AN IMPROVED SAFETY CAB OMNIBUS
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
WHEATLEY, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the fifteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Francis Wheatley, Her especial licence that I, the said Francis Wheatley,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis Wheatley,
my exors, admors, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED SAFETY CAB
OMNIBUS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I,
the said Francis Wheatley, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Francis Wheatley, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by this present Instrument in writing, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
My said Invention consists,-
1. Of a mode of constructing the safety cab omnibus in which the inside
seats for passengers are detached from each other by partitions of any known
elastic material extending from each seat to the roof, and such seats are so
contrived that the passengers sit with their faces to the horses, as shewn by
annexed Drawing No. 1, leaving a clear passage of easy access up the centre,
which passage is covered in by a semicircular glass roof, as shewn by annexed
Drawing No. 2, by which means ample light is obtained. The ventilation is
effected by interstices over the windows in each compartment, and by perforated
light metal panels to the door of the omnibus, which opens at the end. Each
person can stand upright inside before taking his seat, and can leave the
omnibus without observation or annoying his neighbour, whereby comfort and.
convenience are obtained.
.
2. By the above construction the safety cab omnibus secures to each
passenger a private seat and exclusive protection from his neighbour, secure
from wet, with more air and light than in ordinary vehicles, and is lighted by
night inside and out by means of ordinary lamps, and having check strings
attached to an alarm, by which each passenger is enabled to have constant
communication with the conductor.
The safety cab omnibus is so constructed as to carry ten passengers inside
and eight out, and the access by the outside passengers being by spring steps
constructed on each side of the omnibus.
I do not claim the making of omnibuses of any particular size, or the
alarm, or the means or mode of lighting the said omnibuses. What I do
claim is, the mode of constructing the seats so that each passenger inside,
while sitting, faces the horses, and has a separate compartment; the semi-
circular glass roof; and the applying perforated metal plates in the making
the door for the purposes of ventilation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Wheatley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
FRANCIS WHEATLEY. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Francis Wheatley came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Eighteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.