Improvements in Means for Preventing Horses or other Draught Animals Attached to Carts or other Vehicles from Falling, Running Away, or otherwise Getting Out of or Beyond Control.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Nov., 1892-Accepted, 14th Jan., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means for Preventing Horses or other Draught
Animals Attached to Carts or other Vehicles from Falling,
Running Away, or otherwise Getting Out of or Beyond Control.
I, ANTON JOSEPH SCHAEFER, of 24 Parker Street, Drury Lane, London, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention which relates to means for preventing horses and other draught
animals attached to vehicles from falling or running away, is in part an improve-
ment on the invention described in the Specification of my former Letters Patent
No. 265 dated 6th January 1891, and will be best understood by reference to the
accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 is a side elevation showing my invention applied to a four-wheeled cab
or vehicle.
Figure 2 a side elevation showing my invention applied to a dog-cart or two-
wheeled vehicle.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a slightly modified form of part of the apparatus
shown in Figure 2, and
Figure 4 is a perspective view of the framing of my improved apparatus as
constructed for a pair of horses.
Like letters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.
In Figure 1, A is the body of the carriage which as usual is supported on
springs A', two only of which viz. the hinder ones, are shown in the accompanying
drawings, the two front ones being omitted from the drawing in order more clearly
to illustrate the application of my invention: these two front springs being however
connected to the axle and body A in the usual manner. The ordinary fore-carriage
is also omitted from Fig. 1 because it is of the usual construction, and if it were
B is a frame
represented other parts of more importance would be obscured.
which extends from back to front beneath the carriage and at its back end is forked
so as to be secured near each end of the axle bar C by a clip C¹. Below the
carriage body A. the bar B has secured to it a cross bar B', at each end of which
is provided a block B2 preferably of indiarubber or equivalent resilient material.
Towards its front part the bar B is bent upwards as at B3 and then at the front of
these, downwards as at B and horizontal as at B. At the front part of B³ the
frame B is pivotted at B to a fore-carriage D, preferably semi-circular, and which
at each side is secured to the front axle bar E by clips E¹ the bar, forming the
fore-carriage D, preferably extending upwards as at D', to the hinged joint D';
suitable stays D³ are provided for giving the necessary rigidity to the bent bar DD'.
The pivot B is co-axial with the pivot of the ordinary fore-carriage. At the
upper part of B³ is secured a bent bar F which projects upwards in front of or
through the driver's seat G and which at its upper part projects forward to a
point at which a bar H is pivotted to it.
The bars D' have lugs D formed on them for the pivotting thereto of the
shafts I which otherwise may be of ordinary construction.
J is a bar, preferably forked at its back end, each branch being connected to one
of the bars D¹ by one of the hinges D, and at its front end at J it has pivotted to
it a bar J, J being a knuckle joint so that the part J' cannot descend below the
position in which it is shown in Fig. 1. At its front end the bar J' is bent upwards
and backwards and at J is pivotted to the front end of the rod or link K whose
back end is pivotted to the lever K₁ itself pivotted at K' to the bar J, at which
point K also is pivotted the front end of the before mentioned bar H, the pivot F¹
like the pivot B is co-axial with the pivot of the fore-carriage.

page_text: :
At the front part of the bar J is connected a chain L each end of which is
connected to the girth or band L', and at the back part of J at the joint J' is also
connected a chain L2 whose ends are attached to the girth or band L³ which like L'
encircles the horse's body. The shafts I may be connected to the bands L' L³ in
any convenient manner and the horse may be harnessed and otherwise connected to
the carriage in the ordinary manner.
Should the horse attached to a vehicle in the manner before described stumble,
it will be prevented from falling by the apparatus itself and the driver may, by
pulling the lever K₁ towards him, raise the front end of arm J' and consequently
through the chain L lift or support the fore part of the horse's body until it again
regains its footing.
. Should the horse attempt to run away the driver by operating the lever K' as last
described may raise the fore part of the horse's body so as to lift its fore feet clear
of the ground under which circumstances of course the horse cannot proceed
'further.
The chain L' and girth L³ support the hinder part of the horse's body so that
should the horse lose its footing with its hind feet its weight will still be supported
and the horse thereby prevented from falling.
At its
In applying my invention to a two-wheeled vehicle or dog-cart, as shown in
Fig. 2, I prefer to provide a frame M which may be of any desired construction
and is rigidly secured to the cart axle and body in any convenient manner.
front end the frame M is provided with arms M', one at each side of the vehicle,
and each carrying at its lower end a roller M2 which may be of any suitable
material. Arms M' at the two sides of the vehicle may be connected together by
any suitable frame or tie rods. At the front part of the frame M are also provided
two hinged joints M³ by which the shafts N N¹ are pivotted to the frame M. The
joint M³ is preferably so arranged with indiarubber or other resilient blocks M* or
springs that the shafts N N¹ may rise and fall to a certain extent independently of
the frame M.
Each shaft is formed in two parts N N¹ hinged together as at N³ the front
part N being preferably formed with an arm N by means of which it may be
raised as hereinafter described. Pivotted to the part N₁ of each shaft is a lever (),
the upper end of which is connected by a forked rod or link O', to the hand
lever pivotted at 03 to a bar represented in dotted lines at 0, connecting the
two shafts together near their back ends. The lower end of each lever O is provided
with a slot Os engaging with a pin formed on a sliding bolt P which engages with
the lugs N* No formed on the parts of the shaft respectively N N'. The rod O',
as before mentioned, is forked so that the single back end may be operated by one
hand lever 0 and so that the two front ends may each be connected to one of the
levers O. Each of the arms N³ is provided with an opening through which passes
the appropriate member of the forked rod O¹. The horse may be harnessed to the
vehicle in the usual manner and the shafts connected with the harness in the manner
found most convenient.
By the foregoing arrangement the front parts N' of the shafts are locked to the
. back parts N when the hand lever O2 stands in the vertical position, shown
in Fig. 2, and cannot be moved independently of N by the movement of the horse.
Should the horse stumble, the driver of the vehicle pulls the lever O towards
him, this operation first withdrawing the bolt P from the lug N so as to unlock N¹
from N and then by further moving the hand lever 02 in the same direction,
bringing the top end of the lever O against the arm N³ with the result that this
arm N is also moved backwards and the front part of N¹ consequently raised,
thus giving the necessary support to the horse to enable him to keep his footing
During such an operation the front part of the vehicle will of course descend to a
slight extent which is limited by the rollers M2 coming in contact with the ground,
these rollers M² for the time being serving to give the necessary support to the
front part of the vehicle while power is being applied for raising, or supporting the
fore part of the horse.

