IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FOLDING HEADS OF CARRIAGES
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John George Harrison at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th February 1879.
JOHN GEORGE HARRISON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manager
of Works. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FOLDING HEADS OF CARRIAGES."
My Invention consists of the construction and combination hereinafter described
of certain of the parts or fittings of the folding heads of carriages.
My said Invention has for its object to lock or fix the folding head in its closed
position, and further, to effect the unlocking or releasing of the said closed folding
head for the purpose of throwing back the said folding head to open the carriage
in a simple, easy, and efficient manner.
The fittings of the folding heads of carriages consist principally of a falling pillar
at each side of the carriage, the said falling pillars being jointed at bottom to the
elbows of the carriage and having at top cant rails or roof flaps. Spring rods are
sometimes jointed to the elbows of the carriage for supporting or balancing the
folding head in its closed and open positions respectively.
According to my Invention I combine with the spring rods used for supporting
or balancing the folding head the following mechanism :-
For convenience of description I will describe my Invention as applied to one of
the falling pillars, similar parts being applied to each of the falling pillars of the
folding carriage head.
The spring rod is jointed at bottom to a quadrant hook or arm on the elbow flap
of the pillar hinge, and the upper end of the said spring rod passes through and
works in a loop near the top of the falling pillar, the said upper end of the rod,
when the falling pillar is in its upright position, bearing against the end of the
loop. The spring around the rod described takes its abutment at top against the
underside of the said loop. The prolonged upper end of the spring rod above the
loop on the falling pillar is connected to the cant rail jointed to the top of the said
falling pillar in the following manner-Jointed to the metal flap or cant rail hinge
is a cranked prop consisting of a double lever, the two arms of the said lever being
of different lengths and situated on opposite sides of the bearing in which it works.
The arm of the double lever below its centre is longer than the upper arm, the said
longer and lower arm being jointed to the prolonged end of the spring rod above
the loop on the falling pillar. To the end of the upper arm of the lever or double
prop the lower end of a connecting rod is jointed, the other and upper end of the
said connecting rod being jointed to the cant rail hinge or flap above and excentric
077

page_text: to the joint pin on which the said cant rail turns. The result of this arrangement
is that when the falling pillar is in its-upright position and the cant rail is hori-
zontal the folding-head-is-closed-the-said folding head being supported in that
position by the action of the spring rod, and locked by the prolonged end of the
said spring rod bearing against the end of the loop on the falling pillar, the falling
pillar being incapable of motion so long as the prolonged end of the spring rod is
in the position described and the cant rail is in its horizontal position. When it is
required to throw back the folding head to open the carriage the cant rail is
gradually raised on its joint- so as to bring it into a line with the falling pillar.
The first movement of the cant rail unlocks the falling pillar through the operation
of the connecting rod on the said cant rail turning the cranked prop or lever
through a small angle. By this motion of the cranked prop or lever its lower arm
withdraws the prolonged end of the spring rod from the end of the loop on the
falling pillar, and the latter is now permitted to turn upon its joint. The continued
movement of the cant rail brings the several centres of the fittings into the same
line, and on the folding head passing the main centre on the elbow hook of the
pillar hinge the folding head falls, and. is supported in its open position by the
action of the spring rod.