MENTS IN HANSOM CABS, AND PARTLY APPLICABLE TO OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Peter Joseph Sterckx at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th March 1879.
PETER JOSEPH STERCKX, of Wharton Street, King's Cross, and Blue Lion Yard,
Gray's Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex, Coach and Cab Builder. "IMPROVE
MENTS IN HANSOM CABS, AND PARTLY APPLICABLE TO OTHER VEHICLES:"
My said Invention is chiefly designed to improve the construction of hansom
cabs to render the same adjustable on their springs according to the weight of the
driver; it also relates to means for permitting the front sashes or windows of such
cabs to be raised and lowered with greater facility and with less inconvenience to
the occupants of the vehicle than in the cabs hitherto in use.
The said improvements relating to the adjustment of the cab upon its springs are
carried into practise as follows, that is to say:-I construct the hanging irons for
the front of the cab with a number of holes (preferably three) in the upper end
thereof, and formn the end of the springs with jaws to embrace the said end of the
banging irons, or the hanging irons may be provided with jaws instead of the
springs, which jaws will contain any desired number of holes, the spring in this
case not requiring more than one hole. The holes in the jaws of the spring, when
the former construction is adopted, may be adjusted to either of the said holes in the
hanging iron, and the ordinary bolt or pin may be readily passed through the same
to secure the spring in place. At the back of the cab I provide bars or rods which
extend backward and support the said springs at the rear end of the same, in such
a manner that the said springs will be free to slide endwise on the said bars or rods
to permit the adjustment to either of the different holes in the said hanging irons.
For instance, if the driver is a heavy man the. springs will be connected to the
hanging irons by the rearmost hole in the same, while for a driver of lighter weight
the springs would have to be adjusted to the central or forward holes in the said
irons.
The said bars or rods projecting from the back of the cab body are connected at
their extremities by stay rods or bars to the driver's foot board, and I fix or form
on one of these stay rods the upper step whereby the driver ascends and descends.
By my improved arrangement of these springs and bars or rods I am enabled to
dispense with the cross-spring and D or other shackles heretofore generally pro-
vided at the rear of hansom cabs, and I thereby save expense and avoid the lateral
straining of the side springs by the expansion of the said rear or cross-spring.

page_text: It will be obvious that this manner of providing for the adjustment of the body
of the cab upon the springs may be adapted to other two wheeled vehicles.
The improvements relating to the front sashes or windows comprise a novel con-
struction of the sash and improved means for guiding it in raising and lowering the
same. Instead of forming the said sash in two parts, so arranged that in raising or
lowering it the point of junction of the two parts project into the cab far enough to
cause great inconvenience and discomfort to the occupant, I make my improved
sash in three pieces, jointed together in such a manner as to be capable of the
required adjustment very easily and without any inconvenience to the occupant of
the cab. The upper part of the said sash is jointed to the top of the cab front, and
the central part is hinged or jointed to the upper and lower parts. The said lower
part is fitted to slide in guide grooves placed at the front of the cab in a vertical or
nearly vertical position, and at the top of the guides I fix curved pieces, which
ensure the proper entrance of the lower part of the sash into the said guide grooves
when the same descends. I prefer to attach two cords to opposite sides of the sash
and conduct the same to guide pulleys at the two sides of the roof, and from these
side pulleys to a central guide pulley, whence they are conducted to the driver.
The construction of the sash in three pieces and the arrangement of the lower
part of the said sash to slide in vertical guides permits the sash to be raised or
lowered with a very slight inward projection of the corner or angle of the upper
and middle portion of the sash.
To further ensure the proper working of the said sash I provide at the roof of
the cab a spring catch or a pair of spring catches, which hold the sash at the said
corner or angle when the sash is raised, and which hold the upper and middle parts
until the lower part of the sash has descended to the aforesaid guide grooves and
then permit the said upper and middle portions to follow the said lower portion
until the sash is properly closed.
By placing small springs in the said guide grooves or on the lower part of the
sash I prevent the rattling and jarring of the same when closed.
My improvements may be readily applied to existing cabs.