IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING CARRIAGE DOORS, SUCH IMPROVEMENTS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE TO A SIGNALING APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF DIRECTING THE DRIVERS OF SUCH CARRIAGES WHICH WAY TO DRIVE
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Henry Saint Aubin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th November 1882.
WILLIAM, HENRY, SAINT, AUBIN of Bloxwich, in the County of Stafford,
Pattern Maker "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING
CARRIAGE DOORS, SUCH IMPROVEMENTS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE TO A SIGNALING
APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF DIRECTING THE DRIVERS OF SUCH
CARRIAGES WHICH WAY TO DRIVE"
The Improvements consist in certain Apparatus or appliance to be affixed to
Hansom Cabs and other Carriages, for the purpose of enabling the drivers of such
Carriages to open and close the doors without dismounting from their seat at the
back of the Cab
As I produce the same action by various different means, I will first describe the
means 1 employ for opening and closing the doors, and will hereafter describe the
several modifications under the headings "First," "Second," "Third" and so on,
but I do not strictly confine myself to the individual or separate use of any of
them, as I may combine parts of one with another, or should occasion require it I
may combine the whole of them.
I further desire it to be distinctly understood that by the same means I may
construct a signaling apparatus upon a small scale, which I intend to be used by
the occupiers of such carriages, for the purpose of directing the driver to the right
or left, or to stop when required
"First," I employ two sockets having round holes in them, which I either let
through the cross piece on the under side of the cab, and immediately under the
centre of the hinges of the doors, or I may let them through the footboard.
immediately opposite the hinges, and secure them thereto by means of screws or
other suitable means.
I next employ two arms, each having a round pin at one and formed at right
angles with the arms, and which pins I pass through the sockets situated in either
position as above described. These arms may either lie horizontally under the
doors and be secured thereto by means of screws or other suitable means, or may
be immediately in front of the doors, and in the latter case I form longitudinal
slots in those ends upon which there is no pin, and upon the bottom of the front of
the doors I fix two cranked pieces of iron or other metal which may have rollers

page_text: thereon, and these 1 place in the longitudinal slots, so that when the arms are
moved the doors are also moved by them.
On the ends of each of the pins upon the arms which pass through the sockets,
and upon the under side of the cross piece or footboard of the cab I secure by
suitable means a short plate of iron or other metal having a pin upon each, and
fixed in such a way that they stand in front, or at a slight angle with and in front
of the pins upon the arms.
I next employ two other arms of a suitable shape, each having a round hole at
either end these I shall call secondary arms.
I also employ a plate of iron or other suitable metal having a longitudinal slot
in the middle and a fixed centre pin on either side of it. Upon these centre pins
I place two arms or levers having each a hole near their centres, one of them
having a round hole at one end and a longitudinal slot at the other end. The
other arin or lever has a longitudinal slot at either end.
These arms or levers turn and work upon the centre pins upon the plate, on
either side the longitudinal slot therein, and are moved forward and backward by
a rod having a round hole in the one end. Through this rod and through the
longitudinal slots in the ends of the arms or levers which cross each other between
the centre pins in the plate, I pass a pin into the longitudinal slot in the said plate,
and secure the same with a screwed nut or by other suitable means.
I next
attach or hinge by means of nuts and bolts or pins, each of the before mentioned
secondary arms to the pins on the plates which are fixed to the pins upon the
ends of the arms passing through-the-sockets as before described, and--by-the-
same means I hinge their other ends to the outer ends of the arms or levers which
turn and work upon the centre pins upon the plate having the longitudinal-slot in
the centre, which plate is intended to protect the whole of the working parts on
the under side of the cab from any deposit of dirt_or_slush.
The rod which operates the arms or levers upon this plate moves horizontally
and may be worked by a crank fixed to the back of the cab, or by a plate having
-a-cam groove therein working on the under side of the cab, and being turned by a.
rod which passes perpendicularly between the lining on the inner side of the back
of the cab and having a T handle on the top.
The action is as follows-By turning the T handle upon the perpendicular rod,
motion is given to the can plate and the horizontal rod which is geared into the
groove therein, or by moving the crank at the back of the cab which is also geared
to the horizontal rod, the ends of the armis or levers crossing each other in the
middle of the plate are forced towards the front of the cab, the other ends pulling
at the same moment the secondary arms which are attached or hinged to the ends
of the pins which pass through the sockets as before described, thus the arms which
are connected to the doors in the before mentioned way are thrown open in opposite
directions, the reverse action of course closing them. But by reason of the one
arm or lever having a longitudinal slot at each end, the other arm or lever is moved
first, and thus one door is opened a little in advance of the other, and in like
manner closed before the other.
"Second." I may dispense with the arms or levers which turn and work upon
the centre pins and employ two straight arms, one having round holes at each end.
and the other having a round hole at one end and a longitudinal slot at the other
end. These are attached or hinged to the secondary arms in the same way as
those which turn and work upon the centre pins and operated in the same manner
as before described.
"Third." In this modification I still retain the before mentioned plate_with
its longitudinal slot and centre pins on either side as in the First one. I also
employ the two straight arms as described above in "Second," but I dispense with
the short plates of iron or other metal which are fixed upon the pins of the arms
which pass through the sockets, and in their stead I employ two arms which I fix
upon the pins as before described, but placed in the opposite direction to which
those plates are fixed in the "First," and upon the ends of these arms I hinge

page_text: another short arm. Upon each of the centre pins on either side of the longitudinal
slot in the plate I also employ two other short arms, these latter and former short
arms being hinged or connected by pins passing through them and the straight
arms about the centre of their two extremes, and being operated by the horizontal
rod as before described. The action however in this case varies slightly from the
former, inasmuch as the two short arms which I employ upon the contre pins, when
operated by the two straight arms, form cranks which pull the second short arms
to which they are hinged and thereby turning upon the pins which hinges or
connects them both to the straight arms also pulls the arms secured to the under
side of the pins which pass through the sockets and give precisely the same action
to the doors as in the former.
"Fourth." I further specially claim the hinging or hanging of cab or carriage
doors to an upright piece in the middle of the front of the cab, and instead of the
doors opening outward right and left they may by this means be made to open
inwards towards the centre, either back to back or in any other suitable way.
Either of the before mentioned actions may be applied to the opening and
closing of the doors hinged or hung in the latter position. I may however in the
latter or either of the former cases preferably fix the two arms upon the ends of
the pins which pass through the sockets, at right angles with the arms which are
intended to move the doors, and whilst retaining the plate having a longitudinal
slot therein, I may dispense with the two centre pins on either side of it, and
simply employ two straight arms, hinged or connected to the arms fixed upon the
ends of the pins which pass through the sockets, and moved or worked in the same
way as in "Second" and " Third," only that in the latter case where the doors
open inward toward the centre of the front of the cab or carriage, I shall dispenso
with the longitudinal slot at the end of one of the straight arms, as the necessity
for opening one door before the other will be avoided.
I may too employ two arms or levers which may work over each other, and turn
upon a centre pin immediately over the top or in front of the longitudinal slot in
the plate. These arms or levers may be circular at one end and slightly angular
with the cross piece on the bottom of the cab at the other end as they lie upon the
plate, and may be moved or worked by two other straight arms as in the
preceeding one.
I do not confine myself to these precise details, the same being open or capable
of improvement.