IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER CARTS AND VANS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred George Margetson, of the City of Bristol, Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER CARTS AND VANS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred George Margetson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th July 1877.
ALFRED GEORGE MARGETSON, of the City of Bristol, Engineer.
IN. WATER CARTS AND: VANS."
"IMPROVEMENTS
The object of my Invention is to construct iron bodied water carts and vans in
such manner that the greatest pressure of water shall always be upon the outlet
valve, even when the cart or van is nearly empty, and when it is going down hill.
This object I attain in a two-wheeled water cart by providing it with gearing to
enable the driver to raise or adjust the height of the body of the cart, and thereby
throw the water over the outlet valve; I also gain thereby the additional advantage
of enabling the driver to preserve the cart at a perfect balance, and thus overcome
the great objection of the weight of water pressing heavily upon or under the horse
in going down or up hill.
The gearing which I fit to the cart consists of a vertical shaft having a handle
or hand wheel within reach of the driver to enable him to give rotation thereto.
On this shaft is an endless screw which gears with a screw wheel or worm wheel
on a transverse horizontal shaft; this horizontal shaft carries at or near each end a
toothed wheel, which takes into the teeth of a curved rack fixed to the frame of the
cart.
The driver can, by turning the hand wheel in one direction or the other, raise or
lower the front of the cart body as required.

page_text: In a four-wheeled water van I obtain the same advantage of always having
the greatest pressure of water on the outlet valve by making the body or reservoir
of the van with its bottom sloping downwards from the front end to the rear.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alfred George Margetson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
December 1877.
ALFRED GEORGE MARGETSON, of the City of Bristol, Engineer.
IN WATER CARTS AND VANS."
"IMPROVEMENTS
The object of my Invention is to construct iron bodied water carts and vans in
such manner that the greatest pressure of water shall always be upon the outlet
valve, even when the cart or van is nearly empty and when it is going down hill.
This object I attain in a two-wheeled water cart by providing it with gearing
to enable the driver to raise or adjust the height of the body of the cart, and
. thereby throw the water over the outlet valve; I also gain thereby the additional
advantage of enabling the driver to preserve the cart at a perfect balance, and
thus overcome the great objection of the weight of water pressing heavily upon or
under the horse in going down or up hill.
The gearing which I fit to the cart consists of a vertical shaft having a handle or
hand wheel within reach of the driver, to enable him to give rotation thereto. On
this shaft is an endless screw which gears with a screw wheel or worm wheel on a
transverse horizontal shaft; this horizontal shaft carries at or near each end a
toothed wheel, which takes into the teeth of a curved rack fixed to the frame of the
cart.
The driver can, by turning the hand wheel in one direction or the other, raise or
lower the front of the cart body as required.
In a four-wheeled water van I obtain the same advantage of always having the
greatest pressure of water on the outlet valve by making the body or réservoir of
the van with its bottom sloping downwards from the front end to the rear.
•
In the accompanying Drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation; Figure 2, a rear
elevation; Figure 3, a front elevation; and Figure 4, a plan of a two-wheeled water
cart constructed according to my Invention.
a is the cart body supported by the frame b; c is a vertical shaft with a hand
wheel d, and free to turn on its axis; e is an endless screw on this shaft, gearing
with a wheel on a transverse shaft ; this shaft carries at each end a toothed
wheel g, which takes into the teeth of a curved rack fixed to the frame b.
It will be readily understood that by turning the wheel & the driver can raise or
lower the body a as required. One of the racks h has a series of holes as seen in
Figure 1, for the purpose of receiving a bolt to fix the cart at the desired height.
The other parts of the cart will be understood without further explanation.
Figure 5 is a side elevation of a four-wheeled water van, in which the body a
has its bottom made sloping downwards from the front to the rear as herein-before
described.

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, constructing water carts and
vans substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described and represented in
the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred George Margetson,' have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.
ALFRED GEORGE MARGETSON.. (L.S.)