CERTAIN NEW IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTING AND MAKING WHEELS FOR ALL KINDS OF CARRIAGES, AND ALSO A NEW METHOD OP LOCKING OR SLEDGING THE WHEELS OF CARRIAGES WHEN PASSING DOWN STEEP DECLINING HILLS
Year: 1809

page_text: BRAMAH'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
BRAMAI, of Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, 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 Second day of Novem-
ber, in the fiftieth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph
Bramah, my exors, adññors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, solo
privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph Bramah, my exors, adññiors,
and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN NEW IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTING AND MAKING WHEELS FOR ALL KINDS OF CARRIAGES, AND ALSO A
NEW METHOD OP LOCKING OR SLEDGING THE WHEELS OF CARRIAGES WHEN PASSING
DOWN STEEP DECLINING HILLS;" in which Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso obliging me, the said Joseph Bramab, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months
after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation
being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Bramah, do hereby declare that my said Invention consists and is
composed in manner following (that is to say):-
I do not rest the sole merits and excellencies of this my said Invention, or

page_text: the public benefits derivable therefrom, on any precise principles or methods I
may at the present moment be able to describe, but, combining the objects
with such methods of producing them as I am able to set forth without
practical information, I claim the right of both as far as both are new. I
mention this, because in my new method of constructing and fabricating wheels
for carriages (as mentioned in my Patent) the object is not new, and conse-
quently I have no claim to it; but as no person has succeeded in a complete
mode or manner of obtaining the effect intended previous to myself, I naturally
rest the merits of my claim to novelty in this part of my Invention on the
specific methods I have discovered of completely producing the thing intended;
while, on the contrary, in the second branch of my said Invention, namely,
that of locking or sledging the wheels of carriages when passing down steep
hills, I rest my claim to novelty on both, because I have in this instance
accomplished new objects never known or publickly performed before; and on this
account both of necessity must be new.
But when I state that I rest the security
of my claim on both the object and the means or methods of accomplishing it,
I mean it to be understood that the former I consider as the focal point in the
Patent right, because, as the object can be but one, while the means of
accomplishing it may be so various as to become a subject of invention for
ages yet to come, I can rest no farther on the latter than to specify or set forth
in this Instrument the most appropriate methods of producing the effect
intended that have at present occured to my understanding, under a full per-
suasion that in every repeated trial or application of this new theory practice
will furnish a variety of improvements in the non-essentials of the Invention,
not by altering the effect, but by directing, perhaps, a nearer road or a more
perfect manner of accomplishing of it.
Now, under the above considerations and premises, I do hereby declare that
the objects of my Invention are as follows, namely:-1st, the vast quantity of
young elms and other timber trees which are of necessity cut down for the
purpose of making stocks or naves for the wheels of carriages of every descrip
tion, in addition to that constant and extensive demand there is for the same
article for the fabrication of pipes, has long threatened this country with a
scarcity of this useful kind of wood, not only owing to the immense number of
trees annually cut down for these purposes, but also on account of their being
felled considerably before they arrive at a mature state. To remedy this incon-
venience and loss, as far as relates to wheels, as above mentioned, and to add
both durability, perfection, and neatness to an article so important (as wheels)
to the agricultural and commercial interest of the empire, I have contrived a
new method of constructing and applying naves or stocks for wheels of every

