IMPROVEMENTS IN HEARSES AND BIERS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Hatchard, the younger, of No. 47,
Crawford Street, Bryanston Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Funeral Furnisher, and Frederick Talbot, the younger, of the
Retreat, Haverstock Hill, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEARSES AND BIERS"
for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN HEARSES AND BIERS
"
Sealed the 28th May 1875, and dated the 25th March 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Hatchard and
Frederick Talbot at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 25th March 1875.
We, SAMUEL HATCHARD, the younger, of No. 47, Crawford Street,
Bryanston Square, in the County of Middlesex, Funeral Furnisher, and
FREDERICK TALBOT, the younger, of the Retreat, Haverstock Hill, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEARSES AND BIERS," to be
as follows:-
-
Our Invention consists, firstly, in constructing hearses as herein-after
described so as to admit of the same hearse being used either open or

page_text: closed, and to afford accommodation inside for the undertaker's men and
funeral trappings on their return from funerals.
We make the frame of the hearse of the usual length, but of sufficient
height and width to afford the necessary internal accommodation. The
lower part of the hearse is closed by panels. The upper part is
open and carries the roof, the said upper part being furnished with
moveable shutters or moveable flaps (sliding, hinged, or otherwise), of
suitable size and shape by means of which the sides and front of the said
upper part can be closed so as to convert the hearse from an open hearse
into a closed hearse when required, the door being furnished with a 1
sliding or otherwise moveable shutter; or a flap may be hinged or
otherwise applied to the said door or to the frame at that part. Inside
the hearse and at about the level of the upper edge of the pancls
aforesaid we construct a platform for the coffin, one portion of which
platform is fixed, the other portion being hinged or otherwise arranged 1
so as to be capable of being turned up or removed out of the way to give
access to the seats constructed at that part of the hearse. After the
funeral the funeral trappings may be placed inside the hearse and the
undertaker's men sit on the seats aforesaid.
That part of our Invention which consists in making hearses with a 2
frame provided with moveable shutters or flaps, as herein-before described
is also applicable to biers, which when thus constructed can be used
either open or closed.
Our Invention further consists in ornamenting the panels of hearses,
and biers as herein after described :-We cut away portions of the said a
panels so as to form therein ornamental apertures, and we mount behind
the said panels other panels or boards covered with black, white, or
coloured cloth or other textile material, interposing between the said
boards and panels sheets of glass to protect the cloth or other textile
material from the weather; or instead of cloth covered boards protected
by glass; we mount behind the said panels sheets or plates of metal or
other suitable material; or the panels may be solid and other panels
having ornamental apertures therein may be fixed outside the solid
panels; in either case the surface behind the ornamental panels is
visible through the apertures therein.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Hatchard and Frederick Talbot in the
Great Soal Patent Office on the 25th September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
HATCHARD, the younger, of No. 47, Crawford Street, Bryanstone Square,
in the County of Middlesex, Funeral Furnisher, and FREDERICK TALBOT,
the younger, of the Retreat, Haverstock Hill, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
cighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said [Samuel Hatchard and Frederick
Talbot, Her special license, that we, the said Samuel Hatchard and
Frederick Talbot, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Samuel Hatchard and Frederick Talbot, our
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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HEARSES AND BIERS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Samuel Hatchard and Frederick Talbot, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our
or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or
them, 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 Talbot, on behalf of
the said Samuel Hatchard and myself, 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 :—
Our Invention consists, firstly, in constructing hearses, as herein-after
described so as to admit of the same hearse being used either open or

