METHOD AND MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING OR DRAWING CARRIAGES UPON ROADS OR RAILWAYS, ALSO BOATS, BABGES, OR VESSELS UPON CANALS OR NAVIGATIONS, BY MEANS OF CERTAIN LEVERS OR LEGS ALTERNATELY OR CONJOINTLY ACTING UPON SUCH ROADS, RAILWAYS, CANALS OR NAVIGATIONS, OR UPON MACHINERY ATTACHED THERETO
Year: 1813

page_text: BRUNTON'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BRUNTON, of Batterley Iron Works, in the Parish of Pentrich, in the County
of Derby, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the
Twenty-second day of May, in the fifty-third year of His reign, did give and
grant unto me, the said William Brunton, His special licence that I, the said
William Brunton, during the term of years therein expressed, should and law!
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my "METHOD AND MACHINERY FOR
PROPELLING OR DRAWING CARRIAGES UPON ROADS OR RAILWAYS, ALSO BOATS, BABGES,
OR VESSELS UPON CANALS OR NAVIGATIONS, BY MEANS OF CERTAIN LEVERS OR LEGS
ALTERNATELY OR CONJOINTLY ACTING UPON SUCH ROADS, RAILWAYS, CANALS, OR
NAVIGATIONS, OR UPON MACHINERY ATTACHED THERETO;" in which said Letters
Patcut there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Brunton,
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
enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months
next 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
WILLIAM BRUNTON, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in mauner following, that is to say: -

page_text: On a waggon, cart, or other vehicle fit for roads or railways, or on a boat,
barge, or other vessel employed upon canals or navigations, I place the moving
power (say a steam engine), by which the said waggon, cart, boat, barge, or
other vehicle or vessel is to be propelled or drawn; and I effect the progressive
motion of the same by means of one, two, or more bars or legs, but for the sake
of perspicuity I shall speak only of two, which act against the ground, or
against a rope, chain, bar, or rod (as hereafter to be explained), and which bars
or legs are attached to or connected with the said moving power in suchmanner
as to receive from the said moving power a reciprocating motion something
similar to the motion of a man's legs when in the act of walking, which recipro-
cating motion, maybe communicatedfrom the said moving power to the said bars
or legs by any of the usual and fit mechanical means employed by machinists to
give a reciprocating motion, nor cananycompetentmachinisterriurenderingthe
said bars or legs to which he communicates such reciprocating motion efficient
for the purpose of propelling the wheel, carriage, or floating vessel that carries
the said moving power, if he take care not to make the angle too great or too
small at which the lower extremity, or what I call the feet of the said bars or
legs, act or press alternatelyor conjointly, but the alternate action will generally
be found most convenient against the road or railway when the body to be
moved is on land, or against the bottom or sides of the canal or navigation
when the body to be moved is on water. The lower extremities of the said
levers, bars, or legs should be furnished with one or more pieces which I call
feet, made of wood or of metal, of a breadth proportioned to the material or
materials against which they are to act. The more soft or loose these materials
are the broader should be the soles of the said feet; and the said feet will be
found to act best when they are attached to the said bars or legs by means of
joints in such a manner as to allow the feet to adapt or accommodate them-
selves to the various inclinations or inequalities which the road or material
may present, that they may the better keep hold of the road or material against
which they are to act, with the whole or with the great part of their surface.
I construct the said bars or legs of metal or of wood, and of such length that
during the act of propulsion the angle formed by the said bars or legs and the
surface of the road may be such as to afford sufficient resistance from the
materials propelled against to overcome the friction of the body to be moved.
This angle admits of considerable latitude, but will be found to answer best
when between fifty and seventy degrees. On the foregoing arrangement it is
only necessary farther to remark, that the machinist who may wish to make
use of my said Invention after the expiration of the term of years mentioned
inthesaid Letters Patentwill see the propriety of so constructing the machinery

page_text: that when the one leg and foot is brought to the ground, or about to take the
ground, the other, by a suitable contrivance, may be raised up and suspended
till it is again to be brought into action, and so alternately with each leg and
foot, if he adopts the alternate action; but if he prefer the conjoint action, he
must cause both legs to use when they have reached the extremity of their
propelling range, and keep them both suspended till they are again required to
act for the purpose of repeating the propulsion. In circumstances when suit-
able machinery, as a rack, indentations, teeth, or pins of metal or of any suitable
material, or ropes, chains, rods, or bars, are attached to roads or railways, to,
in, or over canals or navigations, for the purpose of facilitating the movement
of carriages or of floating bodies by mechanical means; the lower extremities
of the aforesaid legs, or the feet of the said legs, may be made to act against
such rack, indintations, teeth, or pins, or against such rope, chain, rod, or bar
in the manner before described; or the said legs, in place of having such feet
as have been described attached to thein, may be furnished with any of the
usual and fit contrivances by which a rope, chain, bar, or rod is allowed to
slide freely one way, but locked or griped when the motion is reversed. In
this kind of arrangement, if the bar or leg, with its foot (or in this case it may
be compared to an arm with its hand) slide easily forward on any rope, chain,
bar,or rod provided for the purpose,and on being drawn back by the mechanism
that connects it with the moving power,gripes or catches the said rope,chain,
bar, or rod, then the waggon or other carriage, or the boat or other vessel, will
be drawn forward in the direction of the said rope, chain, bar, or rod; and on
the contrary, if the leg act behind the body to be moved, it must be made to
gripe or catch the rope, chain, or bar as it moves outward behind, that the body
to be moved may be propelled forward. When by such an arrangement as
has just beeu described the bar or lever, with its foot or hand, is made to gripe
or catch a rope, chain, bar, rod, rack, or similar contrivance, the smaller the
angle which the said bar or lever makes with the said rope, chain, bar, rod,
rack, or similar contrivance, the better, as the forementioned angle of between
fifty and seventy degrees is requisite only when the foot has no other means of
taking hold of the road or material against which it acts but its own friction.
I need hardly add that one waggon or boat being propelled or drawn forward,
as many more may be attached to that one as the power employed may be able
to move forward with suitable speed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and shewn the manner
in which the same is to be applied to practise, I might here close my Specifi-
cation; but as it might save trouble to some of those persons who may hereafter
be employed to construct such machinery, I shall subjoin a description and

