IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christopher Claxton, of Park Road, Brompton, in
the County of Middlesex, Captain in the Royal Navy, for the Inven-
tion of "TANDEM
Sealed the 4th November 1864, and dated the 13th July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christopher Claxton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th July 1864.
I, CHRISTOPHER CLAXTON, of Park Road, Brompton, in the County of
Middlesex, Captain in the Royal Navy, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in railway carriages by which
the security of passengers against personal assaults and other insults will be
rendered more perfect, and by means of which evidence against offenders
would be easily obtained. For these purposes I make an opening in each of
the partitions which separates one compartment from another, and I fill the
same with wire gauze. The hole is made of sufficient size to allow sound to
pass with sufficient facility to allow any loud noise to be heard freely from one
compartment to the next through the gauze, and also when the gauze is
forcibly removed to enable a person to see freely from compartment to com-
partment, but it is not made sufficiently large to allow of a person passing

page_text: through it. The gauze is sufficiently fine to prevent it being seen through,
and to prevent ordinary conversation being heard through it; it may be used
double if required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Christopher Claxton in the Great Seal Patent Oflice on
the 18th January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
CLAXTON, of Park Road, Brompton, in the County of Middlesex, Captain in
the Royal Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Christopher Claxton, Her special licence that I, the
said Christopher Claxton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Christopher Claxton, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Christopher Claxton, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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 Christopher Claxton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, 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:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in railway carriages by
which the security of passengers against personal assaults and other insults
will be rendered more perfect, and by means of which evidence against
offenders would be easily obtained. For these purposes I make an opening

page_text: in each of the partitions which separates one compartment from another, and
I fill the same with wire gauze. The hole is made of sufficient size to allow
sound to pass with sufficient facility to allow any loud noise to be heard freely
from one compartment to the next through the gauze, and also when the
gauze is forcibly removed to enable a person to see freely from compartment
to compartment, but it is not made sufficiently large to allow of a person
passing through it. The gauze is sufficiently fine to prevent its being seen
through, and to prevent ordinary conversation being heard through it; it may
be used double if required.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a transverse section, and Figure 2 a longitudinal section of
a compartment of a railway carriage. a, a, are two holes or openings formed
through the partition b, b, which divides two compartments of a railway
carriage one from the other. These openings or holes are shown to be above
the ordinary netting, but this is not essential, as they may be lower down
when desired. The Drawings shew the shape of the openings to be rectangular,
but this may be varied. In each opening or hole a frame is hinged to admit
of its being opened from either side by a suitable handle and catch; or the one
may be arranged to open into one compartment, and the other into the other
compartment. The frames have wire gauze in them which will admit of sound
passing from one compartment of a carriage to another, so that in the event
of any person making any unusual or extra noise in one compartment it would
be heard by passengers in the next or other compartment of the same
carriage, whilst ordinary conversation would not readily or at all be heard
from one compartment to another.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Claxton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand cight hundred and sixty-five.
CHRISTOPHER CLAXTON. (L.S.)