IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO THE BRAKES AND OTHER PARTS OF TWO-WHEEL CARRIAGES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Snaydon, of Corscombe, in the County
of Dorset, Farmer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
APPLICABLE TO THE BRAKES AND OTHER PARTS OF TWO-WHEEL CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 7th March 1871, and dated the 15th September 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Snaydon at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th September 1870.
I, WILLIAM SNAYDON, of Corscombe, in the County of Dorset,
Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO THE BRAKES AND OTHER PARTS OF TWO-WHEEL
CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to apparatus for applying the brakes and regu-
lating the pressure of the load on the horse, and consists in the adapta-
tion and application to carts or other two-wheel carriages of mechanism
by means of which the weight of the loaded vehicle may be caused to

page_text: act either behind or in front of the centre line of the axle, as may be
required to apply the brakes and to relieve the horse from the pressure
of the load on his back in descending hills, and from a lifting pressure
underneath his body in ascending hills. For this purpose the body of
the vehicle is arranged to slide on the shafts or on the axle, or the body t
and shafts together slide on the axle, and the brakes are connected either
with the said body or with the shafts so as to be applied to the naves of
the wheels at the same time that the body or the shafts is or are caused
to slide as required. A strong iron ring (by preference grooved) is fixed
on the nave of the wheel, and the brake blocks are formed as required
to correspond with the grooves on the said ring in order to increase their
hold on the nave. The body of the vehicle is caused to move on the
shafts, or the shafts and body together are caused to move on the axle
by means of a screw-or-screws, or-a-rack-and-pinion,-or-racks-and-pinions,
or otherwise, and the brake blocks are connected as required with the
body or the shafts as the case may be. If preferred, the moving of the
body or the shafts may be effected by suspending the same on a cranked
axle, which by the application thereto of suitable power is turned the
requisite distance in either direction so as to carry the weight of the
loaded vehicle on either side of the centre of the axle or naves of the
wheels, and to apply the brakes when the body is put back.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Snaydon in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th March 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SNAYDON, of Corscombe, in the County of Dorset, Farmer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Snaydon, Her special licence
that I, the said William Snaydon, my executors, administrators, and

page_text: assigns, or such others as I, the said William Snaydon, 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
APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO THE BRAKES AND OTHER PARTS OF TWO-WHEEL
CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Snaydon, 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 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 William Snaydon, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say)
My Invention of "Improvements in Apparatus applicable to the
Brakes and other Parts of Two-wheel Carriages" relates to apparatus for
applying the brakes and regulating the pressure of the load on the horse,
and consists in the adaptation and application to carts or other two-wheel
carriages of mechanism by means of which the weight of the loaded
vehicle may be caused to act either behind or in front of the centre line
of the axle as may be required, to apply the brakes, and to relieve the
horse from the pressure of the load on his back in descending hills, and
from a lifting pressure underneath his body in ascending hills. For this
purpose the body of the vehicle is arranged to slide on the shafts, or on
the axle, or the body and shafts together to slide on the axle, and the
brakes are connected either with the said body or with the shafts, so as
to be applied to the naves of the wheels in the case of heavy vehicles, or
to the tyres thereof in the case of light vehicles, at the same time that
the body or the shafts is or are caused to slide as required. In the case
of heavy vehicles a strong iron ring (by preference grooved) is fixed on
the nave of the wheel, and the brake blocks are formed as required to

page_text: correspond with the grooves on the said ring in order to increase their
hold on the nave. The body of the vehicle is caused to move on the
shafts, or the shafts and body together are caused to move on the axle by
means of a screw or screws, or a rack and pinion, or racks and pinions, or
otherwise, and the brake blocks are connected as required with the body
or the shafts, as the case may be. If preferred the moving of the body
or the shafts may be effected by suspending the same on a cranked axle,
which by the application thereto of suitable power is turned the requisite
distance in either direction, so as to carry the weight of the loaded
vehicle on either side of the centre of the axle or naves of the wheels,
and to apply the brakes when the body is put back.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention I will proceed to
describe more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed
by the aid of the accompanying Drawings, in which the Invention is
Fig. 1 is a plan or horizontal view taken underneath a cart shewing
the frame and wheels of the cart and the apparatus for moving the loaded
body thereof and applying the brakes; Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical
section of the same; Fig. 3 is a side elevation, and Fig. 4 a plan or
horizontal view showing the apparatus as adapted for light vehicles; and
Figures 5 and 6 are corresponding views shewing another arrangement
of apparatus as adapted to similar vehicles. In all these several Figures
the same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
In Figures 1 and 2 the apparatus is shewn as adapted and applied to
a heavy cart in which the body and shafts together are intended to be
slidden on the axle as required. A is the axle; B is a metal block with
a dovetailed groove in it fixed to the upper side of the axle; C is the
frame with the shafts to which the body (not shewn in the Drawing) is
connected; D is a tongue or dovetailed slide fixed to the under side of
the frame C, and fitting in the dovetailed groove in the block B. By
means of this arrangement of the parts the frame C is rendered susceptible
of being moved backwards or forwards on the axle as required by
applying sufficient power to move the tongue or slide D in the dovetailed
groove in the block B. The mechanism for applying power to move

