CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FOUR-WHEELED CARRIAGES OF DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS
Year: 1807

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HOULDITCH, of Long Acre, in the County of Middlesex, Coach Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, in and by
His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
the Seventh day of March, in the forty-seventh year of His reign, for Himself,
His heirs and successors, did give and grant unto me, the said John Houlditch,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said John Houlditch, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, by myself or themselves, or by my or their deputy or
deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said John Houlditch, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
the Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FOUR-WHEELED CARRIAGES
OF DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said John Houlditch, in and by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date

page_text: of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Houlditch, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly describe
and ascertained as follows, that is to say:-
In every description of crane-necked carriages, instead of fixing or connect-
ing the crane to or with the sett of wheels in the usual manner, I interpose
springs respectively between the axles or framings or other apparatus to which
the wheels are usually attached, and the cranes herein-after described. And
farther, that I do, by bolts, or screws, or keyed pieces, or other well-known
means, fix and secure the body of the carriage to the said cranes, so that the said
body may safely and firmly remain connected and in its place so long as may
be required, but that it shall and may nevertheless be practicable to take off the
said body and substitute any other body, as occasion may require. And I do
farther declare that the said cranes, to the number of two or more, are to be
placed and disposed as herein-before specified, in the longitudinal direction, par-
rallel to each other, or nearly so; and that I do make use of two such cranes,
in preference to any other number, and do place the same at such a distance
asunder as that the body may be well and effectually supported or sustained by
the same. And in some cases, or with some descriptions of carriages, I make
the said cranes each of two pieces, to be screwed or otherwise secured to the
body of the carriage, without joining cach piece together in the middle.
And I do farther declare, that the springs may be made of any convenient
figure or structure, and that the number and disposition or placing of the same
may be governed by the judgment of the maker, provided only that the said
figure, structure, number, and disposition or placing shall be such as shall
admit and allow of the carriage being drawn along or moved, and of the
actions and reactions being communicated through and by means of such
springs without any inconvenient derangement of the relative situations of any
of the several parts of the whole machine; and, accordingly, that the said
springs may consist either of transverse single bows with other bows fixed
horizontally on the ends of and at right angles to the same, such as have been
commonly used and applied in long coaches or otherwise; and, accordingly,
that the said springs may consist each of two bows, joined at the ends, and dis-
posed longitudinally, such as have been commonly used and applied in curricles,
gigs, and other carriages, under the denomination of grasshopper springs. And
that I do give the preference to the said horizontal or grasshopper springs in
the construction of carriages, in and to which I do introduce and apply my said
improvements.

page_text: And lastly, in order the more fully to illustrate my said Invention, I have
hereunto annexed several Drawings, numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, in all which
the letters a, a, represent the cranes upon which the body is placed, and the
letters b, b, represent the springs upon and to which the cranes rest and are
fixed; and the other parts, not having any particular relation to my said
Invention, may be understood without farther reference.
And I do declare that my said improvements are capable of being applied in
a variety of other forms, agreeably to these Presents, which will readily occur
to any competent workman who shall have perused the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Houlditch, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seven.