CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGES GENERALLY
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY MOOR, of Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of May (One thousand eight hundred
and forty-four), in the seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Moor, my
exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said John Henry Moor, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry Moor, my exors, admors,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter, during the continuance of the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGES GENERALLY;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said John Henry Moor, shall
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's

page_text: High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Henry Moor, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be fully described and set
forth in and by the following Statement and Specification thereof, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawings (which I declare to be, and to form
part of this my Statement and Specification,) by the letters and numeral figures
marked thereon for the purpose of such reference, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in and has reference to the principles of construction
and the modes of arrangement of the mechanical parts, and also the several
combinations of the same, as such several matters are herein-after described
and set forth as regards my application of the same to the objects set forth and
referred to in and by the title of the Letters Patent granted unto me, the said
John Henry Moor, as herein-before recited.
The particular nature and intention of my said Invention I declare to
consist in forming and constructing carriages or vehicles, for the usual purposes
of the personal conveyance or transport of passengers, with reference to a more
convenient and beneficial mechanical character obtained for such carriages or
vehicles by such forms and constructions.
I declare that I carry such the
particular nature and intention of my said Invention into practical effect by
the mechanical constructions and the arrangements of mechanical parts with
the combinations of the same with each other as the same are described and set
forth in the following detailed Specification thereof, and which has direct
reference to the Drawings in the Figures thereof, respectively marked Figure 1,
Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4, and Figure 5, which Drawings and Figures, to-
"gether with such detailed Specification, I declare truly to set forth and describe
the constructions, arrangements, and combinations, which I adopt in practice in
order to embody and curry my aforesaid Invention into effect, that is to say,-
The Figure 1 represents a lateral or side elevation, or profile view in
geometrical drawing, of one of that class of hackney carriages commonly
denominated the "omnibus." The Figure 2 represents a transversal section
-in geometrical drawing, taken through the body of the carriage in a
vertical direction at the dotted line X, X, of the Figure 1, shewing
the particular forms and the arrangement of the several parts of its
interior construction, the Figure 1 shewing the general form of its exterior
construction, with the arrangement and combination of those parts. The
Figure 3 shews an end elevation in geometrical drawing of the back or

page_text: hinder end of the carriage; and in the Figures 1, 2, and 3 respectively, the
same letters of reference are set upon or against the same parts thereof.
By reference to the aforesaid Figures, it will be distinctly perceived that this
construction, arrangement, and combination of parts.constitutes a carriage or
vehicle into which the passengers enter, and are seated or placed in a manner
and under an arrangement peculiar to this construction. The carriage repre-
sented in the Figures 1, 2, and 3, is one constructed and arranged to carry
twelve passengers, and these are seated or placed in two distinct and parallel
dines, which are arranged longitudinally through the entire extent of the
carriage in that direction. Each of such lines of seats is intended to contain
six passengers between the extremities A and B of the carriage, as represented
in the Figure 1. The relative positions of each such distinct line of seats to the
other is shewn in the Figure 2, where Z, Z, represents a division or solid. par-
tition, which is fixed vertically through the height of the carriage from its
seats to the roof or top, and passes longitudinally through its entire extent
from its front part at A, of Figure 1, to its hinder part at B of that Figure,
forming a complete separation of the two parallel lines of seats already
described. The position of the passengers in each of such parallel lines of seats,
thus separated from each other, is shewn by the Figures P. and Q in the
Figure 2, where R and R' shew the seats of each of them, and S and S¹, the
floor of that side of the carriage which belongs to each of the longitudinal
divisions respectively. D and D¹ in this Figure shews the hinder wheels of
the carriage, of which one is shewn at D in the Figure 1. In the Figure 1;
the body of the carriage is shewn in its entire length by A, B. C.marks the
fore wheel, and D the hinder wheel. E, F, and G, designate three distinct and
separate minor compartments of that longitudinal half of the entire.carriage
which is on the near side, two passengers being seated in each compartment.
These distinct compartments or minor carriages are entered respectively by
the doors E, F, G, as shown in the Drawing. The mode of entrance is
provided by the step irons H, I, and K, one of which is fixed under the middle
of the width of each such minor carriage. An iron step h, i, and k, is fixed
midway in the length of each of the step irons H, I, and K respectively,
and a foot board L, L, is fixed on the lower termination of such step.irons,
and being continued through the entire length of the carriage is common to all
the entrance doors. M and N are two of the springs on which the body of
the carriage is suspended, as in a railway carriage, the axles of the wheels
working in the bearings Q, Q. O is the seat for the driver, and P a portion of
the carriage pole. The minor carriages shewn at E, F, G, in the Drawing
are entered from the near side of the total or entire vehicle, the passengers

