IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO CARRIAGE WHEELS TO FACILITATE THE DRAFT
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Stephens, of 24, Ryder Street, St. James',
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO CARRIAGE WHEELS TO FACILITATE THE DRAFT,"
Sealed the 20th April 1869, and dated the 13th November 1868.

page_text: wheel revolves it lays in its course and runs over. Such bearers have
however heretofore been connected with the wheel by attachments
incapable of extension and contraction, and consequently in travelling
over uneven ground and in turning sharp corners heavy strains have
been thrown on these attachments.
According to my Invention I form the attachments by means of
vulcanized india-rubber or other springs. I prefer to employ spiral springs,
two on each side of the wheel; these are attached to each bearer at or
about the centre of its length, and they are attached to the wheel at
points corresponding with the ends of the bearers. So long as the carriage
is moving straight forward on even ground the spring attachments act
simply as ropes carrying the bearers over the wheel and laying them, in
front in its course, but in passing over uneven ground or round curves
they extend or contract so as to let the bearers take a firm position on
the ground without throwing undue strain on the connection.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Stephens in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th May 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
STEPHENS, of 24, Ryder Street, St. James', in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Stephens, Her special licence that
I, the said John Stephens, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Stephens, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO
CARRIAGE WHEELS TO FACILITATE THE DRAFT," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Stephens, my executors or adminis-

page_text: .trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Stephens, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus applicable
to carriage wheels to facilitate the draft.
Carriages have heretofore been provided with wheels having connected
with them at their peripheries sections of rails or bearers, which as the
wheel revolves it lays in its course and runs over. Such bearers have
however heretofore been connected with the wheel by attachments
incapable of extension and contraction, and consequently in travelling
over uneven ground and in turning sharp corners heavy strains have
been thrown on these attachments.
According to my Invention I form the attachments by means of
vulcanized india-rubber or other springs. So long as the carriage is
moving straight forward on even ground the spring attachments act
simply as ropes carrying the bearers over the wheel and laying them
in front in its course, but in passing over uneven ground or round
curves they extend or contract so as to let the bearers take a firm
position on the ground without throwing undue strain on the
connection.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I have shown in the Drawings hereunto annexed the
manner in which I prefer to arrange the apparatus.
Figure 1 shows a side view of a portion of the tyre and nave of a
wheel which has bearers connected to it by spring connections according
to my Invention; Figure 2 is a transverse section of the same; one of
the bearers only is shown in the Drawing, the other bearers are ranged
around the remaining portion of the outer circumference of the wheel
and are connected to the wheel by similar spring connections.

page_text: any
a is the bearer, which I make narrowed in the centre than at its ends,
as shown by the plan view of the bearer at Figure 3, so as to allow the
wheel when resting upon it to incline in one or other direction without
altering the position of the bearer upon the ground; this allows of a cart
fitted with wheels to which the bearers are applied being readily turned
in desired direction. The bearers I prefer to make of plate iron forged
or brought into the shape shown by the Drawing, and along the bottom
of the bearer is fixed a thickness of tough wood to come between the
tyre of the wheel and the wrought-iron exterior plate of the bearer.
The bottom of the bearer is made to a slight curve, as shown by the
Drawings, so that as the wheel rolls along it from one end to the other
it somewhat tilts the bearer and loosens it from the earth upon which it
was resting. At the centre of the bearer two links b, b, are hooked on
to the flanges at its two sides; these by a bent link c are linked to one
end of a spiral spring d, which at its other end is connected by a link e
to a staple fixed in the nave of the wheel; the links b, b, pass through
slots in metal plates g fixed by screw nuts h to the fellies of the wheel,
and the links b have shoulders upon them near their upper ends, so
that when too great a strain might otherwise come upon the springs the
shoulders come down on to the plates 9 and prevent any further strain
coming upon the springs.
Wheels fitted with apparatus such as is above described can readily
and quickly have the apparatus removed from them when desired, and
the wheels may then be used as ordinary wheels. To remove the
apparatus from the wheels all that is necessary to do is to unhook the
link e from the staple f in the nave of the wheel, and this can be
effected by inserting the end of a lever through the staple i, and by its
aid somewhat extending the spring to enable the link to be disconnected
from the staple. The links b, b, are then unhooked from the link c and
are drawn out from the slots in the plate g; the plates can then by
unslacking the nuts h be turned round to be parallel with the tyre, or
they could be removed altogether.
I would remark that other arrangements than those above described
might be adop connecting bearers to wheels by spring connections,
as, for example, the bearers might be connected to the wheels in the
manner shown at Figure 4; in this arrangement each bearer is connected
to the wheel by four springs d; or they might be connected together
into a continuous spring chain passing around the circumference of the

page_text: wheel, as shewn at Fig. 5; or other arrangements might be adopted for
connecting bearers to a wheel by spring connections.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Stephens, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
JOHN STEPHENS. (L.S.)