A NEW OR IMPROVED FUNERAL CARRIAGE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Storer, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Undertaker and Funeral Carriage Proprietor, for the Invention
of "A NEW OR IMPROVED FUNERAL CARRIAGE."
Sealed the 26th July 1859, and dated the 3rd February 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Storer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd February 1859.
I, THOMAS STORER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Undertaker
and Funeral Carriage Proprietor, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED FUNERAL CARRIAGE," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a funeral carriage constructed as herein-after
explained to carry the mourners and bearers as well as the coffin containing
the corpse; the mourners and bearers occupying, if thought desirable, different
conipartments, and the coffin occupying a third compartment. The body of
the carriage is divided by a transverse division into two nearly equal parts, the
entrance to the back compartment being by a door behind, situated like the
door of an omnibus, and the entrance to the front compartment being by doors
at the sides. The receptacle for the coffin is situated under the floor of the
carriage, and extends nearly the whole length of the carriage. The coffin is
introduced into the said receptacle at a door situated at the back of the
carriage.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Storer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st
August 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
STORER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Undertaker and Funeral
Carriage Proprietor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Storer, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Storer,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Storer, 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 vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
FUNERAL CARRIAGE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Storer, 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 within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Storer, 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:-
My said Invention consists of a funeral carriage constructed in the manner
herein-after described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, the said
carriage being.made to carry the mourners and bearers as well as the coffin
containing the corpse, the mourners and bearers occupying, if thought desirable,
different compartments of the said carriage, and the corpse occupying a third
compartment or receptacle.
Figure 1 of the Drawing represents in front elevation a funeral carriage
constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2 represents an end elevation
of the same; and Figure 3. represents a horizontal section of the same taken
through the line a, Figure 1; 6 is the body of the carriage mounted in tho
ordinary manner upon the wheels c, c. The said body b is divided at or abou

page_text: its middle by a transverse division d, thereby dividing the said body 6 into two
nearly equal parts or compartments e, f, as best seen in the section, Figure 3.
Entrance to the front compartment e is obtained by doors 9, 9, at the sides of
the carriage, and to the back compartment by a door h behind the carriage,
as shown in Figure 2; i is the receptacle for the coffin situated under the floor
of the body 6 of the carriage, the said receptacle i extending nearly the whole
length of the said body. The coffin is introduced into the said receptacle i by
a door or doors k turning upon the hinges l, the said doors being situated at
the back of the carriage, as seen in Figure 2. The floor of the receptacle i is
provided with rollers, by which the introduction and withdrawal of the coffin
from the said receptacle is facilitated. By constructing a funeral carriage as
described and represented in the Drawing, the mourners and bearers, as well
as the coffin containing the corpse, may be conveyed by one carriage, and if
thought desirable the mourners may occupy one of the two compartments, and
the bearers the other of the said compartments into which the body of the
carriage is divided.
My new or improved funeral carriage may be provided with plumes or other
appendages or fittings common to funeral carriages, and may be ornamented
in any desired way.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I
claim as my Invention the new or improved funeral carriage, herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, a
funeral carriage, the body of which is divided by a transverse division into two
compartments, entrance to one of the said compartments being by doors at the
sides of the carriage, and to the other said compartment by a door at the back
of the said carriage, the receptacle for the coffin being situated under the floor
of the said carriage.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Storer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
THOMAS STORER. (L.S.)