IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES FOR PERAMBULATORS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Thomas Staniland, of Bury St. Edmund's,
in the County of Suffolk, Commercial Traveller, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES FOR PERAMBULATORS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Thomas Staniland
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th January 1875.
I, JOHN THOMAS STANILAND, of Bury St. Edmund's, in the County of
Suffolk, Commercial Traveller, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES FOR PERAMBULATORS," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a means for automatically
checking the progress of perambulators when left unattended, or when
the attendant has accidentally lost hold of the handle while passing
down a steep incline. This end I attain by placing over and near to the

page_text: forward wheel a bracket piece with a segment-shaped chamber or recess
on its under side to receive a loose ball, or it may be a roller, of india-
rubber or equivalent elastic material. This ball is attached to a cord
which is led under the perambulator and up to the handle thereof, where
it terminates in a ring or button. The attendant, in order to propel the
perambulator, grasps the handle and with it the ring or other termination
of the brake cord and thus the india-rubber ball will be held out of
contact with the wheel. So soon however as the attendant lets go
the handle and cord the ball will be free to fall on to the wheel, and
the further progress of the wheel will cause the ball to jam between the
bracket and the periphery of the wheel and thus effectually "brake"
the wheel.
•
Instead of depending on the attendant to hold the brake cord at
tension the handle of the perambulator may be made free to turn on its
axis, and to it the cord of the brake may be attached. In this case.
before starting the vehicle the handle must be turned to wind up the
cord and take off the brake, and on releasing the handle the cord will
become slack and the brake will be automatically applied.
It will be understood that the brake may be readily applied to one or
both of the back wheels if thought desirable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Thomas Staniland in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 13th July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
THOMAS STANILAND, of Bury St. Edmund's, in the County of Suffolk, 2
Commercial Traveller, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc- 3
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Thomas Staniland,
Her special licence that I, the said John Thomas Staniland, my execu

page_text: tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Thomas Staniland, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES FOR PERAMBULATORS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Thomas Staniland, my execu-
tors or administrators, 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 Thomas Staniland, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing herc-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :—
The object of this Invention is to provide a means for automatically
checking the progress of perambulators when left unattended, or when
the attendant has accidentally lost hold of the handle while the
perambulator is on or passing down a steep incline. This end I attain
3 by placing over and near to the forward wheel a brake piece with a
chamber or recess on its under side to receive a loose friction ball, or it
may be a roller, of india-rubber or equivalent elastic material for
wedging between the brake piece and the periphery of the wheel. This
ball is attached to a cord which is led under the perambulator and up
to the handle thereof where it terminates in a ring or button. The
attendant in order to propel the perambulator when grasping the handle
draws the brake cord to tension and thus the india-rubber ball will be
held out of contact with the wheel. So soon however as the attendant
lets go the handle and cord the ball will be free to fall on to the wheel,
and the further progress of the wheel will cause the ball to jamb between
the brake piece and the periphery of the wheel and thus effectually stop
the progress of tho perambulator.

page_text: In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in
section, of a perambulator fitted with my improved brake; and Fig. 2
shows in edge view the front wheel with tho brake applied thereto.
To the under side of the footboard A of the perambulator a bracket
arm B is affixed for carrying the chambered brake picce C; this brake
piece is further supported by a saddle bar D which embraces the ends of
the axle of the front wheel E, and which is connected with the brako
piece and the bracket arm by means of a screw a; this brake piece O
overlies the wheel E, and is so shaped internally that the space within it
measured radially from the wheel contracts towards the ends of the 1
brake piece; within the chamber thus formed is a ball or roller of india-
rubber attached to the end of a cord G that is led through guides
beneath the body of tho perambulator up to the handle H. The
diameter of this ball or roller is somewhat larger than the radial measure-
ment of the space between the periphery of the wheel and the roof of 1
the chamber at the ends of the brake piece.
It will now be understood that so long as the cord G is held at tension
the elastic ball or roller will be suspended as in Fig. 1, but directly the
cord is slackened the ball or roller will drop on to the wheel E, and as
that wheel rotates it will be jambed between the wheel and the brake 2
piece, and thereby stop the further progress of the perambulator.
Instead of depending on the attendant to retain the brake cord at
tension by bolding on to a terminating ring or button, the handle of the
perambulator may be made free to turn on its axis, and to it the cord of
the brake may be attached. In this case before starting the vehicle the 2
handle must be turned to wind up the cord and take off the brake, and
on releasing the handle the cord will become slack and the brake will be
automatically applied. This slackening of the brake cord may be
facilitated by giving the handle a tendency through a coiled spring or
its equivalent to turn on its axis so as to unwind the cord.
It will be understood that the brake may be readily applied to one or
both of the back wheels if thought desirable.
3
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
in Brakes for Perambulators," and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the abovo in part 3

page_text: recited Letters Patent I claim, the application to perambulators of a
brako constructed and operating automatically as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Thomas Staniland, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.]