IMPROVEMENTS IN OMNIBUSES
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Lea Southgate at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th:
April 1864.
I, THOMAS LEA SOUTHGATE, of No. 5, Squire's Mount, Hampstead, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OMNIBUSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in omnibuses. In order to
protect the passengers on the outside of an omnibus from the weather, [
employ a frame carrying an awning, and so arranged that it can be readily
raised and lowered; it is lowered in order to admit the omnibus entering a
shed or carriage house when it is not at work, and raised before the omnibus
commences work, so that a waterproof fabric may be spread over it should
the weather render it necessary. The frame and carriage are supplied with
gear, so that the raising and the lowering may be effected by turning a handle,
and the frame carries a longitudinal roller or rollers on which the waterproof.
material, forming the awning, is wound when out of use; gearing is also
supplied so that the awning may be wound and unwound from the roller or
rollers by turning a handle.
The arrangement I prefer is as follows:-The machinery, as will be seen,
consists of two distinct parts, 1stly, the method for raising and lowering the
frame to enable the omnibus to pass a very low archway, or enter the coach-
house at night. 2ndly, the method by which the cover is spread over the top
of the vehicle to protect the passengers from rain, snow, hail, or the heat of
the sun.

page_text: The first part consists of a light rectangular frame carrying the cover and
mechanism adapted to the size of the top of the omnibus. The frame is made
of wood or any other material, and is supported at the centre of the front and
back parts by two perpendicular uprights, and also at the sides by four thin
iron rods, each running through a groove or socket of brass or iron fixed to
the side of the omnibus, in which is fitted a binding screw for the purpose of
holding the rods tight when raised to their proper position, and preventing the
frame being shaken by the motion of the vehicle in travelling. The two
uprights fastened to the frame are also free to move up and down in grooves
made for that purpose in the front and back of the omnibus; and to each
upright is let in and fixed a piece of rackwork. In the centre of the omnibus,
along the top, I place a shaft running from back to front, and working in
sockets or centres at the ends; at each end of the shaft is fixed an endless
screw, the threads of which are cut to correspond with the teeth of a wheel in
which they work; this wheel is placed parallel with and below the endless
screw shaft, and the teeth of it partly enter the groove in which the uprights
move and work into the rack work fixed on them. On the shaft, at the end
nearest the back of the omnibus, at what distance may be most convenient, is
firmly fixed a small toothed wheel, which consequently revolves with the shaft,
into this wheel works a pinion or small wheel, which is fixed on an axis
coming through the side of the omnibus, and to the end of this small shaft or
axis is attached a bandle to take on and off with a feather. It is obvious
that on turning the handle, which is conveniently placed directly over the door,
and within easy reach of the conductor, the pinion wheel causes the wheel fixed
on to the shaft to revolve, the endless screws on the shaft making the wheels
projecting into the grooves to turn, and so causing the rackwork to rise or
descend, carrying the frame and cover with it.
The second part of the machinery consists of the covering and method for
spreading it over the top of the omnibus. In the centre of the top of the
frame, and running from front to back, immediately above the uprights, is
placed a roller or winder, at each end of which are one or two small grooved
pulleys, and at the end nearest the back of the omnibus is also a chain wheel
with projecting pins, on which works an endless chain descending in a case
down to the bottom of the above-mentioned upright of the frame, and there
going round a corresponding chain wheel with projecting pins to hold fast the
links of the chain; to this lower chain wheel, and fixed to the axis with it is
a toothed wheel, into which works a pinion, on the shaft of which is a handle
to take off with a feather, as may be required; the end of this shaft and
handle project through the hollow case, and on turning it, it causes the chain

page_text: wheel to revolve, carrying with it the chain, and therefore the roller as well.
To the roller are firmly attached two pieces of tarpaulin or other waterproof
material, each of the other ends being fastened to a stick parallel with the
roller. At right angles, and exactly opposite to each groove in the pullies on
the roller, is firmly fastened to the framework a hollow tube or guide of brass
or iron, having a longitudinal slit cut in it, and being provided at each end
with small pullies. The above-mentioned stick, with the ends of the covering
fastened to it, has two runners attached to it, which being put into the two
tubes or guides are free to move up and down with it according as the roller
moves, and while retaining it so that the cover and stick cannot be blown
about by the wind also guide it in the right direction. A piece of catgut or
fine cbain is fastened to each groove in the roller pulleys, passing from there
underneath the small pulley at the top of the tube down through the tube
itself, round the small pulley at the bottom, and then being fastened to the
stick. When, therefore, the roller is unwound, the fine chain or catgut wound
round the grooved pullies the reverse way to the covering is wound up,
dragging the stick with it as far as the bottom of the tube, and when the
roller is wound up it pulls the covering and stick with it up the fine chain or
catgut, at the same time unwinding to allow the stick to come up.
In order to protect the roller and mechanism from wet and dust I place over
it a piece of half-round iron or brass fastened at the back and front to the
frame, and open at the sides to allow the two covers to run freely underneath.
As the frame with its cover is not fastened to the omnibus, it can, if required,
be entirely taken away.