IMPROVEMENTS ON AXLETREES APPLICABLE TO FOUR-WHEELED CARRIAGES
Year: 1818

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME GREETING,
I, RUDOLPH ACKERMANN, of the Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Publisher
and Printseller, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day
of January, in the fifty-eighth year of the reign, give and grant unto me,
the said Rudolph Ackermann, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Rudolph
Ackermann, my exors, admors, and assigns, should and lawfully might,
during the term of years therein expressed, make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Inven-
tion, communicated to me by George Lenkensperger, of Munich, in the
Kingdom of Bavaria, of certain "IMPROVEMENTS ON AXLETREES APPLICABLE TO
FOUR-WHEELED CARRIAGES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso that if I, the said Rundolph Ackermann, should not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall forthwith cease, determine,
and become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may
more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Rudolph Ackermann, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
Each one of the two axletree arms whereon the fore wheels turn is united
with, or is in preference wrought out of the same piece with what I call a
vertical axle, and which is a round axle of any form capable of being fitted
into a hollow box or socket so as to turn round therein. The vertical axle
and the axletree arm are firmly united together at right angles with each
other, or nearly so; the said verticle axles are received and fitted into perpen-
dicular holes, boxes, or sockets made through the piece of timber called the
fore transom of the carriage at or near the two ends of the said transom.
Note, in a carriage whereof the fore axletrees are made according to these
improvements, no fore axletree bed is required, the fore transom supplying
the place thereof by the application of the verticle axles which, being placed
in their sockets at the extremities of the transom, form two separate centres
of motion round which the axle arms can be turned with an horizontal
rotatory motion in order to place the fore wheels in an oblique direction when
the carriage is required to turn. In order to communicate the motion to both
axle arms and wheels at the same time, a ewer, which I call a stay, is firmly
united to each of the intersections or elbows where the vertical axles and axle
arms unite; the said levers or stays proceed backwards, and are curved upwards
and joined or connected together at the ends by a bar which I call a controul-
ing bar. To the middle of the controuling bar the hinder end of the futchel
is jointed, so that the said controling bar also supplies the place of a sway
bar. The futchel being attached to the middle of the fore transom by the
perch bolt and the pole being joined to the futchel in the usual manner,
the futchel and pole can turn about upon the perch bolt as a centre of motion,
and then the hinder end of the futchel will act upon the controling bar in the
manner of a lever, and this action will by the said bar be transmitted to the
stays or levers of the axletrees so as to turn the vertical axles round in their
sockets, and place both axle arms and fore wheels in an oblique direction at
the same time.
No. 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed represents the said improvements
and the manner of applying them to the fore wheels of a four-wheeled
carriage; No. 2 represents a plan of the same carriage in the position of
turning round; and No. 3 represents an elevation of the carriage. The fore
transome C, No. 1, should be placed on the top and bottom sides with the

page_text: ironwork represented at D, D, and firmly fixed by bolts thro' the wood. At
or near the ends of the iron plating D, D, are holes, which being made through
both the iron and the wood, form the socket wherein the vertical axles E, E,
are inserted, and they are secured by nuts or otherwise in the manner of linch
pins in order that the vertical axles E, E, may turn in their sockets and form
the centres round which the axle arms have their horizontal rotatory motion
for the purpose of placing the fore wheels in an oblique position when the
carriage is to be turned or is in the act of turning round. F, F, are the
levers or stays projecting backwards from the elbow or bend where the vertical
axles and the axle arms unite; they may be wrought in the same solid piece
with the axle arms and vertical axles, and the two stays are connected together
by means of the controling bar B which is united to the extremities of both
stays by knuckle joints H, H, Fig. 2; and, therefore, if any motion is given
to one vertical axle and axle arm, the other must partake of it. The futchel A
passes through a bow or crook underneath the fore transom, with which it is
united by means of the perch bolt S, making the centre of motion for the
pole; and the futchel projecting behind the fore transom, as is represented in
Nos. 1 and 2, forms a lever R whose centre of motion is at S. The con-
troling bar is connected with the end R of the futchel by a pin or bolt fixed
in the said bar at a point equidistant from the extremities thereof. The
splinter bar from which the horses draw is bolted to the futchel in the usual
nanner and braised by iron stays; it must be fixed at such a distance from the
perch bolt as to allow full play for the fore wheels at their greatest obliquity.
When the horses turn sideways, in order to turn the carriage about, the futchel
moves on the perch bolt S like a lever upon its centre, and moves the con-
troling bar H, B, H, No. 2, endways; this communicates motion to both
the stays F, F, and consequently to both the axle arms and fore wheels, so as
to put them into an oblique direction in respect of the hind wheels (see No. 2),
and then the carriage is prepared for turning. If the distance between the
two vertical axles E, E, No. 2, be made more by some inches than the distance
between the joints H, E, at the ends of the controling bar B, as shewn by
No. 2, it will occasion that fore wheel which is on the side to which the
carriage is intended to turn to have a greater degree of obliquity than the
opposite wheel. This is conducive to quick turning, because the axles of
all the four wheels of the carriage become directed to one point O, as is shewn
by the dotted lines; but if the length of the controling bar be made equal
to the distance between the two vertical axles, then the two fore wheels will
always stand paralel to each other. If the controling bar B be curved so
that the joint in the middle of it be moved one or two inches backwards, the

page_text: futchel will act upon B with longer leverage, and consequently the obliquity
of the wheels will be increased beyond the obliquity given to the futchel and
the pole of the carriage. This will allow the futchel to be made shorter at
pleasure than shewn in the Plan. The pin which connects the end R of the
futchel with the middle of the controling bar B, must be fixed into that
bar, and must be received in an oblong hole or slit at the end of the futchel
so as to allow the pin a little play in the hole in the direction of the length
of the futchel; instead of the vertical axles the axle arms may be united to
the ends of the fore transom by fixing a strong iron hinge joint at No. 4 at
each end of the fore transom, one part of the joint being bolted to the wood
of the transom, and the axle arm being made out of the same piece of metal
as the other part of the hinge joint; the two parts of the hinge joint, being well
fitted to each other, are united together by a perpendicular pin or bolt / which
passes through all the knuckles of the said joint; the levers or stays and control-
ing bar are the same as to the vertical axles already described. A carriage
whereof the axletrees of the four wheels are constructed according to these
improvements will turn within a small compass and with safety, because the
wheels do not materially alter their bearing upon the ground when they are
placed in the greatest degree of oblicuity. The dimensions and proportions of
the parts may be known by the scales attached to the Drawings, but these
dimensions and proportions may be varied at discretion without departing from
or altering the nature of the Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Rudolph Ackermann, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand sight lundred and sightoon
RUDOLPH (L.s.) ACKERMANN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1818, the aforesaid Rudolph Ackermann came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighteen.