OR IMPROVED MEANS OF FACILITATING AND EFFECTING THE TRACTIONTION OF WHEEL CARRIAGES DRAWN BY HORSE POWER
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ernest Leslie Macdonell, of Great Titchfield
Street, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, for the Invention of
"NEW OR IMPROVED MEANS OF FACILITATING AND EFFECTING THE TRACTION
Sealed the 2nd September 1870, and dated the 5th July 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ernest Leslie Mac-
donell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 5th July 1870.
I, ERNEST LESLIE MACDONELL, of Great Titchfield Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "NEW OR IMPROVED MEANS OF FACILITATING AND EPPECTING
THE TRACTION OF WHEEL CARRIAGES DRAWN BY HORSE POWER," to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to novel and improved means for facilitating
and effecting the force of traction of wheel carriages of every nature
now generally used for the purposes of communication and transport of

page_text: goods between towns and places on common roads, tram roads, and rail-
roads, and moved by horse power.
To accomplish these objects and to economise and diminish as much
as possible the quantity of horse power required in effecting the traction
of carriages, I adopt and employ in substitution of a portion of the
said quantity of horse power, where the nature of the carriage to be
moved will admit of it, the auxiliary mechanical aid of one wheel or
a pair of wheels of proportionate diameter. This wheel or pair of wheels
which for sake of description I name the auxiliary horse wheel, or
pair of horse wheels, is placed in suitable bearings to perform its func-
tions in front of the carriage to be moved, with which it is firmly
connected by non-flexible means in the line of direction, and on a line
with the horse or horses, as the case may be, by which a carriage is
moved in the ordinary manner. It will thus be perceived that the
movement of rotation of the auxiliary horse wheel, or pair of auxiliary
horse wheels, as well as the advance of the carriage itself behind, is
owing to the initial impulse of the horse or horses yoked to the carriage.
Now as the tendency of the auxiliary horse wheel, or pair of horse
wheels, when solicited by the force just mentioned, and afterwards left
to itself, would be to persevere in its state of motion, if not opposed
by any resistance, carriages of every nature used for the purposes
above mentioned on common roads, tram roads, and railroads, and moved
by horse power, may be enabled by means of my Invention to facilitate
and effect the objects above named with a considerable diminution of
the use of horse power.
I may remark in further explanation of the modus operandi of the
auxiliary horse wheel, or pair of horse wheels, the movement of which,
as likewise the advance of the carriage behind, is owing to the initial
impulse of the horse or horses yoked to the carriage to be moved, that
taking for granted that the pressure of the face of the auxiliary horse
wheel, or pair of horse wheels, upon the road is such as to producc
between them such a degree of adhesion as will render it impossible
for the said auxiliary wheel or wheels to slide or slip upon the road
by the force above-mentioned which is applied to it, the consequence
will be that the auxiliary horse wheel or horse wheels can only turn
round in obedience to the force already above-mentioned which moves
it by causing the carriage to advance, so that the auxiliary horse wheel

page_text: or horse wheels will roll upon the road, and the carriage behind will be
moved forward through a distance equal to the circumference of the
auxiliary wheel or wheels each time the said auxiliary wheel or pair of
wheels performs a complete revolution..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ernest Leslie Macdonell in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 4th January 1871..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ERNEST
LESLIE MACDONELL, late of Great Titchfield Street, in the County of
Middlesex, but now of Langham Street, in the said County, Esquire,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Ernest Leslie Macdonell, Her special licence,
that I, the said Ernest Leslie Macdonell, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ernest Leslie Macdonell,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"NEW OR IMPROVED MEANS OF FACILITATING AND EFFECTING THE TRACTION OF
WHEEL CARRIAGES DRAWN BY HORSE POWER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Ernest Leslie Macdonell, my executors or ad-
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their; or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date.
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ernest Leslie Macdonell, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to novel and improved means of facilitating and
effecting the force of traction of wheel carriages of every nature now
generally used for the purposes of communication and transport of
goods between towns and places on common roads, tram roads, and rail-
roads, and moved by horse power.
To accomplish these objects and to economize and diminish as much
as possible the quantity of horse power required in effecting the traction
of carriages on common roads, tram roads, and railroads, I adopt and
employ in substitution of a portion of the said quantity of horse power
where the nature of the road and of the carriage to be moved, whether a
four-wheel or a two-wheel carriage, will admit of it, the auxiliary
mechanical aid of a wheel, or a pair of wheels of similar diameter,
and of the diameter deemed best adapted to meet the required purpose;
this wheel or pair of wheels, as the case may be, which, for sake of
description, I name the auxiliary horse wheel, or pair of auxiliary horse.
wheels, is placed in suitable bearings, which will be herein-after described,
to perform its rotary motion in front of the carriage to be moved on its
four or two ordinary wheels, as the case may be, either at the centre of
the splinter bar or at either end of it, as the case may be, and in the
line of direction of the advance of the carriage, and on a line with and
abreast of the horse or pair of horses, as the case may be, by which the
carriage is drawn in the ordinary manner.
The manner in which my Invention may be carried into effect is as
follows I use a single pole of the peculiar construction shown in the
accompanying Drawings, instead of the ordinary carriage pole at present
in use for the purpose of drawing a carriage, or else I use two poles of
a similar construction to the pole first mentioned, and in this latter case
with the use of a pole of the ordinary kind at the centre of the splinter
bar in addition to the two poles already mentioned.
The single pole, the construction of which will be understood on
reference to Figures 1, 2, and 3, which are respectively a plan, a side
elevation, and a front view, is much about the length of an ordinary
carriage pole, but is made of wrought iron or other suitable material, so
as to form and constitute one strong body throughout its entire extent,
from end to end, at the same time that it is made to form between the

