Improvements in Draught Apparatus for Vehicles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Oct., 1896-Accepted, 14th Nov., 1896
Improvements in Draught Apparatus for Vehicles.
A communication from PRINCE VON LEUTENBERG, of Grossharthan, Sax ny, in
the Empire of Germany.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 111 Hatton Garden in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object of the present invention is an improved pole-crab for carriage poles
so that a cross-bar for a four-horse vehicle may be rigidly secured, an inter-
changeable cross-bar being secured to the pole by means of a bayonet-joint bolt,
the oscillating single-trees for the two leaders being attached at the two ends
of this cross-bar.
The cross-bars used hitherto which were loosely attached by hooks to the front
end of the crab of the pole for four-in-hand driving had the great drawback
that the movable cross-bar knocked against the front legs of the wheelers if at
starting, or even during driving, the horses did not pull in a uniform manner,
that is to say, when the leaders had no need to pull and their traces were loose.
In consequence of which the wheelers were often brought down or rendered
unmanageable.
In the present invention these drawbacks are avoided by making the front
cross-bar rigidly attached to the pole at right angles to the latter.
The attachment is effected as follows;-
The socket 6 of the cross-bar c, provided with a hole a is introduced from below
into the holes d of the pole-crab e, after having pushed back a latch 9 provided
with a handle or knob f, and is then secured against falling out by pushing the
latch g forward through the hole a.
Additional security against falling out is afforded by a belt h being passed
through an eye i of the pole-crab e and an eye kou the socket 6 and then secured
to a buckle. The eye i may besides be used as an attachment for a lamp.
The single-trees m m² can oscillate round the pins n n' in order to facilitate the
movements of the leaders.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawing shows the pole-crab seen from below with
the latch g in its forward position, whereas in Fig. 2 it is shown withdrawn, so
that the socket 6 of the cross-bar c can be introduced. Fig. 3 shows the pole-
crabe seen from the top. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the cross-bar c with its
single-trees m m. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the whole arrangement ready for
harnessing the horses and Fig. 6 is a front view thereof.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what manner
the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is;-
1. In draught apparatus for vehicles a pole-crab and a rigidly attachable
cross-bar a socket on the latter being introduced from below into a hole in the

page_text: pole-crab and being secured against falling out or displacement by means of a
bayonet-joint bolt substantially as described.
Dated this 5th day of October 1896
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.