IMPROVEMENTS IN COMMON ROAD CARRIAGES
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Rock, at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th January
1862.
I, JAMES ROCK, the younger, of Hastings, in the County of Sussex, Carriage
Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN COMMON ROAD CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, first, in inaking a carriage with a moveable close or
coach head, interchangeable with two half heads similar to those of a landau.
I make. the coach. head in the same way as that of the dioropha carriage
patented by me, 9th November 1850, No. 13,328, and the landau half heads
I construct in the same way as the barouche head of the said dioropha, so
far as regards the framing, strengthening, and fastening of the parts which
meet and rest upon the lower body of the carriage at the elbow line.
Second, in addition to the coach head, and the landau heads above described,
I sometimes make a third head of the kind usually made to a barouche, which
head may be used in lieu of the other two, and I also make a folding flap or
flaps to the body to the front seat and doorway, also in the same way as a
barouche. These barouche fittings and head may be used interchangeably
with the landau heads above described, in cases where the carriage is not fitted
with a coach head also.
Third, in some cases I use the hinder half of the landau head, instead of a
barouche head, in conjunction with the flap; when I so use the half landau head,
I sometimes add a movable side piece which may be either of panel leather,

page_text: or glass in suitable framing, and which may also be made to turn back on
hinges or joints, and serve as a wing or mud guard.
Fourth, in order to give more light to the interior of the landau head, I
make side lights in some or all of the four "quarters." These side lights I
make with or without detached frames, either hinged to the head, or I make
them moveable and place them when removed in recesses formed for the
purpose in the doors or some other part of the lower body. These side lights
may be of any suitable shape, and the frames may be provided with glass,
Venetian slats, or panelling of any kind.
Fifth, in order to avoid the notch which usually appears in a landau head at
the junction of the standing pillar when thrown open, I make the standing pillar
with a projection and cut away a corresponding portion of the door pillar; I
then carry the pillar joint as near as possible to the inner edge of the door
pillar, and I make such pillar joint either with a knuckle the whole breadth
of the pillar, and sufficiently large to allow of the groove necessary for the
glass frame or blind to work in to be filed or otherwise cut out of it without
cutting into the rivet or centre pin. Or I make the joint only of the breadth
of the groove or grooves, and carry the pillar down at each side of it to form
the rebates which confine the glass or blind. I strengthen these portions of
the pillar which must necessarily be thin with metal if required.
Sixth, my Invention relates also to the formation of the various parts of
carriages called transom beds, spring beds, horn bars, futchels, splinter bars,
pump handles, perches, and axle tree beds of plate iron or steel, cut out
or forged to such shapes as when bent to enclose or partly enclose a hollow,
will form such beds and other parts of the usual or any required shape with
some parts larger than others, as necessary for use as bearings and otherwise or
for symmetry.