A METHOD: OF CONSTRUCTING FOUR-WHEELED CARRIAGES OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS, WHEREBY A FACILITY OF TURNING IS OBTAINED WITHOUT HAVING RECOURSE TO THE USUAL MODES OF HAVING WHAT IS CALLED LOCKS, OR HAVING ANY NECESSITY FOR KEEPING THE FORE WHEELS OF SUCH CARRIAGES LOWER THAN THE HINDER WHEELS USUALLY ARE, OR RAISING THE BODIES OF SUCH CARRIAGES HIGHER THAN USUAL
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
WILKS, of Ballincollig, in the County of Cork, Esquire, do send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty George the Third, in and by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Ninth day of No-
vember, now last past, for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and
grant unto me, the said Charles Wilks, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, His special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Charles Wilks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and every
of them, by myself and themselves, or by my and their deputy or deputies,
servants or agents, or such others as I, the said Charles Wilks, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times hereafter during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"A METHOD: OF CONSTRUCTING FOUR-WHEELED CARRIAGES OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS,
WHEREBY A FACILITY OF TURNING IS OBTAINED WITHOUT HAVING RECOURSE TO THE
USUAL MODES OF HAVING WHAT IS CALLED LOCKS, OR HAVING ANY NECESSITY FOR
KEEPING THE FORE WHEELS OF SUCH CARRIAGES LOWER THAN THE HINDER WHEELS
USUALLY ARE, OR RAISING THE BODIES OF SUCH CARRIAGES HIGHER THAN USUAL;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the
said Charles Wilks, 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 His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months

page_text: next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large
appear, otherwise the Letters Patent utterly to cease, determine, and become
void.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Wilks, 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 by the Drawings in the margin hereof, and the following
description thereof:-
In Figure 1st, a, a, are the axletree cases of a waggon, coach, or other four-
wheeled carriage. b, b, are iron bars or chains, of such size as may be deemed
necessary, which for a waggon to carry a load of two tons will not require
bars to be larger than one inch broad, and three eighths of an inch thick. At
each end of these bars are chains of equal strength, about one foot long, and
bolts to go through the axletree cases with nuts and screws to adjust the
length so as to keep each equally extended. c, c, c, c, are iron bars, about. nine.
inches long, portions of a circle, the centre-whereof is the. centre of the axle-
tree casc on which the chains: work; and, consequently, however much or little
the wheels may be in a position for turning a waggon, coach, or other four-
wheeled carriage round an angle, the degree of tension on the bars or chains
will be invariably the same, because the thorough pins d, d, are always kept
at the same distance from each other by being passed through the centre
joist of the bed of the waggon, or the perch of a coach or other four-wheeled
carriage, and through the centres of the axletree cases. By these means the
fore and hind wheels will lock at the same time, reverse to each other, and,
consequently, a carriage turn in nearly half the circle it would. do if the fore
wheels only were to lock as in the common way, because by both fore and
hind wheels locking the intersecting point O.
a, Figure 2 is only half the radius from the centre of the axletree cases
(6 and d) that the intersecting point c is from the point b, and which radij
it is evident the carriage will turn within the respective cases; that is, it
will turn on the radius a, b, if both fore and hind wheels lock, and on the
radius c, b, if ouly the fore wheels lock. In the construction of a waggon
bolsters are not necessary, as corresponding slides on the under side of the
framing to those on bolsters e, e, e, e, are sufficient for every purpose, but they
will be necessary in coaches and other similar carriages.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Wilks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and thirteen.
C. WILKS. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourth day of December, in
the fifty-fourth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, the
said Charles Wilks came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the forty-
cighth year of His said Majesty's reign.
Inrolled the Eighth day of January, One thousand eight hundred and
fourteen.