AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERS FOR WAGONS, CARTS, AND OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Chatterton, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERS FOR WAGONS, CARTS, AND OTHER VEHICLES."
Sealed the 20th October 1853, and dated the 25th April 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Chatterton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with. his Petition,
on the 25th April 1853.
I, JOHN CHATTERTON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERS FOR WAGONS, CARTS, AND OTHER
VEHICLES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in making the semi-cylindrical or other
shaped covers, which are employed for covering wagons, carts, and
other vehicles, in two or more parts, by dividing the said covers trans-
versely, and making the said parts of slightly different sizes, so that
they may slide one within the other, after the manner of the parts of a
telescope.
The object of my Invention is to facilitate the loading and unloading
of the wagons, &c., to which it is applied; as my said Invention

page_text: enables the workman loading or unloading the same to uncover part
of the bodies of the said wagons, &c., and in loading, to let the goods
descend directly into the wagons, &c., so as to occupy the place (or
thereabouts) which they are intended to occupy during transit, instead
of introducing them at one end of the wagon, &c., and removing
them to the other end thereof, as is now commonly practised, and in
unloading to lift them directly therefrom. The bottom edges of the
sliding parts of the cover may be furnished with rollers rolling on rails,
or in grooves on the sides of the wagon, &c., to facilitate the moving of
the said covers. But I do not limit myself to any particular details, the
essence of my Invention consisting in making the said covers in parts,
and causing the said parts to slide within one another. My Invention,
besides being applicable to wagons, carts, railway trucks, and other
vehicles used in land carriage, is also applicable to boats and other
vehicles used in water carriage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Chatterton, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 21st October 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN CHATTERTON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Chatterton, Her special licence
that I, the said John Chatterton, my exccutors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Chatterton, 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

page_text: Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERS FOR WAGONS, CARTS, AND OTHER VEHICLES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Chatterton,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 John Chatterton, 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, (reference being had to the
accompanying drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:
Figure 1, represents a wagon having a covering constructed
according to my Invention; and Figure 2, represents an end view
of the same; Figure 3, represents a detached portion of the same;
Figure 4, represents in perspective the body of a wagon, having a
cover constructed according to my Invention. In order that my said
Invention may be more readily understood, I have in Figures 1, and 2,
represented only the skeleton or frame of the covering, the tarpaulin or
other fabric used in the construction of the said covering being applied
in the usual or any convenient manner.
My Invention consists in making the semi-cylindrical or other shaped
covers employed for covering wagons, carts, and other vehicles, in two
or more parts, by dividing the said covers transversely, and making
the said parts of slightly different sizes, so that they may slide one
within the other, after the manner of the tubes of a telescope. The
cover of the wagon represented is divided into two parts a, b; the
part a, being the smaller, and covering the anterior half of the wagon,
and the part b, the larger, and covering the posterior half of the said
wagon. A. rod c, passes along, and is attached externally to each side
of the wagon; the bottom edges of the part b, of the cover, is furnished
with rollers d, d, which said rollers rest on the rods c, and support
the half b, of the cover. Figure 3, represents one of the rollers on a

page_text: larger scale than Figures 1, and 2. The frame e, (sée..Figure 3,) in
which the axis of the roller.works, passes under the rod c, and prevents
'the said roller from being lifted from the rod c. By pushing the
párt b, over the part a, the back half of the wagon is uncovered;
and, where it is thought desirable, both parts of the cover may be
made moveable, so that either, the fore or hind part of the wagon
or vehicle may be uncovered at pleasure..
The object of my said Invention is to, facilitate the loading and
unloading of the wagons and other vehicles to which it is applied, as
my said Invention enables the workman loading or unloading the
samé to uncover that part of the wagon or vehicle to which he wishes
to give access. In loading a vehicle, the cover of which is constructed
according to my Invention, the workman engaged in loading can let
the packages or goods descend directly into the vehicle, so as to
occupy the place (or thereabouts) which they are intended to occupy
during transit, instead of introducing them at one end of the 'vehicle,
and afterwards moving them to different parts of the vehicle; and
in unloading he can, by moving part of the cover, lift the said pack-
ages or goods directly from the said vehicle.
Although for wagons and carts, the division of the cover into two
parts will usually be found the most convenient division, yet the said
covers may be otherwise divided. And although the method I have
described of making one or both parts of the cover slide on a rod,
answers well in practice, yet other methods may be resorted to; for
example, instead of a concave roller, running on a rod, a convex roller
running in a groove may be used. Besides being applicable to wagons,
carts, railway trucks, and other vehicles used in land carriage, my
Invention is also applicable to boats and other vehicles used in water
carriage. Although I have only described my Invention in connection
with a wagon cover constructed of wooden bows and tarpaulin, yet my
said Invention is applicable to covers of wagons and other vehicles
made of corrugated metal; or made of any other material, or in any
other manner.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be under-

page_text: stood that I do not limit myself to the precise methods of carrying my
Invention into effect herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention. But I claim
making the covers of wagons, carts, and other vehicles, in two or more
parts of different sizes, and arranging the said parts in such a manner
that they may be made to slide within one another.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Chatterton, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Eighteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
JOHN CHATTERTON. (L.S.)
Witness, RICHARD SKERRETT.