A NEW CONTRIVANCE AND DISCOVERY FOR GREATLY EASING THE LABOR AND LESSENING THE NUMBER OF HORSES IN THE DRAFT OF COACHES, CARTS, WAGGONS, DRAYS, AND ALL LAND CARRIAGES WHATEVER, AND FOR CONVEYING GREAT AND HEAVY LOADS BY LAND CARRIAGE, WHICH INVENTION, THOUGH COMPOSED OF DRY AND SOLID MATERIALS, AND CONTRIVED FOR LAND CARRIAGE ONLY, HAS YET A SOMEWHAT SIMILAR EFFECT TO WATER IN AFFORDING A CONSTANT AND SUCCESSIVE SUPPORT TO GREAT BURTHENS, WHICH LIKEWISE GLIDE OVER IT WITH A SMALL DRAFT OR FORCE, AND IN A MANNER SOMEWHAT SIMILAR TO THE MOTION OF SHIPS AND BARGES ON WATER
Year: 1801

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GERMAN, of the Parish of Saint George, Bloomsbury, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS the King's most Excellent Majesty did, by His Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twelfth day of September, in the forty-first year of His said
Majesty's reign, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas German,, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, His said Majesty's especial licence,
full power, and authority, from time to time and at all times hereafter during
the term of years therein expressed, to make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "A NEW CONTRIVANCE AND DISCOVERY FOR GREATLY EASING THE LABOR AND
LESSENING THE NUMBER OF HORSES IN THE DRAFT OF COACHES, CARTS, WAGGONS,
DRAYS, AND ALL LAND CARRIAGES WHATEVER, AND FOR CONVEYING GREAT AND HEAVY
LOADS BY LAND CARRIAGE, WHICH INVENTION, THOUGH COMPOSED OF DRY AND SOLID
MATERIALS, AND CONTRIVED FOR LAND CARRIAGE ONLY, HAS YET A SOMEWHAT SIMILAR
EFFECT TO WATER IN AFFORDING A CONSTANT AND SUCCESSIVE SUPPORT TO GREAT
BURTHENS, WHICH LIKEWISE GLIDE OVER IT WITH A SMALL DRAFT OR FORCE, AND
IN A MANNER SOMEWHAT SIMILAR TO THE MOTION OF SHIPS AND BARGES ON
WATER;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Thomas German, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month

page_text: next after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, may more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, and in
pursuance of the Statute in that case provided, I; the said Thomas German,
do declare that the words and letters herein-after written, together with the
Drawing or View hereon made and hereby referred to, do contain a full and
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is performed (that is to say) :-
My said Invention consists of rollers linked together and passing and
revolving round sledges, whereby their power is rendered continual. The
great strength and powerful effect of even common rollers in moving large
pieces of stone, and other bulky bodies too weighty for wheels, is known to
every mechanic, and by means whereof even large barns and houses, having
timber frames first placed under them, have been moved to considerable
distances. But common rollers are left behind by the moving body passing
over them, and therefore the power of rollers could never, till my present
Invention, be applied to carriages. In the Drawing hereon made, consisting
of a side view of a four-sledged carriage, with six rollers to each sledge, and
in the representation of the back sledge and rollers therein described, the
letters A, A, A, A, A, A, are inclosed within the rims of six rollers composing
the set of rollers of one of the hind sledges of the carriage... All which rollers are
also distinguished by having their surfaces filled with dots. The letters B, B,
are placed in and represent the two ends of the said sledge round which the
said rollers revolve, the length of the said sledge extending from B to B, and
including them. The letters C, C, C, C, inclose a long hoop of iron or other
metal, somewhat resembling a long oval, with a straight bar of iron extending
horizontally from one end of the hoop to the other, a little below the middle
of the hoop, and two perpendicular bars crossing the horizontal one, and
extending from top to bottom of the hoop, and one short bar extending from the
middle of the hoops, bottom upwards, perpendicularly to the middle of the
hoop. This hoop with its bars is placed in the position it appears in the
Drawing, with its bars against the outside of the sledge, and its horizontal bar
extending along near the bottom of the sledge. In this position this hoop and
bars is strongly screwed on to the outside of the sledge, and another like hoop,
with like bars, to the inside of the sledge exactly opposite. Thus the rollers
are held between the two hoops in an upright position, and pass round the
sledges between the hoops, as in a groove. The letters D, D, D, D, D, D,
stand against the middles of and inclose six links of iron, which should be all of
the same length, each of them extending a little farther than from the centre of

