Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Aug., 1886.
Complete Left, 18th May, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 21st June, 1887.
I HENRY WEATHERILL of Beech Street High Town, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster Commercial Traveller, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
My Invention relates to apparatus designed to be applied to hooded carriagos such
for example as Victorias Landaus Bath-Chairs Perambulators and to other vehicles
which are provided with hoods or heads which are adapted to be raised and lowered.
To facilitate the raising of such heads I employ springs which act upon links and parts
so arranged as that the head can be raised self-actingly with a little assistance at the
commencement of the operation or the parts may be so proportioned as that such
assistance is more or less necessary throughout or nearly throughout the operation
of raising the head. I mount a spiral spring upon a jointed link which is hinged by
one end to a fixed part of the carriage framing and by the other end to the front
member of the hood frame. One part of the said jointed link is much shorter than
the other and this shorter part is hinged to the frame of the hood the spiral spring
being mounted upon the longer part. Upon the said longer part of the link a block
or ring is fitted to slide and is jointed or connected to or with the outer end of a
second link or the said outer end may itself slide on the first named link. The second
link is hinged by the other end to a fixed part of the carriage framing, the centre of
the joint made with the framing being in front of the corresponding joint which is
made by the first link. The effect of this arrangement is that when the spring is in
compression it tends to thrust outward the end of the second link the parts being
thereby moved in directions which will raise the hood or which will render the raising
more easy to effect. The resistance of the spring may be regulated by shifting an
adjustable nut or collar upon which one end of the spring bears. When the carriage
hood is nearly down the direction of thrust of the spring coincides with a line passing
through the fulcrum joints of both links and the spring has no tendency to raise the
Din 077

page_text: hood. By preference the fulcrum joint of the second link is in most cases a little
lower than that of the first link or otherwise the two joints are so relatively situated
as that the said line of thrust has to pass the line passing through the centres of the
two joints when the hood is fully lowered. The thrust of the spring then tends to
keep the hood down. The raising power of the spring can be increased or decreased
by varying the distance apart of the said joints. In raising the hood assistance is
received from the spring as soon as the said centre line has been passed and this
assistance increases and supposing the spring to have sufficient power the raising is
completed by spring power alone it being understood that corresponding apparatus
would usually be applied on both sides of the carriage. As the fulcrum joint of the
first link is behind the hinge joint of the hood frame it is necessary to make it as a
jointed link to permit of the lowering of the hood but when the hood is fully raised
the said link is straight or nearly so, so that the thrust passes through or nearly
through the joint in the link which acts as a strut and supports the hood frame firmly
in its raised or forward position. To facilitate the striking or the commencement of
the lowering of the hood I may employ a hand lever and trigger or other suitable
means to commence the bending of the jointed link and for the setting of the same or
I may arrange for the force to be applied at the joint. To regulate the action of the
parts the first link may be adjustable in length and also the action of the spring might
be regulated by varying the length of the second link and in place of the single
second link two links or a chain strip or band of metal or an equivalent part might be
employed. The apparatus may be modified by dispensing with the joint in the first
link and arranging for its free end to slide and also by applying the spring upon the
second link or to act upon such link or in place of such link to raise the first link by
retractive force.
Dated this 16th day of August 1886.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Facilitating the Raising of
Carriage Heads.
I HENRY WEATHERILL of Beech Street High-Town Manchester in the County of
Lancaster Commercial Traveller, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained a
in and by the following statement and accompanying drawings:-
My Invention relates to apparatus designed to be applied to hooded carriages such
for example as Victorias Landaus, Bath Chairs, Perambulators and to other vehicles
which are provided with hoods or heads which are adapted to be raised and lowered.
To facilitate the raising of such heads I employ springs which act upon links and
parts so arranged as that the head can be raised self-actingly with a little assistance at
the commencement of the operation or the parts may be so proportioned as that such

