AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MACNEE, Coach Maker, George Street, Edinburgh, in the County of Edinburgh,
send greeting:
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminister, the Twenty-first day of April, in the first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Macnee, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege, and authority,
that I, the said James Macnee, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Macnee, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with and no others from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said James
Macnee, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery in England within the space of two calendar

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there unto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Macnee, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters of
reference marked thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in a new and improved method of connecting the fore
part with the hinder part of any four-wheeled carriage or vehicle, that is, the
parts commonly called the fore carriage and hind carriage, by means of a perch
bolt placed at a greater distance behind the fore axle than has hitherto been
practicable with what is termed the full locking wheel, and also by means of what
I term a segmental plate placed at a considerable distance in front of the perch
bolt, and which segmental plate is connected with both parts of the carriage, as
also in those cases in which the foot board may rest on the one part of the
carriage, and the seat on the other, in communicating such motion to the seat as
shall maintain it always in its proper position with reference to the foot board.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said James Macnee,
do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed,
reference being had to the Drawing annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, as follows:-Figures I., II., and III., represent the general
aspect of three different forms of carriages having my Invention applied to
them, but it is equally applicable to every other form of carriage having a fore
and hinder axle. In Figure I., of the Drawing A, B, is the line at which the
hinder carriage joins the fore carriage, and it is evident that in this case the
foot board is in immediate connection with the fore carriage, so as in fact to
form part of it, while the seat and boot, to which the foot board belongs,
form part of the hinder carriage. The same things are true of the carriages
represented in Figures II. and III.; C represents the perch bolt in dotted
line connecting the fore with the hind carriage, round which bolt it moves as
a centre, which centre is, as shewn in the Drawing, removed to a greater distance
behind the fore axle than hitherto, and for the purpose of farther effecting
this connection of the two parts of the carriage a segment of a circle formed of
iron or other material is placed in front of the perch bolt in a plane horizontally
so as to have the perch bolt C, in its centre; Figures IV. and V. represent this
segment in plan marked D, E, F; it is also represented in cross section at
G, H, in Figures VI. and VII. This segment is to be firmly fixed either or

page_text: the upper surface of the fore carriage, or on the under surface of the hind
carriage, but I prefer the latter method, as seen in the before-mentioned cross
section G, H, Figures VI. and VII., and is concentric with the perch bolt;
that is, forming a segment of a circle of which the perch bolt is the centre,
and so as to be in contact with and work freely upon the other part of the
carriage, on the bearing surface of which there is prepared a suitable bed to
receive it, provided with friction rollers, as seen at I, I, in Figures VIII.
and IX.; and for the farther connection of the two carriages, a bolt K, see
Figures IV., V., VIII., and IX., is fixed to that part of the carriage on which
the segment plays, the neck of which bolt works in a groove in the segment,
which groove is in like manner concentric with the segment, so that in the
locking motion the neck of the bolt will slide freely in the groove, while the
head of the bolt is made broad and flat so as to embrace the segment, which
will keep it in contact with the bearing surface of the friction rollers. This
connecting bolt is more clearly seen at L, in Figures VI. and VII. Figure X.
is a plan of the foot board, shewing where it joins the hinder part of the
carriage, M, N, being the line of junction concentric with the segment round
the perch bolt O. Note.-I profer having this line of junction covered over
with a
slip of brass or iron. Figure XI. represents a plan of a moveable
seat board P, Q, R, S, (part of which is broken off, but its position is shewn
by dotted lines) to which motion may be communicated in such a way as to
prevent the seat from deviating much from its proper position in relation to
the foot board; or, in other words, that the seat may come from the position
there shewn to the square position shewn in Figure XII., or into the other
position shewn in the same Figure in dotted lines; Figures VI. and XIII.
shew the manner in which the various parts connected with the seat are
arranged and constructed. T, U, in Figure VI. is the perch bolt, the head of
which is at U, its top at T, and its neck at V; the neck is made square so as
to compel it to turn along with the front carriage, it then passes freely through
the hinder carriage until it reaches W, where it is again made square, and is
connected with the lever X, Y, in Figure XIII.; this lever X, Y, has equal
arms, and is connected at the ends with bolts and sockets to the bars a, b, and
which bars are connected to the arms of a lever c, d, which last lever is in
every respect similar to the lever X, Y, thereby forming as it were a moveable
frame, and which moveable frame works at its centre a bolt or axes e, f,
Figure VI. placed parallel to the perch bolt T, U; this bolt is round where it
passes down through the usual top of the seat board g, but is again made
square where it passes through the lever c, d, and the object of this square

