Part 137: Wheel Flange

The parts

The Wheel Flange was introduced in the May 1922 Meccano Magazine, along with the Handrail Support.  It was intended to be bolted to a Face Plate (part 109) to form a larger flanged wheel for trains.  As well as four bolt holes, it has a central hole for the boss to pass through, and a square recess resembling those in stringing cards to allow a set screw to pass through the centre.  In this way the Face Plate can be bolted either way around to the Wheel Flange.

Four were supplied in outfit 7 of late 1924, obviously in order to make train driving wheels (as in the 1925 Manual model 715 "Locomotive and Tender").  This increased to ten in 1930 and the later outfit L, needed by model 7.16 and L13 "4-2-2 Locomotive and Tender".  But in addition to this, one was supplied in the smaller outfit 6. 

It appears almost invisibly in the earlier 1924 manual model 627 "Automatic Weighing Crane".  In this model, the Wheel Flange is to be bolted to a 3" pulley and the space around the edge filled with 3/8" balls in order to make a smooth roller bearing.  We are used to this in the post-war outfit 9.  In 1924, however, the balls were not supplied with the outfit and a rather weak mention is made that the balls "may be obtained separately" and yet "the crane will work well without the ball bearing".  There is no explanation or picture showing where the Wheel Flange goes – the only mention is in the parts listing.  This must have confused a few Meccano boys!

Chronological variations

More importantly, it wouldn't have fitted the new 3" pulleys anyway, as by this time they had had their bosses increased to ½'' diameter.  The manual model might well have been made with earlier 3/8'' bossed pulleys.  Either way, the Wheel Flange was very soon changed to have a half-inch hole in the centre, thus allowing it to be fixed to the 3" pulley and the larger Sprocket Wheels too.  We can't date this exactly, but it is obviously after the announcement picture in the Meccano Magazine shown above and before the note in the October 1926 Meccano Magazine where it is mentioned that "The centre... is perforated to fit over the boss of a 3" Pulley Wheel".  We can see that the part had the larger centre by this time.  Small-hole nickel part 137 are few and far between.

Unusually, this part changed from light red to blue in 1958 (so it matched the 3" pulleys but not the light red and later black Face Plates), and then to zinc plate in 1970 (so it wouldn't match either!).  This strange colour sequence is not well documented in most existing literature. 

It's interesting to note how similar the 1932-33 Royal Blue is to the 1978-79 Dark Blue in the photo to the right comparing the three blues.  The pre-war blue is very slightly more purple and intense, but the difference is not substantial.  The photograph shows more difference than is obvious to the naked eye, although usually the condition of the part is the bigger giveaway.  Dark Blue parts are stamped Made in England, of course.

The blueprint to the right shows the Wheel Flange, with few surprises. This drawing is dated 15th April 1941 (obviously a replacement for the original). This part then went through the following changes:

I don't know whether we can identify this tiny increase in the blank size, particularly as the nominal depth of the part seems to be unchanged at 19/64''. Perhaps a little measuring might be in order, if you can't sleep.

The original blueprints for this part can be seen by clicking here.  

Variations and oddities

None known

Dealer spare parts boxes

To the left above, a box of three Wheel Flanges dating from between 1954 and 1957, in medium red. To the right, another set from the later period between 1958 and the early 60s.  Note that this box has the light green label indicating the colour change, which is to blue (not light red or light green!).

To the right is a bag of dark blue Wheel Flanges in the very last style of UK packaging, thought to be 1980-81.

Individual part numbers

• A greyed-out box shows that no part exists for that colour combination.
• Part number codes with a green background have an attached picture of the part, just click once on the code to show a photograph of that part in a separate window.
• Parts marked "†" were temporary or economy parts, or existed only within specific themed outfits. The previous part continued throughout or afterwards.

Further information

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