Rational Horse Shoeing and Wagon Making
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with rules, tables, recipes, etc., useful to
manufactures, blacksmiths, machinists,
well-drillers, engineers, liverymen,
horse-shoers, farmers, wagon-makers,
mechanics, amateurs and all others who have
occasion to perform the work for which this
book is primarily intended.
give it half an inch draw, sometimes even five eighths if the
wheel is heavy and strong. But if the wheel is poor and dished,
do not give it more than one-fourth-inch draw. One tire only
with a little draw can be heated in the forge, but if there is
more than one tire heat them outside in a fire made for this
purpose, or in a tire heater.
There are different ways of cooling the tire. Some smiths
have a table in a tank, they place the wheel on the table and
with a lever sink both wheel and tire in the water. There are
many objections to this. I, You will have to soak the whole
wheel; 2, it is inconvenient to put the tire on; 3, in order to set
the tire right, it is necessary to reach the tire from both sides
with the hammer; 4 when spokes have a tendency to creep
out, or when the wheel is much dished, the wheel should be
tapped with the hammer over the spokes. Now, to be able to
perform all these moves, one must have, first, a table; this
table to be about twelve inches high and wide enough to take
the wheel and hold the tire down while you get it on. Close to this table have a box 5~ feet long, 12 inches wide and
12 inches deep. On each side bolt a piece of two by six about three feet long. In these planks cut notches in which
you place an iron rod, run through the hub. On this rod the wheel will hang. The notches can be made so that any
sized wheel will just hang down enough to cover the tire in the water. In this concern you can give the wheel a whirl
and it will turn so swift that there will be water all around the tire. It can be stopped at any time and the tire set
right, or the spokes tapped. With these accommodations and four helpers I have set six hundred hay rake wheels in
nine and one-half hours. This was in a factory where all the tires were welded and the wheels ready so that it was
nothing but to heat the tires and put them on. I had three fires with twelve tires in each fire. An artesian well running
through the water box kept the water cool.
If the fire is not hot enough to make it expand a tire puller is needed. A tire puller can be made in many ways and
of either wood or iron. Buggy tire is more particular than wagon tire and there are thousand of buggy wheels spoiled
every year by poor or careless blacksmiths. In a buggy tire one-eighth of an inch draw is the most that it will stand,
while most wheels will stand only one-sixteenth. If the wheel is badly dished don't give it any draw at all, the tire
should then measure the same as the wheel, the heat in the tire is enough.
If the wheel is fellow-bound cut the fellows to let them down on the spokes. If the spokes are loose on the tenon
wedge them up tight.
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