AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEPS FOR CARRIAGES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Davies, of Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square,
in the County of Middlesex, Coach Maker, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN STEPS FOR CARRIAGES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Davies at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th February
1857.
J, DAVID DAVIES, of Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Coach Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEPS FOR CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
This improvement, which is particularly applicable to broughams and other
single-step carriages, consists in placing the step upon an arm or bracket,
which turns upon a central pin or axis when acted upon by a connecting link
attached to the carriage door. This connecting link is pivoted at one end to
the door of the carriage, and at the other end to a point in the step eccentric
to the axis on which it turns, so that when the carriage door is shut the step
lies beneath the body of the carriage, front inwards, but in opening the door
the connecting link draws the step half round, and causes it to project in front
of the door-way ready for use. The closing of the door returns the step to its
original position beneath the carriage.

page_text: the
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office
27th August 1857.
on
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
DAVIES, of Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Coach Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said David Davies, Her special licence that I, the said David Davies, my
exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said David
Davies, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEPS FOR
CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said David Davies,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and scals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to bo 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 David Davies, 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 improvement, which is particularly applicable to broughams and other
single-step carriages, consists in placing a step upon an arm or bracket, which
turns upon a central pin or axis when acted upon by a connecting link
attached to the carriage door. This connecting link is pivoted at one end to
the door of the carriage, and at the other end to a point in the step eccentric
to the axis on which it turns, so that when the carriage door is shut the step
lies beneath the body of the carriage, front inwards, but on opening the door
the connecting link draws the step half round, and causes it to project in front
of the door-way ready for use. The closing of the door returns the step to its
original position beneath the carriago.

page_text: And in order that the same may be more clearly undorstood, reference is
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
Figure 1 is a plan view of so much of a carriage floor and door-way as is
necessary to make intelligible the nature of the said improvement as applied
thereto, the door in this case being shown as open, and the step ready for use;
Figure 2 is a similar plan view, with the door closed and the step withdrawn
beneath the floor of the carriage body; Figure 8 is a side elevation of the
carriage door open; and Figure 4 a similar elevation with the door closed.
The Same letters refer to similar parts in each of these Figures. B is tho
carriage body and door stile; D, the door; S, the step; a is the pin or axis
upon which the bracket e of the step S revolves; C is a connecting link
jointed at one end f to the lower part of the door, and at the other end g to
the step S. Upon opening the carriage door the connecting link C causes the
step S to move round the central axis a upon which it is supported, until it is
stopped by a projecting shoulder of the bracket coming in contact with a
stud h on the pin or axis a, at which time the door is wide open, that is to
say, at right angles with the carriage body, the step S being at that moment
in the most proper position for use, as shown by Figures 1 and 3. On closing
the door the connecting link C pushes round the step S, and causes it to make
half a revolution, which brings it beneath the body of the carriage, front
inwards, as shown by Figures 2 and 4. I, Figures 3 and 4, is a screen or
casing beneath the carriage body, which encloses the step S, and prevents the
lodgment of dirt thereon.
I am well aware that the opening and closing of carriage doors has hereto-
forc in various ways been made to act upon steps so as to bring them into, and
take them out of use, but what I claim as my Invention, and secured to me
by the in part recited Letters Patent, is, the mode of acting upon revolving
steps by means of a simple connecting link attached to the carriage door, as
erein-before described and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Davies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
W. BADDELEY.
DAVID DAVIES. (L.S.)