IMPROVE MENTS IN CARRIAGES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Josiah Harrington, of 6, Lansdowne Terrace, Acre
Lane, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 22nd December 1865, and dated the 4th July 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Josiah Harrington at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
July 1865.
I, JOSIAH HARRINGTON, of 6, Lansdowne Terrace, Acre Lane, Brixton, in
the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in carriages.
In constructing the bodies of two-wheeled carriages of the description
known as Hansom's carriages, where the entrance is from the front and the
driver's seat at the back, I make the two doors of the full height between
the floor and the roof of the carriage, or nearly so. The roof is divided into
[Price 8d.]

page_text: two parts, the hinder part being fixed and the front part hinged to such
hinder part, so that it can, when desired, fold back thereon; when the front
part of the roof is folded back and the two doors folded back out of the way,
as herein-after explained, the carriage is an open one, very similar to an
ordinary Hansom's carriage, but when the front part of the roof is closed
down and the doors shut, the carriage is a closed one, and more roomy and
convenient than a Hansom's carriage. The front of the carriage is formed in
three parts; the central part behind the horse is fixed, and it rises from the
floor to where the front part of the roof rests when shut down thereon; this
central part may, when desired, be formed with a window; on either side of
this central part is a door, which may be hung in different ways. In one
arrangement the doors are hung on radial arms having their centres of motion
at the roof and on the floor respectively, and they are arranged to move
behind the central part of the front when opened; or, in place of the doors
being hung on radiating arms, they may be arranged to slide to and from the
central part of the front of the carriage by being suspended from above,. or
otherwise; or the doors may be hinged to the central part and fold back
behind the same. The body is arranged to be hung on springs on an axle and
wheels, and the shafts are applied similarly to an ordinary Hansom's
carriage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Josiah Harrington in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSIAH
HARRINGTON, of 6, Lansdowne Terrace, Acre Lane, Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Josiah Harrington, Her special licence that I, the said Josiah Harrington,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Josiah Harrington, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
tine agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,

page_text: 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, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Josiah
Harrington, 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 iminediately after the date of the said.
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Josiah Harrington, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in carriages.
In constructing the bodies of two-wheeled carriages of the description
known as Hansom's carriages, where the entrance is from the front and the
driver's seat at the back, I make the two doors of the full height between
the floor and the roof of the carriage, or nearly so. The roof is divided into
two parts, the hinder part being fixed and the front part hinged to such
hinder part, so that it can, when desired, fold back thereon; when the front
part of the roof is folded back, and the two doors folded back out of the way,
as herein-after explained, the carriage is an open one, very similar to an
ordinary Hanson's carriage, but when the front part of the roof is closed
down and the doors shut, the carriage is a closed one, and more roomy and
convenient than a Hanson's carriage. The front of the carriage is formed in
three parts; the central part behind the horse is fixed, and it rises from the
floor to where the front part of the roof rests when shut down thereon; this
central part may, when desired, be formed with a window; on either side of
this central part is a door which may be hung in different ways.
arrangement the doors are hung on radial arms having their centres of motion
at the roof and on the floor respectively, and they are arranged to move
behind the central part of the front when opened; or, in place of the doors.
being hung on radiating arms, they may be arranged to slide to and from the
central part of the front of the carriage by being suspended from above, or
otherwise; or the doors, may be hinged to the central part and fold back
behind the same. The body is arranged to be hung on springs on an axle and
wheels, and the shafts are applied similarly to an ordinary Hansom's carriage.
In one
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shewn a carriage constructed in
the manner above described.

page_text: of the same.
In these Figures a is the central part of the front of the carriage, which is
fixed, and which rises from the floor to the roof of the carriage. On either
side of this central part is a door b, each of which doors in the arrangement
shown in the Drawing, is arranged to slide to and from the central part a of
the front of the carriage. The tops of the doors are connected to radial
arms c, which are capable of turning on a fixed pin at c¹; the bottom of each
door rests on suitable curved guides formed on the floor of the carriage; it
may also, if desired, be also connected to a radial arm. In the carriage
shown in the Drawing, each of the upper radial arms forms the longer arm
of a lever, the other arm of which has a rod d connected to it, which pass
towards the driver's seat e; these rods d and radial arms are placed between
the roof of the carriage and its inner lining. The rods at their outer ends are
provided with handles d¹, by which the driver can draw either of the rods d
towards himself, and so open either of the doors b by sliding it behind the
fixed central part a. When the doors are closed they may be retained by
spring catches, which catches I prefer to arrange in such manner that the
driver may release them by pulling a cord, or otherwise, in order that he may
be able to open either of the doors by pulling on one or other of the rods d'.
Other arrangements for retaining and for opening the doors may be employed
in place of the arrangement above described. I, however, prefer in all cases
that the arrangement should be such that the driver can without getting off
his seat open either of the doors, and also that either of the doors may be
opened by any person in the interior of the carriage, or from the outside.
In the arrangement of sliding doors, shown at Figure 2, both of the doors
slide behind the fixed central part a, by which arrangement only one of the
doors can be completely open at a time.; if it be desired to construct the
carriage in such manner that both of the doors may be simultaueously fully
opened, then the arrangement shown by the horizontal section, Figure 3, may
be employed. In this arrangement one of the doors is caused to slide in
front, and the other at the back of the fixed central part a. The roof of the
carriage may, if desired, be made in two parts, as before mentioned, the
forward part of the roof being arranged to be capable of being turned back
on hinges at the point f, or the roof may be made solid and incapable of being
opened. In the carriage shown in the Drawing a window is formed in each
of the doors b, and in the central part a, and also in each of the fixed sides of
the body of the carriage. The body of the carriage is supported on on
arrangement of springs, similar to those of a Hansom's carriage; the other

page_text: In witness whereof, I, the said Josiah Harrington, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six
J. HARRINGTON. (L.S.)