26l Check for Carriage Wheels on Rail- Roads. 



of the public, I trust every invention that may perfect such 

 a system will add in some degree to its value, and aid in its 

 advancement to perfection an object so desirable as the con- 

 veyance of every species of merchandise, and so requisite 

 in a commercial country. I am, Gentlemen, 



Your very obedient humble servant, 



Charles Le Caan. 



Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, 

 April 1 1th, 1805. 



To the Society of Arts, &c. Adelphi. 



Reference to the Engraving of Mr. Le Caan's Check or Stop 

 for Carriages on Rail- Roads, Plate VII. Fig. 1, 1. 

 Fig. 1. — A. A rail-road waggon. 



E. the shafts in the direction as when drawn by a horse. 

 C C. the checks or stops made of oak, and shod with 



strong plate-iron ; these checks should always be made 

 somewhat thicker than the wheels. 



D. a bolt and nut on which the stop C hangs : it is here 

 fi.\ed to the side of the cart, but it will be better for this bolt 

 and nut to pass through the iron bar E, to which the shafts 

 are connected, and the stop to hang from thence. 



F. chains which keep the checks suspended whilst the 

 horse is drawing, but at such a distance from the wheels, as 

 to permit the checks to assume the position G, in Fig. 2, 

 when the shafts are inclined as at H, in consequence of the 

 horse falling from pressure or accident ; in which case the 

 waggon instantly stops, and prevents the horse from receiv- 

 ing any material injury, which the momentum of two or 

 more waggons, arising from their velocity on roads upon an 

 inclined plane, as^ I, Fig. 1, has unfortunately frequently 

 occasioned. 



It is necessary to observe, that to prevent the great trouble 

 which would arise from turnins; the waggon round on a 

 rail-road, it wou'd be better to have a check to each of the 

 four wheels; in which case, after the waggon has dis- 

 charged its load at the place of its destination, the chains 

 FFmaybe loosened from the shafts, and fastened upon 

 hooks, one of which is. shown at K, so as to keep the 

 rlu-eks suspended above the road ; the iron bar L, which 



attaches 



