AN IMPROVED MODE OF APPLYING HORSE POWER TO CARRIAGES ON ORDINARY ROADS
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CROFTON
WILLIAM MOAT, of Putney, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Seventeenth day of December, in the second year
of Her reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-eight, did, for Herseif, Her heirs and successors, give and grant.
unto me, the said Crofton William Moat, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Crofton William Moat, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Crofton
William Moat, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF APPLYING HORSE POWER TO
CARRIAGES ON ORDINARY ROADS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, obliging me, the said Crofton William Moat, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Crofton William Moat, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which. the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say):-
The nature of my Invention is such, that by its application passengers or
goods may be forwarded by any given amount of power at a velocity greater
than that hitherto attained by the same amount of power on ordinary roads;
the manner of performing which is by the construction of a four-wheeled car-
riage of such form and dimensions as will allow of the said power being placed
between the two front wheels thereof, that situation of the power giving the
advantage of causing the direction of the applied force to agree with that of
the resistance to forward motion, whether it be in curved or straight lines,
and when animal power is used, of the supporting of so much of the animal
frame as may not be useful as a propeling power, and so causing the body of
the animal to have a steady progressive motion, instead of the rising and
falling motion, necessarily belonging to unassisted terrestial animal progression,
whereby the animal becomes exhausted much more by the unsteady carrying
of its own body than by the resistance of the inertia of the vehicle.
The following is a description of the arrangements adopted by me for
carrying out the principles contained in my Invention as far as relates to
horse power: The accompanying design, Fig. 1, shews the relative position
of the various parts, and may be considered as a side view of a machine
called by me "an accelerator," "the the two near-side wheels and same side
"shield" being removed, and a horse placed on the off side in the position it
would occupy when harnessed, the near-side horse then being in a corre-
sponding situation. The wheels are here shewn without spokes. For con-
venience of reference letters are attached to parts named as below, that is to
saya, a, a, a, a, the frame; it is made of wood with iron fastenings. b, the
bed of the after axletree; it is made of wood, is firmly attached to and supports
the after part of the "frame" and carriages thereto attached. c, the bed of
the fore axletree; it is made of wood, is attached to the fore part of the
"frame" by the perch bolt; it supports the driving box, the shafts by means
of two descending vertical planks, that is to say, one attached to each end,
the "pole," by means of an iron rod placed vertically under the perch bolt,
the circle on which the end of the frame works when turning, and which is
fixed by iron bars, giving also attachment to the iron rod last mentioned,
the steering machine, and the apparatus by which the bearing belts may be

page_text: "
tightened or otherwise, occasionally, therefore, also supporting a portion of
the horse's weight. d, the periphery of the fore wheel; e, the periphery of
the hind wheel; the axletrees are seen in the centres. f, a shaft; it is a broad
plank, supported from the bed of the fore axletree by a vertical plank ;
it supports a shield, and is attached behind to the "sweep;" g, the "pole," a
narrow plank banging by an iron rod placed under the perch bolt; it supports
a stay to the steering machine, and is attached behind to the "sweep." h, a
"shield;" it is composed of a series of planks, which, with the exception of the
bottom one, are placed edgeways under each other, the uppermost one being
the same way attached to the "shaft;" the lowermost one, which reaches to
within a short distance of the ground, is swung by a pivot to the plank next
above it in such a manner, that when meeting with any obstruction it may
rise and pass up the outside of the "shield;" use, to prevent the horse's fore feet
from getting under the wheel when training, not otherwise necessary. i, the
sweep; it connects the after ends of the shafts and the pole together; it has
a projecting ridge of iron, which, fitting into a catch, causes it to take some of
the strain from the perch bolt. j, the "catch;" it is made of iron, and receives
the ridge of iron above mentioned; a piece of wood is so fixed above it as to
prevent the "sweep" from jumping out of its place. k, the "raising wheel,"
better seen in Fig. 2, by which the driver can heighten or lower the bearing
belts at pleasure by turning the wheels, which act upon systems of ropes and
pulleys; 1, the driving seat; it is supported on springs over the "circle" and
perch bolt by two upright pieces of wood morticed on to the top of the bed of
the fore axletree. m, the steering machine, is composed of a rope wound round
a barrel of wood, having the same axis as a wheel, placed at command (after
the manner of the tiller rope of a ship), each end of which rope, after passing
through pulleys which are fixed on the top and as near to the end as possible
of the bed of the fore axletree, is finally fastened to a hook on one side of the
"frame." The wheel and barrel are kept in their proper position by five iron
bars, two from each extremity of the bed of the fore axletree and one from the
pole. The principle use of the "steering machine" is that of obviating the
effects of any inequality in the relative strength of the horses, not necessary
with well-trained horses. In the drag is a strong frame of wood, with an iron
shoe at each end, moved by a fixed screw, the handle being placed con-
veniently for the guard. 0, 0, 0, 0, four pieces of wood placed across and
firmly fixed to the frame, the three lower ones supporting the coaches on
springs; p, p, p, p, p, five thin bars of iron connecting the four pieces of wood
and bed of the after axletree together; q, the front carriage; it has a door in
front and carries three passengers. r, the after carriage; it has a door behind.

page_text: s, the guard's seat; t, t, t, coach springs; u, u, u, u, u, u, Fig. 2, pulleys fixed
to the front part of the fore axletree bed, those nearest the extremities being
double; v, Fig. 2, a moving double pulley, connected only by rope; w, Fig. 2,
a wheel situated by the side of the driver, which when turned round winds a
rope on the barrel, and thus raises the bearing belt by means of the "span" x,
rack wheel, and catch pin; use obvious. y, the "bearing belt," is made of
leather, having straps at the ends, by which it is buckled on to bars of wood,
and a connecting strap to the collar; Z, Fig. 3, an iron span, by which the two
ends of the belt are connected over the horse's back.
Remarks.-The bearing belts should not be used excepting at such times as
that the machine has "gathered way," as at other times they would be more
likely to decrease than to increase the effective powers of the horses; neither
should they be used when going up hills, unless the machine be travelling at a
pace beyond that of the horses on level ground. After having gathered way, the
more the horses are eased of their weight and the steadier they are supported,
the greater will be the velocity; some horses may require broad martingales and
berast straps, so as to prevent the bearing belts from acting too much on the after
part of their bodies. N.B.-A one-horse machine may be made on this principle,
which would allow of having a bent axletree for the fore wheels, so enabling
them to be of the ordinary height without taking up more than the ordinary
width of road.
In witness whereof, I, the said Crofton William Moat, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of June, in the. year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
CROFTON WILLIAM (L.B.) MOAT.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of June, in the
second year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Crofton
William Moat came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
And also the instrument.
tained and specified, in form above written.
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Fifteenth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-nine.