IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FOLDING HEADS OF CARRIAGES
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John George Harrison at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th March 1878.
JOHN GEORGE HARRISON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manager
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FOLDING HEADS OF CARRIAGES."
of Works.
My Invention consists in constructing and arranging in the manner herein-after
described the parts of the fittings of the folding heads of carriages. By my
Invention the locking or fixing of the folding head in its open and closed positions
respectively is effected automatically, the parts are simple in construction, and not
liable to derangement.
The fittings of the folding heads of carriages as ordinarily made consist of a
falling pillar at each side of the carriage, the said pillar being jointed at bottom to
the elbow of the carriage, and sometimes having a spring rod also jointed to the
elbow. To the top of the falling pillar a cant rail is jointed.
In constructing the fittings of the folding heads of carriages according to my
Invention I prolong the head or upper part of the spring rod above the joint on
which the cant rail turns. The prolonged part or head of the spring rod is slotted
and is jointed above the slot to the cant rail of the folding head. The jointing of
the slotted head or prolonged part of the spring rod is effected by the same pin
which joints the cant rail to the top of the falling pillar. The cant rail is furnished
with a flap made of gun metal or other hard metal. In the face of this gun-metal
flap a slightly curved channel or slot is made, and at the extreme end of the head or
prolonged part of the spring rod, and on the inner side thereof, is a stud or pro-
jection which engages with and works in the channel or slot of the flap. That end
of the channel or slot in the flap most distant from the joint of the cant rail is
furnished with a notch or locking part nearly at right angles to the other part.
This notch or locking part is for the purpose of locking or fixing the parts of the
folding head when the said head is in its own position.
When the falling pillar is in its upright position the spring of the spring rod
acting against a slotted abutment on the falling pillar balances or supports the
carriage head, the falling pillar being prevented from passing beyond the upright
position by the said slotted abutment bearing against a stop on the spring rod

page_text: immediately below the slotted head of the said rod. The face of the falling pillar
is thereby maintained in its proper position for the carriage window to work in.
When the parts are in the position last described the carriage head is closed, the
cant rail being horizontal, and the stud or projection on the prolonged end of the
spring rod is pressed against the top of the outer end of the channel or slot in the
gun-metal flap.of the cant rail. By this means the falling pillar is locked in its
perpendicular position so long as the cant rail is in its horizontal position. When it
is wished to throw back the folding head to open the carriage the cant rail is gradu-
ally raised on its joint so as to bring it into a line with the falling pillar. The stud
or projection on the head or prolongation of the spring rod is thereby permitted to
slide back in the channel or groove in the flap of the cant rail and the falling pillar
can descend.
When the falling pillar has reached a horizontal position, together with the cant
rail, and the folding head is consequently thrown back and the carriage opened, the
stud or projection on the head or prolonged part of the spring rod falls into the
locking notch described at the inner end of the channel or groove in the cant rail,
and the parts are locked in their open positions. The fittings described are com-
bined with each of the falling" pillars and adjuncts of the folding head.