IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODES OF AND APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING DRAUGHT ANIMALS TO VEHICLES AND IN THE MODE OF PREVENTING ACCIDENTS WHEN THE ANIMALS TAKE FRIGHT."
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Phillips Thompson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd November 1877. A. com-
munication from abroad by Monsieur Joseph Garrich, of 5, Rue de Chateaudun,
Paris, in the Republic of France.
66
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, British and International Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODES OF AND APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING DRAUGHT
ANIMALS TO VEHICLES AND IN THE MODE OF PREVENTING ACCIDENTS WHEN THE
ANIMALS TAKE FRIGHT." A communication from abroad by Monsieur Joseph
Garrich, of 5, Rue de Chateaudun, Paris, in the Republic of France.
Carriage accidents are unfortunately very frequent when the horses as it is called
"take the bit between the teeth."
My Invention is designed to prevent these accidents. The shafts or pole of the
carriage instead of being fixed to the carriage are in my Invention susceptible of
being detached as quickly as may be desired by vertically elevating the spike or
fastening by means of a screwed pin, of which said spike is the prolongation or end.
The coachman can do this by means of a crank which he has at his feet, or better
still, the person in the carriage has the power by means of another bell crank or
other mechanism connected with the screwed pin, by giving a simple pull or a
rotary motion as the case may be, to raise the screwed pin vertically and thus
disengage the spike which pins the cross trees, shafts, or pole to the carriage. The
horses can then run away, leaving the carriage behind.
In a two-horse carriage the mode of detachment is as follows:-The shafts are
fastened to one cross tree, this cross tree works in guides attached to the stationary
cross tree below; hinged to the stationary cross tree and passing through holes in
the upper one when in position are the pegs to which the traces are attached by
rings. Two racks on the respective cross trees have a pinion between them, to the
axle of which the before mentioned crank is attached. By turning this crank or
pinion the two cross trees are forced asunder by the racks and pinions, till the
hinged pegs on which the traces act are no longer held by the upper cross tree, and
the traces are liberated. The attachment of the collars to the shaft is the same in
this case as formerly.

page_text: The spreader consists of two rectangular bars superinposed the one on the other,
and united by means of a hinge round which the upper one can turn. The lower
one remains fixed to the shaft. The bars have two cavities containing the rings of
the traces. The two bars remain together as long as a small lock pin remains in
place. By pulling the strap however connected with this pin the upper bar is set
loose, and opens for the rings to slip out. The trace bar or bar to which the traces
are fastened can be composed of two pieces, upper and lower, having a dovetailed
joint enabling the upper to have a longitudinal movement only on the other; the
traces are fastened by rings to pegs hinged to the upper one, passing out through
notches in the same. By drawing the upper bar by a strap longitudinally on the
lower these pegs supported in a slot in the lower bar come opposite a notch, where
the side of the slot is completely cut away: The pegs being hinged at once give at
this point and the traces fly out. Other arrangements than a dovetailed joint can
be used as a guide, but the result is the same.
In one-horse carriages the pin on which the trace is fixed is hinged to an oblique
bar placed in a vertical plane below the shaft, this pin is pinned to the shaft by a
smaller pin on a bell crank that passes through both shaft and draft pin. Pull the
shaft attached to the other arm of the bell crank, and the little pin slips out and
the hinged draw pin lets go of the traces. In this case all the other attachments are
arranged so as to be let go automatically or by similar arrangements, and the horse
rushes out of the shafts free. It will be seen at once that this principle can be
indefinitely varied, yet in all cases by withdrawing the support of a hinged pin or
its equivalent the attachment is destroyed.