IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Henry Morgan and Edward Morgan, both
of Grand Junction Terrace, Edgeware Road, in the County of Middlesex,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 16th April 1862, and dated the 28th January 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Henry Morgan
and Edward Morgan at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 28th January 1862.
We, GEORGE HENRY MORGAN and EDWARD MORGAN, both of Grand Junction
Terrace, Edgeware Road, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in carriages. Heretofore in
constructing carriages with opening and closing heads, it has been usual to
place the mechanism by which the head has been retained closed on the
outside of the carriage, and to arrange it in such manner as to require to be
acted on on each side of the carriage.
Now the peculiarity of our Invention consists in arranging the apparatus
by which the head of a carriage is opened and closed in such manner that
the coachman or other person on the driving seat may, by pressing on a lever
or suitable instrument cause the head or the parts of the head of a carriage
to open and shut; or, in place of acting on the apparatus in front it may be

page_text: arranged to be acted on at the back or other part of a carriage. For these
purposes it is preferred when the head of a carriage is in two parts, one at the
front and the other at the back, that each part should be acted on in the fol-
lowing manner-The head joints in place of being outside of the head are
placed inside, and are hid by the lining. Below the front and the back seat
an axis is applied having two projecting arms, to each of which is attached
one end of a crank lever, and to the other end of such lever is attached a con-
necting rod, the upper end of which connecting rod is attached by a pin joint
to one of the head joints, so that when the axis is caused to make a partial
rotation the two connecting rods attached to its two arms will be moved up or
down, and act on the head joints in such manner as to close or open the two
parts of the head. The two axes have each a third projecting arm formed
thereon, and these two arms are connected to each other by a connecting rod
and by pin joints, and the end of this connecting rod is attached by a pin
joint to an arm on an axis under the driving scat, and this axis may be made
to turn partly round by a lever or proper instrument applied thereto. When
it is desired that one of the two parts of the head of a carriage shall be
capable of being opened or closed separate from the other, provision is made
for acting on the front and back parts of the head separately. Where two
head joints are used on each side of the front or back part of the head of a
carriage, then suitable connection is made between such two head joints and
the axis below, that the movement of such axis may act on the two head joints
on cach side. If a carriage has only one moveable or folding head, then the
apparatus, above explained, will be modified accordingly.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Henry Morgan and Edward Morgan in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 26th July 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, GEORGE
HENRY MORGAN and EDWARD MORGAN, both of Grand Junction Terrace,
Edgeware Road, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said George Henry Morgan and Edward Morgan, Her special licence
that we, the said George Henry Morgan and Edward Morgan, our

page_text: executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
George Henry Morgan and Edward Morgan, our 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 CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said George Henry Morgan and Edward Morgan, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their,
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, or them, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to bo performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar mouths next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said George Henry Morgan and Edward
Morgan, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in carriages. Heretofore in
constructing carriages with opening and closing heads, it has been usual to
place the mechanism by which the head as been retained closed on the
outside of the carriage, and to arrange it in such manner as to require to be
acted on on each side of the carriage.
Now the peculiarity of our Invention consists in arranging the apparatus
by which the head of a carriage is opened and closed in such manner that
the coachman or other person on the driving seat may, by pressing a lever or
suitable instrument, cause the head or the parts of the head of a carriage to
open and shut; or, in place of acting on the apparatus in front, it may be
arranged to be acted on at the back or other part of a carriage. For these
purposes it is preferred when the head of a carriage is in two parts, one at
the front and the other at the back, that each part should be acted on in the
following manner :-The head joints in place of being outside of the head are
placed inside, and are hid by the lining. Below the front and the back seat
an axis is applied having two projecting arms, to each of which is attached
one end of a crank lever, and to the other end of such lever is attached a con-
ecting rod, the upper end of which connecting rod is attached by a pin joint
o one of the head joints, so that when the axis is caused to make a partial
otation the two connecting rods attached to its two arms will be moved up or
lown, and act on the head joints in such manner as to close or open the two