page_text: assistance is more or less necessary throughout or nearly throughout the operation of
raising the head. I mount a spiral spring upon a jointed link which is hinged by
one end to a fixed part of the carriage framing and by the other end to the front
member of the hood frame. One part of the said jointed link is much shorter than
the other and this shorter part is hinged to the frame of the hood, the spiral spring
being mounted upon the longer part. Upon the said longer part of the link a block
or ring is fitted to slide and is jointed or connected to or with the outer end of a
second link or the said outer end may itself slide on the first named link. The second
link is hinged by the other end to a fixed part of the carriage framing, the centre of
the joint made with the framing being in front of the corresponding joint which is
made by the first link.
My Invention will be most fully understood when described with reference to the
two sheets of drawings which accompany this specification.
In the drawings on sheet 1 Figs. 1. and 2. illustrate the application of my invention
to the hood of a Victoria or Mail Phaeton or other similar hooded vehicle Fig. 1 repre-
senting the hood as when raised and Fig. 2 as when lowered. Fig. 3 is a diagram
illustrative of the action of the parts which assist in the raising of the hood. In
Figs. 1 and 2 a is a jointed link consisting of two parts, a long link a a¹ and a short
link a² the two parts being hinged together at b. The longer link is made adjustable
in length in any suitable manner. In the example the said link is formed in two
parts a a¹ the latter being a short piece which is formed to be hinged to a bracket c
which is secured to the carriage frame. The longer piece a is screwed at one end and
this end engages with a tapped hole in the part a so that by turning the part a to the
desired extent the entire length of the link from joint to joint may be increased or
decreased. The same effect may be obtained by drawing the part a through the part a¹
by means of a nut or nuts. The upper end of the shorter link a² is jointed at d to
the front frame of the hood. A second linke is hinged by its lower end to the
bracket c and by its upper end has a sliding connection with the link a. In the
example the upper end is bent and is pierced for the passage of the link a.
In place
of this formation the upper end of the link e may be attached to a link or block which
is mounted to slido upon the link a. Upon the last named link is mounted a spiral
spring which is compressed between the upper end of the link and a nut g
which engages with the screw thread upon the lower end of the link a. By turning
this nut the force of the spring can be regulated. It will be seen that the fulcrum
joint of the link e is nearer to the joint upon which the front of the hood turns than
the fulcrum of the link a. The effect of the arrangement is that the spring being
in compression it tends to thrust outward the upper end of the linke the parts
being thereby moved in directions which will raise the hood or which will render
the raising more easy to effect. When the carriage hood is down or nearly down
the direction of thrust of the spring coincides with a line passing through the
fulcrum joints of both links as indicated in Fig. 2 and the spring has then no
tendency to raise the hood but rather tends to keep the hood down. The move-
ments of the parts when the hood is raised or lowered are illustrated by the
diagram Fig. 3 wherein the parts are represented in intermediate positions. When
the hood is fully raised the joint b falls into line with the joints and d¹ so that
the link a a¹ a² forms a rigid support to the hood. In the example the lower
joint of the link e is a little higher than the joint d' but if preferred it may be
arranged to be a little lower in which case the thrust of the spring would tend to
keep down the hood when in its lowered position. In raising the hood assistance is
received from the spring as soon as the centre line between the joints d and d¹ has
been passed and this assistance increases as the hood is raised and supposing the
spring to have sufficient power the raising is completed by spring power alone, it
being understood that corresponding apparatus would usually be applied on both
sides of the carriage. To facilitate the striking or the commencement of the lowering
of the hood I in some cases employ a hand lever and trigger or other suitable means
to commence the bending of the jointed link and for the setting of the same. In
the example the link a³ is secured to or formed in one piece with the pin of the joint d

page_text: and upon the same pin is fixed or formed a hand lever i. By acting upon this
handle the joint 6 can be turned out of line with the joints d d' and the hood can then
be readily lowered or drawn down. The same object might be attained by applying
force directly to the joint b or to the upper end of the link a or any other suitable
arrangements may be made for bending the link a a¹ a at the joint b when the
hood is to be lowered. If preferred the action of the spring might be regulated by
making the link e adjustable in length and in place of such link two links or a chain
strip or band of metal or an equivalent part might be employed. The apparatus may
be modified by dispensing with the joint b in the first link and arranging for its upper
free end to slide and also by applying the spring upon the second link or to act upon
such link or in place of such link to raise the first link by retractive force.
Fig. 4 sheet 2 illustrates one of the modifications which may be made in the
details of the apparatus without departing from the nature and intent of my inven-
tion. In this example the positions of the fulcra of the two links are reversed and
the link e is made telescope in form one part sliding within the other. A spiral
spring is enclosed within the tubular part of the link and by its extensile force tends
to lengthen the link and thereby to straighten the jointed link a a² the effect
being to raise or push forward the front of the hood. It will be seen that
the slight variation in the formation of the parts does not effect the principle of the
action. In some cases I might dispense with the portion a² of the link a and have an
antifriction wheel on the pin which wheel would press on the frout rib of the hood.
Fig. 5 illustrates the application of my invention to a Landau or similar double hooded
vehicle.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declaro that what I claim is :-
(1) The combination of a spring with links formed jointed, mounted and arranged
substantially as and for the purpose set forth and indicated hereinbefore and by the
accompanying drawings.
(2) The jointed link a. a² the spring fand the link e applied substantially as and
for the purpose set forth and indicated.
(3) As incans for raising or assisting in the raising of a carriage hood a jointed
link mounted upon a fulcrum and hinged to the hood frame in combination with a
second link or part which turns upon a second fulcrum the parts being so arranged as
that a spring upon one link tends to straighten the other jointed link when the hood is
being raised and thereby assist in the raising substantially as set forth and indicated.
(4) The jointed link hinged to the hood frame of a vehicle in combination with a
spring which tends to straighten the link when the hood is being raised and by
virtually lengthening the link assists in the raising of the hood substantially as set
forth and indicated.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.