IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE ADDED TO WHEELS TO FACILITATE THE DRAUGHT OF CARRIAGES ON TURNPIKE AND COMMON ROADS
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ASHDOWNE, of Tonbridge, in the County of Kent, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of May, in the sixth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Ashdowne, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said John Ashdowne, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Ashdowne, my exors, adñiors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE ADDED TO
WHEELS TO FACILITATE THE DRAUGHT OF CARRIAGES ON TURNPIKE AND COMMON
ROADS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said John Ashdowne, shall 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 said 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Ashdowne, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in the application of an apparatus or endless chain
to each wheel of carts, waggons, or other carriages, such chain being made up
of a series of short iron bars, whereby so much of the chain as is under the
wheel becomes a hard rail or way, along or over which the wheel moves with
considerably less friction than if moving on or over the road itself. And in
order that my Invention may be fully described and readily understood, I will
describe the Drawing hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 represents a side view of a cart, having my improvements applied
thereto, and Figure 2 shews a Plan of part of the endless chain according
to the construction I prefer. a, a, is the endless chain, which is made up of a
series of bars connected together by pin joints, as is clearly shewn, and will
readily be constructed. 6 is a projecting lever suspended from the axle and
from the cart at c. The object of this lever is to carry the length of chain
(which is necessarily greater than the circumference of the wheel) and 'cause
it to assume a position before the wheel as it falls on the road, that the upper
surfaces of the bars of which the chain is formed shall offer a hard iron surface
for the wheel to move on, in like manner to a wheel moving on a fixed
railway, and hence to reduce the draught necessary to move the cart, waggon,
or other carriage, which will be the result of the chain offering a continuous
railway before the wheel, whilst the other portion of the chain, after it has
performed its office, will pass up with the wheel, and again and again come
into action. d, d, are a series of guards or guides in order to retain the
chain a, a, on the wheel, which I consider will be found preferable to having
flanges on the wheels in order to obtain a like result. Now, it will be evident
that on motion being communicated to the cart, each portion of the chain will
successively come under the wheel, and become for the time being a rail or
hard iron surface, performing a like important office as the fixed rails in
railways. And I would remark, that I do not confine myself to the precise
construction of chain, or the exact means of carrying forward the quantity of
chain which is greater than the circumference of the wheel; but what I claim
is, the application of such an arrangement of apparatus to facilitate the
draught of carriages on turnpike and common roads as abovo described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Ashdowne, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
J. (1.s.) ASHDOWNE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid John Ashdowne 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 stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twelfth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.