IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING CARRIAGES ON COMMON ROADS
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARCHIBALD
FARRIES, of Preston, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
the Westminster, the Nineteenth day of August, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Archibald Farries, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Archibald Farries, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said Archibald Farries, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING CARRIAGES ON COMMON ROADS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Archibald Farries,
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 inrolled 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
Archibald Farries, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is 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):
:
My Invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and adaptation of
a certain system of machinery capable of moving and impelling carriages. over
ordinary travelling roads, the impelling power being obtained from the rotary
motion of a sort of tread-wheel, to be acted upon by the feet of a person seated
in the carriage:
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents a horizontal view of the
carriage as seen from above, the operating parts of the machinery being com-
pletely exposed to view by the removal of the flooring and seats. Fig. 2 is a
sectional view of the carriage, taken vertically through it in a longitudinal
direction, the front side of the carriage and the parts of the seats being
removed; and Fig. 3 is a horizontal view of the body of the carriage, shewing
the arrangement of the seats for the passengers and conductor, and the position
of the steering apparatus relative thereto, the same letters of reference indi-
cating the same parts in all the Figures. a, a, a, is the wooden framework
and body of the carriage; b, b, and c, c, are the running wheels supporting the
carriage. The fore wheels 6 turn loosely upon a fixed axle, and from the
centre of this axle a perpendicular shaft d extends, which is mounted in a
frame attached to the under part of the carriage, for the purpose of allowing
these wheels to lock when the carriage is running in curved directions upon
the road. The hinder wheels c are made fast upon the ends of an axle e which
turns in bearings under the carriage, and to one of these wheels, or to the axle
e, a toothed wheelf is affixed, which, by being driven round by the actuating
machinery hereafter described, causes the axle, and with it the running wheels,
to revolve, and, consequently, the carriage to move onward upon the road.
Across the middle of the carriage there is a horizontal shaft or axle g turning
in bearings on the frame of the carriage, to which shaft is affixed a drum wheel
h, h, h, having a series of radial vanes attached round its periphery. These
vanes are to be acted upon as a tread-wheel by the feet of the conductor, situate
in the carriage at i, the wheel turning in an opening formed in the floor of the
In
carriage; and upon the shaft or axle g is also affixed a toothed wheel k.
suitable bearings between the axles e and g an inclined shaft is mounted,
which carries two pinions m and n, respectively taking into the wheels f and k.
These wheels f and k have each several concentric circles of teeth upon their

page_text: faces, and the pinions m and n are capable of being slidden along their shaft l,
and fixed in any desired situation, for the purpose of being brought to act in
any of these circles of teeth, according to the rotary power desired to be
communicated to the hinder running wheels.
Having now described the principal features of my improved machinery for
propelling carriages on ordinary roads, I proceed to shew the way in which the
machinery acts. The conductor, seated in the carriage at i, applies his feet to
the vanes of the wheel h, and by pressing upon them successively, causes the tread-
wheel or drum to revolve. This rotary movement of the tread-wheel necessarily
carries round with it the toothed wheel k fixed upon the same axle; and the circle
of teeth in gear with the pinion m is thereby made to give rotary motion to the
pinion and to its shaft . At the same time, the other pinion n on the shaft l
taking into the teeth of one of the circles of the wheel f, by its rotation drives
round the wheel f, and with it the axle e, by which the running wheels c, c,
are caused to turn and roll onward, propelling the carriage along the roadway.
When it is required to direct the progress of the carriage out of a straight
line, either to the right or left, that may be effected by the conductor turning
the handle p. This handle p is fixed upon a short vertical shaft q mounted in
bearings, and at the lower end of the shaft there is a spur wheel r.
This spur
wheel, and a pulley s fixed at the top of the long upright shaft d*, carry an
endless chain t. The lower end of the long vertical shaft d* has also a pulley
u, and to this pulley a chain u is attached, the ends of which chain are made
fast to the axle of the fore wheels, as w, w. It will now be seen that by
turning the handle p the endless chain t will be made to turn the long vertical
shaft d, and this, by giving a rotary movement to the pulley u, will cause the
chain v to draw the axle of the fore wheels to the right or left, as the case may
be, and thereby to effect the locking of the fore wheels, and consequently
guide the direction of the carriage. The mechanism is intended to be boxed
in by a casing, for the purpose of preventing access of dirt to the works, which
casing is shewn at x, x, x. The shifting of the position of the pinions m and n
upon their shaft, for the purpose of varying the power of the tread-wheel,
may be readily done by lifting a flap forming a part of the flooring of the car-
riage, as shewn at y, Fig. 3, and the passengers will have access to the carriage
by opening a door and raising a seat z.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archibald Farries, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
ARCHIBALD (L.S.) FARRIES.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Eighteenth day of
February, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Archibald Farries came
before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written.. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Nineenth day of Februam in the shown withon