A New or Improved Brake for Perambulators and Bath Chairs.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Jan., 1887.
Complete Left, 6th Sept., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 7th Oct., 1887
A New or Improved Brake for Perambulators and Bath Chairs.
I GEORGE HENRY CAPEWELL HUGHES of St. Stephen Street Works Birmingham
in the County of Warwick Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this
Invention to be as follows :-
In a provisional specification filed by me on the ninth day of November 1886
No. 14482 I described a stop brake for perambulators and Bath chairs consisting
essentially of a horizontal sliding rod working in bearings or loops on the axle of the
perambulator or Bath chair the outer end of the said sliding rod when in its advanced
position passing between two adjacent spokes of the wheel for arresting the motion of
the vehicle.
According to my present invention I use in place of the sliding horizontal rod
described a rod capable of making a semi-rotation an arm or stop near the outer end
of the rotating rod and at right angles thereto engaging between two of the spokes of
the wheel when the said rod is turned in one direction and being withdrawn from
between the said spokes when turned in the opposite direction. The rotating rod
turns in bearings at the ends of a bracket fixed to and crossing the axle of the wheels
at right angles. The said bracket is fixed to the axle preferably near the right hand
wheel by means of a screw clip. When fixed in its place on the axle the rotating rod is
considerably inclined to a horizontal plane the higher end of the inclined rod passing
to the back of the perambulator or Bath chair and is furnished with a lever or handle
for working it. When the lever or handle is turned aside say to the right hand the
rotating rod is moved through a semi-rotation and the arm or stop at the lower end
of the said rod engages between two of the spokes of the right hand wheel near
which the brake is situated and the motion of the vehicle is arrested. By turning the
ever or handle to the left hand the motion of the rotating rod is reversed and its arm
r stop is withdrawn from between the spokes of the wheel. By means of a strong
late spring carried by the bracket bearing against one or other of two flattened
arts on the rotating rod the stop brake is held firmly in and out of action.
My improved brake may be applied either to the front or back axle of the
ulator when two axles are used and to perambulators having single axles. My improved
rake is also applicable to Bath chairs.
Dated this Fourth day of January 1887
peram-
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Brake for Perambulators and Bath Chairs.
1 GEORGE HENRY CAPEWELL HUGHES of St. Stephen Street Works, Birmingham
in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention consists of a stop brake for perambulators and Bath chairs constructed
substantially as hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
My new or improved stop brake consists of a rod capable of making a semi rotation
or other angle, an arm or stop near one end of the rotating rod and at right angles
thereto engaging between two of the spokes of the wheel when the said rod is turned
in one direction and being withdrawn from between the said spokes when turned in
the opposite direction. The rotating rod turns in bearings at the ends of a bracket
fixed to and crossing the axle of the wheel at right angles. The said bracket is fixed
to the axle preferably near the right hand wheel by means of a screw clip. When
fixed in its place on the axle the rotating rod is considerably inclined to a horizontal
plane the higher end of the inclined rod passing to the back of the perambulator or
Bath chair and is furnished with a lever or handle for working it. When the lever or
handle is operated in one direction the rotating rod is moved through a semi rotation
or other angle and the arm or stop at the lower end of the said rod engages between
two of the spokes of the right hand wheel near which the brake is situated and the
motion of the vehicle is arrested. By operating the lever or handle in the opposite
direction the motion of the rotating rod is reversed and its arm or stop is withdrawn
from between the spokes of the wheel. By means of a strong plate spring carried by
the bracket bearing against one or other of two flattened parts on the rotating rod the
stop brake is held firmly in and out of action.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation a perambulator to which my new or improved
stop brake is applied the brake being represented out of action; Figure 2 represents in
side elevation Figure 3 in end elevation and Figure 4 in plan, a portion of the peram-
bulator Figure 1 drawn to a larger scale, the brake being represented in action;
Figure 5 represents a cross section of a portion of the brake.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the
drawings.
The brake represented' is capable only of a motion through a quadrant but it may
have motion through a semi-circle or any other angular motion.
The said brake consists of the rotating rod a turning in bearings c, c at the ends of
the bracket or support & fixed to and crossing the axle e of the perambulator near the
right hand wheel, the said bracket 6 being attached to the axle by a screw clip, that
is the bottom of the part 6 of the bracket b clips the axle in the manner represented
in Figure 2 and the said bracket is bound to the axle by the clip g which is fixed in
its place by means of the screws and screw nuts at the screws being carried by the
bise of the bracket. When fixed in its place on the axle the brake has the inclined

page_text: position represented in Figures 1 and 2, the higher end a³ of the inclined rod a
of the brake passing to the back of the perambulator to be worked by hand as herein
after described.
Near the lower end of the rotating rod a of the brake is an arm or stop i situated
at right angles to the said rod a. The arm or stop i is capable of engaging between
two of the spokes of the wheel when the rotating rod a is turned in one direction
as illustrated in Figures 2, 3 and 4 and of being withdrawn from between the said
spokes when turned through a quadrant in the opposite direction as represented in
Figure 1 and indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2. When the arm or stop i is
engaged between two of the spokes of the wheel as represented in Figures 2, 3 and 4
the motion of the vehicle is arrested and when the said arm or stop is in its upright
position it offers no obstruction to the motion of the vehicle.
The rotating rod a is held firmly in its acting and non acting positions respectively
by means of the strong plate spring on the upper face of the bracket & bearing
against one or other of the flattened faces of the end of the arm or stop i presented
to the free end of the said spring & as will be understood by an examination of
Figure 5.
The brake is worked in the following manner :-
At the rear end of the perambulator and near the right hand wheel is a lever or
handle the lower end of which is jointed to one end of the crank or crank plate m,
the other end of the said crank or crank plate being jointed to the top of the
prolongation of the rotating rod a (see Figure 3). By pulling upwards the
handle it. operates the crank in and causes the rod a to he turned through a quadrant
and the arm or stop i made to engage between two of the spokes of the wheel as
seen in Figures 2, 3 and 4.
By depressing the handle into the position represented in Figure 1 and indicated
in dotted lines in Figure 2, the motion of the rotating rod is reversed and the arm
or stop i withdrawn from between the spokes of the wheel as represented in Figure 1.
The arrangement of parts represented for working the brake constitutes no part of
my invention.
I do not limit myself to any particular arrangement for giving motion to the
rotating rod a of the stop brake as it may be worked in various ways.
My improved brake may be applied either to the front or back axle of the peram-
bulator when two axles are used and to perambulators having single axles. My
improved brake is also applicable to Bath chairs.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention
and the manner of performing the same 1 declare that I claim as my invention -
A new or improved brake for perambulators and Bath chairs consisting essentially
of a rotating rod working in bearings in a bracket or support connected to the axle
of the perambulator or Bath chair the said rotating rod having near one end and at
right angles thereto an arm or stop which when turned in one direction engages
between two of the spokes of the wheel and arrests the motion of the vehicle and
when turned in the opposite direction is withdrawn from between the spokes of the
wheel substantially as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.