IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Stocken, of Halkin Street, Grosvenor
Place, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 31st October 1862, and dated the 16th May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Stocken at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
May 1862.
I, FREDERICK STOCKEN, of Halkin Street, Grosvenor Place, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to obviate the necessity of ladders being
used to enable persons-to have easy access to high carriages, and consists in
applying folding steps to carriages in the following manner :-An opening is
made through the side of the carriage, by preference into the boot or that
part of the carriage which is over the fore wheels; this opening is closed by a
door or panel hinged to it at its under side; this panel can be turned down so
as to stand at-right angles to the side of the carriage; the folding steps are
connected to the upper part of the door. or panel, and when the panel is
turned down so as to be at a right angle to the side of the carriage, the steps

page_text: When
may be turned down and made to descend to any desired distance.
the steps are folded up the door or panel may be closed, and the carriage will
-have the appearance of an ordinary carriage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Stocken in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
STOCKEN, of Halkin Street, Grosvenor Place, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Frederick Stocken, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick
Stocken, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Frederick Stocken, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time 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,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Frederick Stocken, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
nnder 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 immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Stocken, 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:
The object of this Invention is to obviate the necessity of ladders being
used to enable persons to have easy access to high carriages, and consists in
applying folding steps to carriages in the following manner :-An opening is
made through the side of the carriage, by preference into the boot or that part
of the carriage which is over the fore wheels, this opening is closed by a door

page_text: or panel hinged to it at its under side; this panel can be turned down so as
to stand at right angles to the side of the carriage; the folding steps are
connected to the upper part of the door or panel, and when the panel is
turned down so as to be at a right angle to the side of the carriage, the steps
may be turned down and made to descend to any desired distance. When
the steps are folded up the door or panel may be closed, and the carriage will
have the appearance of an ordinary carriage.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention I will proceed more fully to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a side elevation of a stage coach, and Figure 2 shows a
side elevation of a gentleman's drag. At one or at each side of the front
boot is an opening a closed or covered by a door, behind which are folding
steps, so that when the door is opened the folding steps may be folded down,
as is shown by the red lines in Figures 1 and 2. In like manner omnibusses
and other high carriages may be fitted with folding steps to descend over the
wheels. The folding steps when folded on the door and the door closed will
be out of sight.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Stocken, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
FRED. STOCKEN. (L.S.)