A MACHINE TO BE PLACED ON THE AXELTREES OF WHEEL CARRIAGES, AS CHAIRS, CHAISES, AND SUCH LIKE VEHICLES, &C.; IF THE CARRIAGE OR WHEELS OVERTURN, THE BODIES OF THEM CANNOT
Year: 1746

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HAWKES, of Wells, in the County of Norfolk, Land Surveyor, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Second, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the twentieth year of His reign,
did give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Hawkes, His especial licence
that I, the said Thomas Hawkes, during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my new Invention of "A MACHINE TO BE PLACED
ON THE AXELTREES OF WHEEL CARRIAGES, AS CHAIRS, CHAISES, AND SUCH LIKE
VEHICLES, &C.; IF THE CARRIAGE OR WHEELS OVERTURN, THE BODIES OF THEM
CANNOT;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a provisoe obliging
me, the said Thomas Hawkes, under my hand & seal, to 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 Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within four kalendar months next after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may
'more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said provisoe, I do hereby
declare that my said new Invention doth consist of the several materials
particularly described in a Plan thereof hereunto affixed, & herein-after
referred to, and is to be performed as follows (viz.):
The whole is contained in certain grove work, as described herein, being

page_text: fixed to the axeltrec, either of wood or iron, of the coñion size, Figure A, with
another part fixed to the under part of the shafts of the chair, chaize, &c. in its
proper place for bearing to the horse, or as phancy may direct, by means of
bolts which pass through the said shafts, and also through the holes in the
brackets a, a, a, a, Figure I; these bolts to be about half an inch diameter,
the length in proportion to the substance of the shaft, and the brackets to be
made of iron, six inches long, two inches wide, and a quarter of an inch thick,
and distant from each other d, d, in Figure II, three feet eight inches; this is
as phancy may direct also. This plan, Figure I, represents a picce of iron, six
feet long, three quarters of an inch thick, & inch & a half deep in the middle,
c, c, Figure H, & three quarters of an inch deep at each end, as is shewn by
the arch of the said Figure H. This stout peice of iron, Figure I, is to
support and strengthen another peice of iron represented by Figure G, which
is six feet long, one inch three quarters and a half quarter wide, and a quarter
of an inch thick, bent to a radius not exceeding three feet nor less than two
between these radij, which will be sufficient for moving of the said wide iron
between the moving wheels of the chair, chaise, &c. The radius of the
Drawings is equal to thirty-four inches, being the most proper radius. These
two peices of iron, represented by the plans I & G, are now supposed to be
bent to the radius as above, and screwed or rivetted together by the screws
or rivets 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, with the aforesaid brackets d, d, which make
but one figure, as Figure H, and Figure L is the profile of the said arch Figure
H; & K is a sort of view of the brackets d, d, in the arch Figure H, or a, a, a, a,
in the plan, Figure I, which are screwed or rivetted to and with these two irons
Figure I & G. The whole is represented & shewn in Figure H; and
Figure F is a plan of the whole work when put together, and fixed to the
axeltree with jacks & stays. This grove work consist of two peices of iron,
five feet long, half an inch wide, and half a quarter of an inch thick, and
distant from each other one inch, and by that means the iron three quarters of
an inch thick, Figure I, will pass freely between them. This grove work,
Figure F, is fixt to the axeltree by means of the jacks B, B, B, in Figure M,
fixed in the axeltree; the two end jacks are represented in this one jack,
Figure C & E, for they are both alike made with the friction wheel hanging
on a steel pin, and is a full quarter of an inch diameter, and well tempered,
three inches long, to go with a share, that the friction wheel may be taken
out at pleasure. Each end jack, Figure C, or B, b, B, b, Figure M, on the
axeltree, the upper ends of these jacks, must form an arch of a circle, as is
represented in the said Figures C, B, b, B, b. Each jack is made of two plates
of iron, and cach plato bent down to a right angle, half an inch at the upper

