Improvements in Apparatus Applicable to Carriages to Prevent the Horses Running away, and in Automatic Brakes for the Hind Wheels of the same.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Dec., 1889-Accepted, 1st Feb., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus Applicable to Carriages to Prevent
the Horses Running away, and in Automatic Brakes for the
Hind Wheels of the same.
I, FRIEDRICH GEIERSBACH, Engineer of Mülheim af Ruhr in the Kingdom of
Prussia and German Empire do hereby declare the 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 statement :-
This invention consists in an improved contrivance for preventing horses running
away and of an automatic brake applied to the hind wheels of a vehicle the peculiar
feature of which is in the use of additional traces which are connected to special
locking apparatus and which being released by the withdrawal of a sliding bolt
(capable of being operated either by the driver or occupants of the carriage) to
perinit the self-acting brake to come into play and to effectually scotch the hind
wheels of the vehicle.
In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is an elevation of a carriage having my
improved safety contrivanco applied thereto for preventing the horses running away.
Fig. 2 is a plan of Fig. 1 with body of the carriage removed and Fig. 3 is a section of
Fig. 1 on line A-B.
This safety contrivance consists of a disconnecting device for throwing the centre
pole d of the carriagein and out of gear and of an arrangement of reserve traces and
brake apparatus connected therewith. The disconnecting device is situated imme-
diately below the seat of the driver of the vehicle and consists of a rod which carries
at its upper end a pressure knob a and at its lower end is provided with a ball joint
bearing upon the longer arm of a lever b whilst below the ball socket is arranged a
spiral spring as illustrated. The shorter arm of this lever b is connected by means of
a pin with a roloasing bolt c the point of which passes through the iron guide socket i
in which the centre pole is mounted and by entering a short distance inwards so
locks the pole in position.
The locking bolt is also connected by a pair of bell crank levers and connection
rods as illustrated in Fig. 1 to a rod and knob a' carried upwards into the interior of
the carriage so as to be with equal facility operated by the occupants of the carriage.
The cross-bar e is fixed to the centre pole and to this bar the ordinary traces o are
secured. The reserve traces p connected to the collars of the horses are at their back
extremities connected the one to the fixed bar and the other to one of a pair of
Inovable lever arms g. Two rods r connect these movable lever arms to a similar pair
of lever arms depending from the guiding socket i and which support between them
the short axis h. k is a draw-rod passing beneath the vehicle to the back and forming
the connection between the axis hand a lever I keyed upon the connecting brake rod
axis m mounted in bearings at the back of the carriage and carrying at its outer
extremities the ordinary brake blocks n. This axis m which is also fitted with the
usual lover and disconnecting apparatus worked by the hand of the driver is ensured
turning upon its axis to release the brake block self-actingly by the application of a
spiral spring.
The reserve traces p are so arranged that when the ordinary traces o are fully
extended the former hang loosely down through suitable guiding eyelets and only
come into play when the releasing bolt o is withdrawn as aforesaid.
The action of this disconnecting and brake apparatus may be described as
follows:-
In case of the horses running away and of the driver desiring to release the locking
bolt he simply pushes down the pressure knob a or the occupants of the carriage can
with equal facility perform the same operation by depressing the knob a'. The with-
drawal of the locking bolt permits the centre pole d to be drawn forwards in its socket

page_text: and so allows the pull of the horses to come upon the reserve traces and which in torn
by pulling back the draw rod k so cause the brake axis m to partially revolve and to
put on the brake blocks.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The improved combination and arrangement of disconnecting device with self-
acting brake apparatus applicable for carriages for preventing the horses running
away mounted and operated substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore
described.
2. In a disconnecting device for preventing horses running away the employment
of a locking bolt applied to the centro pole of the vehicle and capable of being with-
drawn by the driver or occupants of the vehicle so as to reloase the self-acting brake
apparatus mounted and operated substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 10th day of December 1889
JOHN G. WILSON,
Patent Office, 55, Market Street, Manchester, Agent for the Applicant.