page_text: parts of the head. The two axes have cach a third projecting arm formed
thereon, and these two arms are connected to each other by a connecting rod
and by pin joints, and the end of this connecting rod is attached by a pin
joint to an arm on an axis under the driving seat, and this axis may be made
to turn partly round by a lever or proper instrument applied thereto. When
it is desired that one of the two parts of the head of a carriago shall be
capable of being opened or closed separate from the other, provision is made
for acting on the front and back parts of the head separately. Where two
head joints are used on each side of the front or back part of the head of a
carriage, then suitable connection is made between such two head joints and
the axis below that the movement of such axis may act on the two head joints
on each side. If a carriage has only one moveable or folding head, then the
apparatus, above explained, will be modified accordingly.
Having thus stated the nature of our said Invention, we will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1 and 2 show two views of so much of the body of a carriage, with
a folding head, as will enable us to describe the manner in which our Invention
may be practically carried into effect; Figures 3 and 4 shew two views of
similar mechanism applied to the head and body of a carriage, the arrange-
ment of the parts and their forms differing in some details from what aro
shewn in Figures 1 and 2. Other variations may be made in the details of
the apparatus without departing from our Invention; the object of which is
to combine the instruments or head joints which retain the head closed when
shut with connecting rods or links and levers, in such manner that the whole
of the head joints may be simultaneously acted on; or, the parts may be
arranged in such manner that the head joints of the hinder part of the
head may be acted on separately from the head joints of the fore part of
the head.
In the arrangements shewn the head of the carriage is composed of two
parts, the head joints of both of which are simultaneously acted on, so as to
close or open the two parts of the head at the same time.
In the arrangements shewn in the Drawings the mechanism is put in motion
by the coachman or other person sitting on the driving seat; but a mechanic
will readily vary the mechanical part, so that they may be put in action
behind the body or other convenient part of the carriage. A is so much of
the front part of the framing of the fore part of the head, and B is the
framing of so much of the rear part of the back of the head, as will enable us

page_text: to describe the combined mechanism by which the several head joints b, b,
of the head are simultaneously acted on when it is desired to open or close the
head. Figure 1 shews the parts of the mechanism in the positions they
assume when the head is closed, and Figure 2 shews the parts of the
mechanism in the positions they assume when the head is open. The head
joints b, b, in place of being outside of the head are interior, and they are
covered and hid by the lining of the head. The mechanism at the one side of
a carriage is like that on the other side, so that a description of the parts at
one side will apply equally to the parts on the other side of the body of a
carriage. The upper and lower ends of the head joints b, b, are attached by
pin joints c to the body of the carriage, and by piu joints to the framing of
the head; e, e, are links or connecting rods by which the head joints are con-
nected to the ends of the crank levers e', e', which turn on axes e, e. The
other ends of the two levers e¹, e¹, at one side of the carriage are connected
together by means of a connecting rod, and the connecting rods on the
two sides of the body of the carriage are connected or framed together by the
transverse bars f, f. On these bars are projections f, f, to which
the links or connecting rods g are attached by pin joints; g' is a link or con-
necting rod; is an axis or shaft which is carried by and turns in bearings
under the driving seat; i is an arm fixed or formed on the axis h, hence when
the axis is turned it will by means of the link 'cause the mechanism, above
described, to be acted on to open or close the head of the carriage according
to the direction in which the lever handle j is moved. Figures 3 and 4 shew
the parts of the head in the same positions as in Figures 1 and 2, but, as
before stated, the forms and arrangement of some of the parts are varied. In
the carriage shewn by Figures 3 and 4, the parts f, f, and g are dispensed
with, and the link or connecting rod g' is connected by a pin joint directly to
the lower ends of the cranked levers e', e', and the fore end of the link g' is
attached to one end i of a cranked lever on the axis h, as shewn, which axis
in place of being acted on by a hand lever is arranged to be acted on by a
screw, on which there is a screw nut 1; a stud on which passes through a slot
in the end of the cranked lever j on the axis h. If it be desired that the
upper parts of the framing over the doors of the carriage should fold on hinges
on the parts A and B, then the upper limbs of the head joints b should continuo
beyond the pin joints d, and form parts of other head joints b*, the upper parts
of the limb of which are fixed, as shewn by red lines in Figure 3, to the parts
of the frame over the doors. Figure 5 shews a carriage, with apparatus
applied thereto according to our Invention, where a single head only is used.
In this arrangement the head joints are acted on by levers i, which are con-

page_text: nected to the head joints by rods e, and the axis of the levers i, as in Figures 3
and 4, is put in motion by a screw and screw nut and acting on an arm or
lever fixed to the axis h.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we make no claim to
the mechanical parts separately; but we claim the mode herein described of
combining such mechanical parts with the heads of carriages, as above
explained.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Henry Morgan and Edward
Morgan, have hereunto set our hands and scals, this Twenty-fifth
day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-two.
GEORGE HENRY MORGAN. (L.S.)
EDWARD MORGAN.
(L.S.)
GEORGE HENRY MORGAN. (L.S.)
EDWARD MORGAN.
(L.S.)