CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEPS FOR CARRIAGES AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
DAVIES, of Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Coachmaker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Seventeenth day of September, in the tenth year of Her reign, did
give and grant unto me, the said David Davies, my exors, admors, and
assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said David Davies, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as
I, the said David Davies, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times hereafter during
the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEPS FOR CARRIAGES AND
OTHER PURPOSES," being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad; in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that I, the said David
Davies, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said. Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large.appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
David Davies, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be, performed, are particularly described and

page_text: ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
The improvements in steps for carriages and other purposes, which form the
subject of the herein-before mentioned Letters Patent, and which have been
communicated to me from a foreign correspondent, consist in supporting the
step or steps upon a framework, or geometrical system of levers, so arranged
and disposed, that on giving motion to a central shaft the step or steps may be
raised or lowered at pleasure, as is clearly shewn in the annexed Drawings.
Figure 1 is a hind elevation of so much of the body of a carriage as is
necessary to shew the construction and arrangement of my improvements in
steps as applied thereto; Figure 2 is a plan of the same; and Figure 3, a
perspective representation of a portion of one side of the carriage with the
door opened and the step lowered. The same letters of reference apply to
similar parts of each of these Figures.
A is the body of the carriage; B and C, the doors thereof. Beneath the
body of the carriage, on each side, is fixed a quadrangular iron box or
frame a, a, a, a, within which the step and its supporting levers are con-
tained when closed up; b, b, are two perpendicular bars or levers, jointed
to the frame a, a, by bolts at b'; c, c, are two similar bars or levers, fixed
upon a square iron shaft f, which turns in bearings in the sides of the
frame a, a, at c¹, c. A step S is supported upon two horizontal bars d, d,
jointed by bolts to the vertical bars b, b, c, c, at 6 and e¹. As a necessary
consequence of this arrangement, the bars b, b, and c, c, always move parallel
to each other, and the step bars d, d, parallel to the frame a, a. On one end
of the shaft f is fixed a lever g, at right angles to the bars c, c, and at the outer
extremity of the lever 9 there is a short connecting piece, which is jointed
between the forked extremity of a link bar h. To the carriage door is fixed
a metal step piece k, which is jointed by a right-angled connecting link i
to the end of the forked link bar h. While the carriage door is shut these
several parts remain in the position shewn on the left-hand side of Figures 1
and 2, the levers b, b, c, c, and d, d, being closed up within the frame a, a, the
lever g in a vertical and the link bar h in an inclined position, the extremity
of the lever g passing down through the forked opening left at the end of the
bar h for that purpose. On opening the carriage door the step piece k, by
means of the connecting link i, draws the bar h forward, and raises the lever g
into the horizontal position, which, turning the shaft f, depresses the levers b, b,
.and c, c, until they come into a vertical position, and stop against the front of
the frame a, a. By this movement the step S is projected from beneath the

page_text: body of the carriage into the position shewn on the right-hand side of Figures
1 and 2, and still move distinctly in the perspective representation, Figure 3.
In these Figures one step only is shewn as being used; any number of steps may,
however, be employed; and the dotted lines in Figure 3 shew a continuation
of the levers and steps as they would appear when a larger number is used,
the construction and action being precisely the same as herein-before described
and shewn, but extended so much farther as to meet the requirements of the
case. If more than one step is employed the size of the frame a, a, will'
require to be increased in length and depth, according to the number of steps.
On closing the carriage door, the levers b, b, c, c, d, d, and the step Sare
returned up into the frame a, a, as before described. In order to keep the
step firm in its position when up or down, a strong bent steel spring is placed.
at, which, pressing upon the square of the shaft f, prevents its moving until
acted upon by the lever g. The form and position of the spring is shewn on
an enlarged scale in Figures 4 and 5, the former being a back view, and
Figure 5 an end view of the shaft. Or instead of one spring, two may be
used, one placed above the other beneath the shaft, and I prefer to use two
springs thus arranged when more than one step is employed.
In carriages which have no doors (such as phaetons for instance) a similar
arrangement of step may be employed, to be raised and lowered by a suitable
handle attached directly to the lever g, or acting upon the shaft f through the
medium of any of the well-known mechanical powers, and worked either by
the parties using the carriage or by the driver thereof, as may be preferred. I
do not consider it necessary to shew the details of such an arrangement, as
they would be well understood and could be carried out by any workman of
ordinary intelligence according to the plan or method determined upon...
Having now clearly ascertained and described the nature of my communi-
cated Invention of improvements in steps as applied to carriages, I will
mention some other purposes to which the said improvements are likewise
applicable. For instance, the back door of a house or other building opening
into a yard or garden on a lower level. If my improved steps, as herein-before
described and shewn, are applied to such a door, on opening it the steps would
be let down and afford a convenient means of ascent and descent, but on
closing the door the steps would be withdrawn up into the framing or recess
provided for their reception, and communication from below would be cut off.
Again, as a means of escape from fire in a building which is higher than or.
detached from those adjoining, the improved steps, as herein-before described
and shewn, may be used with much advantage. A door at the upper part of
the building being fitted with such an arrangement of steps would when opened

page_text: project the steps, and prevent a safe means of descent for the inmates, while
the closing of the door would at other times withdraw the steps, and cut off
all communication from the adjoining premises. Such an extended application
of the improved steps would resemble that shewn at Figure 8 of the annexed
Drawings.
Having thus fully described the nature of the Invention that has been com-
municated to me by my foreign correspondent (and which forms the subject
of the present Patent), and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
I would observe that I do not claim any of the foregoing parts separately, as
some of them have been used before for other purposes; but I claim generally
as new, and never before used in this country, the mode of constructing and
supporting a step or steps upon a geometrical arrangement of parallel levers,
as herein-before described and shewn, so that on giving motion by a central
shaft to such levers the step or steps may be raised or lowered at pleasure.
And I claim generally the application to carriages of a step or steps so
constructed and arranged as herein-before described and shewn, whether such
step or steps are raised and lowered by the opening and shutting of the carriage
door, or by the motion of some other handle suitably placed for that purpose.
I also claim generally the application to buildings of a step or steps so
constructed and arranged as herein-before described and shewn, whether they
are raised and lowered by the opening and shutting of the door, or by the
motion of some other handle suitably placed for that purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Davies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of March, One thousand eight