A MACHINE TO BE ATTACHED TO CARRIAGES AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR A DRAG, TO REGULATE THE SPEED, AND TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS IN GOING DOWN HILL OR IN OTHER PERILOUS SITUATIONS
Year: 1820

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HUGGETT, of Hailsham, in the County of Sussex, Shoeing Smith, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster,
the Tenth day of February, in the first year of His reign, give and grant unto
me, the said James Huggett, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said James
Huggett, my exors, admors and assigns, 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
"A MACHINE TO BE ATTACHED TO CARRIAGES AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR A DRAG, TO
REGULATE THE SPEED, AND TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS IN GOING DOWN HILL OR IN OTHER
PERILOUS SITUATIONS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
proviso that if I, the said James Huggett, shall not particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months, next and immediately after, the date
of the said, Letters Patent, that then, the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine,
and become void, as in and by the same, relation 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
James Huggett, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and following description
thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention of a Machine to be attached to Carriages as a Substitute for
a Drag, to Regulate the Speed, and to Prevent Accidents in going down Hill
or other Perilous Situations, consists of an apparatus placed under the carriage,
which is intended to act as a drag by pressing or rubbing against the ground-
when going down hill, or in any situation in which it may be necessary to retard
the volicity of the carriage, by which contrivance very considerable friction is
produced, and the progress of the carriage accordingly impeded. This drag
as applied to mail or stage or other coaches, is represented in the Drawing
annexed.
Figure 1, a mail coach, having the drag attached.. All the parts not new
are represented by outlines only, and the apparatus claimed as new, with its
appendages, are shaded and colored as iron and brass, but not essentially of
those particular metals. The drag, which consists of a broad piece of iron,
is placed under the perch of the carriage between the hind wheels, or else-
where, as may be thought most convenient, but in the situation described I
consider the drag to be most effective. This drag is intended to be lowered, so
as to come in contact with the ground, by the driver without quitting his seat,
or by any other person upon the coach box or elsewhere, and raised again by
a similar operation. It is to be worked by a winch or handle near to the
coach box, or, if preferred, at the hinder part of the carriage, the action of
which will be seen by the following description, reference being made to the
Drawing, the respective letters whereof upon every Figure (except Figs. 11,
12, & 13,) refer to the same parts throughout.
Letter a is the winch or handle to be turned by the coachman, placed upon
the top of an upright spindle, at the lower end of which is a bevel spur wheel b,
working into a bevel cog wheel c upon the end of a shaft d, which passes along
under the perch of the carriage. Upon the other end of this shaft is a cog
wheel e, taking into an inverted horizontal crown wheel f, attached to an
upwright spindle g with a worm, shewn more distinctly by the front view of this
part detached, Fig. 2. h, h, h, is the carriage, supporting the spindle g, and
carrying the crown wheel, shewn also in the side view, Fig. 3. i is a bar
fixed across the front of the carriage, for the purpose of supporting the pivot of
the shaft d. k is the sliding bar which holds the drag, and by which the drag
is raised and lowered in the carriage h, shewn also by itself at Fig. 4, a plan

page_text: view. Through this bar the worm of the spindle g passes, and by the crown
wheel being turned this spindle attached to it is also turned, which raises or
lowers the bar sliding up and down in the grooves or slits of the carriage h. To
the ends of this sliding bar k are attached the arms l, l, which hold the drag,
shewn in side view, Fig. 5. m is the bottom plate or the drag to rub against
the ground, shewn in Fig. 6, plan, and Fig. 7, side views. The drag is:
attached to the arms by the pin or bar n, which passes through the lower
ends of the arms, and through the slits or long holes of the drag, seen at o, in
Fig. 7. p, a spring in the bed of the drag, against which the ends of the
arms are intended to act for the purpose of taking off or easing the jolts to
which the carriage would be subject, as the drag slides along the ground,
without such a contrivance.
Fig. 8 represents an arm l, constructed with a spring within a socket, calcu-
lated to answer the same purpose as and substitute for the spring p. This
contrivance is more clearly seen by the section of the same, Fig. 9, in which
the spring is seen at q in action.
The parts being thus respectively described, the action of the apparatus is as
follows:-
The driver turns the winch a, which causes the pinion 6 to turn the spur
wheel c upon the shaft d, by which the cog wheel e drives the crown wheel f
fixed to the shaft g, the worm of which, working in the sliding bar k, causes the
bar k to ascend or descend. The ends of this sliding bar holding the arms l, l,
of the drag m, lowers the drag to the ground, by the friction of which the
carriage is impeded. The chains r, one on each side of the drag, are intended
to prevent it from going back, and the chains, when placed as shewn in Fig. 1,
is intended to prevent the drag from jumping forward. To this is attached a
check spring, by which the drag is allowed a small action. When the carriage
is standing by out of use it may be desirable to draw up the drag close under
the carriage, which may be done by unhooking the chains.
This new constructed drag is applicable also to waggons, and may be moved
by a winch and pinion behind the waggon, as represented detached in Fig. 10.
The inverted crown wheel shewn in this Figure is to move the apparatus
as described by the respective letters e, f, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, in Figures 1
and 2.
Figure 11 shew another method of suspending and lowering a drag, which
is performed by turning the shaft a which carries the cog wheel b. This cog
wheel works into a rack c upon the bar d, which bar is connected
to the two levers e and f, the lower one of which carries the drag.
by a joint
Now by

page_text: turning the shaft a the bar d is drawn up, and the levers e, f, coming into
a straight line, as represented by the dottings, brings the 'drag down to the
ground, the chain 9 being supplied with a spring, as before mentioned,
8, Figure 1.
Figure 12 represents another mode of working a drag, which drag is
suspended by two arms f, attached to the slider e, shewn in front view at
Figure 13.
.
The action of this apparatus is as follows:-Turn the shaft a, having a bevel
cog wheel b, working into another bevel cog wheel'c, upon a shaft d, laying
along under the perch of the carriage. This shaft has a worm which passes
through the slider e, and by the revolution of the shaft d this slider passes
backward and forward. Now it will be seen that as the slider carries the
arms with the drag at bottom, the more the slider is carried back upon the
shaft the nearer the arms f will be brought into a perpendicular, and conse-
quently the drag will be brought to the ground. The upward bearing slider e
is supported by an antifriction roller acting against the under side of the perch
of the carriage.
This improved drag may be also applied to light carriages of every descrip-
tion by various modifications of its attachments, arising out of the peculiar
construction of such carriages, which will be easily understood by every
competent workman without further explanation..
In witness whereof, I, the said James Huggett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord 1820, the aforesaid James Huggett came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Tenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand