506 ACCIDENTS CH. XXIII 



The reason for putting on the bars with the screw- 

 heads of the furniture up is, that if a screw breaks 

 or falls out, its loss will be noticed by the coach- 

 man. This is not an uncommon accident, and is 

 best guarded against by using the rivets shown in 



Fig- 3i. 



The breaking of a front axle-arm, or the coming 



off of a front wheel, is serious, and if the coach be 



going at all fast, an overturn is probable. 



The box of a Collinge axle will sometimes work 

 loose in the wheel and the wheel will gradually slip 

 off, but an observant coachman should detect the 

 mishap before any damage is done, especially in the 

 case of the off side wheel. 



I once saw a friend bring his coach home from a 

 considerable distance, after the* box of a front wheel 

 had become loose, by ingeniously putting the skid 

 under the wheel and fastening- it bv its chain to 

 the splinter-bar, which was protected from being 

 scratched by having a horse-cloth wrapped round 

 it, the coach being dragged on the skid ; of course 

 the wheel had not come off, but had only started. 



As may be gathered from the remarks in Chapter 

 IX., it is not difficult to capsize a coach, but it is an 

 unpardonably careless thing to do unless something 

 is broken, or the horses are running away. The 

 coming off of the skid or the breaking of the skid- 

 chain in descending a steep hill, may cause a cap- 

 size, whence the importance of having this tackle in 

 good order. 



