IMPROVEMENTS IN COMMON ROAD CARRIAGES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Smith, of the East Suffolk Carriage
Works, Halesworth, in the County of Suffolk, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COMMON ROAD CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 29th October 1869, and dated the 14th August 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th August 1869.
I, SAMUEL SMITH, of the East Suffolk Carriage Works, Halesworth,
in the County of Suffolk, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMMON ROAD CARRIAGES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved pleasure carriage for common
roads to which the Inventor gives the name of "the perithron."
The "perithron" is in style similar to a waggonette, but is constructed
so as to admit the lady to her seat in front from the door behind without
incurring the inconvenience and danger of stepping over the front
wheel.

page_text: The improvement consists in having the front or driving seat cut in
two in the centre, and in making the lady's half to throw up. The
near hind scat turns outwards on its axis at the hind end, and the front
end locks into a plate on the top of the boot. The lock is moved by a
small plated lever or handle, and in the act of locking forces a bolt along
the length of the plate, locking the scat securely in the centre of the
body. The bolt of the lock which holds the near hind seat is made to
hook into the mortice in the plate, at the same time driving the seat
forward into an iron dovetail, and thereby holding both seats firmly as
in a vice. Ordinary waggonettes may also be altered to the construction
of the "perithron" if desired.
SPECIFICATION
in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd November 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL.
SMITH, of the East Suffolk Carriage Works, Halesworth, in the County
of Suffolk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Smith, Her special licence that
I, the said Samuel Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Samuel Smith, my executors, administrators,
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 COMMON ROAD
CARRIAGES, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel
Smith, 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

page_text: manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be fled
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 Samuel Smith, 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, that is to say:-
"
The improvements have reference to rendering carriages having box,
driving, or front seats; and more particularly those called "waggonettes
and Stanhope phaetons" as at present constructed or to be con-
structed for the purpose, more convenient and safe in the use and
admission of the person or persons to such box, driving, or front seat,
or part thereof than heretofore, and consist in so constructing such
carriages as above described that the person or persons may pass on to
or gain admission to the box, driving, or front seat, or to part thereof
by passing from the body of the carriage and through the hinder part
thereof, without incurring the danger and inconvenience of stepping on
to, or over, or from the front wheel as at present necessary to gain access
to such box, driving, or front seat.
The improvements may conveniently be carried into effect by making
the box, driving, or front seat in two or more pieces, but preferably in
two, by dividing the seat in the centre, the sitting part of the seat (not
the driving part) being made to turn up or lift up, and being hinged or
otherwise fastened in a convenient manner to or on the outside part or
side of the carriage so that it may be readily lifted up and returned to
its place as described below, and being furnished with suitable locks
and mortices for securing the seat when down, such locks being actuated
by convenient handles, keys, or draw bars to be worked from any desired
position in or on the carriage, preferably from two positions, one near and
handy to the person seated in the driving part of the seat, and the
other so placed that a person standing on the ground may readily get
at it. Further, in constructing the hind seat of the carriage on the
same side as the moveable sitting seat above described, so that it shall
turn round or out or partially round on an axis, preferably fixed at the
end furthest away from the front moveable seat above described, and
having convenient locks fitted in or on a plate or mortice on the top of
the boot or secured when closed, and readily opened by other convenient
apparatus, and such apparatus being actuated by convenient handles,

page_text: keys, or draw bars that may be worked from any position, or if desired
in combination with the handles, and so forth of the locking apparatus of
the moveable seat above described, so that one handle, and so forth may
open both the near front and near hind seats, so that the near hind seat
when opened or turned round or from its general position may afford a
convenient space and passage to the front sitting or driving part of the
carriage by means of the turned or thrown up moveable sitting front seat
above described, which may be opened or thrown up simultaneously or
otherwise with it.
The accompanying perspective Drawing is intended to illustrate the
mode above described of performing the Invention, in which Figure 1
shows a side elevation of a carriage in a fixed or shut up position;
Figure 2, side view of same showing the near box or sitting part of front
seat thrown up or over and the hind seat on same side thrown out;
Figure 3, the near front seat thrown up and hinged to the side of the
carriage; and Figure 4, a plan of carriage having both near hind and
near front seats open for the passage of the person from behind to the
driving or sitting part of front seat.
The Drawing above described is to be taken as illustrative only, as it
is obvious that the details as also the mode may be varied without
departing from the spirit of the Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Smith, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
SAMUEL SMITH. (L.S.)