HOJV THE COACHES WERE NAMED 



309 



To reassure the old ladies of both sexes such 

 coaches as the " Patent Safeties " were introduced. 

 Many of those so called Avere neither safe nor 

 patent, hut an excejition must be made in the case 

 of the coach invented and patented in December 

 1805 by the Eeverend William Milton, Vicar of 

 Heckfield, near Reading. This gentleman, Avho 

 yearned for a larger sphere of action than that 

 provided by his rural parish, and appareiitly did 

 not find his duties sufficient to occupy his time, 

 studied the subject, and produced a book in whose 

 pages he sets forth the design of his coach and 

 its superiority over anything that had hitherto 

 appeared on the road. His principle not only 

 consisted in lowering the body of the vehicle upon 

 its axles, so reducing the centre of gravity, but in 

 addition provided a luggage box in the rear of the 

 coach, hung so low that it was only fourteen 

 inches from the ground. His idea was to carry 

 the luggage thus, instead of on the roof, so render- 

 ing it less top-heavy, and indeed, according to his 

 theory, making the luggage act as ballast, so that 

 the heavier the coach loaded, the safer it would 

 be. Nor Avas this all. As a protection against 

 overturning in the case of a wheel coming off, he 

 provided Avhat he called a small " idle Avlieel," 

 fitted to the axle a short distance inside each 

 running Avheel. In the event of a wheel flying 

 off, the coach Avould only dip slightly, and run on 

 the " idle wheel " until the coachman could bring 

 the whole affair to a stop. 



Of course this inventive clergyman found 



