AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE STRUCTURE OF CARRIAGES FOR MILITARY AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1857

page_text: by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry John Childe Shakespear.at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd October 1857...
I, HENRY JOHN CHILDE SHAKESPEAR, Captain in the Honorable East India
Company's Service, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for " AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE STRUCTURE OF CARRIAGES FOR MILITARY AND OTHER PURPOSES,"
to be as follows:―
This Invention has for its object the construction of a carriage, which I call
the unirotal or one-wheeled carriage, and which has a single wheel placed
beind the body of the carriage; the weight of the load to be dragged is placed
between the wheel and the horse dragging it, and the horse is attached to the
wheel by shafts and traces. The shafts are furnished at the wheel ends with
iron loops, through which the axle passes; the shafts are prevented from
running off by screws and pins, and the iron at the ends of the shafts is turned
up slightly, so that the centre of gravity may be below the axle of the wheel.
A cross piece of wood keeps the shafts apart immediately before the wheel;
in front of this, the seat of a carriage for travelling or pleasure is placed on
C springs, or, if for military purposes, a gun carriage may be fixed on the
shafts, or the gun may have a separate carriage to slide off them. The
persons carried can only sit either knee to knee, or, if double bodied, the
driver can sit in front nearest the horse, and the sitter behind. These kinds

page_text: of seats can be adopted, but each and all on the principle of having but one
sitter in a line, that is, between the shafts, so that the weight is kept between
them. The length of the shafts is regulated by the load required to be carried,
and the ends of the shafts that are attached to the horse are cased in iron.
The shafts at this place being square, 2½ inches thick, they are looped upon
iron square loops 5 inches long, and in which the shafts, fitting exactly and
being let down, are kept from moving by other pieces of iron which turn on
hinges closing on them, a thumb-screw through, and belly band going round
the horse, doubly securing them from moving. The iron loops are firmly fixed
on the tree of a saddle, that goes on the horse, rather larger than the common
driving pad; this is fixed by web girths, similar to that to a riding saddle.
It is necessary that there should be no motion in this part of the shafts; they
must fit exactly into the iron loops of the saddle. The breadth of the tyre of
the wheel 3 inches or more, according to the weight to be borne by it. The
advantages of this one-wheeled carriage are, that it can be dragged-through
and over mountain passes and paths where two-wheeled carriages cannot go,
and that it can follow wherever a horse can step before the carriage, the single
wheel taking less room than the horse; thus, for military purposes, guns not
heavier than 6-pounders can always be transported by draught at as rapid a
rate as cavalry can move. For travelling purposes in countries like India,
where there are few roads but many paths, people can drive where horses can
be ridden; a lighter weight for the horse to drag, and half the friction, there
being but one wheel, and consequently the vehicle can be built at a much less
expense.