IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE WINDOWS, SPECIALLY APPLICABLE FOR THE FRONT LIGHTS OF HANSOM CABS
Year: 1884

page_text: We, FREDERICK FORDER, of 4 Summerfield Road, Wolverhampton, in the
County of Stafford, coach builder, and CHARLES FORDER, of 10 Saint Marks Road,
Wolverhampton, aforesaid, manager at a conch factory, do hereby declare the
nature of our invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE WINDOWS, SPECIALLY
APPLICABLE FOR THE FRONT LIGHTS OF HANSOM CABS, to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object constructing the sashes of carriage windows 80
as to give them a lighter appearance and cause them to present less obstruction to
the view, and to increase their strength and durability.
The framing bars of the sashes of carriage windows are ordinarily made of wood
which has to be of considerable breadth to give the necessary strength and to
enable the joints to be properly secured.
Now, according to this invention, we construct each sash by forming a frame of
flat metal bars, brazed or otherwise secured at the corners, and fixing to such metal
frame a backing of wood or other light material of sufficient strength for the
purpose. This backing of wood (or other material as aforesaid) is rebated on the
edge towards the metal thereby forming, when fixed to the metal, a groove suitable
to receive the glass between itself and such metal. The glass may be fixed either
with putty or cloth in the ordinary manner, and, if desired, a second metal frame
may be fixed at the back of the wood to further strengthen the sash.
The wood may be fixed to the metal by means of ordinary screws, either screwed
into the wood with the heads counter-sunk in the metal, or screwed into the metal
with the heads counter-sunk in the wood, or, when two metal frames are employed,
the screws may be screwed into one with counter-sunk heads in the other.
By this method of constructing the sashes of carriage windows, the depth of the
framing bars forming the sash may be much less than when such bars are made only
of wood, thus causing less obstruction to the view and admitting more light into the
carriage. This reduction in the width of the framing bars is of special advantage
in the case of the front light of a Hansom cab, where the centre bar is almost
immediately opposite the face of the rider inside. Sashes made in this manner are
also stronger than when the framing bars thereof are made entirely of wood, and
are more durable.
This invention is applicable, of course, to the windows of carriages generally,
including railway and tramway carriages, as well as vehicles to run on the common
roads.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
We, FREDERICK FORDER, of 4 Summerfield Road, Wolverhampton in the
County of Stafford, coach builder, and CHARLES FORDER, of 10 Saint Mark's Road,
Wolverhampton, aforesaid, manager at a coach factory, do hereby declare the
nature of our invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE WINDOWS, SPECIALLY
APPLICABLE FOR THE FRONT LIGHTS OF HANSOM CABS, 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 to the accompanying drawings and the
letters of reference marked thereon:-
This invention has for its object constructing the sashes of carriage windows so
as to give them a lighter appearance, and cause them to present less obstruction to
the view, and to increase their strength and durability.
The framing bars of the sashes of carriage windows are ordinarily made of wood,
which has to be of considerable breadth to give the necessary strength, and to
enable the joints to be properly secured.
Now, according to this invention, a metal frame is combined with a wooden
framo, or with a frame of other light material of sufficient strength for the purpose;
and thus, while the combined frame is much stronger than the ordinary frames, the
width of the bars may be considerably less.
This invention is illustrated, in its special application to the front light of a
Hansom cab, by the accompanying drawings, of which figure 1 is a front elevatioii
of the lower sash, figure 2 a plan, and figure 3 a sectional plan taken on line xx
of figure 1-Figure 4 is a full size section through the side bar of the frame taken
on line y y of figure 1, and figure 5 is a corresponding section of the centre bar of
the frame taken on line ¹¹ of figure 1-Figure 6 is a full size end view of one
of the corners, shewing the method of juncture-Figure 7 is a corresponding view
to figure 4, but shews a method of joining the wood and metal frames (hereinafter
described) together in cases where the metal frame is to be burnished at its outer
face; and figure 8 is an inside view of the metal frame only, when the same is
constructed in the manner shewn at figure 7.
Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.
A B C D is a metal frame connected to a wooden frame A¹ B¹ C¹ D¹ by means
of screws a a etc. The bars forming the metal frame are halved into one another
at their junction (see figure 6) and are brazed together, and the bars forming the
wooden frame are halved together at the corners (see also figure 6), and the vertical
centre bar C¹ is dovetailed into the bars B and D', as shew it 6 Bgure 2The
screws a a etc. are screwed into the metal frame, and have their heads countersunk
in the wood, as shewn-A rebate cc etc. is formed along the edge of the wooden
bars which is towards the metal, thereby forming, when the wooden frame is fixed
to the metal frame, a groove suitable to receive the glass d d between the wood