page_text: kind or description whatsoever of cast iron instead of elm or any other.kind of;
wood, and by which application of iron instead of wood, not only a total saving
will be made of that destruction of small trees above, alluded. to, but also much
superior strength, durability, and completeness will. at the same time be added
by my method, in so much as to render the article. of wheels more durable and
of greater utility than hath been heretofore known. And, in performing what
I now state, I do not pretend to claim the novelty or to be the first. person
within His Majesty's dominions who has used or applied. iron stocks or naves
instead of wood; but I rest the merits and superior excellence of my Inven-
tion on the peculiar construction of these naves or stocks as aforesaid, and on
the manner of fixing and securing, the spokes therein, and also on my rising
fellies for the rims not chop'd or sawed into a circular shape out of streight
timber, but such as I mean to bend in lengths as a substitute for those above
mentioned out of streight scantlings. I also use, in some instances, spokes in
these wheels not split out of the tree in the usual way, but I saw them out of
the tree by circular saws in longitudinal lines, and in a radial direction, without
that loss of wood occasioned by the usual method of splitting them.
Second Having often witnessed the many shocking accidents which hap-
pen, not only owing to the failure of the drag chain in carriages with four
wheels, which have been usually locked by this means when passing down
quick declining bills, by such calamities also as daily occur from the accelerated
motion of carriages having but two wheels, and for the effectual. locking or
sledging of which, when passing, down quick descents, no method lias ever
heretofore been found, I have discovered and perfected a very simple means,
which completely removes from carriages of every description with four wheels
all hazard and mischief arising from the breaking of the drag.chain, as above
mentioned, and also as complete, safe, and effectual a method of locking or
sledging the wheel or wheels of every description of two-wheeled carriages;
and the points and utility gained ultimately by this valuable discovery are as
follows, that is to say:
7
First In waggons and all other four-wheeled carriages used for the convey-
ance of heavy loads, I, as before stated, wholly prevent accidents arising from
the failure of the drag chain.
:
Second In all pleasure carriages with four wheels, of whatever description
they may be, I free them from the inconvenience and dangers of the drag
chain, and likewise from those fatal and calamitous consequences which attend.
the running away and other unruly.conduct of uninanageable liorses, because the
contrivance I have adopted enables either one or both of the hind wheels of the.
carriage to be instantly locked by the driver, when circumstances require it, or

page_text: as instantly and effectually by either the footman behind the carriage or the
persons who ride in the inside; and the operation of locking or sledging both the
hind wheels as aforesaid by any of the three above-mentioned persons can be
accomplished in one second of time, without any hazard or injury either to the
wheel or any other part of the apparatus therewith connected.
Third When this contrivance is applied to pleasure carriages with two wheels,
one or both of such wheels can in an instant be locked by the person riding
therein, when necessity calls for it; and in some instances, and where it may
be thought necessary, I cause, at the same instant the wheels are locked as
above, the shafts of a gig, or the pole between two curricle horses, to be
unalterably fixed in a horizontal position during all the time the wheels con-
tinue so confined, and so permanently in this position of the shafts or pole
secured, that should the horses in either case even break their union, leaving.
the carriage wholly behind them, still the shafts or pole will remain immov-
able in the horizontal posture.
These I declare to be the points gained, and the particular excellencies of
my said Invention, as far as it relates to the carriages described already. And I
have now to explain what additional advantage will arise from the application
of this contrivance to carts, drays, trucs, ordnance carriages, and all other
vehicles with two wheels only, used for the conveyance of heavy loads. As in the
foregoing instances relative to pleasure carriages, I lock one or both the wheels of
any cart, dray, truck, or other two-wheeled carriage, either on level ground or when
passing down steep hills, with as little trouble and as expeditiously as above de-
scribed; and whatever may be the load, or that portion of it pressing on the horse's
back, when the wheels are put upon the lock, that pressuro is at the same instant
wholly taken off, and the animal relieved from its incumbrance, whether on the
level ground or when passing down the steepest hill, and at the same instant he is
also so secured between the shafts, which are at the same operation fixed, as
before described, that he cannot possibly fall, not even if the leading cattle
-drag-on-with-unabated.speed.; and, as in the former instance, should the whole
team slip their union with the carriage at such a juncture, the shafts, with all
the load, be it more or less pondrous, will remain fixed unmovably in a hori-:
zontal posture, and from which no circumstances that can happen in ordinary.
will remove them. This property and effect produced by the contrivance will
be of singular utility in frosty seasons, especially in the streets of all paved
towns, because, where they are so slippery that no horse can possibly bear up
the load between the shafts without the danger of falling every step, each cart
or other carriage above mentioned may, in a single minute, be transformed
into a sledge, which is the most appropriate carriage possible for all purposes

