Improvements in Hansom Cabs, Dogcarts and other Two-wheeled Vehicles.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Dec., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 9th Sept., 1899--Accepted, 14th Oct., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hansom Cabs, Dogcarts and other Two-wheeled
Vehicles.
I, WILLIAM DICKSON, of 93, Bolingbroke Grove, Wandsworth Common, in the
County of Surrey, Retired Captain in the Auxiliary Forces, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention has reference to hansom cabs, dogcarts and other two-wheeled
vehicles, and its object is to provide such vehicles with attachments or means
whereby in the event of the horse falling or stumbling the front portion of
the vehicle is prevented from descending to a sufficient extent to cause the occu-
pant or occupants to be thrown out or pitched forward; my attachments or
means will also assist in preventing the horse from falling in the event of his
stumbling.
According to my invention, I provide the front portion of the vehicle at each
side of same with a rotary runner or small wheel, which is mounted so as to
be normally from 2 to 3 inches more or less from the ground, but which in the
event of the horse falling or stumbling and the front of the vehicle being
thereby depressed comes upon and runs along the road, and consequently pre-
vents the front portion of the body of the vehicle descending more than a very
limited extent. These runners or wheels are mounted in bearings in vertical
bars or brackets fixed to the vehicle in front of the ordinary wheels. Their
distance from the front of the ordinary wheels will vary according to the parti-
cular kind of vehicle to which the runners are applied. In a hansom cab the
bars or brackets which carry them may conveniently be fixed to the sides of
the floor of the cab as far forward as practicable; in a dogcart it may be found
convenient to fix them to the shafts or to fix them to the body and carry them
forward a suitable distance.
With the object of gradually diminishing the impetus of the vehicle in case
of an accident and of aiding a stumbling or a fallen horse to regain his footing,
I provide the aforesaid runners or small wheels with stops so arranged that on
the runners coming in contact with the ground and being thereby caused to
revolve, the stops will strike against the supporting bars or brackets of the
runners at or before the completion of one revolution of the latter, whereby the
runners will be locked and thus caused to rub or drag along the ground. The
braking action of the runners when locked as described may be increased by
roughening or scoring the periphery of the runners, preferably at the place
where they come in contact with the ground when locked.
I make the runners or their supporting bars or brackets adjustable, or I may
attach the runners in an adjustable manner in the said supporting bars or
brackets, so that the distance of the runners from the ground can be increased
or diminished as desired according to the height of the horse harnessed to the
vehicle or for other reasons.
In order to adapt my invention to the existing "gravel-irons" as usually fitted

page_text: to hansom cabs, I mount each runner in the manner hereinbefore described in
a separate piece which is preferably formed with a recess or socket adapted to
receive as a tight fit the lower part of the "gravel-iron" to which the said
separate part is fixed by means of screws or bolts. The said separate piece may
however be attached to the gravel-iron in any other suitable manner. Between
the lower end of the gravel-iron and the bottom of the socket I may insert a
pad or block of india rubber or other suitable material so as to diminish or pre-
vent the transmission of the jar which is produced when the runner comes sud-
denly in contact with the ground.
Dated
1000
J. C. MEWBURN & ELLIS,
55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.
Improvements in Hansom Cabs, Dogcarts and other Two-wheeled
Vehicles.
I, WILLIAM DICKSON, of 93, Bolingbroke Grove, Wandsworth Common, in the
County of Surrey, Retired Captain in the Auxiliary Forces, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention has reference to hansom cabs, dogcarts and other two-wheeled
vehicles, and its object is to provide such vehicles with attachments or means
whereby in the event of the horse falling or stumbling the front portion of
the vehicle is prevented from descending to a sufficient extent to cause the occu-
pant or occupants to be thrown out or pitched forward; my attachments or
means will also assist in preventing the horse from falling in the event of his
stumbling.
According to my invention I provide the front portion of the vehicle at each
side of same with a rotary runner or small wheel, which is mounted so as to
be normally from 4 to 5 inches more or less from the ground, but which, in the
event of the horse falling or stumbling and the front of the vehicle being
thereby depressed; comes upon and runs along the road, and consequently pre-
vents the front portion of the body of the vehicle descending more than a very
limited extent. These runners or wheels are mounted in bearings in vertical
bars or brackets fixed to the vehicle in front of the ordinary wheels. Their
distance from the front of the ordinary wheels will vary according to the parti-
cular kind of vehicle to which the runners are applied. In a hansom cab the
bars or brackets which carry them may conveniently be fixed to the sides of
the floor of the cab as far forward as practicable; in a dogcart it is convenient
to fix them to the shafts or to fix them to the body and carry them forward a
suitable distance.
With the object of gradually diminishing the impetus of the vehicle in case
of an accident and of aiding a stumbling or a fallen horse to regain his footing,
I provide the aforesaid runners or small wheels with stops so arranged that on
the runners coming in contact with the ground and being thereby caused to
revolve, the stops will strike against the supporting bars or brackets of the
runners at or before the completion of one revolution of the latter, whereby the
runners will be locked and thus caused to rub or drag along the ground. The
braking action of the runners when locked as described may be increased by