page_text: closed, and to afford accommodation inside for the undertaker's men and
funeral trappings on their return from funerals.
We make the frame of the hearse of the usual length but of sufficient
height and width to afford the necessary internal accommodation. The
lower part of the hearse is closed by panels; the upper part is open and
carries the roof, the said upper part being furnished with moveable
shutters or moveable flaps (sliding, hinged, or otherwise), of suitable
size and shape, by means of which the sides and front of the said upper
part can be closed so as to convert the hearse from an open hearse into
a closed hearse when required, the door being furnished with a sliding
or otherwise moveable shutter. Or a flap may be hinged or otherwise
applied to the said door or to the frame at that part. Inside the hearse
and at about the level of the upper edge of the panels aforesaid we con-
struct a platform for the coffin, one portion of which platform is fixed, the
other portion being hinged or otherwise arranged so as to be capable of
being turned up or removed out of the way to give access to the seats
constructed at that part of the hearse. After the funeral the funeral
trappings may be placed inside the hearse and the undertaker's men sit
on the seats aforesaid.
That part of our Invention which consists in making hearses with a
frame provided with moveable shutters or flaps, as herein-before described,
is also applicable to biers and to other vehicles, such as pleasure vans,
which, when thus constructed, can be used either open or closed.
Our Invention further consists in ornamenting the panels of
hearses and biers as herein-after described:-We cut away portions
of the said panels so as to form therein ornamental apertures, and wo
mount behind the said panels other panels or boards covered with
black, white, or coloured cloth or other textile material, interposing
between the said boards and panels sheets of glass to protect the cloth
or other textile material from the weather; or instead of cloth covered
boards protected by glass we mount behind the said panels sheets or
plates of metal or other suitable material. Or the panels may be solid
and other panels having ornamental apertures therein may be fixed
outside the solid panels. In either case the surface behind the ornamental
panels is visible through the apertures therein.
Having now explained the nature of our Invention we will proceed to
describe the manner in which the same is to be performed, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawings and to the letters and figures

page_text: marked thereon. The same letters of reference indicate the same parts
in the several Figures of the Drawings.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Figure 2 an end elevation of a hearse
so constructed as to admit of its being used either open or closed, and
to afford accommodation inside for the undertaker's men and funeral
trappings; Figure 3 is a longitudinal section (taken on the line 1,
Figure 2); and Figure 4 is a transverse section (taken on the line 2,
Figure 1) of the body of the said hearse; Figures 5 and 6 are liko
sections showing the hearse open and the moveable parts of the platform
arranged to form seats; Figures 7 and 8 represent the said platform
separately in plan.
A, A, are the panels which close the lower part of the hearse; B is
the roof, and 61, 61, the parts of the hearse by which the roof is supported;
C is the door in the frame of which and on the inner side grooves or
recesses c¹, c², c³, are formed; b², 63, 6, are similar grooves or recesses
formed in the front end of the hearse; 6, 67, are grooves formed in the
frame above the panels A; E, E, 65, are the shutters by which the sides
and front of the hearse are closed when required; and c* is the shutter
by which the aperture in the door C may be closed; c¹, e', are loops
of metal affixed to the shutters E, E; 6º, 6º, are rods on which the
loops e¹, e¹, work, which rods are affixed to the frame of the hearse at
the front and back parts thereof.
The shutters E, E, when open lic under the roof, the upper end of
cach of the said shutters being supported by the rods 6º, 6º, and the
lower end by one of the battens of the frame of the hearse as illustrated
in Figures 5 and 6. When closed the lower parts of the said shutters
rest in the grooves b', b', and the upper parts are held in position by the
loops e¹, e', and rods 6º, 6º.
If it be required to secure the shutters E, E, when open, a fastening
of any suitable form may be used for securing them to the roof or sides
of the hearse. The fastening which we prefer is illustrated separately in
Figure 11, which is a section of the upper portion of the hearse, the said
section being taken on the line 2, Figure 1. The said fastening consists
of strips of metal c³, e², affixed to the shutters E, E, in the ends of which
strips holes are formed; 6³ is a block affixed to the under side of the
roof B; and is a screw which engages with a screw nut carried by the
block 68. When the shutters E, E, are raised they may be locked in

