IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eleazar Christmas, of Watford, in the County of
Hertford, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 13th May 1864, and dated the 19th November 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eleazar Christmas at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th November 1863.
I, ELEAZAR CHRISTMAS, of Watford, in the County of Hertford, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES,"
to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the bottom side plates
and bottom sides of the bodies of carriages intended for common roads, and
relates more particularly to those parts of the said bottom side plates and
bottom sides which extend across or are opposite to the doorways between
the standing and hinged pillars, and which parts are usually formed of timber,
strengthened with flat or edge plates of metal, and which bottom sides, in the
usual mode of constructing carriages form ridges or elevated thresholds,
diminish the width of level floor for the feet, and cause the feet to have
to be lifted over them at the sides on entering and leaving the carriage.
My improvements consist, first, in substituting for the bottom sides and
bottom side plates, as at present constructed, a bottom side and doorway plate
which across or opposite the doorway between the standing and hinged pillars
is made wholly of metal, and there formed in the solid or in parts, and riveted

page_text: or bolted together on the chain, truss, or common riveting principles, by which
my object is to obtaine with the same section of metal increased strength or
stiffness of rib and flange in the said bottom side plates across or opposite the
doorways of open and other carriages, and fastening the bottom boards which
form the floors of the said carriages thereto; and, secondly, in so fixing the
said bottom boards thereto that the floor of the carriage shall be level the full
width between the doors.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Eleazar Christmas in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th May 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ELEAZAR
CHRISTMAS, of Watford, in the County of Hertford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Eleazar Christmas, Her special licence that I, the said
Eleazar Christmas, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Eleazar Christmas, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Eleazar Christmas, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under 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 Eleazar Christmas, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the bottom side plates
and bottom sides of the bodies of carriages intended for common roads, and

page_text: relates more particularly to those parts of the said bottom plates and bottom
sides which extend across or are opposite to the doorways between the
standing and hinged pillars, and which parts are usually formed of timber
strengthened with flat edge plates of metal, and which bottom sides, in the
usual mode of constructing carriages, form ridges or elevated thresholds,
diminish the width of the level floor, and cause the feet to have to be lifted
over them at the sides on entering and leaving the carriage.
My improvements consist in substituting for the bottom side plates, as at
present constructed, a bottom side and doorway plate, which across or opposite
the doorway between the standing and hinged pillars, is made wholly of metal.
These improved bottom sides are formed of plates in the solid or in parts and
rivetted or bolted together. I prefer making up the required depth of section
by placing two or more plates one upon another and rivetting the same
together, so as to form a truss by the chain or common rivetting pinciples
with the bottom boards supported upon, between, or under the said plates.
By this improvement I obtain, with the same section of metal an increase in
the strength or stiffness of the rib and flange, a result which I consider
to be of great importance in this part of the bottom side frames of open
carriages.
Another improvement which the improved plan of constructing the bottom
side plates, herein described, enables me to effect, is greater width of level
bottom for the feet, or a very shallow threshold is thereby obtained, the
bottom of the carriage being either perfectly level the full width of the
carriage between door and door, or the threshold so much reduced in height that
the top of the carriage mat will be level therewith. The sectional shapes of
the plate bottom sides, the modes of forming them on the truss principle, and
plan of fixing the bottom boards thereto are respectively shewn upon the
accompanying Drawing, to which the following explanation refers.
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1 shews the mode of fixing the bottom boards when the side frame is
in solid metal. a is the frame plate, and 6 the bottom boards, and c, c, rivets
or screws binding the same together.
Fig. 2 is another plan. a is the frame plate, as before, and 6 the bottom
boards; c is an under thin plate, which may be in one plate, or in sections
or washers, upon which the bottom boards are supported by the screws d, d,
which pass through the under plate and are screwed into the frame plate, or
rivets passing through the whole may be used, if preferred.
Fig. 3 shews what I denominate No. 1 truss; in this case the frame is

page_text: made of a top and bottom main plate a, a, and the bottom boards b, b,
(reduced in thickness) are supported between them, and the whole rivetted
together solidly by the rivets c, c.
Fig. 4 represents No. 2 truss; here, in addition to the top and bottom
plate, I introduce a third or narrow plate d, and rivet the three together, as
before, by the rivets c, c.
Fig. 5, the laminated truss (No. 3). In this form of frame two, three, or
more plates are laid one upon another, and rivetted together to form one solid
bar or frame. I should here observe that in forming the truss plates it is
essential that the rivet holes should be accurately formed to the same gauge in
each plate of any set, and that the rivets should be made to fit and fill the
holes perfectly, and be put in and rivetted up with a good head while hot or
heated for the purpose.
Fig. 6 is a side elevation, shewing the mode of fixing the improved bottom
side plates to the standing and hinged pillars & bottom sides of the carriage
body framework. a, a, standing and hinged pillars; b, b, elbows of body of
open or closed carriage; c, c, bottom sides extending from the standing and
hinged pillars; e, e, rockers of body; d, the improved bottom side plate,
when no rocker is used the improved side plate is carried across at the dotted
lines f, f..
Having thus stated the nature and object of my said improvements, and
fully described and explained the leading forms of the plate frames, I hereby
further declare that I do not absolutely restrict myself to use only the par-
ticular sections shewn upon the Drawings, as others may be made by varying
the relative positions of the plates, and I therefore include all such modifi-
cations as forming part of my said Invention, so long as the metal parallel
plate form is maintained without thereby forming an angle iron section.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eleazar Christmas, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
ELEAZAR CHRISTMAS. (L.B.)