Improved Means for Hinging and Supporting and Operating Doors, specially applicable to Brougham-Hansom Cabs and Railway Carriages.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Oct., 1893—Accepted, 11th Nov., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Hinging and Supporting and Operating Doors,
specially applicable to Brougham-Hansom Cabs and Railway
Carriages.
I, CHARLES RICHARD STEVENS, of 73 Queen Victoria Street, in the City and
County of London, Solicitor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention consists in the combination with a door of two comparatively long
hinges or radius plates the outer ends of which are connected at different points
along the horizontal centre of the door one at or near the top of the door and the
other at or near the bottom thereof and the inner ends of which are rigidly secured
to a vertical rod or spindle mounted in suitable bearings near the pillar or jamb of
the door so that by rotating the said rod or spindle the door connected with it will
be moved bodily through a circular path somewhat after the fashion of a pair of
parallel rulers, and will thus be opened or closed without extending far beyond the
side of the vehicle. The inner side of the door is kept in position by a guiding
link or rod connected with the upper "meeting" corner of the door and centred at
some convenient position under or above the roof of the vehicle.
The use of the vertical rod or spindle above referred to, is to cause the top and
bottom of the door to move in unison.
Means are provided in the case of a brougham, hansom cab for operating the
spindle of each door from a lever placed close to the drivers seat such means
consisting of flexible connections passed round pulleys on the upper ends of the
spindles whose lower ends are connected by crossed connections passing round
pulleys secured thereon.
Referring to the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, Fig. 2 is a plan of a brougham hansom cab having its
doors hinged or supported according to my invention and connected to an opening
and closing mechanism such as I have above referred to.
Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2 but showing the doors half closed.
Fig. 4 is another similar view, but showing the doors fully opened.
A A represent the two doors of the brougham hansom cab, and B B the two
guiding links which are connected to the inner edges of the doors near the upper
ends thereof.
CC represent the radius plates which are connected to about the horizontal
centre of each of the doors and whose other ends are rigidly secured upon the
vertical spindles D D each door having one radius plate near the top secured near
the top of one of the vertical rods and having one radius plate near the bottom
secured near the bottom of the same vertical rod.
EE represent the sheaves or pulleys which are mounted upon the upper end of
each of the spindles D D and around which are passed the short lengths of chain
or other flexible material F F which are connected by rods G G or otherwise with
a lever H so that the spindles DD can be turned in either direction according as it
is required to open or close the doors. The lengths of chain F F or other flexible
material are connected with the rods G G through the medium of shackles I I
through which the screw threaded ends of the rods G G are passed the adjusting
nuts JJ being fitted upon the ends of said rods as shown. K represents one of the
sheaves or pulleys on the lower ends of the spindles DD around which are passed
the flexible connections or chains L L whose ends are secured to rods M M which
are arranged to cross each other as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.
Means such for instance as those shown at N are provided to enable the length

page_text: of the flexible connections L L to be altered at will in order to bring both the
doors into their proper closed positions.
A small spring stop O is mounted preferably on the upper end of each door, and is
arranged to fit into a recess formed in the underside of the roof of the vehicle in
order to hold the doors shut with sufficient force to prevent them opening
accidentally as for instance when the vehicle is travelling down hill.
With the arrangements for hinging or supporting and operating doors which I
have described it will be obvious that in order to move the doors A A from their
closed position as illustrated in Fig. 2 into their open position as illustrated in
Fig. 4 it is necessary to shift the lever H to the right hand side, the effect being to
cause the spindle D D to turn, and so cause the projecting radius plate CC to
force the doors out into the positions illustrated in Fig. 3. The guiding links B B
secured to the inner edge of the doors serve to keep the latter approximately
parallel to the adjacent sides of the vehicle as illustrated in said fig.
If the movements of the lever H be continued it will cause the doors A A to be
moved back into the position illustrated in Fig. 4 when a large proportion of the
front of the vehicle will be left open.
The manner of supporting railway carriage doors according to my invention is
practically the same as that herein described with reference to brougham hansom
cabs the doors being supported by radius plates, bars or hinges such as C projecting
from a vertical spindle (such as D) and if desired a cord or other flexible connection
can be passed round each of the sheaves or pulleys on the upper ends of these
spindles and be led into the guards van or other part of the train so that the guard
can open or close all the doors of the train simultaneously. In railway carriages
it may be found more convenient to connect the radius plates with the doors at the
edges instead of the centres thereof in which case it would be necessary to fix the
spindles on the outside of the carriages at a distance from the edge of each door
equal to the length of the radius plates. This change of position of the parts of my
invention does not alter its essential features.
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 herein described means for hinging or supporting doors consisting of the
combination with a door of a vertical spindle such as D fixed at some convenient
part of the vehicle having hinges or radius plates rigidly secured to it such as C C,
and hinged at points on the horizontal centre of the door or on either side thereof
or at any intermediate points.
2. The use of a rotating vehicle rod or spindle for the purpose of co-ordinating
the motion of the top and bottom of a door by causing the motive power to be
applied to the top and bottom thereof at the same moment.
3. The herein described means for operating the doors of brougham hansom cabs
and other vehicles consisting of the combination following (that is to say), two
vertical spindles (such as D D) each connected by radius plates with one of the
doors of the vehicle the upper ends of such spindles being provided with sheaves or
pulleys around which are passed cords or other flexible connections (such as F)
connected by a rigid rod or otherwise with an operating lever (such as H) the lower
ends of said spindles being likewise provided with sheaves or pulleys connected one
to the other by crossed flexible connections substantially as and for the purposes
specified and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 11th day of September 1893.
CASTLE SMITH,
"Invention" Office, 54, Fleet Street, London, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.