page_text: two iron bars a, a, of which it is composed, a longitudinal horizontal
open space or fork b, commencing about the distance of a foot or so from
the end of the pole of sufficient dimensions as to length and breadth to
admit within it a wheel c, which, for sake of clearness, and, as before
mentioned, I name the auxiliary horse wheel, which wheel is of any
large diameter best adapted to promote the object of the Invention, say,
six or eight feet, and capable of revolving freely therein. The pole a, a,
is likewise provided with another space or fork d which rises vertically
from the centre of the horse wheel c on each side of it, and is capable
of admitting the wheel to revolve freely within it on the axletree
arms e, c, with which its lower ends on each side are provided, and
which axle is so mounted as to be capable of radiation on a vertical pin
by means of a rod or cross handle fat the top of the fork d. The upper
ends of the vertical fork d are joined together, as shown, and at the
centre of the point of their junction, about an inch or so above the
highest point of the wheel c, is a small hole to admit the rod or cross
handle f, which is of sufficient length to pass through it from side to
side of the entire yoke, to suitable bearings provided for its ends on the
top of the pad of each of the two horses' harness, so as to enable the
horse wheel always to radiate laterally in unison with the direction taken
by the horses, whether to the right or to the left.
When only one horse wheel pole a is used with a pair of horses the
pole is then used instead of an ordinary carriage pole at the centre of the
splinter bar g at the front of the carriage to be moved, and with this
only difference that instead of being locked fast in the socket prepared
at that part of the fore carriage for its inner end the horse wheel pole is
capable of radiating slightly on a pin at the part in question, as will be
understood on reference to Figure 4, which is a back view of the splinter
bar g and pole a. The outer end of the horse wheel pole in this case is.
provided, like the ordinary carriage pole, with the straps or chains
necessary to connect it at each side with the collars of each of the horses
that are yoked to the carriage.
When two horse wheel poles are used, as shown in plan view in
Figure 5, the ordinary carriage pole is used precisely as at present,
and the two horse wheel poles a, a, are then used, one on each outer side
of each horse, and opposite the one to the other, and are connected at
their inner ends with the outer ends of the splinter bar of the carriage
to be moved, either by means of a hook and eye, or any other manner

page_text: that will admit of the slight radiation of the horse wheel pole in
question, which in this application not only performs its proper function
of facilitating and effecting the traction of the carriage to be moved, but
likewise acts instead of the outside leather or chain trace from the
horse's collar to the splinter bar. From the ordinary central pole h a
strong vertical rod j is carried up to a point slightly above the level of
the top of the horse wheels, and the rod f passes through this vertical
rod and through the forks d.
When a two-wheel carriage is to be moved on this principle it will be
necessary to use two auxiliary horse wheel poles, as shown in plan view
in Figure 6, namely, one horse wheel pole on each side of the Horse that
is yoked to the carriage, each of the horse wheel poles acting in this
application, not merely as facilitating and effecting the traction of the
carriage to be moved, but also instead of the ordinary traces from the
horse's collar to the splinter bar.
The poles a, a, whether one or a pair, is used in connection with one
or a pair of auxiliary horse wheels are of strength and dimensions pro-
portionate to the nature of the carriages to be drawn by them, and are
capable of being easily connected with a private carriage, a Pickford
good's van, a wagon, a brewer's dray, an artillery gun carriage, and
limber, or other four-wheel or two-wheel carriage of any nature.
-
It will be readily understood from the foregoing description that the
movement of rotation of the ordinary horse wheel or pair of horse
wheels c, as the case may be, as well as the advance of the carriage
behind, is owing to the initial impulse of the horse, or pair of horses,
which is yoked to the carriage. Now as the tendency of the auxiliary
horse wheel or pair of auxiliary horse wheels c when solicited by the
animal force will be to continue in its state of motion, if not opposed
by any resistance, carriages of every nature used for the purposes above
mentioned on common roads, tram roads, and railroads, and moved by
horse power will thus be enabled by means of my Invention, and by the
different modes of applying it, to facilitate and effect the objects above
mentioned with a very considerable diminution of the use of horse
power.
I may remark in further explanation of the modus operandi of the
auxiliary horse wheel or pair of auxiliary horse wheels, the movement
of which, as likewise the advance of the carriage behind, is owing to
the initial impulse of the horse or pair of horses yoked to the carriage

page_text: to be moved, that taking it for granted that the pressure of the face of
the auxiliary horse wheel or pair of horse wheels upon the road is such
as to produce between them such a degree of adhesion as will render
it impossible for the said auxiliary horse wheel or horse wheels to slide
or slip upon the road by the force above mentioned which is applied to
it, the consequence will be that the auxiliary horse wheel or horse wheels
can only revolve in obedience to the force already above mentioned,
which moves it by causing the carriage behind it to advance, so that
the auxiliary horse wheel or horse wheels, as the case may be, will roll
upon the road, and the carriage behind it will be moved forward through
a distance equal to the circumference of the auxiliary horse wheel
or horse wheels each time the said auxiliary horse wheel or horse
wheels performs a complete revolution on the axletree arms provided
for it.
In order to increase the adhesion upon the road of the auxiliary
horse wheel or pair of horse wheels it may, in some cases, be found
expedient to attach a weight i to each of the auxiliary horse wheels, the
said weights being hung or mounted loosely on the axles or naves of
the said horse wheels so as not to revolve therewith, but to remain
suspended, as seen in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ernest Leslie Macdonell, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of January One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
E. L. MACDONELL. (L.S.)