IMPROVEMENTS IN DOG CARTS AND Other Two WHEELED VEHICLES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Osmond, of Breakspeare Road, New Cross,
in the County of Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DOG CARTS AND Other Two WHEELED VEHICLES”
Sealed the 6th October 1875, and dated the 5th August 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Osmond at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th August 1875.
I, JOHN OSMOND, of Breakspeare Road, New Cross, in the County
of Kent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DOG CARTS AND OTHER TWO WHEELED VEHICLES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to a mode of hanging the body of a dog cart or
like two wheeled vebicles, or a portion of the said body, in such a
manner as to provide for its being maintained in a horizontal position
when the horse falls, so that the occupants of the vehicle shall not in
such a case be thrown out; it relates also to a mode of connecting the

page_text: body to the springs so that it may be readily adjusted backwards or
forwards to suit the load, and also to a method of connecting the shafts
to the springs and body, so that they may be readily elevated or lowered
to suit horses of different heights.
For the purpose of maintaining the horizontal position of the body
of the vehicle when the horse falls, I mount it upon trunnions supported
by brackets carried by the shafts, the said trunnions being at a point
above the centre of gravity of the body, so that when the shafts are
inclined on the falling of the horse, the body in swinging on the
Within the body I mount
trunnions remains in a horizontal position.
a heavy pendulum, the lower end of which is made to act in such a
manner upon two pawls carried by the body and in gear with a curved
toothed rack on the shafts, that when the shafts are in the horizontal
position the pawls are both in gear with the rack, and thus lock the
body to the shafts, but when by the falling of the horse the pendulum
swings forward somewhat, it will release the one ratchet so as to allow
the shafts to move down into an inclined position while the body
remains horizontal. Again on raising the shafts from their inclined
position the pendulum in moving back somewhat releases the other
pawl, and so allows the body to remain horizontal while the shafts are
being raised.
In the arrangement of ratchets which I prefer to employ I form the
two ratchets into one solid piece of triangular shape with pins at cach
end resting in vertical slots in the body of the vehicle. When the
shafts are horizontal the pendulum is situated over the middle of the
double ratchet and prevents either end from rising, but on the pendulum
moving forward or backward, owing to the shafts being inclined in the
one direction or the other, it will move over to the one end of the double
ratchet, and thus in allowing the other end to rise in its slot will permit
of the before-described relative motion between the body and the
shafts.
Instead of supporting the body on trunnions carried in brackets as
described, it may be supported by means of small rollers at the bottom
running on curved paths formed on the shafts, and the before-described
trunnions may in this case simply act as guides working in forks in the
brackets. Instead of mounting the whole body in the manner described
the front seat only may be so mounted by trunnions or brackets pro-

page_text: jecting upwards from the sides in such a manner that the weight when
occupied is mostly in front of the trunnions, so that the seat is kept
back against stops provided on the sides. But should the horse fall, the
seat tends by its momentum to swing forwards so that the occupants
can remain sitting thereon. I attach to the lower part of such swinging
seat a ratchet rod which when the seat swings forward catches on a
catch fixed to the body, so holding the seat in its forward position. A
pendulum weight hung under the seat is connected to this ratchet rod,
so that when the body is raised this weight tending to swing backwards
raises the ratchet rod off the catch, and so permits the seat to swing
back to its normal position.
For adjusting the body backwards or forwards on the springs I attach
it thereto by radius rods jointed to each end of each spring, and carried
by rocking shafts mounted on the front and back of the body respec-
tively. These radius rods may be set and held in any desired attitude
by fixing a rod connected to any of them or to an arm on either of
their rocking shafts by means of a set screw, and according to the
attitude in which they are so fixed the body of the vehicle will be more
or less forward or backward relatively to the springs. For the purpose
of elevating or lowering the shafts I joint them to radius rods, namely
a pair in front jointed to the front ends of the springs and a pair behind
of different length or lying at a different angle, jointed either to the
back ends of the springs or to the back part of the body. A U shaped
steel bar is fixed by its two limbs to the axle or to the springs at or
near the axle and extends across the front part of the vehicle. To this
bar the shafts are secured by bolts or pins which can be inserted in any
of a set of holes provided for them, so that the shafts can be set forwards
or backwards as desired. By moving them forwards, owing to the
different arcs traversed by their radius rods the front of the shafts is
elevated.
It is to be understood that the several improvements described above
may be applied separately or in combination, so far as the construction
will permit, either to existing or to new vehicles.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Osmond in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
OSMOND, of Breakspeare Road, New Cross, in the County of Kent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Osmond, Her special
license, that I, the said John Osmond, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Osmond, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN Dog Carts and other TWO WHEELED VEHICLES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Osmond, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Osmond, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to a mode of hanging the body of a dog cart,
or like two wheeled vehicle, or a portion of the said body in such a
manner as to provide for its being maintained in a horizontal position
when the horse falls, so that the occupants of the vehicle shall not in

