IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PERAMBULATORS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ashton, of Warrington, in the County
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF PERAMBULATORS.”
Sealed the 20th January 1874, and dated the 25th July 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Ashton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th July 1878.
I, WILLIAM ASHTON, of Warrington, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF PERAMBULATORS," to be as follows :—
The object of this Invention is to construct a perambulator which can
either be used as an open carriage or partially or entirely closed.
I make the body of the perambulator somewhat in the ordinary form,
and I provide the same with two folding hoods, made of American cloth
or other suitable fabric, the frames of which are hinged to the top part
of the body. These hoods when closed meet only at the top, leaving an
open space at each side, and these spaces can be entirely closed when

page_text: desired by means of sliding windows or glazed panels which slide per-
pendicularly in grooves formed in the sides of the body.
Instead of the ordinary elbow-jointed stretchers I prefer to provide
the hood with slotted quadrants, working into grooves in the body and
fitting on to pins or screws furnished with butterfly or winged nuts, by 5
means of which the hoods may be fixed in any position; and also to
provide the said hoods (or one of them) with ventilators of any convenient
form.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Ashton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ASHTON, of Warrington, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Ashton, Her special license
that I, the said William Ashton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Ashton, 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
THE CONSTRUCTION OF PERAMBULATORS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Ashton, 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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to
say) :-
The object of this Invention is to construct a perambular which can
either be used as an open carriage or partially or entirely closed.
I make the body of the perambulator somewhat in the ordinary
form, and I provide the same with two folding hoods, made of leather,
American cloth, or other suitable fabrio, the frames of which are hinged
to the top part of the body. These hoods when closed meet only at the
top, leaving an open space at each side, and these spaces can be entirely
closed when desired by means of sliding windows or glazed panels, which
slide perpendicularly in grooves formed in the sides of the body.
Instead of the ordinary elbow-jointed stretchers I prefer to providė
the hoods with slotted quadrants, working into grooves in the body and
fitting on to pins or screws furnished with "butterfly”, or winged nuts,
by means of which the hoods may be fixed in any position; and also to
provide the said hoods (or one of them) with ventilators of any con-
venient form.
Instead of the slotted quadrants small discs may be used at the
hinged joint for the purpose of fixing the hoods in the required position.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention I will now
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to
be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in order that
the same may be clearly understood I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of
Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with figures
and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thereof.
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing is a side elevation of a double per-
ambulator made according to my Invention, and shown with the hoods
closed; and Fig. 2 is a similar view with the hoods open. a, a, is the body
of the perambulator; and b, b, are the two folding hoods, the frames of
which are hinged to the top of the body at o, o; d, d, are the slotted
quadrants, which work in grooves in the body of the perambulator, and
are held in any required position by means of winged nuts at e, e ; ƒ, ƒ,
is the sliding window or glazed frame; fixed glazed panels may also be
inserted in the front and back (or in either the front or back) of the

page_text: folding hoods; g, g, is the ventilator; and h, h, the fresh air supply
opening.
Figs. 3 and 4 are similar views of a single perambulator, in which the
same letters as in the preceding Figs. indicate the light parts, the only
difference being that discs d, d, with quadrant formed slots, are sub- 5
substituted for the slotted quadrants.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed
or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I claim as
my Invention, the improvements in perambulators, consisting in the 1
combination of two hinged folding hoods with two sliding windows or
glazed panels, substantially in the manner and for the purposes therein.
before set forth, and illustrated by the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Ashton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of January, in the year 18
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.