IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John E. Standfield, of the City and County of
Exeter, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES."
Scaled the 10th October 1873, in pursuance of an Order of the Lord
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John E. Standfield at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th March 1873.
I, JOHN E. STANDFIELD, of the City and County of Exeter, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES,"
to be as follows :-
This Invention has reference to and consists in improvements upon or
addition to an Invention for which Letters Patent were granted me the
28 January 1870, No. 225.
The Invention consists in the construction and employment of
carriages, substantially of the form or shape described in the Specifi
cation of the aforesaid Patent; but instead of employing four wheels, as

page_text: "
in the carriage there described, according to this Invention I mount
and support the same upon two wheels. The essential feature in
the Invention then is the contracting or the cutting off, as it were, the
corners or the forming of the fore part of the sides of the body of
carriages of an angular form, the said carriage being mounted on two
wheels, and the body of hexagonal shape. The seat for the driver is at,
cabs; and I
by preference, the back, as in cabs known as "Hansom
prefer that the doors should be hinged as the doors of an ordinary
carriage, viz., to open on or towards the wheels, but they may be hinged
as in the four-wheel carriage before referred to; that is, in such manner
that the doors open in the reverse direction to doors of carriages of the
ordinary construction. The fore part of the carriage may be rounded,
square, or of other approved convenient shape. By making carriages
as aforesaid I obtain a comfortable and commodious vehicle, which is
applicable for use as a private carriage or as a public vehicle commonly
known as a "Hansom" cab, whereby I obtain perfect ventilation, and
considerably more room and comfort in the interior of the vehicle, while
at the same time it is easier for persons to enter or descend than it is in
cabs of ordinary construction.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said John
E. Standfield in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th October
1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN E.
STANDFIELD, of the City and County of Exeter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John E. Standfield, Her special
licence that I, the said John E. Standfield, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John E. Standfield, 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

page_text: 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 I, the said
John E. Standfield, 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 Seal Patent Office on or before the Fourteenth
day of October One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John E. Standfield, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had the accompanying Drawings,
that is to say :-
This Invention has reference to and consists in improvements upon or
addition to an Invention for which Letters Patent were granted me
the 28 January 1870, No. 225.
The Invention consists in the construction and employment of
carriages, substantially of the form or shape described in the Specifi-
cation of the aforesaid Patent; but instead of employing four wheels, as
in the carriage there described, according to this Invention I mount
and support the same upon two wheels. The essential feature in the
Invention then is the contracting or the cutting off, as it were, the
corners or the forming of the fore part of the sides of the body of
carriages of an angular form, the said carriage being mounted on two
wheels, and the body of hexagonal shape, and as shewn in the accom-
panying Drawings, Figure 1 of which is a side elevation, and Figure 2
is a plan. The seat for driver is by preference at the back, as in cabs
known as 66
Hansom" cabs; and I prefer that the doors should be hinged
as the doors of an ordinary carriage, viz., to open on or towards the
wheels, but they may be hinged as in the four-wheel carriage before
referred to; that is, in such manner that the doors open in the reverse
direction to doors of carriages of the ordinary construction. The fore
part of the carriage may be rounded, square, or of other approved con-
venient shape. By making carriages as aforesaid I obtain a comfortable
and commodious vehicle, which is applicable for use as a private
carriage or as a public vehicle commonly known as a "Hansom " cab

page_text: whereby I obtain perfect ventilation, and considerably more room and
comfort in the interior of the vehicle, while at the same time it is easier
for persons to enter or descend than it is in carriages or cabs of ordinary
construction, and known as Hansom's.
In witness whereof, I, the said John E. Standfield, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.