IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES FOR CARRIAGES ON COMMON ROADS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Toussaint Yves Ménard, of Boulevard de Stras-
bourg, 23, at Paris, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BRAKES FOR CARRIAGES ON COMMON ROADS "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Toussaint Yves Ménard
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th August 1874.
I, TOUSSAINT YVES MÉNARD, of Boulevard de Strasbourg, 23, at Paris,
5 Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES FOR CARRIAGES ON COMMON ROADS," to be as
follows:-
Many persons have sought means to arrest carriages run away with by.
horses over whom control has been lost. Without referring to the
apparatus proposed for acting directly upon the horse to hold it I
remember that a certain number of brakes to embrace the wheel and so
oppose a resistance to the animal have been proposed. But all these

page_text: the left of the horse, takes the handle and draws it towards him, forcing
the spring and removing the rod from the fixed tenon. This operation
is instantaneous, and the horse does the rest in the manner already
described.
-
In another and more simple arrangement of my brake the shaft is put
in motion directly by the shaft rods and the levers. Its movement is
then communicated in the opposite direction by the
then to the blocks or brakes by means of levers.
second shaft, and
In a still more simple arrangement the brakes are in front of the
wheels, to which they are applied by a simple rock motion. The shaft
rods and the levers cause the shaft to turn, which thus causes opposite
levers, at the extremity of which are fixed the brakes, to rock.
For carriages with four wheels the principle is the same and the
mechanism alike, a single difficulty presenting itself, that of transmitting
the rectilinear movement from the front to the rear without preventing
the movement of the front carriago upon the poll bolt. In this case tho
pull rod is above the front carriage, held beneath the box of the vehicle.
It passes by the axis of the front carriage and receives the bolt in a pro-
longed opening, which permits of a sufficiently long to-and-fro move,
ment. The traction is exerted upon the point, and is transmitted by a
lever to the shaft which carries the brakes.
As already described with reference to two-wheeled vehicles the shaft
is rendered immovable. The acting handle is under the control of the
driver in the box and fixed upon an arc of a circle.
to a
66
The above mechanism would be somewhat more complicated if applied
"coupé" or a 'Victoria," since the space between the two sets of
wheels (cintre-devant) must remain free for the passage of the wheels of
the front body. To cause the brake to act in the back movements it is
sufficient to arrange the back strap by means of a pulley in front of the
shaft rods. In case of accident occurring at any point of the apparatus
the vehicle can still be drawn by means of an apparatus consisting of a
stop fixed upon one of the shaft rods which abuts against a piston
implanted in the shaft, and into which the rod slides.
To slacken the speed of the vehicle upon a rapid descent or near an
obstacle the driver seizes the handle and sets it free without letting go

page_text: his hold, and then maintains it so as to prevent the complete arrest by
allowing the brake to press more or less, or the handle might be fixed
at the point where the most suitable friction is obtained during the
whole descent.
in pursuance of the Celt
filed by the said Toussaint Yves Ménard in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th February 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, TOUSSAINT
YVES MENARD, of Boulevard de Strasbourg, 23, at Paris, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Toussaint Yves Menard, Her
special licence that I, the said Toussaint Yves Menard, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Toussaint Yves
Menard, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES FOR CARRIAGES ON COMMON ROADS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Toussaint Yves Menard, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly 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.

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
Many persons have sought means to arrest carriages run away with by
horses over which control has been lost. Without referring to the
apparatus proposed for acting directly upon the horse to check it a
number of brakes which embrace the wheel and so oppose a resistance
to the animal have been proposed. But all these brakes being put in
action by the driver require on his part a presence of mind, a power
of action, and a skill of manipulation upon which it is hardly possible
to rely, and besides their action is slow, while the occasion requires
great promptitude.
I have invented an arrangement of brake which obviates these incon-
veniences. It is put into action by the horse itself, that is to say; at a
given moment at the will of the driver and without exertion on his part
all the power of the horse is applied to the brake. The animal thus
offers to itself all the resistance possible, for it has to draw the carriage
with its wheels skidded. The driver has only to release an apparatus by
means of a handle under his control, and nothing is more simply or
quickly done.
The other advantage of my Invention is that it acts almost instan-
taneously, while at the same time not suddenly, in fact, at the moment
when it is put into action the horse is drawing but slightly in consequence
of the momentum already gained by the vehicle, and the latter is not
braked immediately; it is only after a certain slackening that the animal
employs his power to render the wheels immovable and oppose his
resistance thereto.
My Invention will be well understood on reference to the annexed
Drawings.
Figure 1 is a lateral elevation of a water barrel or cart provided with
one arrangement of my brake; Figure 2 is a plan of the same seen from
beneath. A, B, are two rods, which transmit the traction of the horse
to the brake by their attachment to the traces; B, C, are two levers
jointed freely to the end of a rod C, E, transmitting the traction of both
sides of the horse; E, E, is a lever imparting to a shaft D, D, a rotating
movement, in which another lever F, F, which draws a rod F, G, forward
mentininator. A TI A ia lever which by the intermediation
3
of

page_text: rods H, I, and of the shaft I', I', applies the two blocks or brakes P, P,
against the wheels. Thus by this arrangement the horse while drawing
forwards closes the brake.
In order to prevent the brake from being closed and to allow the
carriage to travel it is sufficient to render immovable the shaft D, D,
which is effected by means of a little lever arm D, K, and of a rod K, K.;
The front end of this rod is pierced with several holes capable of receiving
a tenon fixed securely to the shaft, and the rod is kept against the shaft
by a spring R.
i In the position seen at Figure 1 the apparatus does not act, and the
carriage can be put in motion. To stop it the driver, who in this case is
on foot on the left of the horse, takes the handle K, draws it towards
him, forcing the spring R, and removing the rod K, K, from the fixed
tenon. This operation is instantaneous, and the horse does the rest in
the manner already described.
In Figure 3 I have shown a plan seen from beneath of another and
more simple arrangement of my brake. In this arrangement the
shaft D, D, is put in motion directly by the rods A, B, and the
levers B, B. Its movement is then communicated in the opposite
direction by the shaft C, C, and then to the blocks or brakes P by means
of levers G, G, F, F, and. rods G, F. The rod K, K, acts upon the
shaft D, D, absolutely, as I have explained with reference to the first
arrangement.
Figure 4 shows a plan seen from beneath of a still more simple arrange-
ment, in which the brakes are in front of the wheels, to which they are
applied by a simple rock motion. The rods A, B, and the levers B, B;
cause the shaft D, D, to turn, which thus causes the opposite levers D, B,
at the extremities of which are fixed the brakes P, P, to rock. The
rod K, K, acts precisely in the same manner as already described.
For carriages with four wheels the principle is the same and the
mechanism alike, a single difficulty presenting itself, that of transmitting
the rectilinear movement from the front to the rear without preventing
the movement of the front carriage upon the pole bolt. In this case (see
Figures 5 and 6) the rod B, C, is above the front carriage held beneath
the box of the vehicle. It passes by the axis of the front carriage and
receives the bolt in a prolonged opening o, o, Figure 6, which permits of

page_text: and shown in the accompanying Drawings, by which my brake is applied
to four-wheeled carriages.
In witness whereof I, the said Toussaint Yves Menard, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of February,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
In witness whereof I, the said Toussaint Yves Menard, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of February,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
C. H. ARMENGAUD,
Civil Engineer,
Boulevard de Strasbourg,
23, à Paris.
T. Y.. MÉNARD. (L.S.)