CEB TAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGES, AND IN THE MEANS OF PREVENTING THE OVERTURNING OF THE SAME WHEN HORSES TAKE FRIGHT
Year: 1852

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Mark Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th November 1852.-A communication.
(Void by reason of notice to proceed not having been given within the
time prescribed by the Act.)
I, MARK NEWTON, of Tottenham, in the County of Middlesex,
Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CEB
TAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGES, AND IN THE MEANS
OF PREVENTING THE OVERTURNING OF THE SAME WHEN HORSES TAKE FRIGHT,"
to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in suspending the boxes of all kinds of
vehicles having two, three, four, or any number of wheels by means of
springs of peculiar configuration; also in the construction of the wheels
of such vehicles; and relating also to the prevention of accidents
resulting from horses taking fright, &c., by apparatus hereafter de-
scribed. For suspending the boxes of two-wheeled vehicles I propose
to fix two straight springs, crossed on the surface of the axle-tree near
the wheels by each of their strongest extremities, so that the box may
rest on the most flexible ends of the springs; and in order to support the
box both in front and behind I fasten a curved spring to the centre
of the axle-tree, and perpendicularly to it, the foremost extremity of

page_text: which spring is fastened under the front of the box, and the other end
is fastened under the servant's seat behind. The means of putting the
horses to the carriage may be in the usual manner, or instead of the
ordinary shafts may be used the shafts cross trec, &c., formed whole of
prepared iron connected to the axle-tree, and perpendicularly fixed to
the centre of it, and also two ends of shafts fastened by bolts into two
forks placed on each side of the carriage. In this case the steps are
fixed on to the box itself. Another method of suspending a box of a
two-wheeled vehicle is to fix a long curved rod of prepared iron to the
centre of the body of the axle; this rod will follow behind the outside
of the box, and will end at its upper extremity by a spring about 18
inches long fastened to the extremity of the rod by bolts and a collar.
To the flexible end of this spring will be fastened at the middle, by suit-
able means, a cross spring to the centre of the top of the box by means
of two iron beams concealed by the trimming, and running from the
shafts of the box; these latter will be fastened by means of bolts uniting
the upper ends of each beam to each of the ends of the cross spring.
As regards gigs and other carriages where the boxes are very short the
process of fastening the back part of the curved spring to the middle of
the axle-tree may be dispensed with; in such a case the front part of
this spring is fastened to the body of the axle-tree in the same manner
as before described. In these methods I regulate the oscillating motion
of the box by means of a flexible sheet of steel, so as not to prevent the
springing notion of the box in any way; the centre of the said sheet of
steel is fixed under and in the centre of the bottom of the box, and each of
its ends fixed by suitable means to the shafts in front, and behind to the
long rod, in the first instance, and to a cross rod in the second. With
reference to four-wheel carriages, the adaptation and arrangement of
these springs are similar to those in two-wheeled carriages. As regards
three-wheel carriages, it is necessary to state that a semicircular seat
placed in the bottom of the carriage, and capable of accommodating
three persons, is arranged so that the weight of such persons simply
bears on the back axle, and establishes a kind of equilibrium with all
objects placed in front of this axle; thus the weight of a fourth person
equally seated in the inside of the carriage on a front seat, and that of
the coachman, also scated in front and on the outside, are nearly

page_text: neutralized. I now adapt a third wheel in front, and in the middle of
the width of the box; this wheel being nearly of the same size as the
ordinary ones; by such arrangements I cause the weight to be more
equally distributed over the body of the vehicle, and diminish the
amount of friction usual in such carriages to (at least) one half; thus
the keeping of such a vehicle is far less expensive, and the labour of the
horses considerably reduced. I propose also to mount the vehicles called
omnibuses in a similar manner upon three wheels; the two hind wheels
may be fastened by their axle to two nipping springs, or in the usual
manner by springs fastened to the middle on the body of the axle. As
regards that part of the improvements which relates to the wheels of
such carriages and vehicles, I propose to put in the place of the common
spokes around the nave in the centre of the wheel three, four, or a
larger number of small circles of tempered steel, each of which is to be
fastened to the nave at one end, and to the felloc at the other; the latter
being, in order to strengthen the wheel, compressed between two large
iron circles of the diameter of the wheel; the details of their construction
will be given more fully in my Complete Specification. That part of
the improvements which relates to the prevention of accidents is as
follows:-To the extremity of the two short chains, by means of which
the horses maintain the carriage, or by falling back may cause it to run
backwards, I fasten a piece of iron neatly got up (plated, if required), of
about 6 or 7 inches long, in the shape of a mutilated pyramid. To the
top of the main shaft I adapt a tube of the same shape as the aforesaid
piece of iron, capable of containing it without pressure; this tube follows
the direction of the main shaft, and thus has its widest mouth at the top
of the same, so that the piece of iron introduced may freely come out
at the very moment it might be drawn in front of the main shaft; but
to keep the piece in its place until it be drawn forwards I make use
of a very weak strap connected with the shaft, so that the smallest
effort or jerk in the direction already described tears away the weak
strap, and thus causes the separation. The trace bar made to receive
the ends of the four traces, by means of which the carriage is drawn by
the horses, is covered by two extremely flexible springs, both situated
behind either horse; these springs, which are alike, possess a length

page_text: equal to the spreading of the traces near the spring-tree bar; the ends
of each spring are provided with a peg about 2 inches long fastened to
the springs, and capable of going in and out of a hole vertically bored
in the trace bar. When the springs are pressed upon in their full
length on the upper surface of this bar the four pegs cross it in its full
breadth ; on the contrary, when the four heads of the springs are lifted
the four pegs come out of the holes in full length. I then bore four
large flat and oval holes in the front surface of the trace bar, and oppo-
site each vertical hole, so that by introducing into each of these four
holes iron eyes fastened to the ends of all the traces (the four pegs
being taken out) the vertical pegs fall back into each hole, and thus
retain the eyes until the heads of the springs are lifted up to allow them
to come out. A thin bar of wood covers the trace bar, the springs, and
the vertical pegs, but each peg crosses the bar from its upper end over
the springs, and a head is screwed above the bar on to the end of each
peg to prevent them from getting out of the bar in which they may
freely slide up and down. I fasten in the middle of the bar and above
a small iron lath vertically placed under that part of the seat on which
the coachman rests his feet; at the upper end of this lath is an eye, to
which is fastened a string which passes by a hole through the floor of
the coachman's sent. If the horses happen to take fright, and the
coachman is aware of the impossibility of appeasing them, he lifts up,
with the slightest effort, the string placed between his feet (i. c. the bar
placed above the trace bar), and the horses once free from the leashes
which kept them back to the carriage move on forwards, and cause the
piece of iron introduced into the top of the main shaft to come out; in
this manuer the horses are instantly and thoroughly separated from the
vehicle. By another method the horses may be separated from the
carriage even from the inside, the details of which will be given in my
Complete Specification. Also an additional method by which the car-
riage stops of itself the very moment the horses are separated from it.