CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS OR ADDITIONS TO WHEELED CARRIAGED
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, THOMAS
PARRANT BIRT, of Number 48, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Coachi
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of May, in the seventh year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Parrant Birt, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Thomas Parrant Birt, 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, uso of, and carry on within
England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Inven-
tions of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS OR ADDITIONS TO WHEELED CARRIAGED;"
in which said Letters Patent, is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said
Thomas Parrant Birt, 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
next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Parrant Birt, do hereby declaro the nature of my said Invention by

page_text: the following description, reference being had to the Drawing and figures
marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention ensures the safety of the passengers from accidents by
overturning the coach, the equilibrium being preserved by stowing the whole
of the luggage at the bottom of the vehicle instead of placing it upon the roof
agreeably to the mode at present universally adopted. By a novel modo of
constructing the carriage, as shown distinctly in the accompanying, Drawing,
the inside passengers sit higher than the outsides, and all have their faces
towards the horses. The outside passengers sit before the inside in that
part which was formerly considered as the body of the coach, and are by that
means placed four feet lower than they are in the common stage coach; the
luggage is placed beneath them in the bottom of the coach. In addition to
the above advantages, the present Invention affords a new method of dragging
the wheel on either side, by a very simple and easy process. A small
lever is fixed to the boot which is connected to a skid iron fixed on the
hind bed by means of a shaft, with a spring attached to it, which acts
immediately the lever is thrown off and places the skid under the wheel, where
it is detained until by an application of the driver's hand to the lever, it is
released instantaneously.
The construction of the splinter bar is also different from any one hitherto
adopted, giving to the shoulders of the wheel horses more liberty to work, and
preventing the many accidents that at present occur in putting horses to a
coach, as it gives way should the horses or any other body come in collision
with, it cannot be broken, it working on a swivel from the centre of each horse's
draft affixed to the main bar. Lastly, it is to be remarked, that the draft of tho
carriage being from the spring, the motion is accelerated, and the work is
rendered much easier for the horses. The Drawings and descriptive references
accompanying the Specification will more clearly illustrate the foregoing
particulars.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
THO PARRANT BIRT. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of July in the
year of our Lord 1826, the aforesaid Thomas Parrant Birt came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to tho
tonor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-first day of July in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twent
Inrolled the Twenty-first day of July in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty sin.