A NEW OB IMPROVED APPARATUS OR MACHINE TO BE ATTACHED OR APPLIED TO CARRIAGES TO PREVENT THEIR BEING OVERTURNED
Year: 1816

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SNOWDEN, of Doncaster, in the County of York, Clerk, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the First day of No-
vember, in the fifty-seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said William Snowden, my exors, admors, and assigns, His special licence,
full power, sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said William Snowden,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term
of years
therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW OB
IMPROVED APPARATUS OR MACHINE TO BE ATTACHED OR APPLIED TO CARRIAGES
TO PREVENT THEIR BEING OVERTURNED;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso that if I, the said William Snowden, shall not particu-
larly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, and 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 Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine,
and become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may
more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Snowden, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly de-
scribed and ascertained by the following description and Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a carriage, with the projector and friction
wheel A (connected with the step bars which are stationary) to be described
hereafter. Figure 2 is a back view of a carriage, in which are exhibited a
pendulum and levers with the cords or chains for the purpose of liberating the
projectors. This part of the apparatus is fixed or attached to the boot under
the guard's chair, but it may be placed in front of a carriage, or in whatever
part may be deemed most appropriate. Figure 3 is a view of the under part
of the body of a carriage, shewing the communication of chains or cords
from the back part of Figure 2 to the projector. Figure 4 exhibits a profile
of the step and projector, with the parts of the apparatus immediately con-
nected therewith, and to be described hereafter. Figure 2 is the position of
a carriage described as moving on level ground; and Figure 5 represents the
same upon uneven or sloping ground. B, B, represents a pendulum of from
one to three feet in length, oscilating upon a pivot at b. c, c, is a cross bar at
the upper end of this pendulum, in which, towards the extremities thereof, are
pins which rise under the levers D, D, and (by the action of the pendulum)
elevate them respectively to such an angle as will allow either of the levers
E, E, hitherto supported by them, to fall when the pendulum from the inclined
state of the carriage, or from what cause soever, raises either of the levers D, D,
to an angle of fifteen degrees or more as may be required; the lever E being
deprived of its support will necessarily fall, and the projection be effected as
hereafter will be more particularly elucidated; previously to which it may be
proper to shew, that to cause the projection to take place at any given angle
which the roof of a carriage may make with the horizon, I describe that
angle with the lever D, and let the upper part of the lever E reach to
and coincide with that point ( ), and the effect will be produced. But
to explain more particularly the manner of the projection, the chains or
cords e, e, attached to the levers E, E, pass over vertical rollers F, F, and
under the carriage, as seen in Figure 3. These cords or chains being con-
ducted to the horizontal roller G, G, pass on to the vertical roller H, H, and
thence communicate with the projectors, as seen in Figure 4. This Figure
(as before stated) exhibits a profile of the projectors, and the parts of the
apparatus immediately connected therewith.
On the side of the carriage-
which is marked No. 1, the projector is, by means of the chain or cord of

