AN IMPROVED WHEEL-SKID OR SHOE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Poupard, of Blackfriars Road, in the County
of Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED WHEEL-SKID OR
SHOE."
Sealed the 15th July 1859, and dated the 19th January 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Poupard at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th January 1859.
I, WILLIAM POUPARD, of Blackfriars Road, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED WHEEL-SKID OR SHOE," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing a skid or shoe for the skidding of
wheels in descending inclines with a tail piece projecting from the back part
and top of the skid chamber. This tail piece may be carried entirely through
to the front of the shoe, and I prefer to form it of wrought iron or steel;
while the body of the shoe may be made of cast iron. I find the best results
to be obtained when the projecting tail piece is curved upwards, but I do not
limit myself to so shaping it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Poupard in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th July 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
POUPARD, of Blackfriars Road, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Poupard, Her special licence that I, the said William
Poupard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Poupard, my executors, 'administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, "from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IM-
PROVED WHEEL-SKID OR SHOE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Poupard, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of-the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Poupard, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists in constructing a skid or shoe for the skidding of
wheels in descending inclines with a tail piece projecting from the back part
and top of the skid chamber. This tail piece may be carried entirely through
to the front of the shoe, and I prefer to form it of wrought iron or steel,
while the body of the shoe may be made of cast or wrought iron. I find the
best results to be obtained when the projecting tail-piece is curved upwards,
but I do not limit myself to so shaping it.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation of a wheel-skid
or shoe, constructed according to my Invention, and Figure 2 is a section

page_text: through the line a, b, of the same. A is the body of the skid or shoe, which is
attached in the ordinary manner to a chain B; B', B', are sides or side
pieces forming a chamber for the wheel; C is the tail piece made by pre-
ference of steel or wrought iron, and rivetted or bolted to the body A, as
shewn by the dotted lines in Figure 2. I prefer to form the tail piece of a
curve to correspond with the contour of a wheel, but this shape can be varied
without departing from the essential features of the Invention. Figure 3
shows a wheel just entering the skid; to provide for this, raise the chain B,
which brings the tail flush or nearly so with the ground, and allows the wheel
to run in; let go the chain, and the wheel comes to rest in the skid.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the construction
of a wheel-skid or shoe with a tail piece projecting from the back part and
top of the skid chamber, as herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Poupard, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
WILLIAM POUPARD. (L.S.)