AN IMPROVED COACH, PARTICULARLY ADAPTED FOR PUBLIC CONVEYANCE AND LUGGAGE
Year: 1829

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BROWN, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Coach Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Fifth day of August, in the tenth year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Brown, His especial licence, that I, the said Thomas Brown, my
exors, adiñiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas Brown, my
exors, adiñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED
COACH, PARTICULARLY ADAPTED FOR PUBLIC CONVEYANCE AND LUGGAGE;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Thomas Brown,
should 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 six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto bad, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Brown, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described and
ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof, that is to say :-
My improved coach is a new combination and arrangement of various parts
which have been heretofore used in carriages of different descriptions, bụt whịch

page_text: parts, being combined together and arranged in my improved coach in the
manner represented in the Drawing and herein-after described, it possesses the
united qualities of lightness and consequent ease of draft, safety from over-
turning or breaking down, steadiness of motion, and great capacity for carrying
luggage, that luggage being on springs, and locked up under cover, secure from
loss and damage from weather or by jolting; and it will be found on trial to
possess all those qualities to a greater extent than any coaches now used for public
conveyance of passengers and luggage. My improved coach is constructed
without a perch or frame, whereby "much weight is saved, and consequently
rendered easier, and the body of the coach is brought nearer the ground.
The fore carriage is made with under springs, and applied immediately beneath
the bottom of the fore 'boot, whereby the pole, being upon springs, gives some
ease to the wheel horses. The hind axle is cranked down so as to allow the
usual hind boot to be enlarged at bottom into a capacious luggage box, which
extends forwards underneath part of the coach body, and under the hinder
boot, giving a great extra depth within the bottom of that boot to receive
and lock up luggage, the weight of which luggage being much nearer to the
ground than usual, the loading and unloading is facilitated, and the coach
is rendered more safe from overturning, also the motion is more steadly than
in coaches where the load is placed higher, because the inequalities of the road
occasion less swinging of the body on the 'springs. All the springs of my
improved coach are disposed in the direction of the length of the coach
without any cross springs, whereby much weight and wear is saved, and the
motion of the coach body is rendered more steady when travelling rapidly over a
good road than that of ordinary stage coaches, which have several more springs
than mine, for there is so much less swinging motion of the body on the
springs (in consequence of the body and the load of luggage being placed so
much lower than in ordinary stage coaches, and in consequence of the longi-
tudinal disposition of the springs) that 'I am enabled to make the chief parts
of the works rather lighter than is usual in other coaches which have the
same capacity for carrying passengers and luggage, and yet there is 'less
risk of my improved coach breaking down, because the parts thereof are less
exposed to the strain of the swinging motion of the body on the spring. All
the above advantages concur to render my improved coach lighter and easier
of draft, as well as safer from accidents. It is not necessary to enter into a
very minute description of the structure of the various parts of my improved
coach, because the same are very similar to the corresponding parts of various
carriages which have been heretofore made for different purposes, and cou-
sequently their structure must be familiar to coach makers, and also because

page_text: "my Invention does not consist in the discovery or production of any parts that
are new in themselves, but it consists only in a particular combination. (repre-
sented in the Drawing, and herein-beforé described,) of parts which taken
separately are well known to coachmakers, being used by them in different
carriages, from which carriages I have selected the most suitable parts for my
purpose, and have, after much study, labour, and expense, arranged and
combined the same so as to form an improved coach for public conveyance of
passengers and luggage, which is new, as a combination of parts, and which
possesses the advantages herein-before set forth, hence that combination
which constitutes my Invention is all that is necessary to be described in this
'Specification. The Drawing being to a scale, and representing all the parts,
will (together with what has been 'herein-before stated and with what follows)
afford sufficient instruction to a competent coach maker to enable him to
construct my improved coach. The coach body must be fortified beneath, and
well united to the fore and hind boots, by making the 'bottom pieces, which
are called rockers, to extend all the length of the coach, from end to end.
They are curved upwards at the front ends, to clear the wheel transom in
Jocking, and at the hinder ends the rockers are made deep enough to give the
extra depth at bottom to the inside of the body for the feet of the passengers,
and to the hinder boot for luggage, which extra depth between the deep
rockers enables me to bring the load nearer the ground than usual. Theso
deep rockers must be strengthened by suitable iron plates, particularly at their
curved parts, and the rockers on each side must be united by suitable pieces
of cross framing, and also by the boarding which forms the bottom of the
luggage box and body, to give the bottom of the coach the requisite strength.
The door at the back of the hind boot does not open down to the bottom of the
luggage piece, and the cross piece beneath that door gives strength to the
bottom, and also prevents parcels falling out. The luggage box may occupy
all the space under the hinder inside seat, only leaving sufficient room at the
bottom for the feet of the inside passengers who sit on the front seat. The
flat bottom of the coach reaches forwards as far as to give sufficient room for
the feet of the inside passengers who sit on the hinder inside seat. The
bottom of the fore boot is level with the under side of the rockers, and the
usual iron circle or wheel transom is fixed horizontally to suitable cross pieces,
by which that bottom is strengthened, and that circle rosts upon the corre-
sponding circular iron of the fore carriage, which fore carriage being in every
respect the same as is usually made for carriages with under springs, it
needs no further explanation than the Drawing conveys. The hinder axle is
cranked down low enough to admit the luggage box within the cranked part,

page_text: "with due allowance for the settling of the body on its springs. The hinder
springs are fixed at the middle of their length across the ends of the hinder axle
:close to the naves of the hind wheels, between those naves and the places
where the crank down begins. From the ends of the hind springs the binder
part of the body is suspended by short strong iron fastenings, which are fixed.
to the sides of the rockers, and turn so much under the lower edges thereof
as to get very good hold of the bottom. The eyes at the hinder ends of the
springs are oval, to receive the bolts that support the weight, in order to allow
the springs to play, when they lengthen and shorten, according to the flexuro
that is produced by the weight which comes upon them. Two other springs
are fixed fast at one end of each to the underside of the rockers, and are
furnished with strong leather braces fixed to the underside of the rockers by
the same bolts which fasten the ends of the springs thereto. The extremities
of the springs and of the braces extend downwards and backwards towards
the crank of the hind axle, and the leather braces are united to that crank
by shackles. The chief use of the last-mentioned springs and leather braces
is to assist the side springs, and also to serve as braces to retain the cranked
axle in its proper place beneath the body, in the event of the upper hind
springs giving way.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Second day of February, in the eleventh year of
the reign of our Sovereign Lord. George the Fourth, by the grace of
God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King,
Defender of the Faith, and in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirty.
ΕΠΟΜΑ
PROWN