page_text: end, and each bend must stand to each other to form a grove, as shown
by Figure C, the inside D, where the friction wheel hang. These plates
of iron are two inches wide, two tenths of an inch thick, five inches high on
the lower side, M, O, and seven inches on the highest side M, P; (if to a
streight axeltree, they must be four inches higher); these plates stand two
inches distant from each in the clear, & are rivetted or screwed to the under
plate of M, Figure C: if for a wood axeltree, this plate M, M, must be four
inches from M to M, but if for an iron axeltree, two inches and a half, to come
across the said axeltree. This plate is two inches wide and two tenths of an
inch thick; is fixt to the axeltree by means of the bolt N and the screws © σ.
in Figure C & Figure M on the axeltree. This plate comes down the side of
the axeltree four inches, and is one inch wide, and two tenths of an inch thick
at the upper end, and its substance lessen downwards. Figure Q is a plan of
that plates, with holes for the bolts, screws, plates, &c. The lower ends of this
plate is fastned with screws as before directed, and for a further support to
the said grove, Figure F; and another jack is made after the same manner
to that before described, though not so long, the same in substance, three
inches and a half high on the lower side q, r, and five inches on the highest side
s, t, Figure M, on the axeltree, and from r to s about two inches. This jack is
supported by being rivetted to the bent stay iron s, m, and welded to the plates
of the above-described jack which contains the friction wheel. The hole of
this jack is more plainly represented by Figure C, E, where is shewn a sort
of prospective view of the whole put together, fit to put into the axeltree, with
the friction wheel D hanging on the steel pin i. This friction wheel is made
of brass, two inches and an half diameter, V, V, and almost two inches long,
for the plates between which it hangs is but two inches, V, W, Figure N.
Figure O represents the middle jack B, Figure M, on the axeltree, with the
friction wheel of the same size as above described. The plates that contain
this friction wheel is of the same substance and breadth as B, b, B, b, and bent
in the like manner on the top to form a grove, as represented by this Figure.
These two plates are about four inches long, each supported at the bottom
part by a wire about a quarter of an inch diameter, Y, Y, and at the top by the
steel arbour of the same diameter, on which the friction wheel hang X, X. Part
of this jack is put into the axeltree, Figure A, either of wood or iron; by that
means the end jacks are short as described, and the whole work much stouter.
Let these three friction wheels that are placed in those jacks here described be
distant from the edge bent down three quarters of an inch in the clear, from
the inside of the said grove to the upper part or surface of the friction wheel
at the nearest distance, that the wide iron, Figure G, may have room to move

page_text: freely. Figure P is a sort of profile of the little stay irons, which are bent
down at the upper ends half an inch, as the jacks themselves, and are fixed to
the axeltree with screws if the axeltree be of iron, but if of wood driven into
it, 9, 9, 9, 9, Figure M, on the axeltree of which there's four on each side,
they are made round, and of about a quarter of an inch diameter; their length
is regulated by the distance they stand from each other. The upper ends of
them must form an arch to the same radius to that of the jacks; on them are
brass ferrels which revolves about them to a take off of the friction of the wide
iron, Figure G, whose edge, being but a quarter of an inch thick, is always
rubbing against them. These make the grove more compleat, and keep the
said iron in its proper place. The two narrow irons before described by
Figure F, five feet long each, and half an inch wide, must be bent to form an
arch, Figure M, on the axeltree, and must come under the bent ends of the
jacks and these little stays, and screwed to them, two screws to each of them
jack plates, and one thro' the little stay, as the plan Figure F represents,
and the work is finished by putting the iron arch, Figure H, into the in
the axeltrce, Figure M; and by the motion of the ground wheels the axeltree,
Figure A, is always sliding about, and the body of the chair, chaise, &c. is
perpendicular, even if the wheels are overturned.
grove
Another method of executing this work is as follows:-Figure A is the axel-
tree, as before described, either of wood or iron; and the wide iron, Figure R,
is two inches and an half in breadth, a quarter of an inch thick, & 6 feet long,
and is bent to the same radius as Figure G. In this plate is three holes, cut
each two inches long and more than one inch wide, a, a, a; through these three
holes must come the brass friction wheels, two inches & an half diameter,
& one inch thick, fixt in jacks after the manner of the others, and the jacks to
be of the same substance the other was of; but these jacks differ in their
make, as seen by Figure S, with a bent stay iron, return again to the plate, and
is rivetted about the middle between the end and middle jack, which greatly
helps to strengthen the said wide plate and support it; these jacks are two
inches at the bottom b, 6, and o, o, is three inches; from O to P is fourteen
inches; that part of the jack at P is one inch deep, and is rivetted with rivets
made out of their own stuff, as Figure S represents, to the plate Figure R,
through the holes ⚫
, and is fixed to the axeltree with the
screws and nutts r, r, r, as seen by Figure A, where the wide iron and jacks
are fully shewn. Figure T is the profile of the arched grove V, which is made
of iron; the upper plate N, N, which forms the grove, is about six feet six
inches long, three inches and a half wide from N to N, and in thickness
one eighth of an inch, and the grove irons on each side which is rivetted to this

page_text: plate N, O, is of an inch thick, and from N to O one inch, and from O to
P%, of an inch; the distance from P to P is almost two inches. This grove
cannot well be described any other way than by the profile as above; and
Figure W is a profile of the arch already fixed on the axeltree, Figure A,
which this grove work, Figure T, moves over, so that the friction wheel r is
always moving against the inside of the plate S. Figure U is the said grove
work at large, with the brackets rivetted to the upper plate; they stand from
each other as the before described, and this grove work is finished the shafts
after the same manner as the wide iron, Figure H, for now the work is inverted;
before the grove was at the bottom on the axeltree, but now 'tis fixed to shafts.
In Figure H & V are little screws 4, 4, which have nutts to screw into them;
upon these screws comes two stay irons, about two feet long and one quarter of
an inch square; the other ends of these stay irons are nailed to the under end
of the shafts of the chaise, &c. in order to keep the whole work more together:
which is the whole description of the machine.
.In witness whereof, I have to the Plan hereto affixed, as likewise here-
unto, set my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and forty-six, and in
the twentieth year of the reign of His said Majesty King George the