IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES. PROPELLED BY MANUAL POWER
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas du Boulay, of Sandgate, in the County
of Kent, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES.
PROPELLED BY MANUAL POWER."
Sealed the 23rd June 1865, and dated the 31st December 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas du Boulay at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st December 1864.
I, THOMAS DU BOULAY, of Sandgate, in the County of Kent, Esquire, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CARRIAGES PROPELLED BY MANUAL POWER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in carriages propelled by
manual power.
For these purposes a carriage is constructed to move on a pair of hinder
wheels and a pair of fore wheels. The fore wheels and axle have a locking.
motion in the ordinary manner for facilitating the guiding of the carriage.
On the axle of the hinder pair of wheels and about midway between the pair.
of wheels is a pinion. The person in the carriage sits on a seat over the
binder axle, and by his hands gives a to-and-fro motion to a handle or handles
in front of him. The handle is connected to a pair of toothed racks, between

page_text: which the pinion on the hinder axle is situated. The racks are formed together
into a frame which slides to and fro. The two racks are at such a distance
apart that when the teeth of one rack is in gear with the teeth of the pinion
the teeth of the other rack are out of gear with the teeth of the pinion; hence,
when the handle is moved to and fro the racks are moved to and fro also,
and by being caused to rise and fall at the end of each stroke the teeth of the
two racks alternately gear with the pinion and cause it to rotate continually in
one direction. The feet press against the forward axle or against projections
thereon, by which the fore part of the carriage acts as a stretcher in a boat, and
the carriage is guided by the feet acting to cause the fore axle to perform its
locking action. In place of a single pinion two pinions may be used, a small
and large one, in which case the pair of toothed racks will be at sufficient
distance apart for the larger pinion. By these means there will be two
powers, a quick and a slow one, which can be used as circumstances require.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas du Boulay in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th June 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
DU BOULAY, of Sandgate, in the County of Kent, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas du Boulay, Her special licence that I, the said
Thomas du Boulay, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Thomas du Boulay, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES PROPELLED BY MANUAL POWER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas du Boulay, 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

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas du Boulay, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in carriages propelled by
manual power. For these purposes a_carriage is constructed to move on a
pair of hinder wheels, and a pair of fore wheels. The fore wheels and axle
have a locking motion, in the ordinary manner, for facilitating the guiding of
the carriage. On the axle of the hinder pair of wheels, and about midway
between the pair of wheels is a pinion. The person in the carriage sits on a
seat over the hinder axle, and by his hands gives a to-and-fro motion to a
handle or handles in front of him. The handle is connected to a pair of toothed
racks, between which the pinion on the hinder axle is situated. The racks are
formed together into a frame, which slides to and fro. The two racks are at
such a distance apart that when the teeth of one rack is in gear with the
teeth of the pinion, the teeth of the other rack are out of gear with the teeth
of the pinion; hence, when the handle is moved to and fro, the racks are
moved to and fro also, and by being caused to rise and fall at the end of each
stroke, the teeth of the two racks alternately gear with the pinion, and cause
it to rotate continually in one direction. The feet press against the forward
axle or against projections thereon, by which the fore part of the carriage acts
as a stretcher in a boat, and the carriage is guided by the feet acting to cause
the fore axle to perform its locking action. In place of a single pinion two
pinions may be used, a small and large one; in which case the pair of toothed
racks will be at sufficient distances apart for the larger pinion. By these
means there will be two powers, a quick one and a slow one, which can be used
as circumstances require..
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
}
Figure 1 shows a side elevation; Figure 2 shows a back elevation, and
Figure 3 shows a plan of a carriage constructed according to my Invention.
In each of the Figures the same letters of reference indicate the same parts. :
a, a, are the two hinder wheels; b, b, are the two fore wheels; c is the fore.
axle, which has a locking motion at the fore end of the framing d, d, and the
steering of the carriage is by means of the feet of the person in the carriage,

page_text: which act against the parts c¹, c¹, on the axle, and these may be plain pro-
jections as shown, or they may have flanges at each end, or they may be made
like the fore parts of shoes to receive the feet of the person.. By this arrange-.
ment of the fore axle it becomes the stretcher, against which the feet and
legs press, as when in the act of rowing in a boat. The parts c³, c', may be,
if desired, arranged to be adjusted to and from the seat, in order to accommo-
date the carriage for different persons; or the seat may be arranged to be
fixed more forward or more backward, whilst the parts c¹, c', remain constant;
d* is a lever, having its fulcrum or axis at d¹, which may be adjusted in
position by being placed in one or other of the holes shown in the under perch
or framing e. The lever d gives motion to a double-toothed rack f, the fore
end of which is guided at g. At the upper end of the lever are two handles
k, h. The lever d* is connected to the double-toothed rack f by a pin i, the
position of which may be varied by being placed in any one of the holes i¹ in
the lever. d. The hinder part of the double-toothed rack is guided by two
vertical rollers, j, one on each side of the upper part of the toothed rack;
k is a toothed wheel or pinion, the teeth of which alternately gear with the
upper and lower toothed racks, so that when the lever d* is in action the
pinion, and consequently the axle 2 on which the two hind wheels are fixed,
constantly turn in the same direction, and so as to give forward motion to the
carriage. The double-toothed rack has on it two projections m, m, one on
each side of the lower part of such rack; these projections alternately come
under and over the two rollers n, n, carried by the framing of the carriage.
In the position of the parts shown in the Drawings, the double-toothed racks
are resting on the rollers n, n, but when the fore end of the toothed racks
comes to the pinion the toothed racks will drop, by which the teeth of the
pinion will come into gear with the teeth of the upper rack, by which when
the upper end of the lever d* is moved towards the front end of the carriage,
the upper toothed rack will give motion to the pinion then on the teeth. On
the hinder part of the double-tooth rack coming to the pinion the projections
m, m, will rise on to the rollers n,.n, when the upper end of the lever d* will
be pulled towards the person in the carriage, and in this manner will the
carriage be propelled forward by the to-and-fro motion given to the upper
end of the lever d.
It will be evident to a mechanic that provision may be made for having
two pinions of different sizes to be used at different times on the axle of the
hind wheels, but it is preferred to have only one pinion as shown.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to

page_text: any of the mechanical parts separately; but what I claim is, the combined
arrangement herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas du Boulay, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
THOMAS DU BOULAY. (L.S.)