page_text: one roller to the centre of another, at which centres the ends of the links arg
placed sideways, the ends of each two being placed one over the other. Ir.
this position, and having holes made through the ends of each as they aro
thus placed one over another (which holes must be just opposite the centres
of the rollers), one of the small ends of a round pin passing through the
centre of each roller passes through the holes in the ends of every two links.
The round pins so passing through the centres of the rollers may, each of
them, be about an inch more or less in diameter through the thickness of the
wheels, and must extend out a very little more at each end beyond that thick-
ness, to give free motion to the rollers round the pins. But the two ends of
each pin which extend further out through the holes in the ends of the links
must be shouldered off and reduced. The ends of the front links, as they
appear in the Drawing, and also the ends of like links at the back of the
rollers (and which, therefore, do not appear on a side view), are then to be
screwed or keyed by nuts or keys passing either over or through the extreme
ends of the pins, pretty tight up against the shoulders, yet not so tight but that
the joints may work with freedom and ease. The rollers thus linked together
will pass smoothly, their sledge being constantly held in an upright and proper
position by the iron hoops. The letters E, E, E, E, point out part of a strong
post or pillar, and the letter F, a tenant, also part of the same pillar. Most
of the middle part of this pillar inclosed between the said letters E; E, E, E,
does not appear to view, being intercepted by one of the rollers coming before
it; nor can the lower end of this pillar be seen, because it passes down behind
the sledge; it, however, passes quite down to the bottom of the sledge; and
at the center of the crossing of the horizontal and perpendicular bars of iron,
in the lower part of the middle of the sledge, a strong iron pin.passes through
the iron bars, sledge, and pillar; which pin (though not very thick through.
the thickness of the bars and sledge) shoulders out square, broad, and thick
behind the sledge, and passes so quite through the pillar, to which it is.
strongly fastened by means of several strong bolts of .iron passing through the
pillar, and by nuts and screws.at.the ends of the bolts; and all this strength
is necessary, since one fourth part of the weight of the carriage and its load is.
sustained; by the pin and the pillar and sledge, and rests by means of them
on the tops of the under,rollers, as the sledge successively passes over them.
Over the crossing of the bars on the end of the pin is a piece of iron.screwed,
which in the Drawing appears round, and between which and the shoulders
behind the sledge has play on the pin, and its ends move upwards or down-
wards as requisite to pass smoothly over the rollers. The end of the pin also
appears in the Drawing.in the center of the round piece of iron; and note,

page_text: that an axletree passing quite across under the carriage will answer the
purpose as well as two of these pins, and on which the front and back sledge
will have the same play. The letters G, G, inclose between them one end of
a strong piece of cross timber, which passes under the carriage in or near the
place where the hind axletree of a four-wheeled carriage is now fixed. The
end of the cross piece, as it appears in the Drawing, has the resemblance of
two, being morticed or cut away in the middle, into which mortice it'
receives the tenant F, left for that purpose at the top of the pillar, and which
tenant is pinned or bolted strongly into the mortice, the two outsides of the
end of the cross piece resting firmly on the two outsides or shoulders of the
upper end of the pillar; and further, to strengthen it, strong braces with bolts
are placed behind the pillar, under the end of the cross piece which strongly
brace and bolt the pillar and the cross piece together, holding them in their
proper square and steady position.
the bed of the carriage, must
and the bed of the carriage, as
The letters H, H, H, point out
with respect to that part of the
Having thus described one of the back sledges with its set of rollers
and other material parts, and the manner by which it is fixed to one end
of the hind cross piece, the same descriptions serve for the other three
sledges and their rollers, for the other end of the hind cross piece has
another exactly similar sledge and set of rollers fixed thereto in the same
manner, and the two fore sledges with their sets of rollers are exactly
similar to the hind ones, as are also the pillars, fore cross piece, and the
manner of fixing them. The fore cross piece, for the purpose of locking or
turning the carriage, instead of being fixed to
turn on a pin passing through the centre of it
the axletree of a four-wheeled carriage does.
the under part of the bed of the carriage. And
upper part of each sledge which appears to be filled with dots, it represents
an aperture cut along the straight part of the top of the sledge, being sloped
during its whole length, from the inward edge of the top of the sledge down-
wards to the middle of the outside or front of the sledge, and which apperture
having two bars of iron extending lengthwise over the top of it, and the ends
of the bars let into the parts of the sledge at each end not cut away, the
rollers, as they come to the top of the sledge, pass along over these bars, and
any dirt or dust carried up by them drops down between and by the sides of
the bars into the sloped apperture, and comes out at the middle of the sledge,
by which means no dirt or dust can lodge at the top of the sledge so as to
impede the motion of the rollers. Each of the rollers should be about sixteen
inches (more or less) in diameter, and of thickness proportioned to the
carriage they are to be applied to; if to a chaise or light carriage, they need