page_text: such a case be thrown out; it relates also to a mode of connecting the
body to the springs, so that it can be readily adjusted backwards or
forwards to suit the load, and also to a method of connecting the shafts
to the springs and body, so that they can be readily elevated or lowered
to suit horses of different heights.
I will describe my said improvements, referring to the accompanying
Drawings, of which,-
Fig. 1 represents part of the side view of a gig having the body or
seat arranged to swing on pivots or trunnions, so that in case of the
horse falling the occupants are not liable to be thrown out forwards.
Fig. 2 represents a part side view of a dog cart with the front part of
the body or front seat pivotted for the like purpose, and Fig. 3 represents
the side view of the said dog cart with the front seat swung forward as
it would be when the shafts are on the ground.
In Figs. 2 and 3 are also shewn the arrangements for adjusting the
position of the body on the springs to suit the load, and for adjusting
the elevation of the shafts to suit the height of horse.
Referring to Fig. 1, A is the body or seat of the gig, which has at
each side a pivot or trunnion B, working in a hole in a curved stay
frame C that is fixed on the shaft, or which might be extended as shewn
by the dotted lines C₁ either inside or outside the springs and jointed to
them at each end. It will be seen that should the shafts and springs
become inclined downwards in front by the falling of the horse, the
seat A with its occupants having its centre of gravity below the point
of suspension B, would swing forwards keeping the centre of gravity
still vertically below the point of suspension, and thus the risk of
throwing the occupants out of the seat would be avoided. In order to
prevent the seat from swinging back after it has once swung forwards,
and so vibrating on its pivots, I provide a ratchet rack D on one of the
shafts or on the under frame, and I mount on the lower part of the
moveable seat a treadle E, having a hook end e, which engages as a
pawl with the teeth of the rack, holding the seat forward in the attitude
to which it is first swung. When it is desired to let the seat return to
its normal position the treadle is depressed by the foot, and the pawl is
thus disengaged, leaving the seat free to swing back.
Instead of mounting on pivots or trunnions the whole body of the
vehicle as shewn in Fig. 1, the front seat only may be so mounted, as

page_text: shewn in Figs. 2 and 3, this being the arrangement best suited to a dog
cart. In this case the front seat A is pivotted on each side at B to a
standard C, extending upwards from the side of the body. The treadle E
has the rack teeth upon it engaging with a catch F, fixed on the lower
part of the body.
In Figs. 2 and 3 are also shewn my improved means of connecting
the body, shafts, and springs, so that they can be readily adjusted.
G and H are two rocking shafts mounted under the floor of the body,
having on them radius arms 9 and 7 jointed respectively to the front
and back ends of the springs and connected together by a rod K. On
the shaft G is fixed an oblique arm L, connected by a screw rod M to a
handle m within easy reach of the driver. On turning the handle m in
the one direction or the other, the screw rod M being thereby moved.
upwards or downwards, as the case may be, the arms g, h, are caused to
take an inclined position, and the body of the vehicle is thus caused to
advance or to recede relatively to the springs and axletree, so as to
throw the load either forwards or backwards as may be desired.
For adjusting the elevation of the shafts to suit different heights of
horses, I connect each shaft S to the front and back ends of the spring
respectively by two links N and O, which are not parallel to one another,
so that if the shafts were drawn forwards they would be elevated as
indicated by the dotted lines S¹, Fig. 2, and if they were pushed
backwards they would be depressed. In order to secure them in the
desired position a bar P (which may be one of the plates of the spring)
is extended forwards from each spring under each of the shafts S, to
which it is secured by a bolt and nut R, passing through a slotted hole
in the bar P, or through one of several holes in that bar.
When it is desired to alter the elevation of the shafts the nut R is
slackened or removed, the shafts are drawn forwards or pushed
backwards, as the case may be, and the nut R is then screwed up so as
to hold the shafts in the desired attitude. The two bars P, one on each
side of the vehicle, are connected together by a bar Q, extending across
from the one to the other, and this tie bar may if desired form also the
draught bar to which the traces are attached.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim,-
First. Hanging on pivots or trunnions above the centre of gravity the

page_text: body or front seat of a two wheeled vehicle, so that it may swing
forwards when the horse falls and thereby provide against the danger
of the occupants being thrown out, substantially as herein described.
Second. Connecting the body of a dog cart or like two wheeled
vehicle to the springs by radius arms on rocking shafts, by inclining
which arms the body can be adjusted on the springs and axletree to suit
the load, substantially as herein described.
Third. Connecting the shafts of a dog cart or like two wheeled vehicle
to the springs by links which are not parallel to one another, so that by
setting the shafts forwards or backwards relatively to the springs they
are elevated or depressed in front to suit horses of different heights,
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Osmond, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Eighteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
JOHN OSMOND. (L.S.)