IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jonathan Barlow, of 6, 7, and 8, Queen's
Street, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, Coach Iron-
monger and Plater, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CARRIAGES."-Partly a communication from abroad by George Keller,
residing at 93, Boulevart Haussmann, Paris.
Sealed the 14th August 1868, and dated the 15th February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jonathan Barlow at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on.
the 15th February 1868.
I, JONATHAN BARLOW, of 6, 7, and 8, Queen's Street, Oxford Street,
in the County of Middlesex, Coach Ironmonger and Plater, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in carriages. In some
sorts of carriages which are capable of being used either as close or as
open carriages, the guides in which the glass and shutter slides up and
down when the carriage is closed are in the side pillars of the frame,
and are not attached to the door. In carriages thus constructed the

page_text: glass or shutter is liable to be broken and pillars damaged by opening
the door when the glass or shutter is up. The plan however has the
advantage of requiring no alteration of the door when the carriage
is opened.
According to this Invention the same advantage is obtained, whilst
the risk of breaking the glass or shutter and injuring the pillars in
opening the door is obviated. The guides or grooves for the glass and
shutter are jointed to the door on either side in such manner that when
the carriage is opened they can be folded down flat against the inside
of the door. When the carriage is closed and the glass and shutter
guides are set up for use they are held by means of hooks or catches
upon them, which are caught by bolts within the frame of the door.
These bolts may be worked by means of a small handle in the centre
of the door, or a portion of the fence plate or ledge on the top of the
door may be made to turn up on a centre and serve as a lever for
working the bolts. I sometimes make the door so shallow as not to be
able to receive the required depth of glass all in one piece, and I then
joint the upper part of the glass to the lower so that it can fold down
thereon. Or I make the upper part of the glass separate from the lower,
and either fix it in the guides or arrange it to slide separate from the
lower part of the glass. Where the glass guides are made separate
from the door I employ a locking apparatus to prevent the door being
opened until the glass has been let down, as has in some cases heretofore
been practised, but in place of using a separate lever, lock, or bolt for
this purpose which is withdrawn in lowering the glass I have no separate
bolt, but by means of a trigger which the glass touches as it descends
I lift a catch, which when down drops into a notch in the spindle of
the ordinary latch handle, or the end of the catch may stand in the way
of a projection on the spindle of the latch, and so prevent it being
turned. In order that the door may not be able to open until the
glass is entirely down I sometimes cause the glass to descend on to
a treadle or lever at the bottom of the door case, which treadle or lever
it then moves, and so actuates a wedge bolt which shoots under the
square of the spindle of the ordinary latch, and so holds it stationary,
or the bolt may shoot into a striking plate in the side pillar of the
carriage.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jonathan Barlow in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JONATHAN
BARLOW, of 6, 7, and 8, Queen's Street, Oxford Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Coach Ironmonger and Plater, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Jonathan Barlow, Her special licence that
I, the said Jonathan Barlow, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Jonathan Barlow, 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 CARRIAGES,"
the result partly of a communication made to me from abroad by George
Keller, a person resident at 93, Boulevart Haussmann, Paris, and partly
of Invention of my own, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Jonathan Barlow, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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
mentlis next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jonathan Barlow, 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 carriages. In
some sorts of carriages which are capable of being used either as close
or as open carriages the guides in which the glass and shutter slides.
up and down when the carriage is closed are in the side pillars of the
frame, and are not attached to the door. In carriages thus constructed

page_text: the glass or shutter is liable to be broken and pillars damaged by
opening the door when the shutter or glass is up.
By this Invention the advantage is obtained of opening the door with
the glass or shutter either up or down, and the risk of breaking the
glass or shutter and injuring the pillars in opening the door is obviated
without any alteration being required in the construction of the door
when the carriage is arranged as an open carriage. The guides or
grooves for the glass and shutter are jointed to the door on either side
in such manner that when the carriage is opened they can be folded
down against the inside of the door. When the carriage is closed, and
the glass and shutter guides are set up for use they are held by means of
hooks or catches upon them, which are caught by bolts within the frame
of the door. These bolts may be worked by means of a small handle
in the centre of the door, or by other means, as herein-after described.
Figure 1 is a front view partly in section, and Figure 2 is a transverse
vertical section of a carriage door constructed according to this part of
my Invention.
a, a, is the lower part of the door.which is constructed in the usual
manner, and has a recess or cavity a¹ into which the glass and shutter
descend; b, b, are the glass and shutter guides jointed by the hinges c, c,
with the lower part a of the door; b', ', are hooks fixed to the guides b,
and when the guides 6 are erected as they are when the carriage is closed,
and as they appear in the Drawing, the hooks b' enter recesses in the
lower part a of the door, and are caught and held in this position by
bolts. These bolts are marked d, d, and they are arranged to slide in
guides e, e, within the recess or cavity a'; the springs ff, tend to throw
the bolts forward into the hooks. At their inner ends the bolts have
-slotted holes in them, through which pins are passed, and these pins are
fixed into a disc g which is mounted on the stem or axis of the handle g',
so that by turning the said handle the bolts may be withdrawn against
the resistance of the springs. In place of using a handle the axis on
which the disc g is fixed and which passes through the door may have
a recess in its end to receive a key. It is not essential that there should
bé an opening in the front of the door, in place thereof a handle may
be applied within the carriage, and connected by means of levers and
rods with the axis of the disc g; or a portion of the fence, plate, or
ledge on the top of the door may be jointed to the disc g, so as to turn
up until the joint comes to the end of its play, and then to serve as a