page_text: be no thicker than the wheels of such carriages now are, nor indeed so thick, and
for a heavy road waggon they may be of the same thickness as the wheels of such
heavy waggon now are, and so in proportion for any other carriage, varying (at
discretion); the thickness and strength of the rollers, as well as of every other
part of the machinery, according to the weights they are intended to carry.
The description above given being of a four-sledged carriage with six rollers
to each sledge, it is proper to add that a larger number of rollers may with
great advantage be applied to each sledge, making the sledges longer in pro-
portion to the number of the rollers; and in all cases whatever (whether of
two or four sledged carriages), long sledges, with eight rollers to each, go
much more smoothly, and are far preferable to shorter ones with six. The
length, depth, and thickness of the sledge must in all cases be duly propor-
tioned to the number, sizes, and thickness of the rollers. In the description
of my said Invention in the aforesaid Letters Patent, it is observed that,
though composed of dry and solid materials, and contrived for land carriage
only, it has yet a somewhat similar effect to water in affording a constant and
successive support to great burthens, which likewise glide over it with a small
draft or force, and in a manner somewhat similar to the motion of ships and
barges on water. Now, though this similarity is not in the least material in
the description of the Invention, yet it may not be improper briefly to add
that the similarity consists in this, that ships and barges on water are
sustained by an infinite number of small particles or atoms of water, which
being all of them round, when the ship or barge is either blown by wind or
drawn forward by horses, the small atoms or particles of water under the
bottom of the vessel turn round one over another to a considerable depth
below the bottom of the vessel, the upper ones passing round faster than those
below them, and the motion of the under ones becoming slower and slower
degrees as their depth from the bottom of the vessel is increased, and
the particles or atoms of water thus turning round one over another have
the effect of perpetual rollers, the vessel as it passes over them leaving them
behind and passing forward over others in continued succession. Hence the
great facility with which vessels pass on water with loads so heavy as would
require a multitude of horses and a number of waggons to draw the same
cargo on wheels, even on a level road. So in the case of sledges having rollers
revolving round them in continual succession; the rollers immediately under
the sledges support the whole weight which rests on the tops of them, and as
the sledges move forward with a double degree of volicity, they are passed
over in continual succession with an effect very similar to the passing of
vessels on water, though less powerful and complete. Hence also the great

page_text: advantage of these perpetual rollers where the weight is always sustained on
the tops of the under rollers instead of grating along the centers of wheels
on axletrees. For going down hills, any set of the rollers can be dragged
with ease by a chain-with one end fixed to the bed of the carriage opposite
the hinder part of the set of rollers to be dragged, which chain being put
round the links between any two of the rollers and fastened, it will instantly
drag the whole set. The sledges, when made with wood, as they are here
supposed to be, must have the streight under parts, and also the round ends
of them, covered with iron, as must also be the rims of the rollers; but the
whole or any part of the work may be performed in metal, varying the sizes
of the different parts in proportion to the materials used and the strength
required.
Thus I, the said Thomas German, have, to the best of my power, described
the nature and manner of making my said Invention; that, however, some of
the subordinate parts of it may be performed by other means than what I
have adopted, there is no doubt; but it is to be observed that the Invention
an entirely original discovery, consisting of rollers revolving in perpetual
succession, whereby they are for the first time made useful to carriages; and
any contrivance in which any use should be made of any rollers or wheels
sustaining the weight at the top of one or more of them, and in any manner
contrived to act in succession, would be an infringement of my Patent.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas German, have thereunto.set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of October, in the year of our
T
11001
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Thomas German came before.our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Tenth day of October in the voor obore written