IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PROMPTLY DISCONNECTING HORSES FROM CARRIAGES AND OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Pierre Marvaud at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th September
1865.
I, PIERRE MARVAUD, of No. 18, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire
of France, Coach Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PROMPTLY DISCONNECTING HORSES FROM CARRIAGES
AND OTHER VEHICLES," to be as follows:-
The object, of this Invention is to promptly disconnect horses from carriages
or other vehicles should they become unmanageable or run away.
The nature, of the Invention will at once be perceived by aid of the
following description and accompanying Drawings
The shafts are so arranged as to be readily detached from the carriage, and
for this purpose I cause the ends of the furchels of the fore carriage to be
forked, and between the branches is a ratchet or key-piece securing the shafts
to the furchels by means of a headed spring and a bolt passing through them.
In order to unlock the key-piece all that is required is to raise a lever arm
traversing the fore carriage and the bottom of the vehicle, which causes a
cam to press upon the spring freeing the ratchet and bolt simultaneously, the
shafts together with the horses are then instantly detached from the vehicle.
Several means may be employed for freeing the key-piece, which will be
described hereafter.
Fig. 1 is a plan of a fore carriage and wheels. a, a, are drawing rods;
b, 6, are the furchels; d, d, the shafts; and k, k¹, are rods governing the

page_text: cam j. Fig. 2 is a plan, the natural size of part of a shaft and furchel, shewing
the ratchet or key-piece e, cam j, spring g, bolt h, and lever rod k. The same
letters of reference indicate like parts shewn in the different Figures.
Fig. 3 is an elevation of the part shewn in Fig. 2, and illustrating the working.
of the key-piece e; in raising the lever A in the position shewn by the dotted
lines, the cam j is pressed on the headed spring g, which liberates the piece e,
and turning on the pivot f frees the bolt h from the space i, the shafts are
thus released from the carriage. I must here remark that I have made the
piece e of the peculiar form shewn by the Drawing, as it is best suited for
the purpose for which it is intended, the head B locking well with the head C
of the spring 9, and the projecting part D, preventing the bolt h from moving
in any direction contrary to that desired, the dotted lines show the various
positions of the key-piece e in turning on the pivot f, and liberating the bolt h.
K, K', are rods governing the cam j by the arms n; l is a cramp which is
connected to the woodwork of the fore carriage.
In Fig. 4 I make use of the same pieces, but instead of raising the lever A,.
the pieces is turned by means of a key, and the cam t mounted at the end
of the piece withdraws the rods K, K¹, and the shafts are detached, and as
the piece can be turned either to the right or left, the fore wheels can be
directed by the driver as he desires, and thus prevent the carriage coming into
collision with anything.
In Fig. 5 the key-piece e is replaced by a strong spring which secures the
pin or bolt h, and pressing down the spring by the rods K, K', as shewn in
Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, will release it, and detach the horses and shafts from
the vehicle.
Fig. 3b is a view of the end of a shaft without any of the other parts in
order to show the space i in which the bolt h works.