IMPROVEMENTS IN GRIDIRON AND SUCH LIKE CARRIAGE STEPS
Year: 1885

page_text: I JOHN GEORGE HARRISON of Noel Road Edgbaston near Birmingham in the
County of Warwick Manager of Works do hereby declare the nature of said
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GRIDIRON AND SUCH LIKE CARRIAGE STEPS"
to be as follows:-
My invention relates to an improvement upon Letters Patent granted to John
Grice and Eli James Harrison for "Improvements in the Manufacture of gridiron
steps for carriages" N° 1625 dated the 17th of October 1873, in which the stem or
arm of the step is attached to the blank from which the said step is made by
welding. This has been found in practice to be defective, unless considerable care
and tact be exercised in the welding process.
By my invention this difficulty is overcome by making the stem or arm solid
with the metal of the step-This I effect in the following way, and I will describe
my invention in connection with a gridiron step.
I take a blank or piece of wrought iron of a length about equal to the length of
the step, and of a width somewhat less than the breadth of the step, and of a
depth thicker than the step to be formed. One end of the said blank is narrowed
or gathered in to form the stem or arm of the step, while the other part is spread
or plated out by processes commonly known; thus the blank is narrowed or drawn
in and thickened at one end, which is drawn down to the exact size and length
required, and the part from which the frame of the step is to be made is spread or
plated out to the required size and thickness by means of a stamp or other forging
expedient, thereby producing the stem or shank solid with the metal of the blank,
from which a step is subsequently formed.
By making the step and shank solid or from one piece of metal, there is no
possibility of the stem or arm becoming fractured or broken, which is so common
with carriage steps of the ordinary kind where the arm is welded.
Although I have described that the shank and stem is made in one piece from a
suitably shaped blank yet the combined stem and step may be produced in the
rough by compression between rolls, which shapes the stem and step and impresses
the prints of the bars of the step.
The superfluous metal and the fins are clipped from the roughly rolled step by
well known cutting out or clipping processes.

page_text: Improvements in Gridiron and such like Carriage Steps.
"
I JOHN GEORGE HARRISON of Noel Road Edgbaston near Birmingham in the
County of Warwick, Manager of Works do hereby declare the nature of said
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GRIDIRON AND SUCH LIKE CARRIAGE STEPS
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention relates to an improvement upon Letters Patent granted to John
Grice and Eli James Harrison for "Improvements in the Manufacture of gridiron
steps for Carriages" N° 1625 dated the 17th of October 1873 in which the stem or
arm of the step is attached to the blank from which the said step is made by
welding. This has been found in practice to be defective, unless considerable care
and tact be exercised in the welding process.
By my invention this difficulty is overcome by making the stem or arm solid
with the metal of the step. This I effect in the following way, and I will describe
my invention in connection with a gridiron step.
I take a blank or piece of wrought iron of a length about equal to the length of
the step, and of a width somewhat less than the breadth of the step, and of a depth
thicker than the step to be formed. One end of the said blank is narrowed or
gathered in to form the stem or arm of the step, while the other part is spread or
plated out by processes commonly known; thus the blank is narrowed or drawn in
and thickened at one end, which is drawn down to the exact size and length
required, and the part from which the frame of the step is to be made is spread or
plated out to the required size and thickness by means of a stamp or other forging
expedient, thereby producing the stem or shank solid with the metal of the blank,
from which a step is subsequently formed.
By making the step and shank solid or from one piece of metal, there is no
possibility of the stem or arın becoming fractured or broken, which is so common
with carriage steps of the ordinary kind where the arm is welded.
Although I have described that the shank and stem is made in one piece from a
suitably shaped blank, yet the combined stem and step may be produced in the
rough, by compression between rolls, which shapes the stem and step and impresses
the prints of the bars of the step. The superfluous metal and the fins are clipped
from the roughly rolled step by well known cutting out or clipping processes.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the
manner in which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in plan, figure 2 in front elevation, figure 3 in longitudinal
vertical section and figure 4 the underside of a gridiron carriage step made
according to my invention, in which the arm or stem is made solid or in one piece
with the step.
In making the step and stem solid, or in one piece, I take a blank or piece of
metal shown in plan figure 5 and edge view figure 6, which is a blank or piece of
wrought iron, of about the length of a step, and of a width somewhat less than the
breadth of a step, but of a depth thicker than the step to be formed as represented.
The end or lower part a of this blank is first narrowed or gathered in by forging or

page_text: by other means, so as to thicken and thereby form the stem or arm marked b
figures 7 and 8. The other or top end a³ of the blank figures 5 and 6 is spread or
plated out by processes commonly known into somewhat the figure represented in
figure 6 marked c; thus one end of the blank is gathered or narrowed in and
consequently thickened at one end, and also drawn down to somewhat the size and
length required and marked b in figure 7, while the other part marked c from
which the frame of the step is to be made, is spread or plated out by stamping or
forging expedients, thereby producing at the same time, the stem or shank solid
with the metal of the blank. I then raise the blank figure 7 to a forging heat, and
by the use of shaping dies worked within a stamp or by other means, I give to the
blank the shape represented in front elevation figure 9 and vertical section figure 10
which partially formed step and shank is subsequently clipped externally and
internally (between the bars) of all superfluous metal, leaving the finished gridiron
carriage step figure 1 formed solid or in one piece with the shank or stem.
By making the step and sbank figure 1 solid or from one piece of metal, there is
no possibility of the stem or arm becoming fractured or broken which is so
common with carriage steps of the ordinary kind where the arm or stem is welded
or shut to the frame of the step.
Figure 7 represents the partially formed blank before the impress of the bars,
and this view is simply explanatory of the disposition of the fibre of the iron.
The lines show the direction in which the fibre runs. Figure 11 is a cross section
on the dotted lines A B figure 9.
Instead of fashioning the gridiron step from the blank figure 5, it may be
fabricated from a block or cube 5 with the same result as herein before described;
or where a small sized step is required, the step may be fashioned from a short
length of bar iron which is partially upset at one end, and the thickened or upset
part plated or spread out and formed into a step, while the unoperated upon part of
the bar is left to form the shank.
The application of my invention to other carriage steps, differs in no essential
respect from its application to a gridiron step herein before described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
Making the shanks or stems of gridiron and other carriage steps, solid or in one
piece with the said steps substantially as described and illustrated.
JOHN GEORGE HARRISON.
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham,
Agent to the Applicant.
Dated this twelfth day of July 1885.
JOHN GEORGE HARRISON.
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham,
Agent to the Applicant.