AN IMPROVE- MENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHAFTS, AND THE MODE OF ATTACHING THEM TO TWO- WHEELED CARRIAGES
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THоMAS
FULLER, of the City of Bath, in the County of Somerset, Coach Builder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, boaring date at Westminster the
Eighteenth day of February, 1828, in the fourth year of His reign, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Fuller, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I the said Thomas
Fuller, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, during the term of years therein men-
tioned, shall and lawfully may make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHAFTS, AND THE MODE OF ATTACHING THEM TO TWO-
WHEELED CARRIAGES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
that if I, the said Thomas Fuller, shall not particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, 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 two calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that
then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by
the same (relation being thereunto had) will moro fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Fuller, 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 Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
My improvement in the construction of shafts, and the mode of attaching
them to two-wheeled carriages, are designed to prevent that unpleasant vibra-
tion of the carriage commonly called knee motion; which object is effected by
rendering the hinder part of the shafts elastic, and aflixing them to the drawing
bar by means of shackles with pivots, upon which as fulcrams the shafts
vibrate, and thereby communicate the up and down motion of the horse to the
elastic part of the shaft beyond the drawing bar, while the body of the carriage
being suspended in front to the fulcrams and behind to the extremities of the
clastic shaft escapes the vibrating action of the shafts, and is subjected to no
other motion but that which is communicated by the clasticity of the springs
as the carriage passes over temporary obstructions.
Figure 1, in the Drawing, is the side view of a gig or two-wheeled carriago
with the improvement attached. a is an ordinary drawing shaft; b, the con-
tinuation of the shaft rendered elastic; c, the shackle joint or fulcrum, on which
the shaft vibrates. This shackle is rendered more evident by the enlarged
Drawing, Figure 2, and by the cross view, Figure 8, in which the shaft 6 is
represented as cut off in section; d is the drawing bar, upon which the staple
e, c, c, c, is secured by screw bolts, or otherwise; f,f,f, is the upper part of the
shackle, fastened by screws or otherwise to the shaft; g, g, aro screw pivots,
which pass through cyes in the staples c, c, and also in the shackle f, f, and
thereby connect them together. The pivots may either screw into the cyes of
e or f, as may be thought most desirable. It will now be seen by a reference
to Figure 1 that when the action of the horse raises the foro part of the shaft a;
the hinder or elastic part b will be depressed, and in a similar manner the
depression of the fore part of the shaft a causes the hinder or elastic part 6 to
riso as the central part of the shaft is held by the pivots and fulcrum joint c.
An ordinary shacklo attached to the end of the back rail or spring at h sup-
ports the extremity of the shaft b. Thus, by means of the shackle joint or
fulcrum c the vibratory motion of the shaft is dissipated, whereas in the ordinary
construction of two-wheeled carriages the shafts are constantly vibrating levers,
having their fulcrums at the axle of the wheels, and deriving their action from
the up-and-down motion of the horse's back, by which that unpleasant vibrating
movement is produced, commonly called knee motion, and which the intro-
duction of the improved clongated elastic shafts and shackle joints entirely

page_text: prevent. Figure 4 is a back view of the carriage, having an upper cross spring
i, i, to which the extremities of the elastic shafts are attached, as above said, by
ordinary shackles; but a bar may be employed in this place to attach tho
shackles to which supports the shafts; I, however, prefer the spring, as shown.
The shafts I purpose to make of lance wood, rendered flexible by being
gradually reduced in substance from the fulcrum point at c to the extremity of
the hinder part, but any other materials may be used which may be found
applicable to the same purpose. A gig with the patent shafts is with much
facility converted to a curricle, the shafts being easily removed by taking out
the screws g, g, and a bolt at the bind end, as seen at Figure 5. A pole may
be then attached by two socketts in the centre and splinter bars for two horses
to the shackles e. This is a convenience which has hitherto been obtained by
much additional weight and an unsightly appearance. In the present instance
it can be effected without either of those objectionable occurrences. A horse
works much easier in the patent shafts as they accommodate themselves to his
action by their flexibility behind the bar, for the same reason they are not so
likely to break as other shafts. The simple and secure method of attaching
the patent shafts allowing them to be disengaged without difficulty presents a
great convenience in shipping for exportation, as the whole of the body and
springs, &c. can be enclosed in a portable packing case, and the shafts packed
together in a way to preserve their shape, and may be disposed of in any con-
venient part of tho vessel. Spare shafts can also be taken out. If it should be
(and it is not unfrequently) the case that a gentleman has a favorite horse
much below in height the horse he is accustomed to drive, a pair of extra shafts
can be made for the small horse, which can easily be substituted for tho
others when required, and the carriage rendered completely suitable for either
horse at pleasure.
Having thus doscribed my Invention in connexion with such other appen-
dages as are necessary to render the whole clearly to be understood, I wish it
to be observed, that I rest my claim of Invention in the introduction of the
elastic hinder part of the shaft, and the employment of the shackle or fulcrum
joint c, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Fuller, have hercunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-three.
THOMAS (L.S.) FULLER.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1828, the aforesaid Thomas Fuller, came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, 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 'Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.