page_text: the frame C consists of a cross shaft E worked by a hand wheel F, on
which shaft are a pair of bevel wheels G, G, gearing with another pair
of wheels H, H, fixed on longitudinal shafts I, I, connected at one end
to the frame C, and on the other ends of which are formed screws adapted
to work in nuts K, K, bolted to the inner side of the axle. By turning
the hand wheel the screws I, I, will be worked in the nuts K, K, and
the tongue or slide D will be moved in the dovetailed groove, thereby
sliding the frame C on the axle as may be required. L, L, are the brake
blocks fixed one on each side of the frame C, being composed by
preference of hard wood and formed with angular grooves on their curved
faces adapted to the grooves in the rings M, M, fixed on the naves of
the wheels. At the same time that the frame C is moved as above
stated in a backward direction, the brake blocks L, L, being fixed to
the said frame have their curved faces brought in contact with the
grooved rings M, M, and thus apply the brakes to the naves of the
wheels.
From the foregoing description of the parts and their relative con-
nections, it will be evident that by turning the hand wheel F in either
direction, the frame C with the shafts and body of the cart may
be moved so as to bring the weight of the loaded vehicle into a
position that will cause it to act by gravity either behind or in front
of the centre line of the axle. It will also be seen that when the
weight is thus put back over the axle the horse becomes relieved from
the pressure of the load, and the brakes are at the same time applied
to the naves of the wheels, and that when the weight is brought forward
the brakes will be taken off the wheels and the horse will be relieved from
the usual lifting pressure underneath his body in ascending hills.
It will be obvious that by a simple alteration of the parts the body
of the cart might be made to slide on the shaft frame C fixed to the
axle, the brakes being connected to the said body, and produce the same
effect as to affording a ready means of shifting the weight in relation to
the centre line of the axle.
In Figures 3 and 4 the apparatus is shewn as adapted and applied
to light vehicles, and it will not be necessary to describe the parts in
detail as they will be sufficiently understood from the Drawings, and
from the foregoing description of apparatus for heavy vehicles. In the

page_text: arrangement of apparatus now referred to the weight is moved back-
wards and forwards as required by means of a lever F, which is caused
to act on a cross shaft E and through the jointed rods N, N, to the
cross bar fixed to the body of the vehicle. The brake blocks L, L, are
suspended to the body as shewn in such a manner as to admit of their
being brought in contact with the tyres of the wheels. It will hence
be perceived on reference to Fig. 3 that as the lever F is moved into
the forward position, the body of the vehicle will be put back so as to
carry the weight backwards in relation to the centre line of the axle,
and the brake blocks L, L, will by the same action be brought in contact
with the wheels. The lever F is retained in its required position by
putting it into one of the notches O, O, at the side of the vehicle.
The other positions of the lever are shewn at Fig. 3 by dotted lines,
_that_is_to_say, the middle position for taking the brakes off the wheels,
and the backward position for putting the weight forward in ascending
hills.
In Figures 5 and 6 the apparatus is shewn as adapted and applied to
light vehicles in order to adjust the weight and work the brakes as
required by means of screws worked by a hand wheel at the top of
a vertical shaft, so as to be readily accessible from the vehicle. The
mechanism will be easily understood by the aid of the letters of refer-
ence which correspond with those on the parts already described.
If the particular build of a vehicle should make it more applicable,
the moving of the body or weight may be effected by means of an axle
cranked at the outer ends, and connected with the frame inside the
crank arms, which are worked as required by means of a central screw
actuated by means of a hand wheel.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would remark that the mechanism
herein-before described for shifting the weight of vehicles in relation
to the centre line of the axle as required may be varied and adapted to
suit vehicles of different constructions; but I hereby declare that what
I claim as of my Invention is, the adaptation and application to two-
wheel vehicles of apparatus by means of which the balance of such
vehicles on their axles may be altered as required (by shifting the pre-
ponderating weight of the vehicles in relation to the centre line of the

page_text: axle), and the brakes applied to the wheels when the weight is put back
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Snaydon, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
8, Quality Court,
Chancery Lane.
WILLIAM SNAYDON. (L.S.)