page_text: that position by passing the screw 6 through the holes in the strips e², e²,
and sorewing it into the nut carried by the block b³.
Tho arrangement of the shutters 65 and c is similar to that of an
ordinary carriage window, the said shutters being lowered into the
grooves or recesses 6³, c², or raised until the lower parts engage with the
recesses b, c³, according as it is wished to open or close the upper part
of the hearse. If preferred the shutters E, E, may be arranged as
described with reference to the shutters 6º, ct.
The platform for the coffin consists of a fixed portion D, a removeable
portion d¹, and a hinged flap &. Affixed to the said platform are ribs d³
to which other ribs d' are hinged so as to be capable of being turned back
thereon. The said ribs d³, d³, d', d', are for the purpose of guiding the
coffin while it is being placed in the hearse; d³, d³ are hinged flaps by
raising which access may be gained to the ornamental panels when it is
wished to change the cloth lining thereof. The part d' may either be
arranged as shown, so as to be capable of being lifted out, or it
may be hinged to the part D so as to be capable of being turned back
thereon.
The arrangement of the parts of the ornamental panels at the sides of
the hearse is illustrated separately on a larger scale in Figures 9, 10, 1
and 11, Figure 9 being a section of one of the said panels, Figure 10 an
elevation of the inner side (the cover herein-after described being
removed), and Figure 11, an elevation of the said cover.
A is the panel
in which an aperture or apertures a¹, a³, of any desired ornamental shape
is or are cut; a³ is a sheet of glass mounted behind the said panel and
kept in place by the frame a³; a' is a board covered with cloth or other
textile material as, which may be of any desired colour, and a³ is a cover
screwed to the frame a³. The board a' may be removed when it is
wished to cover it with cloth of another colour by unscrewing the
cover a. The said cover may be hinged on one side to the frame a³ and
secured when closed by a suitable fastening instead of being screwed
thereto as illustrated.
The arrangement of the parts of the ornamental panel c in the door C
is essentially similar to that of the side panels described, the difference
being that the frame a³ is dispensed with, and the glass a², cloth covered
board a, and cover a are let into the panel c so that the outer surface
of the said cover lies flush with the inner surface of the said panel. The
arrangement illustrated and described with reference to the side

page_text: panels A, A, may however, if preferred be used for the door which in
that case would be made thicker.
Instead of the board a covered with cloth and protected by the
glass a² sheets or plates of metal or other suitable material may be
used.
The shutters E, E, 5, and c', may if desired be ornamented in the
manner described with reference to the panels A, A, and c.
Instead of cutting apertures in the panels A, A, other panels in which
ornamental apertures are cut may be fixed outside the said panels A, A,
the surface bebind the said ornamental panels being visible through the
apertures thercin.
When the hearse is to be used open the shutters E, E, arc pushed up
and the shutters c', 6' are lowered into the positions represented in
Figures 5 and 6.
When it is wished to provide seats for the men the ribs d', d', and the
flap d² are turned back on their hinges and the removeable portion d¹ of
the platform D is raised from its place and laid on the fixed portion, as
illustrated in Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8, thus forming seats at the front and
rear parts of the said platform for the undertaker's men.
Figures 12 and 13 are central longitudinal and transverse sections
respectively of the body of a hearse of the ordinary form provided with
moveable shutters according to our Invention; Figures 14 and 15 are
similar sections showing the shutters opened. F, F, are the shutters of
the sides and front, hinged at f', f¹, to the upper part of the frame of
the hearse and held in their closed position by the buttons f², f³ ; ƒ³‚ƒ³,
are hooks by which the said shutters are held when opened; G is the
shutter of the door which is held in its place by the fastenings g³, g².
When it is wished to use the hearse open the shutters F, F, F, are
turned up under the roof and secured by the fastenings f³, f³, f³, and
the shutter G is removed as illustrated in Figures 14 and 15. This
arrangement and the arrangement described with reference to the
shutters E, E, Figures 1 to 6, are applicable to biers and to pleasure.
vans, and to other vehicles, which are required to be capable of being
used either open or closed.
Having now described the nature of our Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we
do not limit ourselves to the precise details herein-before described and

page_text: illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature
of our Invention, but we claim as our said Invention,―
Firstly. The general construction and arrangement of the hearse
hercin-before described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8,
of the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, forming at the upper
parts of the sides, front, and door, openings which may be closed by
moveable panels or shutters, and constructing in the said hearse a
platform for the coffin, portions of which platform are capable of being
so arranged as to form seats, essentially as described and illustrated.
Secondly. Ornamenting the panels of hearses and biers (whether
constructed according to our Invention, or of the ordinary or other
construction) by cutting away portions of the said panels and mounting
behind the apertures so formed boards covered with textile material
protected by glass, or mounting behind the said apertures sheets or
plates of metal or other suitable material essentially as herein-before
described and illustrated.
Thirdly, Constructing hearses and biers so that the front, sides, and
back thereof may be opened or closed by means of sliding, hinged, or
otherwise moveable shutters, panels, or flaps, essentially as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Talbot, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
Witness,
B. WILLCOX,
Clerk to H. H. Murdoch,
7, Staple Inn,
London.
FREDERICK TALBOT. (L.S.)