https://www.cupery.net/wheels.html

Paper Railroad Wheels?

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While the Waters family was busy making paper boats in Troy, near-by
in Hudson, NY "paper" wheels were being manufactured for railroad
cars. These wheels were in fact, not made totally from paper but
consisted of a metal rim (or tire), a metal hub that contained the
axle bearing, and a compressed paper disk that connected the two
together. A ring of bolts Diagram of Wheel construction connecting
rim to paper and paper to hub which assured the mechanical integrity
of the wheel. Large metal discs covered the paper, but only served as
protection from the elements, as the load was actually carried from
hub to rim by the paper disk.

As you might guess, paper wheels were not immediately accepted, but
eventually became standard equipment on Pullman cars during the late
1800's and found their use elsewhere as well.. They were claimed to
provide a quieter and smoother ride than conventional cast iron
wheels. Hence the application to Mr. Pullman's "sleepers."

A former locomotive engineer, R. N. Allen, invented the paper wheel.
At the time of the invention he was part owner of a strawboard paper
mill in Pittsford, Vermont. As a result of inspiration or perhaps of
sheer necessity, (there was a glut in the strawboard market), he
invented the paper wheel and in 1869 he obtained a U. S. patent.

He began the wheel business as the American Paper Car Wheel Company
in Pittsford. Initial tests on the Rutland and Burlington Railroad in
1868 were, to most people's surprise, a complete success. In 1870
Pullman ordered a set of wheels and after a successful trial period
they were eventually incorporated as standard items on all Pullman
cars. The volume of business with Pullman caused Allen to set up a
factory in the company town of Pullman, Illinois. Others adopted the
wheel and by 1886 there were reported to be 115,000 paper wheels in
use on American railroads.

The main plant however, was established in Hudson, NY in 1873.
Initially a single large brick building was built, listed as being at
"South Bay" in the 1873 Hudson city directory. A later atlas of the
town shows a number of car wheel factory buildings in the same area.
It must have been a convenient location directly on a small bay off
of the Hudson River and directly adjacent to the New York Central
rail line. One can guess that this convenience was at least partially
responsible for the move from Vermont.

Success of the paper wheel drew imitators and variants upon the basic
design concept. These included wheels with various cushioning
materials, such as rubber or hemp, at some location between hub and
rim. In 1897 the nine major manufacturers of "tired" wheels,
including the Hudson company, combined as the Steel Tired Wheel
Company. As this included all major manufacturers, an effective
monopoly was created which continued to operate for at least a
decade.

The demise of paper wheels came after the turn of the century, in
large part because railways switched from wood to steel cars. These
were considerably heavier and produced far greater braking loads on
the wheels. There had been a number of accidents attributable to
wheel failure in the late 1800's, but Pullman and RICO car wheel
others had remained firmly committed to their use, blaming failure on
poor maintenance. However, by 1915 paper wheels were declared unsafe
by the Interstate Commerce Commission and in 1923 the Allen plant in
Pullman Illinois was abandoned. While no wheels remained on the main
lines, they were still in use as late as 1960 as shop trucks at the
St. Louis Car Company. There are a few around today on stock in
museums. For example, paper wheels are still installed on the car "
RICO" at the Colorado Railroad Museum, in Golden, Colorado. If you
are there and take a look, you can easily see the bolts holding the
rim to the paper "disk". The paper disk itself is covered by a
protective metal plate. This is shown in the photo at the left of one
of the RICO wheels. (Thank you Phil Johnson of the Colorado RRM).

The factory and the methods of manufacture for the Pullman factory
are described in some detail in an 1882 issue of Scientific American;
the factory at Hudson was said to be similar. Each employed
approximately 80 men and was producing more than 25 wheels a day.

The paper portion of the wheel began as common commercial straw
board, cut into circles slightly larger than required for the
eventual product. Three disks were glued together with flour paste
and the triple sheets were piled together into a stack three to four
feet tall. These were compressed by a 650 ton hydraulic press and
then dried. The process was repeated, this time gluing three sets of
the three-layer sandwiches together. After a third pressing, a disk
four to five inches was obtained which was suitable for the finished
wheel. The disk was turned to proper size on a lathe, painted with
two coats of paint, and then pressed into the rim of the wheel. The
hub was also pressed into place and the bolts and iron face plates
were attached.

Allen Wheel Factory If you visit Hudson, NY today there is one
remaining brick building on the site of Allen's factory, on Front
Street a bit south of the Amtrak station. If you're southbound
through Hudson on Amtrak look out the widow on the East (left) side
immediately after leaving the Hudson station and you'll see across a
marshy area that once was "South Bay". The site currently is operated
as Basilica Hudson, a non-profit performance and events site - a nice
recycling of a relic from the age of paper.

(If this subject tickles your fancy, you might like to consult J. H.
White's classic,"The American Railroad Passenger Car". Look for
"wheels,paper" in the index.)



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(c) Ken Cupery 2016