CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN DRAGS OR APPARATUS FOR RETARDING CARRIAGES
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
PEARSON, of Saint Giles, Oxford, Organist of Carfax Church, Oxford, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of September, in the seventh year of
His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Richard Pearson, His especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Richard Pearson, my exors, adñiors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Pearson, my exors, adñiors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DRAGS OR APPARATUS FOR RETARDING CARRIAGES;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Richard Pearson,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in

page_text: Richard Pearson, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say,-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The Drawing, Figure 1, represents my improvements applied to a stage
coach, there being a part of the front and hind boots cut away to show the
arrangement of levers and apparatus contained therein more clearly.
Figure 2 represents some of the parts more clearly. In each of these
Figures the same letters indicate similar parts, a, a, being pulleys affixed on
the naves of the hind wheels; by this means the surface is enlarged on which
the friction band works, and at the same time the heat thereby produced will
not be conducted to the wooden nave of the wheel in a manner to injure the
same, which might be the case if the friction bands were to act on thing rings
of metal on the wooden naves of the wheels. bare the friction bands or
plates, which I prefer to be steel springs, which when not acted on by levers,
as hereafter described, stand clear of the pulleys a, a; such friction bands I
prefer to be lined with thick leather rivited or otherwise affixed. c is a bar or
axis, which proceeds from side to side of the carriages in such manner that the
ends stand opposite the pulleys a, a, affixed on the naves of the hind wheels;
this bar or axis moves in bearings which are carried by suitable brackets
affixed to the bed or carriages, as is shewn in Figure 1.
b are set screws
which pass into sockets formed at one end of each friction
have eyes or openings which move on the ends of the bar or axis c. The
other ends of the bands b are affixed by pin points to the arms c, as is shewn.
f is an arm also affixed to the bar or axis c, and it will be evident that if the
arm moves in the direction of the dotted line, the bands b will be caused
to embrace the pulleys a, a, and produce friction thereto, depending on the
extent to which the bands 6 are caused to bind round the pulleys. And I
would here remark that, although I have described the friction band as
being a spring, and as wholly circumscribing the pulleys, it will be evident
that the same may each be made in two halves and hinged together, or the
bands may only partially embrace the pulleys on the naves and be hinged to
band b, and they

page_text: suitable brackets from the carriage or bed. 9 is a connecting rod (capable of
adjustment as to its length), which is attached by pin points to the arm fƒ and
to the arm h on the axis i as is clearly shewn in the Drawing. j is another
arm on the axis i, and k is a connecting rod connecting the arm j and the
lever together, the lever moving on an axis or fulcrum at m. To the
lever is attached the rack n, which slides in a staple o, and p is a catch or
click which is constantly pressed on by a spring. q is a handle to the driving
seat; this handle is connected to the click or catch p; hence the coachman
may lift the catch out of the ratchet when he is desirous to releive the same;
and in order to cause the boards 6 to press on the pulleys the coachman places
his foot on the lever l, and presses it down towards the foot board, and in pro-
portion as he presses it so will be the pressure or binding of the bands b, and
the lever / will be retained to any position to which it may be forced by the click
or catch p and will so remain as long as the handle g is not lifted.
9
It will be
evident that similar apparatus may also be applied to the hind boot in order
to the guard or other person having like command over the wheels; and the
two apparatus may be applied on the same coach, as is shown, but for this pur-
pose the connecting rods / should have a slit or opening at one end, as is shown
in the Drawing, to allow of play. When the apparatus is being used at either
end the apparatus at the other end will be capable of movement without
bringing the ratchet and catch at such other end into action. And it will also
be evident that the apparatus might with slight variation be arranged to act
from within a carriage. The Drawing, Figure 1, represents the apparatus
applied to both front and hind boots, and although I have in the description of
the apparatus confined myself to that which is worked by the coachman on
the driving box, I have used the same letters of reference on the apparatus
applied to the hind boot, adding only a to such letter for distinction. And
it will be seen that in place of the ratchet being attached to the lever, it
moves on an axis affixed to the side of the hind boot, and in stopping the lever
(which in this instance is worked by the hand in place of the foot) the ratchet
comes under a stud projecting from the lever *, and thus retains it till the
handle q is lifted.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of applying the same to a stage coach, a workman will readily apply it to
other descriptions of carriages without further description. And I would
remark that I am aware that it has been before proposed to apply a band or
bands similar to 6 to the naves of wheels to coaches and carriages. I do not
therefore claim the same, nor do I claim any of the levers or other parts in
their separate condition when uncombined, but only claim them when

page_text: combined and applied as means of retarding the wheels of carriages, as above
described..
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Pearson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.
MATTHEWS, Extra.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of March, in
the year of our Lord 1837, the aforesaid Richard Pearson came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.