IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHAFTS AND POLES FOR CABS, OMNIBUSES, AND OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clarke, of Shiffnal, in the County of Salop,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHAFTS
AND POLES FOR CABS, OMNIBUSES, AND OTHER VEHICLES."
Sealed the 7th May 1858, and dated the 19th November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clarke at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th November
1857.
J, JOHN CLARKE, of Shiffnal, in the County of Salop, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF SHAFTS AND POLES FOR CABS, OMNIBUSES, AND OTHER VEHICLES,"
follows:-
These improvements are applicable to all kinds or forms of wheeled
carriages or vehicles, whether adapted to the conveyance of goods or pas-
sengers or both, such carriages or vehicles being drawn by one or more horses
or other animals. These improvements apply solely to the poles or shafts of
such vehicles, and are intended to render such poles or shafts much more
durable than heretofore; and at the same time to combine the very desirable
qualities of superior lightness and strength, and reduced expense both in labor
and material, as compared with the poles and shafts now ordinarily used.
The Invention consists in forming the shafts or poles of such cabs, omni-
buses, or other vehicles of metallic tubing, wrought-iron or steel tubing being

page_text: preferred for the purpose. It will be evident that the form and weight of the
material, and the details of the construction of the fastenings and other
appurtenances, will be varied to suit the particular build and weight of tho
carriage or vehicle to which such pole or shafts are intended to be applied, the
Invention consisting merely in the application of metallic tubing, instead of
the expensive woods usually employed for that
purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Clarke in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CLARKE, of Shifnal, in the County of Salop, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Ierself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Clarke, Her special licence that I, the said John Clarke,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Clarke, 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 oxpressed, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF SHAFTS AND POLES FOR CABS, OMNIBUSES, AND OTHER VEHICLES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I; the, said John Clarke, my execu-
tors 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 perfornied,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and inmediately after the dato of the said Letters
l'atent
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Clarke, do hereby declaro tho
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be perforined,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statéiiient
in writing, that is to say:-
My improvements in the construction of shafts and poles for cabs, omni-
buses, and other vehicles are applicable to all kinds or forms of wheeled car-

page_text: ringes or vehicles, whether adapted to the conveyance of goods or passengers or
both, such carriages or vehicles being drawn by one or more horses, or other
animals. My improvements apply solely to the pole or shafts of such vehicles,
and are intended to render such poles or shafts much more durable than here-
tofore, and at the same time to combine the very desirable qualities of a
superior lightness and strength, and reduced expense, both in labor and
material, as compared with the poles and shafts now ordinarily used for such
My Invention consists in forming the shafts or poles of such cabs, omni-
buses, or other vehicles of metallic tubing, wrought-iron or steel tubing being
preferred for that purpose, as affording the greatest amount of strength in
proportion to its weight and the small amount of cost. I would here remark
that although I usually employ tapered tubing for this purpose, yet in some
instances ordinary straight or parallel tubing may be employed.
It will be evident that the sectional form of the tubing employed for this
purpose may be either round, oval, square, polygonal, or of any other suitable
shape, and that the weight or strength of the material, and the details of the
construction of the fastenings and other appurtenances of the pole or shafts
will be varied to suit the particular build and weight of the carriage or vehicle
to which such pole or shafts are intended to be applied; and also that the
shafts may be made straight or curved in any of the usual forms, such shape
or details of construction forming no part of my Invention.
46
Having now fully described the nature and object of my said Invention of
Improvements in the Construction of Shafts and Poles for Cabs, Omnibuses,
and other Vehicles," together with the manner of carrying the same into
practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly understood that what I claim as my
Invention is the manufacturing such shafts or poles of metallic tubing, whether
tapered or otherwise, instead of the expensive woods usually employed for that
purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Clarke, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
JOHN CLARKE. (L.S.)