page_text: As soon as the horse has regained his footing the hand lever O' is moved forward
and the parts N' locked to the parts N as will be well understood..
Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing apparatus almost identical with that shown
in Fig. 2 the only difference being in the back ends of the shaft which are here
shown with a somewhat modified form of hinge connection which is specially
designed for enabling the pair-borse gear, shown in Fig. 4, to be readily converted
into a single-horse gear, as will be well understood.
In Fig. 4 the framing for direct attachment to the vehicle axles is substantially
the same as that shown in Fig. 1. Each pair of shafts in this example is
constructed in substantially the same manner as last described with reference to
Fig. 2, the only practical difference being that the centre. bolt Q has the two
parts N' pivotted to it, each capable of independent operation. This arrangement
dispenses with the necessity of providing two shafts or portions of shafts N
between the horses. The shape of the forked rod O¹, before referred to in the
description of Fig. 2, is clearly shown in Fig. 4. Each of these forked rods O' is
pivotted at its back end to the appropriate lever (2.
If desired each pair of shafts shown in Fig. 4, may be independent of the other
instead of having one central bar Q and a back connecting bar R common to both
sets and the central bar Q instead of being formed in part with the back bar Ras
shown may be constructed so as to be readily insertable in a suitable socket.
When it is desired to convert the apparatus, shown in Fig. 4, for use with a single
horse the pair-horse shafts are detached by the removal of the pivot pins R¹
and K and the pair of shafts shown in Fig. 3 are connected to the frame
uprights D' by replacing the pins R¹ in the appropriate hinge lugs and openings;
a central hand lever O2 is then applied for operating the single rod O¹ used.
The before described apparatus may be modified without departing from the
essential features of the invention for example instead of using a stay bar such
as F extending upwards to the front of the driver's seat G, I may lead said stay
horizontally forward from the part B³ of frame B beneath the driver's foot-board
and bend it upwards in two branches at its front part and connect each branch to
each arm J in any desired manner, the bar F having a joint the pivot of which
must be co-axial with the pivot of the fore-carriage.
The apparatus may be controlled by the operation of a foot-lever instead of a
hand lever as before described.
If desired, for heavy waggons, rollers similar to M2 in Figure 2, may be
mounted on the lower ends of arms secured to and extending downwards from the
back parts N of the shafts one roller say at each side of each horse.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is,
1. In apparatus such as described the combination with a frame such as B
extending beneath the body of a four-wheeled carriage and secured to the back
axle thereof and a frame such as D D' secured to the front axle thereof and
pivotted to the frame B and to which also are pivotted the shafts of the vehicle
and a jointed bar such as J J of a bar such as connected with the frame B and
link such as H connected with the bar J and pivotted to F at a point co-axial with
the pivot pin of the fore-carriage substantially as described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
2. In apparatus such as described the employment of a shaft formed in two
parts such as N N₁ hinged together substantially as described and illustrated in
the accompanying drawings.
3. In apparatus such as described the combination with a shaft formed in two
parts pivotted together of a locking bolt such as P lever O arm N and rod O¹
substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
4. In apparatus such as described the combination and arrangement of parts

page_text: substantially as described and illustrated in Figure 2 of the accompanying
drawings.
5. In apparatus such as described the combination and arrangement of parts
substantially as described and illustrated in Figure 4 of the accompanying
drawings.
1000
ANTON J. SCHAEFER.
W. P. Thompson & Boult,
Agents for the Applicant.