CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS UPON THE WHEELS AND PERCHES OF CARRIAGES
Year: 1816

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MILTON, of Heckfield, Hants, Clerk, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Tenth day of February, in the fifty-sixth year of His reign,
give and grant unto me, the said William Milton, my exors, admors, and
assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said William Milton, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, should and lawfully
might, during the term of years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS UPON THE WHEELS AND PERCHES OF
CARRIAGES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
that if I, the said William Milton, shall not particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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, may more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Milton, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are particularly described

page_text: and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed and the following
references thereto or description thereof (that is to say)
My said improvements consist in making the lock of a four-wheel carriage
as practicable with wheels however high before as it is with the low wheels
now commonly used, and in making such high wheels more capable of
enduring violent shocks than by the present mode of making they would be.
The lock with high wheels before is thus affected, see Figure 1. a, b, e, d, is
the hind body of a waggon, of a stage coach, or of a gentleman's family travel-
ling carriage or other carriages, upborne by its wheels on the ground at G. To
the top and along the middle of this hind body is fixed the upper perch a, b, c,
to the bottom the under perch d, e, f, c and f being in the central and vertical
line of the intended lock motion. Thus circumstanced, this hind body will fall
backwards or forwards according to the front of it b, e, is heavier or lighter than
the back a, d. To prevent this falling, insert at and between c, f, the figure
m, h, k, representing a fore body on its wheels, provided with top and bottom
pins s, s, and with proper keys, or with a perch bolt going all the way through.
This done, both bodies, with little effort, but with full stability, lean against
each other; and, thus arranged, the fore body, though on wheels as high as
those behind, will lock freely and completely between the upper and under
perches. A sufficient stop or check from the fore body to the upper or under
perch, or to both, is to be so placed as that, in locking, the retiring wheels
shall never touch either of the perches. The mode of making these high
wheels is this:-Cut the cylindric nave along its length into as many planes
or faces as there are to be spokes; for spokes use planks or framework
tapering from the nave to the felly. The plane of each spoke is to be
arranged as parrallelly as may be to the direction of the axle arm. At the
nave end of these spokes fix on firmly a piece of projecting wood m, n (see
Fig. 2), fitting the face or plane of the nave which it is to be applied and fixed
to, and at the felly end of these spokes fix on another piece g, w, so projecting
as that it may be fastened to the felly. These spokes, and their nave-end
pieces, will go round and occupy the whole circumference of the nave, and
thereby mainly contribute to keep each other well in their places. If the number
of spokes be an even number, and their nave-end pieces have longitudinally
a faint tapering, and the position of this tapering be alternated, then, on the
failure of a spoke, it will be easy, on removing its fastenings, to draw out the
broken spoke, and to slide in another, without disturbing a single felly.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Milton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixteen.
WILLIAM (L.S.) MILTON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirty-first day of May, in
the year of our Lord 1816, the aforesaid William Milton came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, 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.