IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HEADGES AND FUNERAL CARDIACG
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Cresswell, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Undertaker, and Edwin Thompson Greves, of the same Place,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
HEADGES AND FUNERAL CARDIACG"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cresswell and Edwin.
Thompson Greves at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 28th November 1862.
We, JOHN CRESSWELL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Undertaker,
and EDWIN THOMPSON GREVES, of the same Place, Gentleman,, do hereby
declare the nature of our said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUC-
TION OF HEARSES AND FUNERAL CARRIAGES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
The object of our Invention is the construction of hearses and funeral
carriages capable of conveying several corpses, with their attendant bearers
and mourners, in such manner that each corpse may be separated from the
others, and each party of mourners also separated from the rest in their journey
to and from the cemetery. This we carry out in the following manner:-We
construct a hearse with several compartments, the number we find convenient
is about twelve. The hearse is thus arranged:-On the fore part of the carriage,
over the front wheels, are four compartments, two, one over the other, on
either side; these are closed from the side of the hearse by suitable flap doors
or drapery. On the rear part of the carriage are six similar compartments, so

page_text: that the hearse is of a length to contain two coffins laid end to end; the
compartments on the rear part of the carriage are closed at the back. By
cranking the rear axle of the carriage we obtain space for two more compart-
ments, hung from the body of the rear part of the carriage, thus making the
hearse to contain twelve corpses in separate compartments.
Our improvements in funeral carriages consist in adapting one carriage to
the conveyance of several parties of mourners separately, and with this view
we propose to. construct a long carriage similar in form to an omnibus, but
divided inside into two or more compartments, which can be closed by sliding
doors or curtains, or in any other suitable manner. This carriage is entered
from the back, a passage running up the centre, and is lighted at the sides.
The first party of mourners passes up the carriage to the compartment at the
front end and closes the sliding door or curtain; a second party follows, and
the second compartment is closed, and so on until the several compartments
of the carriage are filled; the last to enter is of course the first to come out;
and in the order in which the corpses may have been placed in the hearse the
mourners are to be seated in the carriages, so that no confusion can arise.
Seats for the bearers and attendants are provided on the outside of this carriage
behind the driver's seat.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Cresswell and Edwin Thompson Greves in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 28th May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
CRESSWELL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Undertaker, and
EDWIN THOMPSON GREVES, of the same Place, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by-Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said John Cresswell and Edwin Thompson Greves, Her special license,
that we, the said John Cresswell and Edwin Thompson Greves, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Cresswell
and Edwin Thompson Greves, 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

page_text: . and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HEARSES AND FUNERAL CARRIAGES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that, we, the said John Cresswell; and Edwin
Thompson Greves, by an instrument in writing under our 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 we, the said John Cresswell and Edwin Thompson
Greves, do hereby declare the nature. of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same. is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :—
The object of our Invention is the construction of hearses and funeral
carriages capable of conveying several corpses, with their attendant bearers
and mourners, in such manner that each corpse may be separated from the
others, and each party of mourners also separated from the rest in their journey
to and from the cemetery. This-we-carry out in the following manner:-We
construct a hearse with several compartments, the number we find convenient is
about twelve. The hearse is thus arranged-On the fore part of the carriage,
over the front wheels, are four compartments, two, one over the other, on
either side; these are closed from the side of the hearse by suitable flap doors
or drapery. On the rear part of the carriage are six similar compartments, so
that the hearse is of a length to contain two coffins laid end to end; the
compartments on the rear part of the carriage are closed at the back. By
cranking the rear axle of the carriage we obtain space for two more compart-
ments, hung from the body of the rear part of the carriage, thus making the
hearse to contain twelve corpses in separate compartments.
Our improvements in funeral carriages consist in adapting one carriage to
the conveyance of several parties of mourners separately, and with this view
we propose to construct a long carriage similar in form to an omnibus, but
divided inside into two or more compartments, which can be closed by sliding
doors or curtains, or in any other suitable manner. This carriage is entered
from the back, a passage running up the centre, and is lighted at the sides.
The first party of mourners passes up the carriage to the compartment at the
front end and closes the sliding door or curtain; a second party follows, and
the second compartment is closed, and so on until the several compartments
of the carriage are filled; the last to enter is of course the first to come out;
and in the order in which the corpses may have been placed in the hearse the
mourners are to be seated in the carriages, so that no confusion can arise.

page_text: Seats for the bearers and attendants are provided on the outside of this carriage
behind the driver's seat.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we claim the improvements in the
construction of hearses and funeral carriages, by which several corpses may
be conveyed in separate compartments in one vehicle, and their attendant
mourners also conveyed, each party in separate compartments, in another
vehicle, so that the living and the dead are kept apart, and the seclusion of
each party is maintained, as herein more fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Cresswell and Edwin Thompson
Greves, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-sixth day
of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-three
JOHN
(L.s.) CRESSWELL.
EDWIN THOMPSON (L.S.) GREVES.
JOHN
CRESSWELL.
EDWIN THOMPSON (L.S.) GREVES.
(L.s.)