A NEW METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING CARRIAGES FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF MERCHANDIZE, EITHER BY LAND OR WATER, WHICH CARRIAGES MAY BE REMOVED (EITHER LOADED OR UNLOADED) FROM THE LAND. TO THE WATER, OR FROM THE WATER TO THE LAND, WITH EASE, EXPEDITION, AND. SAFETY
Year: 1800

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
HADLEY REDDELL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Royal Letters Patent under .the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Second day of August, in the fortieth year of His reign,
did give and grant unto me, the said Isaac Hadley Reddell, my executors,"
administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or
by my and their deputy and deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I,
the said Isaac Hadley Reddell, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
hereafter during the term of fourteen years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, and vend, within that part of His Kingdom
of Great Britain called England, His Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING
CARRIAGES FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF MERCHANDIZE, EITHER BY LAND OR WATER,
WHICH CARRIAGES MAY BE REMOVED (EITHER LOADED OR UNLOADED) FROM THE LAND.
TO THE WATER, OR FROM THE WATER TO THE LAND, WITH EASE, EXPEDITION, AND.
SAFETY," in such manner as to me, the said Isaac Hadley Reddell, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or any of them, should in their. discretions seem
meet; and that I, the said Isaac Hadley Reddell, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should and lawfully might have and enjoy the whole benefit, profit,
commodity, and advantage from time to time coming, growing, and arising,
by reason of the said Invention, during the term of years therein mentioned;
to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence, powers, priviledges, and
advantages therein-before granted or mentioned to be granted unto me, the
said Isaac Hadley Reddell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, for and

page_text: during and unto the full end and term of fourteen years from the date of the
said Letters Patent next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be compleat
and ended, according to the Statute in such case made and provided; in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Isaac
Hadley Reddell, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters, Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Isaac Hadley Reddell, do, hereby declare that the following is a description of
the carriages, which are made according to my method (that is to say):-
"I make, the bodies of the carriages to any form or size required, chiefly of
wood, and strengthen or fasten the parts together with iron or any other
suitable substance, and make the bottoms, ends, and sides of them as water-
tight as possible. I then affix a suitable number of wheels thereto, by means
of an axletree or axletrees, or in any other eligible manner (but in most
cases it will be best to place them so that the bottom of the carriage or
carriages may not be more than six, or less than three or four inches, above the
level surface of the ground). I sometimes place the wheels in suitable recesses
in the sides of the boat parts or bodies of the carriages, and put either a
broad plank or some strong iron work over their centres, in order to support
and protect them; or they may be fixed in narrow water-tight compartments
or boxes in suitable places in the inside of the boat part or body of the
carriage, but of course the number of the wheels, and the manner of fixing
them, must be varied according to circumstances. When they are in the
water, a considerable number of the small-sized carriages may be fastened
together in any eligible manner, and hauled by one horse; and if they are
wanted out of the water, they must be separated, and drawn up an inclined
plane by one or more at a time. They may then be taken up or let down
a plane to a bigher or a lower level of water, as circumstances may require, or
be drawn by land (either loaded or unloaded) to any place wherever they
may be wanted, very near if not quite as readily as a common waggon or
cart. Carriages of this discription may be made to carry any reasonable
burden (that is to say), from one ton tc twenty tons, and upwards, according
to the uses for which they are intended; such as are meant to be drawn about
when on the land by two or three horses would be best if calculated to carry
about two or three tons. They may be made principally with square ends, and
may be either linked, tied, or grappled to each other when they are in the

page_text: water, or a rope or ropes, chain or chains, may pass through either rings,
loops, or holes, made in or attached to each of them, and by means of a lever,
weight, or spring in one or both of the end carriages, they may be braced
together sufficiently tight. The foremost end of the body of the leading car-
riage, if it is deemed necessary, may be made in the usual cutwater form, and
the hindmost may have a rudder attached to it, which may be taken off or
put on at pleasure, and they all may be steered together as one boat. In
canals where the water is on different levels, if a sufficient quantity cannot
conveniently be spared from the upper level for the supply of locks, it will
be extremely eligible to have carriages of the aforesaid description, to carry
about six or eight tons each; and when three of them are fastened together in
the water, they will be equal in size and appearance to a common canal coal
boat; and to pass them from one level to another, it would be necessary to
have an inclined plane or planes to go down into the water at the head of
the upper level, and another from thence down into the water of the lower
level, and of course a certain degree of power would likewise be necessary
to let down and draw up the carriages on the inclined plane. A small steam
engine, somewhat like those which are used at several of the collieries in the
kingdom to draw the coals out of the pits, if well executed, would pass upwards
of two hundred tons over the planes in an hour, if the difference in the levels
was not more than twenty or thirty feet; and the expence of making the
planes, and erecting the engine, would not be much more, if so much, as
making four common locks, with the necessary appendages; or any other power
might be made use of that was thought more eligible. If still greater dispatch
is required, the machinery may be made a little stronger, and carriages of
nine or ten tons burden or more may easily be taken over the planes; and
they may be so constructed, that when two of them are fastened together in
the water, they would form but one complete boat in size and appearance.
course they may pass the locks together as one boat, if there are any locks on
the line of the canal where these boat carriages may be used, or pass the planes
separately with expedition and safety.
Of
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Hadley Reddell, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand and eight hundred.
ISAAC HADLEY (L.S.) REDDELL.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-ninth day of
August, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Isaac Hadley Reddell
came before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification 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 made in that case made and provided.
... ..ניר
תו.