Finding it in a railyard is not sufficient proof that it was a railroad purposed wheel. It could have fallen there due to an accident, either on its way to its intended purpose or on its way to the scrap yard after its purpose had been ended.
Does the wheel rotate around the axle sticking out (or maybe once upon a time it "DID") or is the axle rigid to the hub and it had to have rotated in external bearings of some sort? The size of that axle is also too small for it to have been for full sized railroad service out on the line... again suggesting a baggage cart sized vehicle.
Does the "tread" of the wheel, that part that is (nearly) parallel to the axle just inside the diameter of the flange, have any "taper" to it? Or is it just a flat tread? (It may be too rusty to tell.) The taper would be such that the diameter away from the flange is maybe 1/2 inch smaller than the diameter nearer the flange. Is there a gentle curve or "fillet" between the tread and the flange? A true RR wheel will have both Taper and the fillet.
"150 pounds, so that rules out tricycle." Depends... just what size kids used to live around there? Okay, probably not. I just could not tell the size from the photo... it might have been only 8 inches or so.
Again, if you could find any P/Ns or embossed names on it, that would help a lot (but by no means be absolutely worthwhile). Look all around the rim of the outer wheel part, both on the "sides" and the inner curve. Also look all around the side and rim of the hub.
Go at it with a soft brush first to remove dirt (takes a really long time, but anything stiffer will scratch away any engraving that might be there), then go at it with a dental pick, gently scraping all around to look for letter/number/symbol shaped depressions or raised areas. If you find a "part number", I'd bet it is not older than, oh say the 1920's or 30's. A company name or symbol could put it anywhere from the mid 1800's to last week, until you can find what happened to that company.
But as rusty as it appears, I really doubt if you will find anything at all.
Does it look like the hub comes apart? How are the spokes attached? Can you see the ends of the spokes through the wheel tread?
Tis a mystery to be sure and can drive a fellow nutz (I know, I have my own mystery I have been working on for YEARS... how do think I got the way I am!) Be advised, you may have to "make up" a lot of "plausible" reasons for its existance and let it go at that.
Could it be a wheel from a velocipede or a handcar or pushcar?
Wayne
Where was the Wheel Found?
For some reason the picture does not come up on my work computer, so I am saying this blind. Reading the various responses I am going to go out on a limb here and ask if it could be a wheel used on a overhead belt drive from a machine shop? Just a thought...
Paul
Dayton and Mad River (Model) Railroad
The photos are sure tantalizing.
It does appear to be a tapered tread and a true flange so it is probably from a "railed" vehicle. A closeup photo across the top in line with the direction it would roll would help prove that.
Probably too heavy for a MOW car (the kind where two men pumped on a teeter-totter handle to propel it down the track. Those were made as light as possible so they could be removed from the track easily... at 150lbs each for 4 wheels makes for at least 600lbs for wheels on a car, too heavy for one or two people to lift on and off the rails! Even a 3 wheel track cycle probably would not have 150lb wheels.
I agree that it is probably from a small cart or car for moving small amounts of bulk material short distances, like a freight cart, coal mine car, icehouse cart, etc.
The "axle" stub appears to be pointed slightly... right? Closer to the hub there appear to me to be a couple of square nuts tightened against each other, although that might just be due to camera angle and rust. What is on the other side of the hub? Turn the wheel around for a photo and put a yardstick next to the wheel.
With a flange I doubt if it was from a shop power "line shaft". Those would be a wheel with a slightly crowned tread surface to make a leather belt self center on the wheel. I also doubt if it is one half of a pully.
The flange looks to deep to ride on rails.
I would look into farm Tractors.
That is quite a find. I look for old railroad iron artifacts with a metal detector, and I can tell you that if I dug up that wheel, I would consider it a very good day. Considering that it is an open spoke construction and not a massive solid cast wheel, the fact that it manages to weigh 150 pounds suggests that it must have some serious load capacity.
As others have suggested, I think it is too heavy for section cars, velocipedes, etc. Perhaps it could be from some type of material transport cart used within the shop complex, but those carts travel slowly, and thus the wheels can be of a small diameter. A smaller diameter wheel would also allow the deck to be lower, which would seem to be an advantage in many such material moving carts. So I would conclude that the larger diameter (what is it maybe 24 inches?) might indicate a higher speed application such as an actual railroad.
Am I correct in assuming that there is piece of the axle solidly attached to that hub? Is there any indication that the axle was cut or broken off? If the wheel is from actual railroad rolling stock or even some type of locomotive, the deep flange suggests an exaggerated purpose in preventing derailments. This in turn suggests a very early date of origin when track was more primitive and the simpler rolling stock suspension (if any) found it difficult to comply with poor track.
I don't know how far back in history the railroad at the site goes, but a wheel like that, at least somewhat, suggests pre-1850 to me.
I would resist any temptation to power wire brush or sand blast it. It looks like it has that lose rust from a high oxidization activity in some soils such as those that contain cinders. Some of that will fall off, but that oxidization will stabilize now that you have removed it from that soil.
Take a look at this thread from the MyLargeScale forum about a "Light Inspection Car"
http://www.mylargescale.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=48257
Not exactly like your wheel, but very "spindlely" type of spokes.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
wyomingrailfan wrote:Well, that what I said, an auto that rides on track. you're just basicly saying what i'm saying, correct?
Yes I am agreeing with your suggestion that it is from an automobile with railroad wheels, which were sometimes created for use as inspection cars. The diameter, mass, and axle size all seem about right for an automobile wheel. Having spokes seems appropriate for an automotive wheel of the probable era.
DD1,
It would be too big if you are thinking about the modern Hi-rail vehicles that run on their tires and use smaller flanged wheels as guides. But back in the earlier era, they converted automobiles to railroad inspection cars by replacing their road wheels with flanged wheels of the same diameter. This was a permanent conversion, so the vehicle could not switch back and forth between road and rail operation as is the case today. It was stated by the finder that the wheel is 32" diameter, which would come pretty close to an automobile wheel and tire.
I think I found a good possibility for your wheel.
I was watching RFD-TV.
C&PA RR, Coudersport & Port Allegany RR had a galloping Goose like railbus # 20.
It looked like a D&RGW's galloping goose from the front and a Trolley's smooth curved from the rear. It has a 4 wheel truck under the nose and a wheel like you showed under the rear.
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