IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGES, AND IN THE APPLICATION OP A MATERIAL HITHERTO UNUSED IN THE CONSTRUCTION THEREOF
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HANCOCK, late of Reading, in the County of Berks, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdoin of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth
day of August, in the fifty-third year of His reign, give and grant unto
me, the said John Hancock, my exors, aduiors, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said. John
Hancock, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during
the term of years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGES, AND IN THE APPLICATION
OP A MATERIAL HITHERTO UNUSED IN THE CONSTRUCTION THEREOF;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said John
Hancock, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in
His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said
Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted,
shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the saine
(relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear..

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Hancock, do hereby declare that the nature and general description of
my said Inventions are as follows (that is to say):-
The material hitherto unused in the construction of carriages is whalebone,
which I apply partially or more particularly. The wheels: the circumference
is made of ash or other timber, and are bound with iron. The spokes are of
whalebone, fastened into the wood by mortice and tennon, or by passing the
tennon quite through the mortice, divided as tho' for wedging, and turning
each half contrarywise down upon the wood on the outside, and nailing or
otherwise fastening it. The nave or box is of cast brass or other metal. The
axle is iron, and has a collar on it, in the centre of which a groove is turned.
This collar just enters the back part of the box, on the outside of which a
groove is turned, with a mortice thro' on each side exactly opposite to the
groove in the axle. Round the groove in the box two springs are fastened,
with a bolt or catch formed on the end of each, something resembling those in
a common door lock. These bolts go thro' the mortice in the box into the
groove in the collar on the axle, and are kept down into this groove by the
springs. On the outside of the bolts is made a loop to pull them up with
when the wheel is to be taken off. About half way across is turned another
groove, wide enough to admit the spokes, across which groove pieces of iron are
let in, under which the spokes are passed, so that one piece of bone forms the
two spokes. An iron collar is then put on each side of them upon the box
which fastens the ends of all the iron cross pieces, and thus these fix the
spokes in the box. When the spokes are thus fixed into the wood or circum-
ference and into the boxes, each two of them that are formed of one piece of
bone are then braced together as tight as possible, in the manner drums are
strained, only with iron clips and rivets. The wheels are pushed on the axle,
and are fastened by the springs pressing the bolts into the groove in the axle,
as before described. The carriage is made much in the same manner they are
generally, only in gigs a piece of whalebone is put between the iron under the
shafts to prevent there breaking, and whalebone is otherwise introduced to
strengthen or brace the carriage, as may appear necessary in the different
forms or on which they may be constructed. The springs are made of
steel, with bone round, under, or upon them, to prevent their breaking, or
of whalebone entirely, their form also depending on the different construc-
tion of the carriages. The body has no other novelty than the occasional intro-
duction of whalebone, their form depending upon individual fancy or conve-
nience, or the variation of public taste. The heads, hoods, or roofs are composed
of cotton, silk, or leather, with whalebone, iron, steel, cane, or wood, to strain

page_text: or raise them, constructed much in the usual way, but subject, like the bodies,
to different methods to make them lighter or stronger, &c. Altho' 1 have laid
down this description, yet I do not confine myself to the construction of such
carriages, as they may be varied according to the circumstance and to the
taste of the maker or purchaser.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hancock, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand oight hundred and fourteen