page_text: attach Drawings hereto of some or one or more of the numerous modifications
of which it is susceptible, by attending to which they will not only be able to
construct an efficient mechanical traveller, but by making themselves masters
of the means by which the propulsion is obtained, be enabled to vary the con-
struction indefinitely, so as to adapt the Invention to all or to most possible
circumstances that may occur.
Figures 1, 2, 3, represent a side view, end view, and plan of an efficient
mechanical traveller. On the body of a wheel carriage (or in a boat, as the
case may be) is placed the moving power, namely, a steam engine. To the
lower extremities or propelling ends of the legs a, b, and c, d, are attached by
joints the feet a and c, which act against the ground (and which will be more
particularly described hereafter). From an inspection of the Drawing it will
be perceived that the piston rod being attached by the joint to the leg a, b,
and to the reciprocating lever.b, e, and the said reciprocating lever b, e, being
joined by the joint i to the rod i, n, the said rod i, n, must always have its
motion.nearly parallel to that of the piston, and always in the direction of a
piston; and the said rod i, n, being connected by the joint n with the sliding
rack, n, o, which receives the teeth of the wheel p, cannot move without causing
the said wheel p.to revolve, and so giving a contrary motion to the opposite
sliding rack r,s, connected by the joints with the rods,t, which communicates
motion to the reciprocating lever d, e, and so to the other leg d, c. For the
purpose of raising one foot from the ground during the progressive of its leg,
any contrivance similar in its effects to the following may be employed
Attach to the reciprocated lever or rod of the opposite leg at d or e (Fig.7),
or to any part of the machine having a suitable motion, a roller, shewn on a
larger scale iu Fig. 6, made moveable on its axis iu one direction only bymeans
of a racket end catch (shewn in the Drawing.) In the groove of this roller
put another roller b, moveable easily in either direction upon a to the pin o,
Fig. 7. Fasten. the broad end of a strap (see Fig. 8) made of leather .or of
some suitable material, and from the said pin o carry the said strap over the
roller d, and suspend a small weight to the other end of the strap. Tlings
being thus arranged while the leg moves from the position A,B, to the position
C, D, the compound roller a, b, (Fig. 6) will move from D to e, Fig. 7. The
broad part of the strap acting on the roller, and aided by the small weight,
produces sufficient friction to raise the leg till prevented by a stop from rising
higher than necessary, and when it has attained this elevation the strap slips
upon the roller, but still sustains the weight of the leg until the narrow part of
the strap,coming upon the loose roller b, Fig. 6, reduces the friction, and allows
the leg to fall to the ground by its own gravity. Upon the next propulsion the
:-

page_text: leg resumes its position A, B, and the roller its position at d, the small weight
redrawing the strap over the compound roller preparatory to a repetition of the
movement.
Figure 4, and a plan of the same shewn in Fig. 5, are introduced for the
purpose of shewing how the said leg or legs furnished with rack feet may be
attachedtoa reciprocating bar to act against teeth, pins, or similar contrivances
The parts are expressed with so much distinctness in the Drawing that any
farther description of them cannot be necessary. (See also Fig. 15.) The feet
be made of any convenient form.
may
Fig. 9 represents one shaped something like a horse's foot; and to prevent
this part from being rendered so soon unserviceable by wear as it otherwise
would, it should be furnished with some kind of shoe (see Fig. 10) which may
be renewed when necessary. The soles of the feet, as I have already noted,
should be of an extent proportioned to the materials on which they are to act;
and in some cases, for the purpose of gaining increased surface, and a greater
facility of adaptation to inequalities, it may be of advantage that instead of one
foot,two or more feet, with proper joints, should be attached to each leg. See
Fig. 11 and 12.
Figures 14 and 15 are specimens of such contrivances as may be employed
when a rope,a chain, a bar, or a rod are to be acted upon by griping, catching,
or locking the same to the foresaid foot (or hand), as before described.
I need hardly add that where circumstances may render it desirable, the
cylinder of the steam engine may be placed vertically upon the carriage or
boat, and be made, by a suitable arrangement of the mechanism, to give the
required motion to levers or bars intended to act as legs or propellers, or as
hands to gripe or catch a rope, chain, rod, or bar as aforesaid, as I do not
rest the merits or originality of my Invention on the particular forms or
arrangements that may be resorted to for giving the required motion to levers
or bars acting as legs as aforesaid, but on the application of such levers, bars,
or legs to the propelling or drawing of carriages upon roads or railways, and
boats, barges, or vessels upon canals or navigations as aforesaid.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Brunton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirteen
WILLIAM BRUNTON. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named William Brunton, being first duly
stamped, in the presence of
JOHN BROWNLEY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Fourteenth day of July,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Brunton came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery,and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also
the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of July, in the year above mentioned.