Self-acting Safety Blinds and Shutters for Tram Cars and other Carriages.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Dec., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 16th Sept., 1889-Accepted, 9th Nov., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Self-acting Safety Blinds and Shutters for Tram Cars and other
Carriages.
I HENRY THOMAS BURFORD of Blackwell in the Parish of Bromsgrove in the
County of Worcester Coal Merchant &c. do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for SELF-ACTING SAFETY BLInds and shuttERS FOR TRAM CARS AND OTHER CARRIAGES
to be as follows :-
The object of my invention is, by means of suitable blinds or shutters, to auto-
matically cover the windows of any carriage in the event of such carriage overturning
and so to prevent injury to the persons of passengers from broken glass.
[ propose using blinds of wire gauze or other suitable material or shutters of metal
or other suitable material. Each blind or shutter as the case may be will be arranged
with springs or weights in such a manner that by the releasing of the said springs or
weights the said blind or shutter would be drawn over the inside of the window.
This action will be prevented by a catch or lock in connection with weighted levers
which will be so constructed that when the car is in its proper (i.e. upright) position
no action can take place but should the car commence to turn over on its side the
equilibrium of the said weighted levers will be so disturbed as to cause the said catch
to be withdrawn releasing the said spring or weight and causing the drawing or
closing of the said blind or shutter as before mentioned.
I also claim liberty to use electric or electro-magnetic appliances in place of or in
conjunction with the said springs, weights, and levers or any of them.
Dated this 14th day of December 1888.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Self-acting Safety Blinds and Shutters for Tram Cars and other
Carriages.
I HENRY THOMAS BURFORD of 16, Muntz Street, in the City of Birmingham
Coal Merchant (late of Blackwell near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire) do hereby
declare the nature of my invention for SELF-ACTING SAFETY BLINDS AND SHUTTERS
FOR TRAM CARS AND OTHER CARRIAGES and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The object of my invention is, by means of suitable blinds or shutters to automatically
cover the windows of any carriage in the event of such carriage overturning and so
to prevent injury to the persons of passengers from broken glass. My invention is
especially intended for use in tram cars and omnibuses but may be used in railway
carriages and any other vehicles having glass windows.
] propose using blinds of wire gauze or of a mixture of woven wire and wool
or some other suitable material which would not be readily cut by broken glass or
else shutters of metal or some other suitable material. These blinds or shutters as
the case may be will be arranged to close by the action of springs or weights or by
their own weight, and they will be kept from closing by a catch or lock arrangement
or by some resisting force such as a balance weight or counteracting spring. In some
suitable position in the carriage would be placed weights, weighted levers, or pendulums
so arranged that if the carriage should commence to overturn, the equilibrium of the
weights, levers, or pendulums would be disturbed and their motion would cause the
said catch or lock to be released or the resisting force to be removed so that the

page_text: said blinds or shutters would be at liberty to close by means of the springs or weights
or other force before mentioned.
It will be readily seen that this invention admits of much variety in detail and I
will therefore simply describe its application to an ordinary tram car.
I propose fixing at intervals (say at each mullion of the window) on each side of
the car blinds A. Fig. 1. coiled upon vertical rollers (B). Each blind will have one
end attached to its roller and the other end attached to two horizontal rods C, one of
which will be at the top and the other at the bottom of the window. These rods will
be guided in tubes D and will be free to move horizontally a sufficient distance to draw
the blinds over the window. At one end of each rod will be a spring E for propelling
the rod forward and at the other end of the rod in position F will be a catch to
prevent this action. This catch which is shewn in Fig. 2. in which A is the rod B the
tube and C the catch will be connected to a weighted pendulum (shewn in Figures 3
& 4 and marked D) hung in some convenient place and hinged or pivotted so that when
the car commences to overturn, the motion of the said pendulum would release
the said catches in consequence of which the blinds would be at once drawn
over the windows. The precise details of the arrangement would vary for each
construction of vehicle.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The arrangement for the automatic closing of blinds and shutters in tram cars
and other carriages substantially as herein described.
2. The use of safety shutters or blinds actuated by any arrangement or combination
of springs, levers, weights and pendulums, or any of them, arranged to automatically
cover the glass of an overturning vehicle.
Dated this 14th day of September 1889.