page_text: by the application of either blows or the accumulated force of a powerful press,
which may be used for that purpose. Section, Fig. 1, also shews that the
spokes are shaped quito parrallel at the lower end which enters the nave, and
may be seen that by shaping or under-cutting the mortices backwards, and
altering the bevil of the parting ribs in the front, the spokes may be made
like a dovetail, that is to say, the largest at the bottom of the mortice. B, B,
Fig. 1, shews the spokes; C, C, a ring of iron, which is turned to fit exactly
that small part of A, A, in which is formed the hole for the axletree, on which
part is turned a screw from the back of the plate C, C, up to the extremity of
the front of the nave. This screw is for the reception of the nut D, D, which
nut is made either of a round, octagon, or any other shape, so as to be easily
turned in either direction from the front by means of a socket wrench or
forked turnscrew. The other part of the screw which remains projecting
when the above nut is screwed down against the plate C, C, is for the recep-
tion of the metal cap which closes in the linch & the end of the axletree box
in the usual way, which cap is marked in the section, Fig. 1, E, E. The
said cap, nut, & ring are also individually shewn by Fig. 3, 4, and 5.
Fig. 6 shows the nave when completely put together without the spokes, which
is marked with the same letters as Fig. 1. Now when all the parts of the
nave are prepared, and the ends of the spokes fitted to their respective mor-
tices, they are slightly driven into their places, as shewn in Fig. 2, leaving as
much projection before the front of the ribs as from their wedgewise shape in
thickness will be necessary to allow for driving back towards the bottom of tho
mortice. When the spokes are thus placed, the wheel is laid upon the follower
of a very powerful press on my patent principle, with the screwed end of the
nave upwards, and the plate C, C, is slipped into its place against the spokes,
as in Fig. 1, and upon which ring is then placed a hollow cylinder of iron
large enough in its inside dimensions to clear the diameter of the nut D, D,
and to admit the insertion down its inside of the socket wrench or forked turn-
screw above mentioned. This hollow cylinder is also made of a length to
come in contact with the head of the press before the operation of forcing in
the spokes begins. In the head of the press there is a hole opposite to the
inside of the above cylinder, & through which the wrench or turnscrew is
inserted, to turn the nut down to the plate C, C, when the spokes are squeesed
into their mortices. When all is thus ready, the force of the press, assisted by
heavy blows made on the head of the press by a large mallet or ram, like a
pile driver, fixes the whole of the spokes in about 2 minutes as firmly to the
nave as though they were one solid mass; & while in this confined state
the nut D, D, is screwed down upon the plate or ring C, C, with the wrench

page_text: or turnscrew passing through the head of the press & down the cylinder,
as above described. When this is done, the wheel is ready to be rimmed; the
press is then slackened, & the wheel taken out. This I declare to be the
principle of the nave, and the method of putting these wheels together, as far
as relates to my claim; & I declare that the excellence of the wheels depends
as much on the means adopted for putting them together as they do on the
novelty of the construction & principle of the nave itself.
REFERENCE to the DRAWINGS in the Frame B, which deliniates my Methods
& Apparatus for Locking or Sledging the Wheels of all kinds of Two
or Four-wheeled Carriages, for the Purposes stated in my general
Specification.
Fig. 7 is the side view or section of the off-wheel and axletree of any pleasure
carriage with 2 wheels, meant to be made to lock; and the same apparatus will
also be in general applied to the hind wheels of every kind of four-wheel
carriages used for pleasure, for the purposes described in my general Specifi-
cation & these Drawings, Fig. 7 & Fig. 8, which Fig. 8 is the plan of
both wheels & the axletree, which must be locked at holding the ground
line downwards, & supposing the progressive motion of the wheels to be
towards the left hand. It must likewise be considered that this apparatus is
not calculated either to take away the pressure from the back of the horse or
fixing the shafts horizontally, as the Specification states, but merely to stop
the carriage down a hill or under circumstances when it may have a good
effect rather to encrease the weight on an unruly horse than to relieve him
from it. Fig. 8 is the plan of Fig. 7, shewing how the apparatus or locking
machinery may be connected so as to lock both the wheels at the same instant
by one operation. The parts are marked in both Figures to correspond.
B, B, in Fig. 7, shews a round block excentrically fixed to the axletree as near
the shoulder of the nave on the inside of the wheel as possible, & so as to
have its highest excentric part in a perpendicular line wth the center of the
axletree. c, c, is a lever forged with a ring, which ring is fitted, by turning or
otherwise, very nicely on to the periphery of the said block B, B, like a hoop
or belt, so that when the lever c, c, drops down below its level position, as repre-
sented in the section, the hook which encompasses the front or leading periphery
of the wheel (which then does not bite the rim or obstruct its turning), by
loosing length in the distance from the center of the wheel as it falls, by turning
on the excentric block, presently bites upon the the rim with such a grasp as to
render it totally impossible for a single instant to continue its rotary motion;
and it must be obvious that while ever the animal drags the carriage in this

