Supporting the Shafts of Wheeled Vehicles.
Year: 1888

page_text: Supporting the Shafts of Wheeled Vehicles.
I, ALFRED DAVEY, of Acton Vale, in the County of Middlesex, Coach Smith,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention and in what manner the samo
is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This Invention has reference to certain improvements in or applicable to the tugs
of harness used for supporting the shafts of wheeled vehicles.
Such devices have hitherto been constructed of several thicknesses of leather which
are stitched together, the buckle and strap guides being inserted or hinged between
adjacent thicknesses of the leather and depending for their support entirely upon the
holding together of the leathers by the aforesaid stitching, and as the tugs when in use
are subjected to continuous strains in various directions the buckle and said guides
are liable to quickly wear loose and to tear the stitches apart and destroy the tug.
The especial object of the present improvements is to avoid the above and other
disadvantages consequent on the use of such tugs, and to this end the Invention consists
essentially in constructing the tug entire of steel, iron or other suitable metal which
will cause it to retain its desired shape, integral with bearings or carriers for the buckle
and for the strap guides which will cause the same to retain their desired relative
positions, and in the lining thereof internally with gutta-percha or other suitable pliant
material which will permit of the shaft playing easily and comparatively noiselessly
within the metal tug, and in applying the buckle and said strap guides to the said
bearings or carriers thereof in such a manner as to permit of the removal, replacement
or adjustment thereof without the need of any special tool, and in the provision of the
strap-guides with elastic anti-friction rollers which will permit of the free movement of
the strap relatively thereto and of the avoidance of all friction thereof against the outer
side of the tug as existent in tugs of the usual formation.
The Invention is illustrated on the accompanying drawings, in which
Fig. 1. represents a side elevation of a tug constructed in accordance therewith..
Fig. 2. is a section thereof through, a, b.
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page_text: And, Fig. 4. is a vertical section centrally of Fig. 1. and at a plane at right angles to
those of the sections delineated in Figs. 2, and, 3.-
"
5, represents the metallic portion of the tug which is made of the required shape and
dimensions. It is made entire or continuous around the shaft opening, 6, and integral
with bearings or carriers, 7, for the buckle, 8, and with bearings or carriers, 9, for the
strap guides, 10.
The bearings, 7, are so disposed as to locate the position of the tongue, 11, thereof
on its centre pin, 12, and relatively to the buckle, and the buckle and tongue are
secured by the pin, 12, which is formed with a head, 13, and is passed through tho
adjacent eye, 14, of the buckle, both of the said bearings, 7, and the intermediate
eye, 15, of the tongue, 11, and is screwed into the other eye, 14,.of the buckle
projecting beyond the same and being secured by a removable screw nut, 16.
The bearings, 9, are so disposed as to support the side arms of the strap guides, 10,
which are each secured by a pin, 12x, adapted and applied in the manner hereinbefore
described with reference to the pins, 12. The pins, 12x, are, however, between the
bearings, 9, each encircled by a freely fitting anti-friction roller, 17, which can rotate
free from contact with the adjacent surface of the metallic part, 5, of the tug, vide
Fig. 3.
The said buckle and strap-guides are thus, fitted in such manner that they have
freedom of movement about their respective centre-pins, and that they can be freely
removed and replaced, it only being .necessary in order to remove them, to unscrew
the nuts, 16, 16*, and then to unscrew and withdraw the pins, 12, 12*.
18, represents the strap which passes over the usual pad on the horse or other
draught animal's back and under the animal's body and to which the tug is suspended
by the buckle, 8. In tugs of the improved construction herein described the strap is
kept from frictional contact with the metallic portion of the tug, by the, anti-friction
rollers, 17.
The inside of the metallic portion, 5, of the tug is lined, as at, 20, preferably with
gutta-percha which is secured by heating the tug and then causing the gutta-percha to
adhere thereto by moulding it thereto by pressure. The exterior of the tug, at a part
against which the draught animal's body is liable to rub, is also preferably adapted
with a pad, as at, 19, of gutta-percha similarly applied.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same: is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is,
1. The construction of tugs of harness used for supporting the shafts of 'wheeled
vehicles in the improved nianner herein before described.
2. Constructing the tug of metal, integral with bearings for the buckle and strap-
guides, substantially as herein before described.
3. Constructing the tug of metal, integral with bearings for the buckle and strap-
guides, and lining the same internally and at the part against which the draught
animal's body is liable to rub with gutta-percha or other suitable pliant material, sub-
stantially as herein before described.
4. Applying the buckle and strap-guides to the bearings of the tug in the improved.
manner hereinbefore described.
5. Providing the strap guides with anti-friction rollers substantially as and for the
purpose herein before described.
Dated this 5th day of December 1888.
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT;
321, High Holborn, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.