IMPROVEMENTS IN. THE CONSTRUCTION OF OMNIBUSES OR OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Shillibeer, of the City Road, in the County
of Middlesex, Coach Maker, and George Giles, of Fenchurch Buildings,
in the City of London, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
Sealed the 30th April 1861, and dated the 3rd November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Shillibeer and'
George Giles at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 3rd November 1860.
We, GEORGE SHILLIBEER, of the City Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Coach Maker, and GEORGE GILES, of Fenchurch Buildings, in the City of
London, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN. THE CONSTRUCTION OF OMNIBUSES OR OTHER VEHICLES," to be
as follows:-
Our improvements relate to the construction of omnibuses and other
vehicles such as was described in the Specification of a Patent granted to us
on the 28th day of October 1857, by which part of the seats on the outside of
the omnibus are arranged so as to be accessible from the interior, which is
formed into two separate compartments for passengers, with a longitudinal
passage up the centre connecting the two compartments together, and from
the centre portion of which the external roof of the omnibus may be reached
by means of a flight of steps on each side of the passage; and in the

page_text: Specification before referred to these steps are shewn and described as being
arranged vertically. Now we have discovered that the steps so arranged are
not sufficiently easy of ascent, and one part of our improvements consists in
arranging them in a more convenient manner by placing them in an inclined
position, and forming the foot-boards with openings or recesses, or otherwise
shaping them so that the ascent to the roof may be rendered much easier
than heretofore; or the steps may be divided into two sets on each side, to
be used by the right and left feet alternately. At or near the front end of
the hind compartment we propose to form a rise or step in the. passage or
floor of the vehicle, which is extended to the front of the thereof, thereby not
only facilitating the ascent to the outside seats, but also affording a better lock
for the front wheels; slides or windows may be applied, so as to let down and
partially close the inner sides of the hinder compartments if desired to avoid
draft from the opening in the roof, and the central part of the passage leading
to the outside seats may be covered over by an extension of the raised part of
the roof over the passage, leaving sufficient room for passengers to ascend to
the said outside seats.
Another part of our improvements consists in the application of an improved
hood or capôte, by which the said outside seats reached as aforesaid from the
said longitudinal passage are, together with part of the said longitudinal
passage, covered over in wet weather, which hood or capôte is constructed of
three or more slats of wood, or other suitable material extending from side to
side of the vehicle, and worked on axes fixed to an iron bar, or some other
suitable support attached to the outside seats or body of the carriage, which
slots are enclosed with or covered over by mackintosh or leather, or some
other suitable material; this hood or capôte is drawn over or let down by the
conductor or passengers, and when up is retained in its proper position by two
or more leather straps.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Shillibeer and George Giles in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 3rd May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
SHILLIBEER, of the City Road, in the County of Middlesex, Coach Maker, and
GEORGE GILES, of Fenchurch Buildings, in the City of London, Gentleman,
send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
George Shillibeer and George Giles, Her special licence that we, the said
George Shillibeer and George Giles, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said George Shillibeer and George Giles,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF OMNIBUSES AND OTHER VEHICLES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said George Shillibeer and George Giles, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Giles, on behalf of myself and
the said George Shillibeer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that
is to say:
Our Invention for "Improvements in the Construction of Omnibuses and other
Vehicles" consists in so arranging the seats of the omnibus or other vehicles
that the outside places or seats, or some of them, may be accessible from the
interior of the vehicle: For this purpose the body of the carriage is divided
off by partitions into two separate compartments A and B (colored respectively
red and blue), as shewn in Figure 1 of the Drawing hereto annexed,
(having between them spaces with steps C, C, leading to the outside seats on
either side of the longitudinal passage D, herein-after mentioned,) and these
compartments are arranged with seats for passengers in the following manner,
namely:-The front compartment A in Figure 1 of the Drawing has side
seats arranged in the usual way, and the hind compartment B has four
separate seats, one in each corner partitioned off from the longitudinal
passage D. The said longitudinal passage D passes from the doorway or