page_text: direction the wheel cannot possibly move, whatever may be the speed or
distance the carriage passes over in this state. At the back or following
extremity of this lever c, c, when a single wheel is to be locked, is fix a
counterbalance weight, sufficiently overpowering the front part which bites the
wheel, so that by its descent the front part just mentioned may be replaced
when the bite on the wheel is slackened. It will then be obvious that this
change in the lever's station cannot be effected until the animal is stopped,
and the wheel or wheels are turned a trifle back in a retrograde direction; the
lever then being releived from its grasp upon the front of the wheel by its nook,
the balance weight D will place it again in its neutral station, and the wheel
or wheels will immediately turn forwards as before. E, E, in the Plan,
Fig. 8, represents a connecting bar when both the wheels are to be locked,
which may be applied or not, as thought necessary by those who adopt this
Invention; and in this instance the balance weight may be fixed at D, in the
middle of the connecting bar E, E. Methods of enabling the person who
either rides or drives the carriages of this description are so endlessly various,
& so simple, that any comment or description of them would only be a waste
of time; & as one idea will be found in the description of a common cart,
Fig. 9 & 10, I shall deem that sufficient for the whole.
Fig. 11 is the side view of the wheels, &c. of a waggon or other 4-wheel
carriages used for carrying heavy loads, which shews how the hind wheels, one
or both, may be instantly locked & unlocked, on the principle of Fig. 7 & 8,
with some difference in the construction of the apparatus, by which all acci-
dents from the failure of the drag chain will be prevented. A represents the
iron shoe or skid iron, which is usually placed between the ground & the
lower surface of the wheel, & by this the wheel becomes locked or sledged.
This iron shoe, being fastened by the old method to the body or other part of
the carriage by a chain from its front on leading part, it may therefore of
necessity maintain a progressive velocity with the wheel, which wheel, from its
natural efforts to roll over the shoe, pulls at the chain which unites it with the
carriage with a force equal to the efforts of the wheel to roll over the shoe; &
in instances where this chain is fastened round a spoke without the above iron
shoe, which is frequently done, and particularly in pleasure carriages, this force
is considerably increased, so that the chain frequently breaks, and occasions
shocking accidents. In order to lessen the wheel's tendency to roll over the
shoe or skid iron, and to pull or drag at the chain, as above stated, I have
the shoe-A made much more ramping at the leading point, so as to cause its
highest part to fall in contact with the wheel's periphery at a greater dis-
tance from the ground line than those shoes or skids in common use, so much