page_text: communication, drawn up and suspended as in its ordinary.state, the lever E
being (as seen in Figure 2), supported by the lever D; but, as soon as one
side of the carriage becomes so elevated that the roof thereof shall make
an angle of fifteen or more degrees with the horizontal line or level ground,
5 the pendulum, preserving its perpendicular or upright state, raises the lever D
to a corresponding angle, which liberates the lever E, when the chain or cord
passing over the rollers F, G, H, lets fall the projector, until its extremity or
friction wheel meets the ground, as seen in No. 2 of Fig. 4th, and thus
furnishes a new and secure basis for the carriage to rest upon in a man-
nor which I shall immediately explain by a more particular reference to
Figure 4. In this Figure (4), I, I, represents the outer bar of the steps;
J, J, the projectors notched in the upper parts thereof, and furnished respec-
tively with a friction wheel A firmly attached to them, and turning upon
a strong axis; i, i, are bearers (fastened to each of the outer bars of the
steps), through which the projectors slide; j is a small stud, which prevents
the projector from rubbing against the open parts of the bearers, in the
act of passing; K is a strong click or catch, with a joint attached to the
under side of the body of the carriage, or to such other part as may be
deemed the safest and most appropriate; on the upper side of the click K
is a spring, which presses it close to the projector J, J, yet without occa-
sioning much friction; the click or catch K, by falling into the projector
prevents it, whether wholly or only in part shot out, from sliding back when
the pressure is thrown upon it. By this means the projector is adapted to
any state of the road, even or uneven, as the click K immediately locks or
confines it the moment it comes in contact with the ground. The friction
wheel A is intended to enable a carriage to proceed without being suddenly
checked or retarded in its progress, when in the moment of danger the
projection has taken place. The distance of this wheel from the ground
in its ordinary state is from ten to fourteen inches, and is contrived to
keep within the range or line of the carriage wheels, so as to prevent
no obstruction to other carriages in passing; but this wheel may be dis-
pensed with, and a piece of iron or brass in the form of a crescent, be sub-
stituted in its stead, as in Figure 6. At the upper end of the projector J,
is a shoulder or thin piece of iron, against which (but attached to block L)
acts a spring, giving velocity to the projector in its fall; the spring when tense
or confined by the shoulder or thin piece of iron, pressing against it makes an
angle of 90° with the projector; but this spring may be applied to the pro-
jector in various other ways, so that it do but give it the required velocity:
for instance, a worm spring or (what is sometimes called) a wild worm spring

page_text: may be attached to the bearers, and operate upon any part of the projector
below it; or a spring of whatever description might act upon a lever, com-
municating with and attached to the projector. To restore the projector to its
ordinary position I first release the click K from the notch of the projector by
pulling or raising a handle or knob, which is placed behind the guard's chair, or
in such a situation as may be most eligible and convenient. From this handle a
cord or chain passes over the pulley M, and from thence along the under side of
the carriage body to the horizontal levers N, N. By raising the handle (and by
consequence the chain) the lever N acts against the cliek K, and raises it from
the notch, the action of which is shewn in perspective in Figure 7. Having
liberated the click I apply a winch or key to the axis or pivot of the lever E, by
the turning of which the lever E is made to pass the lever D, and the projectors
are restored to their ordinary state. This apparatus now described will prevent
the overturning of carriages in the following instances:-When a carriage
is travelling upon a road greatly inclined, or when laden with luggage to an
unusual height; when turning a corner or passing over a heap of stones or
rubbish; in all ordinary cases of this nature this apparatus will afford security:
It may perhaps be of use also when a carriage wheel flies off, or an axletree
breaks, but in the former case it is better entirely to prevent the danger by
avoiding the use of linch pins, and using a box axletree, or by having recourse
to other methods now in use for that purpose. Fig. 6, I, I, represents the
steps as before, with continuous or additional perpendicular bars, to which is
fastened, by such methods as may be deemed the best and strongest, a
shever or castor wheel O; this wheel is suspended about three or four inches
from the ground, and runs exactly within the range of the carriage wheels.
J represents the projector as before; A, a piece of iron or brass in the form of
a crescent which serves as a substitute for the friction wheel. Should a wheel.
Aly off, this shcover or castor wheel O will immediately supply its place;
should an axletree break it will furnish a new support for the carriage to rest
apon and prevent its overturning. This addition to the apparatus, as described
in Figure 6, may be used or otherwise at the option of the owner of the
carriage. The oblique projection of notched sliding bars, connected with the
steps, and with or without a friction wheel, as also the liberation of projectors
by means of a pendulum and levers, for the purpose of preventing the over-
turning of carriages, I insist upon respectively as novel combinations.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set iny hand and seal, this Twenty-
eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixteen.
WILLIAM SNOWDEN. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1816, the aforesaid William Snowden came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixteen.