IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO CARRIAGES FOR STOPPING OR RESTRAINING HORSES
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 30th March 1874.-A communication from abroad by Adolphe
Jean Jouret, of Paris, France.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the.
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the.
said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO CARRIAGES FOR
STOPPING OR RESTRAINING HORSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improved apparatus applicable to all kinds of
carriages drawn by horses, by the aid of which either the driver;
occupant, or any other person may instantly and without danger check
the horse or horses should they run away, when all control by means of
the reins has been lost, the apparatus being operated by pulling one of
three cords connected with a lever by which the apparatus is thrown into
gear. The 1st. cord is placed within reach of the driver, the 2nd. inside
the vehicle, and the 3rd. outside at the back part.
The apparatus will also serve to hold the horse or horses at a stand-
making
stonnage
The manhanism is
tranced 2 to

page_text: enable the driver or occupant immediately the carriage stops to slacken
the safety rein without alighting.
In order that the Invention may be more readily understood, I have
illustrated the Invention by way of example only in the accompanying
Drawing, in which Figure 1 shows a front elevation of the apparatus;
Figure 2, a transverse section on line 1, 2, Figure 1, and Figure 3 a plan
of same, while Figures 4 and 5 show detached views of the lever by
which the apparatus is thrown into gear. The same reference letters
serve for all the Figures.
a, cog wheel fixed on the hub of one of the fore wheels of the vehicle;
c, axle; d, upright secured to axle c by nuts e and plates f, or they may
be attached to the carriage spring g; h, spindle supported in bearings or
uprights d, and on one end of which is keyed a pinion i, and at the other
end a small drum or reel j. on which is wound a cord o to which is
attached a safety rein. The spindle / also carries a truncated cone or
cones k on which bears a short arm 7 having an inclined face for sliding
the spindle in a longitudinal direction, to throw the pinion i in gear with
wheel a, this motion being obtained by pulling the cord n attached to
the long arm m of the said lever p, spring enclosed in a tube g for
throwing pinion & out of gear with wheel a when the cord n is slackened.
The whole being thus arranged, if while the vehicle is in motion lever m
be oscillated by pulling cord n, lever / will press on the conical surface
of cam k and move the spindle longitudinally so as to gear pinion i with
wheel, a, whereupon the spindle h together with its adjuncts will rotate
in the reverse direction to the carriage wheel, and the safety cord or
rein o, one end of which is attached to reel j and the other to the ring of
a strong musrol or nose band or to the rings of the bit, will be wound on
the said reel and so conpel the horse or horses to stop. On releaseing
tho cord n the spring p will throw the pinion & out of gear and allow the
safety rein to be unwound by the horses themselves. This apparatus
may be applied to the wheels on each side of the vehicle.