A METHOD OB MEANS OF DISENGAGING HORSES FROM CARRIAGES
Year: 1802

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I; JOHN
WILLIAMS, of Portsmouth, in the County of Hants, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day
of March, in the forty-second year of His reign, did give and grant unto me,
the said John Williams, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special
licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority, that I, the said John Williams,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A METHOD OB
MEANS OF DISENGAGING HORSES FROM CARRIAGES;" in which Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Williams, under my hand
and 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 one calendar month next and
immediately ensuing the said in part 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 proviso, I, the said
John Williams, do hereby declare that my Invention is described in manner
following, that is to say :-
My Invention consists chiefly in the addition of a rolling splinter bar affixed
in such a manner to the usual or main splinter bar as will suffer it to turn

page_text: on it's axis when needful, and also in the means of fastning the traces to the
said rolling bar. The rolling bar is fixed by means of collars or eyes which
encircle it; the shanks of the said eyes pass through the main splinter bar,
and are fastened by nuts screwed on their ends against the back part of the
main splinter bar; they may also be secured by being rivetted, or in any other
manner the workman may think proper. The following is a description or
Specification of the different parts of the Invention as illucidated by the above
Figures:-
Figure 1 is a plain or horizontal view, shewing the rolling splinter
bar attached to the main splinter bar in this way, and in the position in which
it will appear after the horses are let loose. a, a, a, a, are the stubs or studs
to which the traces are fixed. b, the curb lever forming part of the rolling
splinter bar, with a flat end and a hole through it, which flat end shuts down
over the top of a shouldered bolt as at c, the uppermost end of which fits
into the hole at the end of the said lever, and the lever is confined on the head
of that shouldered bolt by a spring bolt made in a metal box, which is secured
upon the futchells or any other part of the carriage most conveniently situated
behind the main cylinder bar, as at d.
Figure 2 is a section of part of the carriage, shewing the form of the
lever b, as also the manner in which the box d is placed, and how the bolt
which is forced out of the box shuts over the end of the lever b, and confines
it down upon the head of the bolt, as at c, which causes the stubs or studs
on the rolling splinter bar, as at a, a, a, a, Figure 1", to become perpendicular.
The crank or handle e, Figure 2nd, draws back the bolt when the cord or
leather straps, which is attached to it, is pulled for that purpose; the said cord
or strap leads through a hole in the upper transom or immediately over it,
when the boot is raised upon block, and leads on to the inside of the carriage
through any part as agreeable to the wishes of the proprietor.
Figure 3rd is a collar or eye, by which the rolling splinter bar is fixed to
the main splinter bar, and is either to encircle the rolling splinter bar, with
or without a hinge, as agreeable to the proprietor.
Figure 4th is a collared bolt on which the flat end-of-the-lever-fits.-
Figure 5th shews the inside of the box, with one mode, viz, by tooth,
pinion, and spring, to keep the bolt always forced out, except when the parties
wish to disengage the horses.-N.B. The spring bolt may be constructed
in any manner that will answer the intended purpose of forcing the bolt out
with a strong spring.
Figure 6th is a looplet, made of metal, to be affixed to the end of the trace.
a is a thin plate of metal, having holes through it, which plate is to be

page_text: placed between the leathers at the end of the trace, and rivetted thereto.
b, a joint by which the said plate is to be attached to the looplet, intended to
give sufficient play to the traces. c, part of the looplet which fits over the
stubs or studs, and is prevented from coming off while the stubs or studs are
perpendicular by the lower part of the said looplet coming under the rolling
splinter bar, as at d. e, shews one of the stubs or studs on the rolling splinter
bar as it is turned over in a horizontal position at the moment of disengaging.
-N.B. These looplets may be made either with or without a joint, as occasion
may require.
Figure 7th is a looplet affixed to a trace, and attached to the rolling splinter
bar in the manner as appears at the perpendicular stud or stub a, and as the
traces, looplets, and stubs or studs will appear when the horses are fastened
to the carriage.
Figure 8th, a plan or horizontal view of the pole, with the traces, pole
pieces, &c., when fixed. a, a, a, metal sockets, which fit on to the end of the
pole, as it is reduced for that purpose, and butts against a shoulder on the
pole as at b, b. c, c, the pole pieces in their proper situations, when the
harness is affixed to the carriage, which, when the traces are let go, are by the
motion of the horses pulled forward, and the socket thereby becomes imme-
diately disengaged from the pole. d, d, d, additional traces, which are
occasionally hooked through the end of the trace and metal plate that is
rivetted thereto, as at e, e, and also hooked on to the socket at the end of the
pole, by metal eyes attached to them, as at f, f, and drawn tight by buckles,..
as at 9, 9; the
purpose of these additional traces is to be fixed on in the
manner above set forth whenever two or more additional horses arc hooked
on at the end of the pole, thereby preventing the socket at the end of the
pole from being loosened from it's proper position: Suppose the carriage is
in motion, you being in the inside and wishing to disengage the horses, you
are, by means of the strap or cord which leads into the carriage, to pull back
the bolt, as at d, Figure 2nd, when the lever being no longer confined imme-
diately rises in consequence of the pull on the traces, and the stubs or studs,
as at a, a, a, a, Figure 1, become horizontal, when the looplets directly slip
off from the studs or stubs, and the traces become disengaged, as at c, d, e,
Figure 6th. A similar rolling splinter bar is intended to be affixed to curricles
or gigs, and all kind of carriages whatsoever, for which purpose the wood-
work to which the rolling splinter and the rest of the apparatus is intended
to be affixed must be so constructed that the same may be well secured
thereon. Any carriage having shafts are to have a socket fixed to the end of
each shaft; and any carriage having shafts or a pole, which from it's construc-

page_text: .tion would fall to the ground as soon as the horse or horses were disengaged,
are to have a piece of iron with a broad bottom or wheel, as at Figure 9th,
a, a, affixed to each shaft or the pole, to prevent the motion being checked
too suddenly by the fall thereof, and by keeping the ends of the shafts or pole
a few inches above the ground to suffer the motion to cease gradually, thereby
preventing the shock which would take place if the ends of the shafts or pole
were suddenly to stick into the ground.-N.B. The method of disengaging
the harness from the ends of the pole or shafts I do not claim as being a new
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Williams, have hereunto set my
Land and seal, the Tenth day of April, in the forty-second year of
the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, 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 two.
Inrolled the same Tenth day of April, in the year above written.