page_text: lever for turning the disc and for working the bolts. When the glass
is so deep that there is not depth enough in the door to admit of the
glass being lowered therein I dispense with the rocker plate in the inside
of the carriage, and I so construct and apply the said rocker plate as
to be below the bottom on the outside of the carriage, and by thus
removing the rocker plate I obtain the required depth for the glass to
be lowered in one piece, that is, without the necessity of jointing. By
this improvement in the rocker plate the bottom or floor of the carriage
is enabled to be laid in such a manner that it is perfectly flush or level
all through without the occupant being obliged to step over the rocker
plate, which he is at present obliged to do. Or sometimes when the
door is so shallow as not to be able to receive the required depth of
glass all in one piece I joint the upper part of the glass to the lower, so
that it can fold down thereon, the glass guides being so formed as to
admit of the upper part of the glass so folding, and suitable turn buttons
or fastenings being provided to secure it. Or I make the upper part of
the glass separate from the lower, and either fix it in the guides or
arrange it to slide separately from the lower part of the glass, I then
provide a fastening to secure the lower edge of the upper part of the
glass to the upper edge of the lower part when both the parts of the glass
are raised.
As respects this part of my Invention I claim the arranging the glass
and shutter guides of carriage doors to fold over inwards as above
described.
I also claim the method of locking the glass and shutter guides to the
door in position for use.
I also claim the general arrangements of the parts as above described.
When the glass guides are made separate from the door I employ
a locking apparatus to prevent the door being opened until the glass has
been let down, as has in some cases heretofore been practised, but in
place of using a separate lever, lock, or bolt for this purpose which is
withdrawn in lowering the glass I have no separate bolt, but by means
of a trigger which the glass touches as it descends I lift a catch, which
when down drops into a notch in the spindle of the ordinary latch
handle, or the end of the catch may stand in the way of a projection on
the spindle of the latch, and so prevent it being turned.
Figure 3 is a front view partly in section of a portion of a carriage
door showing the apparatus arranged in the manner which I prefer.

page_text: a is the woodwork of the door with the glass cavity a¹ in it; b is
the door handle and latch bolt with its frame, which is of ordinary con-
struction, except that in the boss of the latch bolt two notches are cut
so as to form ratchet teeth, and that a pawl or catch 6' is provided to
drop into these notches, and it is pressed into them by the action of the
spring ; Figure 4 shows on a larger scale a back view, and Figure 5
a side view of these parts. When the pawl or catch b¹ is in one of the
notches the handle cannot be turned so as to withdraw the latch bolt
from its recess in the side pillar, and the door cannot then be opened,
but when the glass is let down its frame presses on the trigger or tail c¹×
of the catch, and displacing it sets the handle free.
. I claim as respects this part of my Invention the use of a catch locking
the ordinary door handle and latch bolt, and which catch is withdrawn
by a trigger which the glass touches when it is let down as above
described. In order that the door may not be able to open until the
glass is entirely down I sometimes cause the glass to descend on to
a treadle or lever at the bottom of the door case, which treadle or lever
it then moves, and so actuates a wedge bolt which shoots under the
square of the spindle of the ordinary latch or bolt, and so holds it
stationary, or the bolt may shoot into a striking plate in the side pillar
of the carriage.
Figure 6 is a front view, partly in section, of a carriage door with such
apparatus applied to it. a, a, is the woodwork af the door with the
glass cavity a' within it; b is a treadle at the bottom of this cavity, it
is hinged at one end, and at the other is supported on the spring b¹;
this treadle is connected by a rod c (of which the effective length is
adjustable by a screw and nuts as is shewn) with the bell-crank lever d
turning on the centre d; e is a rod attached to the other limb of the
bell-crank lever, and connected with the wedge f, which is supported
in a guide hole in the latch case, and is immediately underneath the
squared or flattened boss of the latch bolt. When the treadle is up the
wedge bears against the flat side of the boss, and prevents it turning,
and the door cannot then be opened, but when the glass is down it rests
on the treadle and depresses it; the wedge is thus drawn back and the
latch bolt is free to be moved by the handle as before mentioned.. A bolt
shooting into a striking plate in a side pillar may be substituted for
the wedges.

page_text: I claim as respects this part of my Invention the arranging the glass
o descend on to a treadle or lever at the bottom of the door case, such
readle or lever being connected with a wedge or locking instrument,
which. either by means of the ordinary latch or bolt, or otherwise, locks
he door except when the treadle is thus depressed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jonathan Barlow, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-cight.
J. BARLOW. (L.S.)