page_text: and metal frames-The glass may be fixed either with putty or cloth in the
ordinary manner, and, if desired, a second metal frame may be fixed at the back of
the wood to further strengthen the sash, in which case the wood may be narrower
than the metal, so as to be set back from the inner edges of the metal frames, and
thus form a groove between the metal frames for the reception of the glass.
The wood frame may be fixed to the metal frame, as shewn, or the screws may
be screwed into the wood with their heads countersunk in the metal; or, when
two metal frames are employed, the screws may be screwed into one with counter.
sunk heads in the other.
When it is desired to burnish or polish the outer face of the metal frame (which
it is usually preferred to place at the front) it is of course desirable that the screws
should not shew on the surface of such frame, and the method of fixing the wood
and metal frames together shown by figure 7 may be adopted-In this case e is a
nut, formed with a dovetail to fit into a dovetail groove in the inner face of the
bars forming the metal frame-The screw a is screwed into the nut 6 in order to
fix the wood and metal frames together, and a nut e is slid along a groove in the
bar to each position where a screw is required-Figure 8 shews the crossing of the
grooves el e¹ at an angle of the frame, so that nuts may be easily slid into their
places after the metal frame has been built up and burnished..
Instead of forming grooves along the metal bars, and employing nuts to slide
therein, corresponding nuts may, of course, be sweated or brazed in place along the
back of the bar, if preferred.
Wood is preferred to be employed, in conjunction with the metal frame, to form
the complete sash frame, but any light material of sufficient strength for this
purpose may be employed-ff indicates simply a chamfer on the front edge of the
bottom bar D of the metal frame.
This invention is applicable, of course, to the windows of carriages generally,
including railway and tramway carriages, as well as vehicles to run on the common
roads, and such application will now be readily understood without need for
further description.
By this method of constructing the sashes of carriage windows, the depth of the
framing bars forming the sash may be much less than when such bars are made
only of wood, thus causing less obstruction to the view and admitting more light
into the carriage-This reduction in the width of the framing bars is of special
advantage in the case of the front light of a Hansom cab, where the centre or
meeting bar is almost immediately opposite the face of the rider-Sashes made in
this manner are also stronger than when the framing bars thereof are made entirely
of wood, and are more durable.
When the frames are covered with cloth, or similar material, then, for convenience
of taking the wood and metal frames apart for the purpose of re-glazing, it is
preferred to cover the exterior of the wood and metal frames separately, and to lap
the cloth, or similar material, against the inner faces of the frames, so that when
such frames are screwed together the covering material is securely held in place-
Pieces of the covering material may be pasted over the heads of the screws to hide
them, after the frames are screwed together.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim in respect of carriage windows, is
1. A sash frame constructed of a metal frame (or two metal frames) in com-
bination with a frame of wood or other light material of sufficient strength for the
purpose, substantially as and for the purposes herein described, and shewn by the
drawings herewith.
2. The rebate c formed in the edge of the wood frame or other frame of light
material, as aforesaid, in combination with a metal frame against such rebated
edge, substantially as and for the purpose herein described, and shewn by the
drawings herewith.

page_text: 3. The dovetail grooves e¹ e¹ in combination with nuts e, substantially as and
for the purpose herein described, and shewn by the drawings herewith.
4. Nuts brazed upon the metal frame used in combination with the wooden
frame, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.