page_text: form on the neck is to give motion to the seat board h, (seen also in plan as
there described, and which seat board moves on fixed plates, studs, or friction
rollers, marked i, i, in Figures VI. and XI., having its motion in a horizontal
plane around the bolt e, f, as a centre, so as always to make it keep a posi-
tion conformable to the foot board during the locking of the carriage. In
Figures V. and VII., already referred to, is seen another variety in the method
of preserving the seat in a position conformable to that of the foot board. The
difference between the method described in reference to Figures VI. and XIII.,
and that now to be described, consists in doing away with the bolt e, f, and
also with the parallel motion X, Y, c, d, and in fixing the moveable seat board
directly to the top of the perch bolt, as at kc, upon a square part of that bolt,
so that when the perch bolt is turned round the seat will be compelled to
move with it around the axis of the perch bolt as a centre, and in this case
the friction rollers should have their axes directed towards the perch bolt as
shewn at 1, so as to support the seat and admit of its free motion round it.
Figure XIV. shews a method of connecting the locking segment placed on
one part of the carriage with that placed on the other part, by a circular
groove or segment, it fitting accurately into the other, the part m, n, o, being
attached to the one part of the carriage, and the part p, q, r, being attached
to the other part of the carriage, the projecting feather and corresponding
groove admitting of free horizontal movement round the perch bolt S.
Figure XV. represents a cross section of the groove and feather plates
described in the last mentioned Figure. I have only farther to state, that in
Figure II. I have exhibited a view of the form and position of the perch
bolt as regards the variety of carriage, and as the application of the segmental
plate is herein the same as in the other varieties, any further description is
unnecessary. In all the foregoing descriptions and Drawings the perch bolt,
segmental plate or plates, junction bolts and nuts, levers, links, sockets, beds,
rollers, and other parts subject to pressure, motion, and friction, are understood
to be constructed of iron or other suitable metal or material, sufficiently strong
to resist the strain and pressure to which they may be subjected in the service
for which they are to be used.
Having now described the Figures and Drawings referred to, shewing
the parts of which my Invention consists, the mode of operation and use
of my said Invention will be readily understood to be as follows:-When
the fore carriage is turned on its centre in the process of locking, the
wheels and axle revolve round it in such manner as to throw the inner
wheel clear of the carriage, and thus admit of a wider lock with a given

page_text: size of wheel, or a larger wheel with a given degree of lock, than by
the old method, where the perch bolt was placed farther forward; and at
the same time the connection of the segment by its bolt gives strength and
steadiness to the force carriage; also, when the force carriage is turned
round, the square socket compels the perch bolt to turn round with it, so as
to act upon the parallel motion, consisting of the two levers and their
corresponding bars, so as to move at the same time the seat into a position
conformable to that of. the foot board, where the moveable seat is placed
directly on the square part of the perch bolt below the nut to move the seat
round the bolt as a centre, which has an effect similar to that of the aforesaid
parallel motion. And the advantages of this method are, first, that it is much
lighter and more simple than the method in common use; secondly, that it
admits of larger fore wheels, and consequently of lighter draught on the
horses than the common method; thirdly, that its appearance is lighter and
more elegant; and, fourthly, that it is steadier and smoother in its motion from
the firmness and favorable position of the bearings than carriages constructed
with the common locking wheels. Now, whereas, I claim as new and of my
invention the peculiar mode of connecting the hind part with the fore part
of any kind of four wheeled carriage, whether coach, chariot, phaeton,
omnibus, or other description of vehicle; that is of connecting the parts
commonly called the fore carriage and hind carriage by means of a perch bolt
placed at a greater distance from the fore axle than has been hitherto prac-
ticable with the full locking wheel, and of a segmental plate placed at a
considerable distance in front of the perch bolt, so as to form part of a circle,
having the perch bolt at its centre, this segmental plate being firmly attached
to one of the two parts of the carriage and connected to the remaining part by
means of a connecting bolt as aforesaid, or of another segment embracing or
embraced by the former and concentric with it, or of a slip or other connection
of a similar nature so as to allow the horizontal circular motion of locking,
and to permit all other motion between the two parts of the carriage as
aforesaid, and in those cases where it may be convenient to place the foot
board on one part of the carriage and the seat upon the other part. I further
claim as new and of my Invention the means by which I communicate to the
seat a motion conformable to that of the foot board as aforesaid, but I declaro
that I do not limit myself to any particular circle, or segment of such circle,
nor to any particular form or dimensions of bolt or other connection by which
my improvements may be carried into effect, being fully aware that various
modifications may be adopted with the like effect. And I do hereby declare

page_text: this to be my Specification of my said Invention, and that I do verily believe
that it doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with
the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained,
and I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Macnee, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.