IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Prince, of the Office for Patents,
No Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, in the County of Mid-
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Prince
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th March 1853.
I, ALEXANDER PRINCE, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES" to be as follows:-
This Invention is applicable to the bodies of railway carriages, and
to that description of body in which passengers sit sideways, or part of
them sideways, (instead of riding with their faces or backs to the
engine,) and consists,
Firstly, in constructing them with two rows of seats, placed close
together and back to back, along the middle of the body, and fitted
with partitions, so that each passenger shall have a separate seat with

page_text: sides for leaning against, and for affording protection, the two rows
being continued from end to end of the body, or formed in two or more
lengths, so as to leave an intermediate space or spaces, or being shorter
than the body at one end or both ends, so as to form passages for the
passengers to pass from side to side either at the middle or the ends,
and also (when required) with sufficient space along the front of each
row of seats, inside of the body, to allow of the passengers passing from
one end of the carriage to the other inside the body, and with door-
ways formed in the sides, or at one or both ends, with or without
suitable exterior end platforms, or partly at the sides and partly at the
ends, so as to form angular doorways.
P
+
Secondly, in constructing the body with seats on either or both sides
of cross-passages, from the doors on one side to those on the other,
and placed sideways, or part of them sideways, and either fitted with
partitions when more than long enough for one passenger, and enclosed
or protected on the sides when single, those placed sideways facing in
one direction, or part in one and part in the opposite direction, (and
when required,) with suitable spaces or openings to allow the pas-
sengers to pass from one end of the carriage to the other, or from one
passage or doorway. to another.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Prince in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 26th October 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ALEXANDER PRINCE, of the Office for Patents, No. 4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, tearing date the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Prince, Her special licence
that I, the said Alexander Prince, my-executors, administrators, and

page_text: assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Prince, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CARRIAGES," (a communication,) upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alexander Prince, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Alexander Prince, 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):
This Invention is applicable to the bodies of railway carriages, and
to that description of body in which passengers sit sideways, or part
of them sideways, (instead of riding with their faces or backs to the
engine,) and consists,―
Firstly, in constructing them with two rows of seats placed close
together and back to back along the middle of the body, and fitted
with padded or elastic partitions, so that each passenger shall have a
separate seat with padded or elastic sides for leaning against, and as a
guard or for affording protection in case of accident; the two rows ex-
rending either the entire length from end to end of the body, so as to
form it into separate longitudinal compartments, or else extending part
or parts only of such entire length, so as to leave space for the pas-
sengers to pass from a longitudinal compartment on either side to the
opposite compartment, through or along a transverse passage at the
middle or at one end or both ends, with the doors at the sides or a
both ends, or at the sides and ends.
Secondly, in constructing the bodies of railway carriages, made as
above set forth, with doors at the corners or angles, and with or without

page_text: exterior platforms at the ends, so as to allow the passengers to pass
from one longitudinal compartment outside or round the end of the
carriage, and into the opposite compartment, or from one carriage to
another.
Thirdly, in constructing the bodies of railway carriages with sepa-
rate side seats, and with protecting guards or partitions arranged or
disposed on one or both sides of transverse passages between opposite
doors.
And now having set forth the nature of this Invention, I will
proceed to describe the manner in which it is to be and may be
performed.
(I.) The Drawing, No. 1, illustrates the first part of the Invention,
by four views of the body of a carriage constructed with a transverse
passage at the middle and between two longitudinal compartments.
Figures 1, 2, and 3, are an exterior side elevation, an end view, and
a transverse section respectively; and Figure 4, is a horizontal section
or interior plan view. a, a, are the separate seats arranged along
the middle, back to back, and facing sideways. b, b, the elastic par-
The upper
titions or guards between or at the sides of the seats.
part c, of the longitudinal partition, at the backs of or between the
opposite seats, is glazed, in order to allow passengers to look through
it. d, is the passage between the compartments, here shown in the
middle; but this may be at one end, if preferred, as shewn in the
Figure 8, in Drawing No. 2, (hereafter more particularly referred to,)
or such passage may be repeated at both ends, or may be dispensed
with altogether; but when transverse passages are dispensed with,
exterior platforms must be provided, or the under frame must be length-
ened out for the purpose. The general construction of the carriage
is similar to an ordinary railway carriage, excepting in the parts above
referred to, which are sufficiently explained by the Drawing without
further description. If preferred, the same arrangement of seats may
be employed in carriages, divided by transverse partitions into compart-
ments, instead of in the entire carriage, as above described and represented
in the Drawings.
(II.) The Drawing, No. 2, illustrates the second part of the Inven-

page_text: tion, by four views of the body of a carriage constructed with two
transverse passages, one at either end, and between longitudinal com-
partments. Figures 5, 6, and 7, are an exterior side elevation, an end
view, and a longitudinal section respectively; and Figure 8, is a hori-
zontal section or interior plan view of about one half of the carriage.
Figure 3, in Drawing No. 1, serves as a transverse section of this
carriage also. a, b, c, and d, are parts corresponding with those
similarly marked in the Drawing No. 1; and m, m, are the doors
at the corners or angles. n, n, are exterior platforms, which may or
may not be used, or may be varied, as desired. The passages d, may
also be varied or dispensed with as before mentioned.
(III.) In illustration of the third part of the Invention, I have
simply to remark, that the seats in the transverse passages are made to
face all towards one one side of the carriage, or all toward the other side,
or some one way and some another; and that when there is sufficient
space to allow length of passage to allow more than one seat in a line
(transversely to the carriage), I place a partition between them (lon-
gitudinally to the carriage), so as to isolate or separate them from
each other.
I wish it to be particularly understood that this Invention compre-
hends the combination of any of the above-described arrangements or
dispositions of some of the seats with the arrangement or disposition of
the remainder of the seats in the ordinary manner or otherwise.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Prince, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
throo
Witness, BENJ BROWNE,
Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square.
ALEX. PRINCE. (L.S.)