CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEEL CARRIAGES, WHEELS, AXLES, AND BOXES
Year: 1811

page_text: RIGG BROWN, of Edinburgh, Coachmaker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventh day of August, in the fifty-first year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Houstoun Rigg Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His
special licence and authority, that I, the said Houstoun Rigg Brown, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I or they 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 England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEEL
CARRIAGES, WHEELS, AXLES, AND BOXES;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Houstoun Rigg Brown, by an instru-
ment 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 enrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, referrence being,
thereunto had, will more-fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Houstoun Rigg Brown, do hereby declare the nature of my said Inven-
tion to be the simplification of the construction of wheel carriages of
every description, by the adoption of metal in the construction of the perch, the
wheels, and other parts thereof, as particularly after mentioned, which have
hitherto been made of wood only, or wood strengthened with iron, whereby
they are rendered much stronger, actually lighter in point of real weight, very
much lighter in appearance, and greatly lighter in draught, than those of the
present make. My improvement on axles is calculated to make the fastnings
of the wheels much more secure, by removing them from the outer end of the
axletree where it is weakest and most liable to an accident, to what is called
the inhead, where the axletree is strongest and less exposed to injury. And
my Invention further comprehends a new and easy method of oiling the
wheels, and at the same time of securing by a close-ended bush a supply of
oil sufficient for the longest journey; that is to say:-
I make my perch of wrought iron, steel, or other fit metal, sometimes in one
solid piece, but more frequently of seperate bars, put together by themselves,
or with a thickness of cloth, leather, felt, or other substance betwixt each two
bars, which bars I fasten together by means of screwed hasps, solid hoops, rivet
hoops, bolts, rivets, or otherwise. I form them into any shape that may be
desired, and adapt them variously to any carriage, according to circumstances.
In this way an entire upper carriage may consist of three distinct articles only,
videlicet A perch constructed as above, the outside bars of which may be
made, if necessary, to diverge sufficiently from the centre to become the
support of the spring stays; a transome bar and a hind axletree bed, with
their respective mountings. These latter may be made of wood, or of the
same materials with the perch, that is to say; I occasionally also make them of
wrought iron, steel, or other metal alone; or, in other words, I make the
transome plate and hind axletree of such a strength and form as not to require
any wooden or metal bars whatever. Sometimes I make them in one solid piece
each, and sometimes construct them of seperate pieces, in a similar manner to the
perch, and put together in the same way, attaching them to the perch by means
of bolts, hasps, or other common fastenings. The under carriage I also make
of wrought iron, steel, or other metal, as also the spokes of the wheels and
sometimes the felloes. In short, my Invention is the use of iron, steel, or
other metal, to the total exclusion of wood, in one or more or all the prin-
cipal parts of a carriage properly so called and wheels. The method of
applying it being generally what I have stated, at the same time the figure,