page_text: so that this additional rampart will counteract the wheel's tendency to climb or
roll over it, even without any connection with or fastning to the carriage; but
for the purpose of keeping it in its place, ready for action on the shortest
notice, and that one or both wheels may be locked with certainty & little
trouble, I connect the shoe with the bed of the axletree, or axletree, on the
front side, by means of the bent leaver B, B, which, turning on a joint where it is
united with the carriage or axletree as at C, and having the balance weight D
at its after extremity, the shoe may be let down or withdrawn as described
in Fig. 7 & 8; and it will appear that the wheels may in like manner
be instantly locked without the stopping of the carriage, but cannot be
unlocked without backing the wheel a little, as in the former case. It will
also appear, from a judicious attention to this Drawing, that, providing the
shoe A was composed on its bottom of only a flat plate without the rampart
front, yet the wheel could not possibly pass further over it than just to reach its
proper station, because the upright part of the bent lever B, B, being connected
with the bed of the axletree considerably before the center of the wheel, so as
to loose length by moving the smallest trifle backwards from that station in
which it is connected with the shoe, the shoe in this instance must of necessity
keep exact pace with the traversing motion of the axle's center, & consequently
the wheel cannot possibly roll upon the shoe without either stretching out the
lever to a greater length or breaking it; and as force will repel force, this
danger can be easily obviated.
Fig. 9 & 10 represent the side & end view of a common cart, & shews
how one or both wheels may be locked by the means and in the manner
already ascertained, and how at the same instant, & by the same operation,
the pressure is taken from the horse's back, & the shafts fixed, as proposed.
A, Fig. 9, shews the shoe under the wheel, & B, B, the bent leaver which
connects it to the body of the cart by the bracket D, in order that the joint
on which the leaver turns may be brought down a little lower than the under
surface of the axletree, and that it may fall about 10 or 12 inches before the
center of the wheel, so that when the upright part of the lever B, B, is brought
into contact with the ground by its union with the shoe A, it may form an
effectual prop or stay to the pressure both of the body of the cart & its load
which is before the wheels; & it must be noticed that this downright part of
the lever must be as much longer from the ground line to its union with the
bracket D as will not only stay the load when perpendicular, but as much
longer as will cause it to perform this office when it has passed a little the
upright line, for if the this part of the leaver should be too short, the pressure

page_text: of the load could not rest upon it when the wheel was locked; therefore, to
render this defect impossible, as much as can be the leaver must be left as
much longer as experience may teach, that it may leave it inclining to the
axletree at its upper end when the shoe falls in contact with the ground on its
lower side, & the rampart front of it not yet in contact with the wheel. This
being the case, it must appear that when the shoe is let down for action, and
falling in contact with the ground, with the lever declining from its upright,
& the wheel not having yet reached its top against the rampart of the shoe,
will of necessity, by rolling forward to its contact with the shoe, cause the
lever B, between A & F to be carried over the actual line of its upright from
its point of connection with the shoe, and consequently the load resting before
the axletree, or that balance commonly allotted for the horse to sustain, will first
be completely lifted up as much as the lever B is left longer than the actual per-
pendicular height of of the joint F, and will of course fall down again in the same
ratio with that distance which the joint F exceeds the same line before the wheel
meets its stop by the rampart of the shoe. Thus it will be seen that by having tho
above part of the lever B, B, long enough when the shoe meets the ground,
not only the whole of the pressure on the horse's back when this operation
begins will be removed, but even the whole body of the animal might be so
raised by the after balance of the load (if his belly string & proper slings
were prepared as to be taken from his feet, and drawn along by the leading
cattle, without touching the ground, while the wheels were locked; & it must
be noticed that no strain or stress can possibly be laid upon the lever B but
that of supporting the pressure from above, and which weight must fall upon
the shoe which rests upon the ground, & during the time the wheel is resting
upon the shoe cannot possibly either quit or overrun it. The whole, of course,
must keep pace together, however fast or slow this motion may be, whether down
a steep hill or on the level ground. The wheel cannot be unlocked but by backing
a little, as described in the former instances. When this is done, the shoe or
shoes will be lifted up of their own accord by the balance weight C, as in the
former examples. The line or small chain II, II, connected with the balance C,
and carried over the pullies I, I, to the ring or handle K, shews how the means
of letting down the locker and taking it up again may be effected in any
required way or direction whatsoever, so that either the rider or driver, or
person who follows any carriage, may lock & unlock it in an instant, with
one or both wheels, without any mischief to any part of the carriage or appa-
ratus, and with an effect which cannot fail of reaching in the fullest manner the
points which has led to this Invention.

page_text: The means & methods now last described respecting carts, I mean to use
only a slighter & more apropriate shape & sise for all two-wheel pleasure
carriages when the shafts are intended to be stationed horizontally by the lock-
ing machinery, the which must be fully understood in all its parts, if duo
attention and adequate ability is put in exercise in examining the exemplifica-
tion above given.