A COACH TRUMPET
Year: 1789

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LYDE, of Rathbone Place, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-bone, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS, in and by certain Letters, Patent under the Great Seal of
Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day of November
last, His most Gracious Majesty King George the Third did give and
grant unto me, the said George Lyde, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, to
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A COACH TRUMPET," for and during
the term of fourteen years therein expressed; and in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said George Lyde, should
not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month 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,
should utterly cease, determiné, and become void, anything therein-before
contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding, as in and by the
said Letters Patent, reference being thereto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Lyde, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as follows (that
is to say)-
Of brass, tin, copper, or any other metal or material capable of being formed
into a tube, a tube is to be made from one to two inches diameter, or with

page_text: as small a bore as will admit the voice to be heard distinctly, and about thre
feet long; it may be either cylindrical or conical, and it may be either round o
square, or of any other form as shall be thought to be most convenient to b
adapted and fitted to the inside of the roof of coach, chariot, or other carriage
This tube is to be fixed to the top of the carriage, and it may or may not b
concealed under the lining as most agreeable. One end of this tube (and i
conical, the widest end) is to go through the top of the center of the front, and
the other end to reach to the center of the roof of the carriage or thereabouts
to this end of the tube must be attached, by an universal or swivel joint, a
mouth-piece, such an one as is made to a common speaking trumpet, and
which may likewise be made of any metal or of any other material capable o
being formed into a tube, and which should hang or depend from the center
of the roof, and be of a sufficient length to reach to the mouth of a person
sitting in any part of the carriage. The joint may be made of a wire worm
"covered with leather or any other pliable material, or it may be a hollow
universal joint of metal, or it may be formed in any other manner so as to be
flexible and permit the mouth-piece to be carried to any part of the inside of
the carriage; and at the same time, observing, that it must be hollow, and so
as not to impede the sound from passing from the mouth-piece to the tube,
and also air tight to prevent the sound escaping. The loose end of the mouth-
piece, when it is not used, may be fastened to the top of the carriage by a
spring or hook, or in any other manner to keep it from hanging down.
This Invention is intended to supersede the use of the check string in
coaches and carriages, and to enable any person in a carriage to speak to the
coachman or postilion without being obliged either to stop the carriage or to
put his head out of the window to give directions. And as it will depend upon
the owner of the carriage in what part he will have the trumpet placed, or
whether he will have one on each side rather than one in the center or any
other part of the carriage, the aforegoing instructions, it is hoped, are fully
sufficient to enable any workman to make and adapt a coach trumpet to any
and every part of the carriage.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Lyde, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
Sealed and delivered, being first duly
stamped, in the presence of
Thos PARKES.
JAMES HUNT.
G. (L.S.) LYDE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of December, in
the thirtieth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, the said
George Lyde came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the several Statutes made in the sixth
year of the reign of the late King and Queen William and Mary of England,
and so forth, and in the seventeenth and twenty-third years of the reign of
His Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the said Ninth day of December, in the year last above written.