page_text: being seated with their backs to the central division or partition shewn at Z, Z,
in the Figure 2. The same number of passengers are seated in corresponding
places through the length of the vehicle on its off side, and in the same manner
as on the near side, where the same mechanical arrangements and constructions
in the modes of fitting up and subdividing the entire length of the vehicle are
used as on its near side above described. The guard or conductor admits a
passenger by lowering the iron steps h, i, and k, and the foot board L, L
(shewn in the Figure 1), by the agency of the bent lever and rods shewn in
the Figure 5. A, A, is a bent lever, having a handle at its upper extremity,
by which the conductor actuates the connecting rod B, the lower extremity of
which, being set on a spur iron C passing under and attached to the foot
board L, L, lowers it to its proper horizontal position for use, or closes it
upwards in a vertical position, at pleasure. The extremity of the spur iron C
of the footboard L is connected by a short bar y with a similar spur iron
attached to the small iron step k, and thus the step k is actuated upon at the
same time and by the same operation as the foot board L, the same mecha-
nical arrangement for changing the position of the iron step and the footboard
being continued through the other and corresponding iron steps on the near
side of the carriage by means of a short bar y, as seen in the Figure 5, being
set upon each iron step through the series. This application is shewn in each
step in the Figure 1. In the Figure 5 the same arrangement of a bent lever
with a connecting rod communicating its action to the footboard L, and thence
by a short bar y to the iron steps on the off side of the carriage, are shewn in
the same Figure at A¹, A¹, B, C, y', L', k¹, respectively. V is the usual
standing place of the conductor. W is a footboard passing through the width
of the carriage, by which, when required, the conductor passes from his usual
position on the near side of the carriage to the off side to operate on the steps
and footboard on that side. The standing place V, and the traversing foot-
board W, are also shewn in the Figure 1. The Figure 4 represents a trans-
versal section of the body of the carriage, shewing the cushions and internal
fittings of the minor carriages or compartments, but having the form of the
axle modified from the straight axle shewn in the foregoing Figures 1, 2,
and 3, by being cranked as shewn in the Drawing, in order to afford space for
the forming a compartment for the reception of passengers' luggage; this is
marked in the Figure 4 U, U, and is also shewn in the Figure 5 in an
external view, and marked with the same letters of reference. In this modified
construction as regards the axle of the hinder wheels of the carriage, the axle
is fixed in its bearings, and does not revolve in them, but the wheels are placed on
the axles loose and independent, and revolve on it; whereas, in the construction

page_text: shewn in the Figures 1, 2, and 3, the axle, being straight, has the wheels set
fast upon it, while the axles themselves revolve freely in its bearings as in a
railway carriage. I subdivide such carriages in any required proportions to their
total extent or length, and I apply the same principles of construction, modes
of arrangement of the component parts, and the mechanical combinations herein-
before described, as for the construction and arrangement of a public vehicle
of personal conveyance or omnibus to private or domestic carriages of any
denomination or to public carriages of conveyance of any description.
Having thus described the particular nature of my Invention, and also in
what manner the same is to be performed and carried into practical effect, I
declare that I do not claim as of my Invention the designing or fabrication of
the usual and commonly-known component parts of carriages which enter into
and form part of the mechanical composition of my carriage, as herein-before
described, such component parts considered separately; nor do I claim the parti-
cular mode of suspending carriages and attaching them to their axles herein-
before described, the same being in well-known use in the carriages of railways.
But I do claim as of my Invention the particular combinations of mechanical
parts, and the application thereof to the construction and arrangement of
carriages in general for the personal conveyance of passengers, as the same are
herein-before described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Moor, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty third day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.