CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE STEPS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Vezey and Edmund Vezey, both of Bath, in
the County of Somerset, Coach Builders, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE STEPS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Vezey and Edmund
Vezey at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 16th May 1855.
We, ROBERT VEZEY and EDMUND VEZEY, both of Bath, in the County of
Somerset, Coach Builders, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE STEPS " to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in a novel arrangement of mechanism or
apparatus to be operated upon by the opening and closing of the carriage
door, (as heretofore occasionally practised,) for the purpose of opening and
closing the step, or, in other words, for exposing the step when required for use,
and for concealing the step when out of use, and placing it out of the way of
violence and dirt, and thus dispensing with the necessity for a step cover. The
means which I employ for effecting the same are as follows:-Into the socket
of a cast-iron frame a spindle is placed, to which the carriage step is securely

page_text: fixed. This spindle has three movements imparted to it, to enable it to descend
and turn outwards by the opening of the door, and to ascend and turn inwards
by the closing of the door; for which purpose there is a slide attached to the
top of the above-mentioned spindle, which works in an inclined groove formed
in the cast-iron frame; to said slide one end or arm of a bell-crank lever is
connected by a link, and the other arm of said lever is connected by a rod to a
hinged piece fixed to the door of the carriage. The opening of the said door
depresses the bell crank lever and spindle to which the step is affixed, and
simultaneously with this movement the slide on the spindle as it descends along
the inclined groove will impart to the spindle a rotary movement, and thus
cause the step to turn outwards, and present and hold the step firm for use;
and the closing of the carriage door, raising the bell-crank lever and spindle,
will cause the step to turn inwards under the body of the carriage out of sight;
and it is this novel and peculiar combined reciprocating and circular movement
of the step, in combination with the movement of the carriage door, which
constitutes this Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Vezey and Edmund Vezey in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
VEZEY and EDMUND VEZEY, both of Bath, in the County of Somerset, Coach
Builders, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Robert Vezey and Edmund Vezey, Her special licence that we, the said Robert
Vezey and Edmund Vezey, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Robert Vezey and Edmund Vezey, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE STEPS," upon the condition

page_text: (amongst others) that we, the said Robert Vezey and Edmund Vezey, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal
of one of us, 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Robert Vezey and Edmund Vezey, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
Our improvements consist in a novel arrangement of mechanism or apparatus
to be operated upon by the opening and closing of the carriage door (as here-
tofore occasionally practised), for the purpose of opening and closing the step,
or, in other words, for exposing the step when required for use, and con-
cealing the step when out of use, and placing it out of the way of violence and
dirt, and thus dispensing with the necessity for a step cover. The means which
we employ for effecting the same are as follows:-Into the socket of a cast-iron
frame a spindle is placed, to which the carriage step is securely fixed. This
spindle has three movements imparted to it, to enable it to descend and turn
outwards by the opening of the door, for which purpose there is a slide attached
to the top of the above-mentioned spindle, which works in an inclined groove
formed in the cast-iron frame. To said slide one end or arm of a bell crank-
lever is connected by a link and the other arm of the said lever is connected
by a rod to a hinged piece fixed to the door of the carriage. The opening of
said door depresses the bell-crank lever and spindle to which the step is affixed,
and simultaneously with this movement the slide on the spindle as it descends
along the inclined groove will impart to the spindle a rotary movement, and
thus cause the step to turn outwards, and present and hold the step firm for use;
and the closing of the carriage door, raising the bell-crank lever and spindle,
will cause the step to turn inwards under the body of the carriage out of sight;
and it is this novel and peculiar combined reciprocating and circular movement
of the step, in combination with the movement of the carriage door, which
constitutes our said Invention.
And in order to explain the same as completely as possible, we now proceed
to describe the best means we are acquainted with for carrying the same into
practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked thereon
respectively, as follows:-

page_text: Figure 1 is a front elevation of our improved carriage step, drawn half size;
Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof; Figure 3 is a detached portion, herein-after
referred to.
At each of the foregoing Figures we employ similar letters of reference to
denote corresponding parts, in so far as such parts appear or can be seen at
each of the said Figures respectively.
A is a cast-iron frame, securely fixed to the bottom of the body of the
carriage, formed with a socket B, through which a cylindrical hole is bored, in
which a spindle C fits, and has liberty of vertical movement therein. The lower
end of said spindle terminates in a step plate D, and in the upper end of said
spindle a screwed hole is formed, into which a screw c is fitted; said screw
being employed to hold a pin E in proper position in a hole formed through the
upper part of the spindle C, as shown at Figures 2 and 3. One end of the pin
E takes into an inclined slot G, formed in the casting A, as at Figure 1, and
the opposite end of said pin passes through a curved slot h, formed in the bell
crank lever I, the fulcrum of said lever being a pin at i. To the upper end
of the arm of the bell crank lever I, one end of a rod K is connected by a
nut k to a moveable stud L, which gives to such rod when held and moved by
its opposite end an universal movement. The other end of the rod K is con-
nected to the door of the carriage by another moveable stud, attached to a piece
of metal M, which may be fixed by screws in the desired position for imparting
the proper amount of movement to the bell crank lever I, and step D, in con-
nection therewith. The operations of the above arrangements are as follows:-
Supposing the door of the carriage to be closed, and the step D turned under
the body of the carriage, the effect of opening the carriage door will be to pull
the rod K in the direction of the arrow's flight (as at Figures 1 and 2), and
thus impart motion to the bell-crank lever I; the slot h in which, pressing
upon the pin E, will force down the spindle C, and the pin E, moving along
the inclined slot G in the casting A, in combination with the pressure from the
end of the slot in the curved arm of the bent lever I, will impart rotary move-
ment to the step D, and thus turn it outwards ready for use; and the closing
of the carriage door will produce a reverse movement of the spindle and step
tixed thereto, and thus raise the step and turn it under the body of the carriage
out of the way.
Having now described the nature and object of our said Invention of
"Certain Improvements in Carriage Steps," together with the best means we

page_text: are acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect, we would remark,
in conclusion, that we claim as our Invention the novel and improved arrange-
ment of mechanism or apparatus above particularly described, set forth, and
represented by the illustrative Drawing hereunto annexed, for the purpose
of
actuating in an improved manner the steps of carriages by the opening and
closing of the doors thereof, as above stated.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Vezey and Edmund Vezey, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
B. JOLLY, 4, Highbury Terrace,
Snow Hill, Bath.
(L.S.)
ROBERT VEZEY.
EDMUND VEZEY. (L.B.)