AN IMPROVED FOLDING HAND OR OTHER CART OR CARRIAGE
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Etienne Auguste Desbordes, of Paris, France;
Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED FOLDING HAND OR
OTHER CART OR CARRIAGE."
Scaled the 13th September 1872, and dated the 18th March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Etienne Auguste
Desbordes at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents; with his
Petition, on the 18th March 1872.
I, ETIENNE AUGUSTE DESBORDES, of Paris, France, Gentleman; do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
FOLDING HAND OR OTHER CART OR CARRIAGE," to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to an improved hand or other cárt or carriage,
the principal parts of which are jointed together in such manner as to
allow of partly folding up the cart so as to occupy less room when
temporarely out of actual use:
For this purpose cach end of the axle of the cart is swivelled or jointed
by a bolt or other suitable means to its respective journal. The shafts
or thills are connected together by jointed cross bars or stretchers, and

page_text: the front and hind ends or staff sides of the cart likewise turn on bolts
or hinges, so as to allow the cart of being partly folded up or collapsed
in the manner of a parallelogram jointed at each of its ends. The
bottom or floor of the cart is also connected by hinges to one of its
longitudinal sides, so that on being lifted up the said floor will allow of
the folding up of the cart, whereas when left down in the normal hori-
zontal position the floor keeps the shafts-fixed together at the required
distance apart. The roof is in a similar manner hinged to one of the
sides of the cart for allowing this latter to be folded up to the required
extent. The shape and size of the cart or carriage and of its constituent
parts may be varied according to the purpose for which the cart or
carriage is to serve.
The annexed Drawing represents a top view in the extended or un-
folded state of the under frame of the cart or carriage, the red lines.
showing the position of the axle, journals, stretchers, and shafts when
the cart is brought to what I call the folded or collapsed state.
A is the axle jointed by bolts a to the axle journals B; C are the two
wheels; D and D' the shaft or thills; and E and E¹ two stretchers
jointed to the shafts at e and e¹.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, a
filed by the said Etienne Auguste Desbordes in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th September 1872.
TO. ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ETIENNE
AUGUSTE DESBORDES, of Paris, France, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 2
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Etienne Auguste Desbordes, Her
special licence that I, the said Etienne Auguste Desbordes, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Etienne
Auguste Desbordes, 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

page_text: Britain and Iroland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "AN IMPROVED FOLDING HAND OR OTHER CART OR CARRIAGE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Etienne Auguste Desbordes,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 porformed, 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 Etienne Auguste Desbordes, 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 the following statement :—
The Invention relates to an improved hand or other cart or carriage
the principal parts of which are jointed together in such manner as to
allow of partly folding up the cart or carriage so as to occupy less
room when temporarily out of usc.
arm.
For this purpose each end of the axletree of the cart is swivolled
or jointed by a bolt or other suitable means to its respective journal or
The shafts or thills are connected together by cross bars jointed
thereto, and the front and hind ends are jointed to the shafts or the
stave sides of the cart so as to allow the folding up of this latter in tho
manner of an articulated parallelogram. The bottom or floor of the cart.
is also connected by hinges to one of the longitudinal sides, so that on
being lifted up the said floor will allow of folding up the cart, whereas
when let down in its normal position the floor keeps the shafts and
longitudinal sides of the cart fixed at the required distance apart. Or
the said floor may be made in two halves, each of which hinged to its
respective shaft. The roof is also hinged to one of the longitudinal sides.
of the cart for allowing the roof of being lifted up or let down in
position, and in this latter case keep the longitudinal sides of the cart
together,
My improved construction of carts offers consequently the advantage
that when in the unloaded or collapsed state the cart will take up a
much smaller space than would be required for storing an ordinary
cart of the same size, and besides allows the cart of passing through an
ordinary door or passage.

page_text: In order to make the Invention more readily understood I now will
give a description of some arrangements for allowing of the easy folding
up of the cart, and I will thereby refer to the Figures of the annexed
Drawing, in which the Figs. 1 & 2 respectively represent a side elevation
and a plan view of a two-wheeled either single horse or hand cart con-
structed according to my Invention; the Figures 8, 4, and 5 show various
views of parts of the axletree and-arm of the cart.
:
As may be observed from Figs. 1 & 2 the axletree A of the cart is
jointed to its arms or journals a, a, so as to allow these parts of turning
horizontally round the pins or bolts b. The two shafts or thills B of
the cart are connected together by two cross bars or stretchers C, C,
which form hinges for allowing the shafts B of turning and being
brought nearer to each other, as shown by the dotted lines in Figs. 1 & 2,
D, D, representing the wheels of the cart.
Fig. 3 represents a modification in the mode of connecting the axle-
tree to its arms. The arm is at F turned up at right angles so as to
present a hook F, on the upper end of which one end of the axle E is
applied so as to turn freely whilst being kept fixed on the hook F by
means of the screw nut G; H shows the base plate on which the cart
springs are to be fixed.
Fig. 4 shows another mode of connecting the axletree to its arms;
the inner end of these latter is provided with a fork I in which takes the
corresponding end of the axle J; a bolt K and nut Ļ keeps the two
parts together, whilst allowing the free turning of the parts round the
said bolt.
Fig. 5 represents another arrangement of the fork offering the advan-
tage of allowing the parts of turning freely round the connecting bolt K,
the fork acting at the same time as a stop for regulating the extent of
the motion, and consequently the extent to which the wheels of the
cart may be brought nearer to each other.
It will be readily understood that various other modes of hinging
together the axletree and its arms may be adopted, and produce the
same effect as those above described, and I do not intend to restrict
myself to any of these arrangements in particular, neither to any
particular mode of hinging together the sides, the floor, or the roof of
the cart, as various modifications may be made therein without depart-
ing from the principle or main features of the Invention, which latter is

page_text: applicable to hand carts, drays, single horse, dog, village, or other
similar two-wheeled carts or carriages; but what I claim as my Inven.
tion is, the general arrangement and combination of parts of my improved
cart, allowing this latter of being partly folded up and thereby reduced
to a much smaller compass than an ordinary cart of the same dimensions
by means of the broken axletree jointed to its arms.
In witness whereof, I, the said Etienne Auguste Desbordes, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
Witness,
DREYFOUS,
Enginéur,
E. A. DESBORDES, (L.S.)