IMPROVEMENTS IN HAND TRUCKS OR BARROWS
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clarke at the.
Offico of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th February 1880.
A com-
munication from abroad by Eugène Cailloux, of Paris, France.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAND TRUCKS OR BARROWS." [A communi-
cation from abroad by Eugène Cailloux, of Paris, France.]
This Invention relates to a novel construction of hand cart or truck with
swivelling under-carriage and handles or shafts, by means of which the guide
wheel or wheels may be locked in any position in which the same may be set,
whether for moving in a straight line or curves of different radius.
The arrangement is similar to that of ordinary vehicles provided with a swivelling
under-carriage, that is to say, the one axle is invariable with regard to the body of
the truck, while the other axle is mounted in a frame beneath a locking plate turning
about a king bolt or vertical pivot. Each axle may have one or two wheels, and
the vehicle may therefore be two, three, or four wheeled.
"
One of the particular features in the present improvements is that the handles or
shafts are capable of a slight oscillatory movement, so as to enable them to act as
pawls engaging with a toothed ring above the fifth locking plate," for the purpose of
retaining the under-carriage at any position in which it may be placed with regard
to the other axle, so as without effort to key the vehicle in the same direction. This
movement of the handles would be very limited, so that they may serve not only
for propelling the truck, but also for balancing it when there are only two wheels,
one upen each axle. The fixed axle is bolted to the two side bars, carrying the
body of the truck in the usual way, and the projecting ends of the said bars are
bolted to a ring having rounded teeth or undulations on its upper face, similar to a
crown wheel. This toothed ring is the upper locking plate, and rests upon an under
ocking plate, the king bolt passing through the centro of the two. The axle of the
inder-carriage is supported in arms or brackets depending from the under locking
olate, which has also two upwardly curved extensions, in which the handles are
pivoted on horizontal pivots. The rear ends of the handles form pawls or catches
which are caused by springs to engage with the toothed ring, and may be disengaged
herefrom at will by rocking the handles on their pivots, this motion being limited,
nd of only just sufficient extent to allow the catches to be released from the toothed
ing, and thus enable the under-carriage to be turned. Thus the direction of the

page_text: guiding wheel for running either in a straight line or curve is maintained unaltered
by the catches engaging the teeth of the ring, and to alter this direction it is only
necessary to disengage the catches by a slight rocking motion of the handlos.
Index marks on the toothed ring indicate the teeth with which the catches must
engage for travelling in a straight line.
The above combination of rock handles provided with spring catches and a
toothed locking plate constitutes a novel construction of fore-carriage, whose
direction may be regulated at will, and which may be used in cases where the
ordinary fore-carriage is not suitable. When applied to wheelbarrows, for example,
a portion of the weight will no longer be thrown upon the arms of the man wheeling
it. In this case the body is preferably arranged to tilt on the fixed axle to empty it,
a hook being provided to lock the body in place, or it may be made to tilt on pivots
situated beyond the fixed axle, that is to say, at the extreme ends of the side bars
of the frame. The loading and unloading of the truck may be facilitated by making
a part or the whole of one side removable, the tilting being effected by the aid of a
lever handle pivoted to the side and acting against a suitable stop.