IMPROVEMENTS IN DOG-CARTS AND OTHER VEHICLES.”
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Blake Ayshford, of Britannia Works,
Fulham, in the County of Middlesex, Carriage Builder, for the
Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN DOG-CARTS AND OTHER VEHICLES.”
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Blake Ayshford
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd May 1871.
I, THOMAS BLAKE AYSHFORD, of Britannia Works, Fulham, in the
County of Middlesex, Carriage Builder, do hereby declare the nature or
the said Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN DOG-CARTS AND OTHER VEHICLES,”""
to be as follows:-
The object of the Invention is to provide dog-carts and other vehicles
with arrangements for reducing the weight or strain on the horse or
other draught animal when the carriage is ascending or descending a.
hill or other incline. For this purpose according to my Invention I
attach to the body of the carriage bearings or supports carrying an axis
on which is a drum, cylinder, or roller, and which is caused to rotate by
gearing or connections worked by a handle. Upon this drum is a chain,

page_text: rope, cord, or band connected at each end by means of a bar or other
connection with the shafting or under carriage. The body of the
carriage is free to travel to and fro to a certain extent by eyes or the
like on rods fixed to the shafting or under carriage. By turning the
handle the drum is turned, thereby working the chain or equivalent and
thus moving bodily the body of the carriage upon the under carriage,
whereby the weight on the horse or other draught animal is controlled,
adjusted, and duly reduced.
In another modification I dispense with the drum and chain and apply
to the shafts or under carriage a toothed pinion or a worm gearing into
a rack.
The worm is worked by the handle. Or a male and female
screw may be employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Blake Ayshford in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BLAKE AYSHFORD, of Britannia Works, Fulham, in the County of
Middlesex, Carriage Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Blake Ayshford, Her special
licence, that I, the said Thomas Blake Ayshford, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Blake Ayshford,
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 DOG-CARTS AND OTHER VEHICLES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Blake Ayshford, 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

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Blake Ayshford, 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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say :-
The object of the Invention is to provide dog-carts and other vehicles
with arrangements for reducing the weight or strain on the horse or
other draught animal when the carriage is ascending or descending a
hill or other incline. For this purpose according to my Invention I
attach to the body of the carriage bearings or supports carrying an axis
on which is a drum, cylinder, or roller, and which is caused to rotate by
gearing or connections worked by a handle. Upon this drum cylinder
or roller is a chain, rope, cord, or band connected at each end by means
of a bar or other connections with the shafting or under carriage. The
body of the carriage is free to travel to and fro to a certain extent by
eyes or the like on rods fixed to the shafting or under carriage. By
turning the handle the drum, cylinder, or roller is turned, thereby
working the chain or equivalent and thus moving bodily the body of
the carriage upon the under carriage, whereby the weight on the horse
or other draught animal used for drawing the carriage is controlled,
adjusted, and duly reduced.
In a modification of the above arrangement I apply a toothed pinion
or a worm gearing into a rack. The toothed pinion or worm is worked
by the handle. Or instead of using the pinion or worm and rack a male
and female screw may be in like manner employed.
I now proceed with reference to the accompanying Drawings to
describe more particularly the manner in which the Invention may be
cornind into affent

page_text: on the drum c.
A, A, is the body of the dog-cart; B is the under carriage of the same.
a is a horizontal axis supported in bearings b, b, which are formed in
brackets 6*; 6*, attached to the body of the dog-cart at the under part
of the said body; c is a drum keyed on the axis a; d is a chain wound
One end of this chain is attached by a screw coupling e
to the fore front bar of the under carriage B, or to a bar fixed to such
front bar or fixed to the shafts in a position parallel with such front
bar, and the other end of the chain is attached by a similar screw
coupling e* to the hind bar of the under carriage or to a bar fixed to
such hind bar or fixed to the shafts in a position parallel with such hind
bar; is a pinion keyed on one end of the axis a. This pinion is in
gear with a worm or endless screw g fixed on one end of a bar h, worked
by a handle i which is placed within convenient reach of a person sitting
in the dog-cart so that he may easily work it. The handle is guided by
passing through orifices in parts of the body of the dog-cart. j,j, are
eyes fixed by shanks j* to the bottom portion of the body A of the
dog-cart. These eyes run, slide, or travel on bent rods or bars k, k,
fixed to the under carriage, the extent of the travel being regulated by
the bent ends of the bars or rods k which act as stops. Friction rollers
may be used between the eyes and bars to ease the motion. When the
handle is turned the axis a and drum c will be turned to the required
extent, and hence the body A of the dog-cart will be moved on the
under carriage B forward or backward to the required extent by means
of the chain d.
The gearing above described for transmitting motion from the handle
to the drum axis may be modified by using frictional gearing, consisting
of cylindrical surfaces of vulcanized india-rubber stretched taut on
cylindrical blocks of metal or like rigid surfaces so as to form frictional
gearing.
Instead of using a drum and chain for moving the body of the dog-cart
on the under carriage 1 sometimes cause the pinion or worm, worked
by the handle i, to gear with a rack on the body A fixed to and between
the fore and hind bars B midway between the shafts.
Also I sometimes use a male screw and female screw, which female
screw is turned by the handle i to impart rotary motion to the axis a
If a rack be used
of the drum c, and thereby move the chain d.
as above described the handle i must be disposed accordingly as is
evident.

page_text: Instead of working the chain by a handle a lever may be used which
by a ratchet plate or rack or other ordinary mechanical contrivances
will work the drum and chain.
Instead of placing the eyes ; on the body A of the dog-cart and the
rods k on the under carriage, the eyes j may be on the under carriage
and the rodsk on the body of the dog-cart, the rods k in that case
sliding in the eyes ; when the body is moved by the chain.
The main and essential characteristic advantage of this Invention is
that it enables a person driving or riding in the carriage to work the
body to and fro on the under carriage without removing from his seat or
dismounting.
Although I have described the Invention as applied to a dog-cart it is
evident without further description that it may be applied in precisely
similar manner to other vehicles drawn by horses and other draught
animals.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed I declare that I claim as consti-
tuting my said Invention, the arrangement and combination of apparatus
constructed and applied substantially as herein-before described, whereby
the body of a dog-cart or other carriage is caused to move or travel on
or over the under carriage of such dog-cart or other carriage in the
manner and for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Blake Ayshford, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
Witness,
E. DE PASS,
68, Fleet Street,
London.
THOS. B. AYSHFORD. (L.S.)