page_text: roughening or scoring the periphery of the runners, at the place where they come
in contact with the ground when locked.
=
I make the runners or their supporting bars or brackets adjustable, or I may
attach the runners in an adjustable manner in the said supporting bars or
brackets, so that the distance of the runners from the ground can be increased.
or diminished as desired according to the height of the horse harnessed to the
vehicle or for other reasons.
In order to adapt my invention to the existing "gravel-irons" as usually fitted
to hansom cabs, I mount each runner in the manner herein before described in
a separate piece which is preferably formed with a recess or socket adapted to
receive as a tight fit the lower part of the gravel-iron to which the said
separate part is fixed by means of screws or bolts. The said separate piece may
however be attached to the gravel-iron in any other suitable manner. Between
"
"
the lower end of the gravel-iron and the bottom of the socket I may insert a
pad or block of india rubber or other suitable material so as to diminish or pre-
vent the transmission of the jar which is produced when the runner comes sud-
denly in contact with the ground.
The accompanying drawings illustrate by way of example the construction
of my improved attachment especially designed for use on hansom cabs.
In these drawings,-Figures 1 and 2 are respectively a side and an end
elevation of my improved attachment with its supporting bracket constructed
in the form of a gravel-iron as a new fitting.
Figures 3 and 4 and Figures 5 and 6 are respectively similar views of my
improved attachment as adapted to existing ordinary gravel-irons.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2 which show the supporting bracket for my
improved attachment made substantially in the form of the existing gravel-iron
as usually fitted to hansom cabs, 1 is the top member of the supporting bracket
adapted to be fixed to the floor 1ª of the cab, and 2, 2 are the two side pieces
converging at their lower ends. 3, is a cross piece to carry the ordinary step 4.
Just below the union of the two side pieces 2, 2 the bracket is extended down-
ward in the form of jaws 5, 5 pierced with square holes to receive a horizontal
pin 6 on which is mounted so as to be capable of revolving thereon a wheel 7
situated vertically in the plane of the gravel-iron. This wheel 7 is provided
with a stop 8 on each side. The parts are so arranged with reference to a
vehicle moving in the direction of the arrow a in Figure 1, that on the wheel 7
coming in contact with the ground and being thereby caused to revolve on the
pin 6 in the direction of the curved arrow b, the stops 8, 8 will be moved round
into the position indicated in dotted lines at 8* in which they strike against and
are arrested by the rear ends of the jaws 5, 5 whereby the wheel 7 will be locked
and caused to rub or drag along the ground. The braking action of the wheel
when locked as described, is increased by roughening or scoring the periphery
of the wheel as indicated at 9 at the place where the said periphery comes in
contact with the ground when the wheel is locked. By suitably distributing
the mass of the wheel 7, the wheel may be caused to assume such a position
when off the ground, that the stops will come into operation when the wheel
has made any desired determined portion of one revolution. In the drawings,
the wheel 7 is shown formed with holes 10 so arranged that the stops 8 will
normally be in the lowest possible position, whereby the wheel is allowed to
revolve, viz., from the point 8 to the point 82, before it becomes locked.
For the purpose of providing for a certain amount of vertical adjustability
of the attachment, the jaws 5, 5 are formed with an additional and lower set
of bearing holes 11 adapted to receive the wheel pin 6. By removing the pin 6
from the upper set of bearing holes in which it is shown carried in the drawings
and replacing the said pin with its wheel into the lower set of bearing holes 11,
the wheel will be brought nearer to the ground by an amount equal to the
vertical distance between the centres of the upper and lower sets of bearing
holes.

page_text: In Figures 3 and 4 which illustrate my improved attachment adapted to an
existing gravel-iron, the jaws 5, 5 carrying the wheel 7 and pin 6, are formed
on the lower part of an approximately triangular sheath or socket 12 which
is adapted to receive as a tight fit the lower part of the gravel-iron 1, 2, to which
the said socket 12 is fixed by means of a bolt 13 extending through the bottom
bend of the gravel-iron, and also by means of the retaining bolt 14 of the step 4.
Figures 5 and 6 illustrate an arrangement which I employ in those cases
where the existing gravel-iron is too long to admit of fitting thereto a socket 12
with depending lower jaws 5, 5 as shown in the preceding figures. As shown
at 15 in Figures 5 and 6, the socket is in this case made without jaws, and the
wheel 7 is mounted at one side of the socket 15 on a pin 16 which is carried at
one end in the socket 15 and at the other end in a depending bar or bracket 17
that is fixed to the socket 15 by means of the bolts 18, 18, which also serve to
fasten the socket to the gravel-iron.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. In hansom cabs, dogcarts and other two-wheeled vehicles the improved
attachment, constructed, arranged and operating, substantially as and for the
purpose described with reference to Figures 1 and 2.
2. In hansom cabs, dogcarts and other two-wheeled vehicles the improved.
attachment, constructed, arranged and operating, substantially as and for the
purpose described with reference to Figures 3 and 4.
3. In hansom cabs, dogcarts and other two-wheeled vehicles the improved
attachment, constructed, arranged and operating, substantially as and for the
purpose described with reference to Figures 5 and 6.
4. In hansom cabs, dogcarts and other two-wheeled vehicles having attach-
ments of the kind herein referred to, the arrangement of stops on the support-
ing wheels or runners of such attachments, whereby the said wheels or runners
will be locked after a predetermined period of contact with the ground, sub-
stantially as and for the purpose described.
Dated thin 0th of Cantanha 1800
J. C. MEWBURN & ELLIS,
55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.