page_text: entrance of the body of the carriage through the middle of the hind com-
partment B, and continues thence between the spaces for steps C, C, which
are colored yellow in Figure 1 of the Drawing, to and as far as the doorway
or entrance of the front compartment A, and is colored blue and brown, that
is to say, that part thereof passing through the hind compartment B is colored
blue, and that part thereof between the spaces C, C, for steps is colored
brown. And in order to confine the width of the body of the patent carriage
within the usual dimensions (thereby obviating the necessity of increasing the
width or gaugo of the wheels beyond the averaged width or gauge of the
wheels of the omnibuses now in general use), the flooring of that part of the
hind compartment B within the two parts partitioned off from the longitudinal
passage D before described, and called the vis-à-vis's, is raised up to the level
of the "rocker," thereby forming a step E from the longitudinal passage D into
each of the said vis-à-vis's, as shewn in Figure 3 of the Drawing, and colored
green. The seats in the said vis-à-vis's, and the roof of the hind com-
partment B are placed proportionably higher from the said raised flooring E,
as shown in Figure 3 of the Drawing. That part on either side of the outside
of the hind compartment B which forms the windows, instead of being con-
tinued in the usual manner perpendicularly from the panel to the roof, projects.
over the sides from the top of the panel to the roof, in order to afford room
for the arms of the passengers sitting in the said vis-à-vis's, one of which said
projecting windows is clearly shewn in the Drawing at Figure 5, and colored
pink. The seats are entered from the longitudinal passage D, colored blue
and brown, as aforesaid. The entrance to the omnibus is by a step at the end
in the usual way. The spaces C, C, colored yellow in Figure 1 of the Drawing-
between the two compartments A and B are not covered over by the roof, as
the two compartments A and B themselves are, but are left open from side to
side, and across that part of the longitudinal passage D colored brown, to
admit of the passengers passing to and from some of the outside places or
seats, which are arranged for passengers in the following manner, namely:―
Two seats are placed on the roof of the front compartment A projecting over
the sides of the body of the carriage, and two other seats are placed on the
roof of the hind compartment B, immediately opposite the last-mentioned
seats, also projecting in like manner over the sides of the body of the carriage,
as is clearly shewn in those parts colored orange in Figure 2 of the Drawing;
and between the two compartments A and B a space to receive the passengers'
legs on either side of that part of the said longitudinal passage D colored brown is
left open, (but enclosed at both the outside ends, as shewn in those parts colored

page_text: yellow in Figure 2, and in Figures 3 and 4 respectively,) extending from the
level of the roofs of the two compartments A and B down to the foot-boards;
which are placed at a convenient distance below the level of the roofs, as
shewn at Figures 3 and 4 of the Drawing. These outside places, or seats are
reached by steps (colored yellow) on both sides of that part of the longitudinal
passage D colored brown, as before described, which steps are placed in an
inclined position below the foot-boards, (which foot-boards are hollowed out
on the side thereof of the said passage D, as shewn in Figure 1, and are so
arranged as to fill up the spaces C, C, between the two compartments A and B
from the bottom or flooring of the body of the carriage up to and as far as the
foot-boards before mentioned, as is clearly shewn in that part colored yellow
in Figures 3 and 4 of the Drawing. That part of the longitudinal passage D
colored brown is capable of being covered over by an extension of the roof,
such extension being arched from the roof of the front compartment A to the
roof of that part of the longitudinal passage D which runs through the hind
compartment B. Also at or near the front end of the hind compartment B
the flooring of the vehicle can be raised, either partially or to the whole extent
of the front compartment A, and of that part of the longitudinal passage D
colored brown, thereby affording not only a better "lock" for the front wheels,
but reducing the ascent to the outside seats F, F, colored orange in Figure 2.
Slides or windows may also be applied, so as to let down and partially close
the inner sides of the said vis-à-vis's, if desired, to avoid draught from the
opening in the roof over the spaces for steps C, C, and that part of the
longitudinal passage D colored brown. The outside seats which are reached
from the longitudinal passage D have an improved construction of hood or
capôte G, by which they are, together with that part of the longitudinal
passage D colored brown, covered over in wet weather, which hood or capôte
is constructed of three or more slats of wood, or other suitable material
extending from side to side of the vehicle, which work or move on axes fixed
to an iron bar, or other suitable support, attached to the outside seats or body
of the carriage. The slats are enclosed or covered over with mackintosh or
leather, or some other suitable waterproof material, as shewn at Figure 3 of
the Drawing, and colored grey. This hood or capôte G is left open at the
back only, so as not to hold the wind (which it would do if the front thereof
was left open, so as to meet the wind, like the generality of carriage heads,)
but such open part can also be enclosed by a curtain, to be let down if
desired. The hood or capôte is drawn over or let down by the conductor or
passengers, and when up is retained in its proper position by two or more

page_text: straps made of leather, or some other suitable material, and attached to the
roof of the hind compartment B.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Giles, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE, Patent Agent,
34, Southampton Buildings, W.C.
GEO. GILES. (L.S.)