US 185309

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US Patent 185,309 — Verification Summary

Search note: I retrieved the authoritative full text from the Google Patents "en" page for US185309 (https://patents.google.com/patent/US185309/en) and cross-checked the USPTO/Espacenet/Global Dossier links it exposes. I found no CAFC 2026 docket entry, appeal, or litigation involving this patent — which is expected, since it expired in 1893 (see below). I also found several other datasets that use the bare string "185309" for different identifier types; these are not US Patent 185,309 and should not be conflated (see "False positives" below).

Bibliographic data (authoritative)

Abstract

There is no abstract. This is an 1876 grant, predating the modern abstract requirement. Google Patents' "Definitions" field is a machine-extracted summary, not an official abstract. Its content: the improvement concerns securing the hub to the axle at the inner end of the hub, leaving the outer end closed; it consists of a locking-disk at the inner hub end with slots having enlarged sockets at their ends, in combination with T-headed studs and a conical clamping-screw. The specification opens by conceding that "devices for this purpose are already known; hence I do not claim such, broadly."

Claims

One claim only — a single combination claim (there is no separate independent/dependent claim structure). As printed:

"In a carriage-wheel, the locking-disk D, provided with slots E E E, having the enlarged sockets c at one end, and the smaller sockets c at the other, in combination with fixed T-headed studs G G, fitting in two of the slots, and the conical screw H, fitting in the third, said screw resting in a beveled seat of the smaller socket, as and for the purpose specified."

The claim is preceded by a negative preamble: "I do not claim, broadly, a slotted collar held by screws."

Plain-language overview of the independent claim: The claim covers the combination of (1) a locking disk at the inner end of a carriage wheel hub, (2) that disk having three (or more) arcuate slots, each slot formed as a large opening at one end, a smaller opening at the other end, and a narrow neck between them, (3) fixed T-headed studs on the hub that fit through the large openings and, after the disk is rotated, are captured behind the narrow necks, and (4) a conical screw threaded into the hub that seats in the beveled edge of the remaining smaller slot opening. All four elements together are required; the claim is not readable on the disk alone, the studs alone, or the screw alone.

How the claimed device works (per specification)

• A = hub (outer end closed); B = axle; B′ = journal; B″ = collar; C = box closed at its outer end; a a = leather packing rings on opposite sides of the collar.
• D = thin metal locking disk, resting closely around the axle against the collar and abutting the inner hub end; it has a central offset d enclosing the packing ring.
• E E E = three or more concentric slots, each with a large opening c, small opening c, and narrow neck e; the small opening's edges are beveled (shown at j) to receive the conical screw.
• G G = T-heads permanently fixed to the inner hub end, projecting outward, of a diameter smaller than the large openings but larger than the small openings/necks.
• H = screw with threaded end f in the hub, conical body f′ seating in the beveled small opening, and square head f″ for turning.
• Operation: large openings are placed over the T-heads; disk turned so the necks pass beneath the T-heads; screw H is then tightened so the cone seats in the bevel. The specification stresses that the screw's binding action against the close-fitting T-head engagement "makes a close fit of the whole disk to the hub, so that no loose action or rattling can occur," addressing the stated prior problem that "very great strain comes at this point." Removal requires only backing the screw out one or two turns, then rotating the disk off the T-heads.
• g g = holes near the disk edge for a wrench pin, "to turn the disk if it should stick."
• Drawings: Fig. 1 hub section; Fig. 2 end view; Fig. 3 end view with disk removed; Figs. 4–5 detail views of the securing means.

Stated uncertainty

• OCR/transcription defects in the source: the lettering in the fetched text is internally inconsistent (e.g., both the large and small openings are rendered as "c," the narrow neck sometimes as "e" and sometimes "o," and the cone as both "f" and "j"; the digit "0" and letter "c"/"C" are interchanged). The claim wording above preserves the source as fetched; the underlying original printing may use distinct reference characters. Verify against the PDF/OCR images if lettering precision matters.
• Publication title vs. body title: the header title is "Improvement in attaching hubs to axles," while the specification describes the invention as an "Improvement in Carriage-Wheels." Both appear on the face of the document.
• Assignee field: there is no corporate assignee; the only recorded transfer on the face of the patent is the one-half assignment to Joseph Rippin. I cannot confirm from available sources whether any later assignment was recorded.
• "Cited By" entry: the single listed citing document (US20090080546A1, a Matsushita multiantenna application, filed 2005) is technically unrelated; I treat it as citation-data noise rather than meaningful prior-art relevance. I could not corroborate it as a substantive citation.

False positives (same numeric string, different identifiers — do NOT conflate)

• US 2,221,175 (Pelletized portland cement, patented Nov. 12, 1940) was filed as Serial No. 185,309 on January 17, 1938 — an application serial number, not US Patent 185,309.
• US 61/185,309 / "185309 P" — a US provisional application number used as priority for Dalhousie University's EP 2 440 166 (Subcutaneous piezoelectric bone conduction hearing aid).
• JP 2014500723-A / 185309 — an NCBI patent-sequence division identifier, unrelated.
• Various hits for "18/530,957," "185,309/91," and other strings are different identifiers entirely.