IMPROVEMENTS IN TWO-WHEELED VEHICLES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John William Nottingham, of Clayton Place,
Kennington Road, in the County of Surrey, Artist, for the Invention
df "IMPROVEMENTS IN TWO-WHEELED VEHICLES."
Sealed the 16th October 1863, and dated the 21st April 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John William Nottingham
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st April 1863.
I, JOHN WILLIAM NOTTINGHAM, of Clayton Place, Kennington Road, in the
County of Surrey, Artist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TWO-WHEELED VEHICLES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to improvements in vehicles usually denominated cabs,
which vehicles are somewhat on the principle, and, as it were, improvements
in the Hansom cab.
Hansom cabs, as at present constructed, are too narrow to seat two persons
comfortably, the limit being restricted by reason of the arrangement and dis-
position of the springs between the body and the wheels; now, according to
my Invention, I extend the width of the body, and dispose the springs within
the limits of its breadth and beneath it, whereby a more commodious vehicle
is obtained; by widening the body more room is also obtained for entering and

page_text: alighting from the vehicle. As a further improvement to facilitate the entering
and alighting from the vehicle, I make the doors to occupy nearly the full
width of the body, and in order to render them easy of movement, as also to
occupy a convenient space when open, I make each half or part of the door
in two or more pieces hinged together, so that they may be folded or rolled
(so to speak) if necessary, the one piece on the other, or be folded and
disposed between the wheel and the body, in which positions ample room is
afforded for ingress and egress from the cab; in these positions it also forms a
perfectly open cab. These doors may also be extended out beyond the cab
wheels to protect the dress of ladies entering or alighting therefrom. The
doors, instead of being in two halves or parts as usual, may, when formed of
parts hinged together, as described, open entirely from one side.
The fourth part of my improvements relates to the head, which, instead of
being a fixture as usual, I make separate from the body; I mount it thereon
on a pivot at each side, so that it rises and falls somewhat in the manner of a
folding carriage head, but in this case the head is rigid, similar to an ordinary
cab head; when down, it encloses the body and forms an open airy carriage,
avoiding that disagreeable circulation of air round the neck experienced in
Hansom cabs. This head can be adjusted and fixed in its highest and lowest
positions, or in any intermediate position; it is fixed by a thumb bolt and nut
traversing a slotted are described from the axis on which the head moves. I
also furnish the head with shutters or blinds, consisting of a series of wood
or metal laths jointed together, which can be thrown up and down at pleasure
by the occupant of the cab, and so as to enclose more or less of the whole
front. These jointed laths may be perforated for air or vision, and may for
the latter purpose have glazed slots. To support the driver's seat, I prefer to
use a transverse spring between the two side springs, on which transverse
spring the seat is principally mounted, but is also stayed and supported from
the body of the cab; this spring may also form an additional spring and
support for the cab body.