CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON WHEELED CARRIAGES, AND APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREWITH
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PEARSE, of Tavistock, in the County of Devon, Ironmonger, 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 Seventh day of June, in the first year of His reign, did
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Pearse, His especial licence, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
John Pearse, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Pearse, my exors, admors, 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 mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon- Tweed, my Inven-
tion of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON WHEELED CARRIAGES, AND APPARATUS TO BE
USED THEREWITH;" in which said Letters. Patent is contained a proviso, that I,
the said John Pearse, 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 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 Pearse, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-

page_text: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the body of a cart with some of my said
improvements applied to it, part only of the shafts being shewn, and the wheels
omitted with the exception of the nave of one of them. Fig. 2 is a plan of
the under side of the cart, and Fig. 3 a back end view of the lower part of
it, in all of which said Figures the same letters of reference indicate the
similar parts. A, A, the body of the cart; B, B, beams affixed underneath
the body of the cart, and to which said beams the iron supports C, C, are
secured by screws or otherwise, as shewn in Fig. 2. In the middle of each
support C, C, a screwed loop D, D, is affixed, to which are jointed the pieces
E, E, which suspend the cart body upon or from the axletree F, F, but con-
siderably lower than the said axletree. To the joints at D, D, are also hung
the four bars G, G, G, G, shewn in Fig. 2, and two of them in Fig. 1, a screw
bolt passing through holes in the joints. These bars G, G, &c. are affixed to
the under side of a wooden frame H, H, which passes underneath the axle-
tree F, and through gaps formed to admit in the suspending pieces E, E, as is
shown in the separate view of one of them, Fig. 4 at I, and at I, I, in Fig. 3,
and to which said frame the shafts J, J, are attached..
The body of the cart, being thus suspended at D, D, is kept in a nearly hori-
zontal position in descending or ascending declivities or ascents in the following
manner. K, K, K, K, in Fig. 2, are four iron rods which are jointed to loops
firmly affixed upon the suspending pieces E, E, at L, L, as shewn in the sepa-
rate figure of these parts, Fig. 5, and one of the said rods K is also shewn in
a top view of it in Fig. 6. To tho other ends of these rods, chains M, M, M, M,
Fig. 2, are attached, which are passed underneath the pullies N, N, N, N, and
are then securely affixed to the cart bottom. These pullies N, N, &c., are
mounted upon studs or pivots affixed to the frame H, H, as shown in Figs. 1,
2, and 3; and when the road is upon a declivity, as shown in Fig. 1, the
shafts Jalso declining together with the frame H, H, to which they aro
affixed, the suspension pieces E, E, are thrown back into the position shewn by
one of them in Fig. 1, and the body of the cart is retained in nearly a horizontal
position by the pull of the hinder pair of chains M, in the manner shown in
that figure, as well also as the whole weight or body of the cart being also
thrown back; the reverse action will of course tako place on ascending an
acclivity. In order to preserve a parallelism between the shafts and the
wheels, I employ two jointed levers 0, 0, which turn upon the upright studs
P, P, which are affixed upon the upper front end of the frame H, H, as shewn
by dotted lines in Fig. 2. These levers O, O, are connected at the centre of
that end of the frame H, H, by means of a pin or stud formed upon the end.
of one of the levers O entering a hole or cavity made to receive it in the other

page_text: lever. To the opposite ends of each of these levers O, O, a connecting rod
Q, Q, is united by means of a joint as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, and the other
ends of the said connecting rods Q, Q, are likewise jointed to the upper edges
of the two suspension pieces E, E, as shewn at R, R, in Figure 2, and thus all
twisting or crossing motions between the shafts and the axletree are prevented.
In order to produce a self-acting drag or retarding effect upon the wheels of
this cart in descending hills, I have adopted the following contrivance:-Upon
the outside of each suspension piece E, E, I have affixed a jointed brake S,
as shewn in Figures 1 and 2, and the other ends of which said brakes being
jointed to the body of the cart A, they will be brought into contact with the
naves of the wheels, as shewn in Figure 1, by the weight or body of the cart
assuming a backward position, as above described.
In moving upon a level road the brakes will disengage themselves of course;
another self-acting drag, and which is also capable of application to four-wheeled
carriages, is shewn in a side view in Figure 7, in a plan, Figure 8, and in an
end view, Figure 9, J, J, in all the Figures being parts of the shafts or frame
of the carriage, and S a jointed brake surrounding the nave of a wheel; one
end of this brake S is jointed to one end of an unequal lever T, which moves
upon a pin or stud U affixed in the shaft or frame J. The other end of the
brake is also connected with the lever T by means of the coupling V. The
longer arm of the lever T has a sliding rod W jointed to it, which is guided
underneath the staples X, X, X, affixed in the side of the shaft J. To this
sliding rod W the draft hook Y is likewise affixed, as well as the hook Z, to
which the breeching is hitched. In descending a declivity, the breeching,
coming into contact with the hind quarters of the horse, pulls back the hook Z
and the rod W connected with it, and which pushes the lever T, so as to
close the brake upon the nave of the wheel, and thus to produce a degree of
friction sufficient to retard the too rapid descent of the cart. a, in Figures 7
and 8, is a stop upon the sliding rod W, for the purpose of preventing the rod
from being carried too far by the draft of the horse, it coming into contact
with the staple b. In this staple a hole c is made, as well as in the shaft
likewise, and through the rod W another hole d is also made, and the use of
which said holes is, that a pin may be inserted therein when it is necessary to
prevent the brake from acting, as, for instance, when the horse may be backing
the cart. Figure 10 is an improved axletree and box for carriages, in which e
represents a shoulder, formed near the front end of the axletree, instead of upon
the back or inner end of it, as usual, the box having a corresponding shoulder f,
likewise formed within it; 9 is a ring or flanch fitted tight upon the axletree,
the use of which is to keep a leather collar h stationary between it and the

page_text: inner end of the box, in order to retain the oil within the box; i is a hole
made through the side of the box as well as through the nave of the wheel,
for the purpose of admitting oil to be poured into the box, and which hole
must be afterwards closed by means of a pin screwed into it. Figure 11 is a
side view of another axletree and box for carriages, the box having a shoulderf
within it, near its front end, as in Figure 10; but instead of a shoulder being
formed upon the axletree, as in the said Figure, a tube j,j, (shewn in section
as well as in substance,.) is introduced within the box, and prolonged towards
the centre of the carriage, and externally, so as in fact to form the axletree.
The wheel is held or retained upon this axletree by means of a cylindrical pin
or bolt k, k, with a head to it, being passed within the tube j, and secured by a
screwed bolt and nut 2, which is passed through holes made in the said parts
to receive the said bolt.
I do not mean or intend hereby to claim as my Invention any of the various
parts herein shewn and described, which may already have been known or in
use; but I do hereby claim the mode of suspending the weight of the carriage
below the axletree, the method of preserving a nearly horizontal position of
the body of the carriage or load in two-wheeled carriages, the mode of
obtaining the parallelism between the shafts and wheels, the self-acting drags,
the forming a shoulder upon or within the front end instead of hinder end of
axletrees and boxes, and, lastly, the manner of forming axletrees of tubes.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Pearse, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of December, in the second year of the
reign of our Sovereign Lord, William the Fourth, and in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.
Inrolled the Seventh day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.