Improvements in Appliances for Facilitating the Draught of Vehicles.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 7th July, 1888
Complete Specification Left, 8th Apr., 1889
Complete Specification Accepted, 18th May, 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Appliances for Facilitating the Draught of Vehicles.
I, CHARLES COMPTON SETON of 23 Cavendish Square, London in the County of
Middlesex, late Lieutenant, Royal Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:---
According to this my invention I employ an automatic or mechanical appliance
(the latter controlled by the driver) whereby the point of attachment at which the
traces are connected to the vehicle is raised or lowered for the purpose of facilitating
the draught in the varying conditions and gradients of roads. As a mechanical
device I may employ a screw or worm on which is a block nut the eye or loop for
the cross bar being connected to the nut so that the latter may be raised or lowered
as desirable, and as an automatic appliance the draught may be on a cam which by
its movement operates a lever in connection with which is a spring so that the
position of the point of attachment is changed and varied according to the draught,
or strain on the traces.
T11000
WALTER BRIERLEY,
Town Hall Buildings, Halifax.
Agent for the Applicant..

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Appliances for Facilitating the Draught of Vehicles.
I, CHARLES COMPTON SETON, of 23, Cavendish Square, London, in the County of
Middlesex, late Lieutenant Royal Engineers, 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:-
This Invention relates to improved means of increasing the tractive power of
draught animals attached to wheeled vehicles and is applicable both to ordinary
harness in which the traces are unsupported between the hame or collar and the
points at which they are attached to the vehicle, and to the novel arrangement of
harness described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to Thomas
Hargreaves Brigg dated 24th March, 1888, No. 4530, in which the traces are each
disposed at an obtuse angle open towards the ground and are each supported in
such position by a saddle or pad or an attachment thereto or in any equivalent
manner so that the portion thereof between the supported part and the end which
is attached to the vehicle is caused to assume with the ground line forward of the
point of intersection an angle of considerably greater degree than the trace as
ordinarily applied forms with such ground line, and which is effective in lessening
the resistance offered by the load, and in increasing the tractive power of the
attached draught animal.
The Invention consists, essentially, in the application of means whereby the angle
of draught of the traces in the ordinary arrangement, or of that portion of the
said supported traces rearward of the saddle or pad, relatively with the ground line
forward of the point of intersection, can be varied either automatically in
proportion to the resistance offered by the load or as required in the judgment of
the driver by means under his control; such object in either arrangement. of the
traces being effected by causing the point or points of attachment of the traces to
the vehicle to be lowered or raised either automatically as aforesaid or by means
under the control of and needing manipulation by the driver, the special object of
the Invention being to lower the position of the said point or points of attachment
in accordance with any increased resistance of the load so that a portion of the
weight of the latter may be when required rendered instrumental in holding the
animal down as with 'a correspondingly increased weight in consequence of which
such resistance of the load will be lessened and the frictional resistance of the
draught animal on the roadway and its tractive power will be proportionately.
increased and to permit of the parts assuming or being caused to assume their
normal positions when the resistance of the load is lessened or when it is in
light draught.
On the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1. represents a side view of a draught
animal and parts of a connected wheeled vehicle and harness adapted with an
automatic means of varying the angle of draught as aforesaid; and Fig. 2.
represents a like view representing the application of means under the control of
and needing operation by the driver for attaining the same object.

page_text: I desire it should be understood that the annexed drawings are simply intended
to illustrate the principle of the Invention, and that I do not limit myself to the
exact arrangements of means of the nature aforesaid illustrated thereon, as it is
obvious that the Invention can be carried into practical effect by the application of
various other equivalently operating means.
The Invention is illustrated on the accompanying drawings as applied to the
improved arrangement of harness described in the aforesaid Specification, on
account of the aforesaid advantage such arrangement of the harness offers over the
ordinary arrangement, but the accompanying drawings will equally well illustrate
the application of the Invention to the latter arrangement of harness in which the
traces would be unsupported between the points, 3, and, 4.
5, represents the traces, and 4, the points of attachment thereof to the vehicle.
6, represents a cam shaft carried by the vehicle and fast on which is a cam or
cams, 7, to the free end or ends, 4, of which the whiffle-tree (if the traces are
connected thereto) is connected, or to which the traces are directly connected.
8. represents a pulley fast on the cam shaft to which a spring, 9, is connected
and to a fixed part, 10, of the vehicle, such spring having a constant tendency to
return the cam to its normal position as indicated in dotted lines when the
vehicle is in light draught, the position of the cam and the correspondingly
altered position of the traces when the vehicle is in heavy draught being
represented in full lines.
In the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 2. the cam or cams is or are replaced
by a lever or levers, 11, and the shaft, 6, is fitted with a worm wheel, 12, which is
operated as required by the driver by means of a handwheel, 13, and wormed
spindle, 14.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is : :-
1. The use in combination with traces normally supported between the hame or
collar and the points of attachment to the vehicle by a saddle or pad above a line
connecting such parts in such a manner as to cause the traces to assume an obtuse
angle open towards the ground substantially in the manner or for the purpose
aforesaid, of means for varying the angle of draught of that portion of the said
supported traces rearward of the saddle or pad, by causing the point or points of
attachment of the traces to the vehicle to be lowered or raised, such means either
operating automatically as aforesaid or being under the control of and needing
manipulation by the driver, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore
described.
2. The use in combination with traces connected in an ordinary manner to the
hame or collar and to the vehicle, of means for varying the angle of draught of
the traces by causing the point or points of attachment thereof to the vehicle to be
lowered or raised, such means either operating automatically. as aforesaid or being
under the control of and needing manipulation by the driver, substantially as and
for the purposes herein before described.
Dated this 5th day of April 1889.
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.