page_text: the strength, and the fastenings requiring all to be adapted differently in almost
every carriage. For instance, in the construction of metal wheels, the nave
may be made of cast-iron, brass, wrought-iron, or other metal, in one solid
piece, or in two pieces, and made to answer both purposes of a nave and bush;
or made with a separate bush fitted into the centre of it by any of the ordinary
means. In fixing the spokes, a great variety of methods may be taken. I
sometimes solder them into the nave, sometimes cast the nave round the
spokes, sometimes screw them in, sometimes drive them after being well fitted
into the mortices when the nave is warm, sometimes dovetail them, at other
times I make them with a shoulder or shoulders, and fasten them by means of
hoops drove on, and sometimes wedge them in. In short, in this part of the
execution, as well as in the execution of all the other parts of this Invention, a
variety of ways may be adopted according to circumstances, to be judged of
and determined at the time. The axletrees I make of the ordinary materials,
and prefer them perfectly cylindrical, without any screw at the end or out-
head. I make each arm with the inhead, washer, or collar in the solid of the
pin, about two and a quarter or two and an half inches more or less, according
to the strength of the axletree, larger in diameter than the pin. About an inch
more or less) nearer the out end or point of the axletree arm I form another
collar in the solid of the pin, about an inch or inch and quarter (more or less)
larger in diameter than the pin, and of course smaller in its diameter than the
first-mentioned collar. This latter collar may be made square or bevelled, but
I generally make it bevelled on both sides, that is, broader at its least diameter,
and coming almost to a point at its greatest diameter. The space betwixt
these two collars is of the same diameter with the remainder of the pin, or
nearly so, and into it, which is a grove formed by these two solid collars, I fit-
a loose collet or washer, made of any suitable metal, either in two seperate
pieces or with a joint to allow it to be put on to the pin in the above described
groove. The least diameter of this collet is exactly the same with the diameter
of the pin of the axletree betwixt the two collars, and its greatest diameter the
same with the greatest diameter of the smallest solid collar, so that when the
collet is put into the groove formed by the two solid collars on the axletree pin
it exactly fills it up, and will revolve upon the axletree pin, the largest solid-
collar or inhead washer preventing it from working up, and the smallest solid-
collar preventing it from working down to the point of the axletree. The
bush is fitted to the pin of the axletree in this state, the inhead of the bush
bearing or working against the largest collar of the axletree, a bevel in the bush
bearing against the bevelled collar; and the bush incircling the whole pin, the

page_text: two collars, and collet. The bush is then fixed to the revolving collet by means
of two or more screws passing through the bush and into the collet at right
angles to the pin of the axletree. It is very evident that so long as the bush
remains attached to the collet that the bevelled collar will keep the bush firmly
upon the axletree arm, and until, by undoing the before-mentioned screws, the
bush is disengaged from the collet, there is no possibility of the bush separating
from the axletree pin. At the back of the largest collar, a dust hoop may be
put on with screws, to be removeable at pleasure, and which when fastened on,
will cover the heads of the screws which connect the bush and collet together,
and render it impossible that they can unscrew or come out of their places by
the vibration of the wheels when moving. The bush at the outhead is solid or
close, and made a little longer than the pin of the axletree, by which means
there is a vacuity when the bush is put on, which being filled with oil, supplies
the necessary waste.. The pin of the axletree I make a hollow cylinder up to
the shoulder, the least diameter or the bore being about three-eighths of an
inch. The oil is admitted to this bore by a hole made in the shoulder of the
axletree on the inside of the largest collar, and fitted with a screw, so that in
oiling the wheels all that is necessary is to undo this screw, and pour the oil
into the hole, which finds its way down the centre of the pin, fills the vacuity
at the end of the bush, and the bore up the pin, when the screw is again to be
replaced. So that for the supply of the wheel there is a quantity of oil at the
end of the bush, and a column of oil equal in length to the arm of the axletree,
and in diameter to the bore up the centre of the pin. And when a fresh
supply is wanted there is no occasion to take off the wheel, or use letters to
turn up a particular part of it. Of course these axletrees can be supplied
with oil in the middle of a stage by one person with the greatest ease, without
the smallest assistance whatever, and by having a close ended bush no oil can
escape at the outhead by bad work or carelessness on the part of the servants,
hostlers, or others. The above method I consider best for oiling these axle-
trees, but any of the methods at present in use may be applied to them as well
as to common axletrees. In using these axletrees with iron or metal spoked
wheels, I sometimes make the nave answer for the bush, also sometimes I make
a seperate bush. For common wooden wheels with wooden naves, I occasion-
ally cut a groove at the out end on the outside of the bush, and put a circular
plate of iron in two halves into the groove so made, and then make fast the
plate to the nave as a further security, in addition to the common wedging up
of the bush. The whole of this Invention may be used together or seperately,
or any part of it may be adapted to any carriage now in use, and it is equally

page_text: applicable to every description of carriage, whether for pleasure or work. The
adoption of all or any part of this Invention in the construction of gun
carriages and wheels would in a great measure prevent the many accidents
occasioned by the splinters of the wooden carriages and wheels when in action.
In witness whereof, I, the said Houstoun Rigg Brown, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eleven.
Inrolled the Thirtieth day of September, in the year above written.