IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FITTINGS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES.
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Taylor, of Carey Street, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
FITTINGS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES.
Sealed the 25th September 1868, and dated the 31st March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Taylor at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st March 1868.
I, FREDERICK TAYLOR, of Carey Street, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE FITTINGS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the fittings of
railway carriages. In railway carriages as at present fitted there is
danger to the passengers sitting next the doors that in closing the doors
their fingers may be crushed. To avoid this danger and to assist
passengers in entering and leaving the carriage I apply an upright rail
on either side of each door. I prefer that this rail should be of polished

page_text: wood, and I prefer to fix it in its place by means of two metal sockets,
one near the top and the other near the bottom of the rail. The
socket in each case is formed at the end of an arm about two inches
long springing from an ornamental tablet which is fixed by screws to
the side pillar of the door frame. One of the sockets is first secured
in its place, the rod is inserted in it, and then the other socket is
applied and fixed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Taylor in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 30th September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
TAYLOR, of Carey Street, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in
the thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Taylor, Her
special licence that I, the said Frederick Taylor, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others, as I, the said Frederick Taylor,
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 THE FITTINGS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Taylor, 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 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 Frederick Taylor, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed; to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the fittings of
railway carriages. In railway carriages as at present fitted there is
danger to the passenger sitting next the doors that in closing the
doors their fingers may be crushed. To avoid this danger and to assist
passengers in entering and leaving the carriage I apply an upright rail
on either side of each door. I prefer that this rail should be of polished
wood, and I prefer to fix it in its place by means of two metal sockets,
one near the top and the other near the bottom of the rail. The socket
in each case is formed at the end of an arm about two inches long
springing from an ornamental tablet which is fixed by screws to the
side pillar of the door frame.
In the Drawing hereunto annexed, Fig. 1 shews a door and adjoining
portions of the side of a railway carriage as seen from the inside.
a is the door of the carriage; b, b, are the hand rails applied on
either side of it according to my Invention; c, c, are the metal sockets
by which as above stated I prefer to carry these hand rails. The
sockets in the arrangement shown are each carried by an arm springing
from a circular plate d, which is fixed by three screws to one or other of
the side pillars e of the door frame. A separate view on a larger scale
of one of the rails with the sockets which are to carry it is shown at
Figure 2; when the circular plate has thus been fixed by screws to the
door frame an ornamental tablet, such as shewn at Figure, 3 is fitted
into a corresponding recess in the plate and is retained there by a central
screw, the screws by which the plate is fixed to the side pillars of the
door frame are thus concealed and an ornamental appearance is given.
The ends of each rail are made of a diameter to allow of the sockets
being slid on to them until they come against collars or enlargements
upon the rail. To secure the rail in its place to one of the side pillars
of a door frame one of the sockets is first fixed in its place by screws,
as above described, and one end of the rail is inserted into it; the other
socket is then slid over the other end of the rail and is similarly fixed
in its place. As above stated I prefer that the arms which carry the
sockets should be about 2 inches in length, but this may be varied.
The hand rail also may, if desired, be made of a length to pass from

page_text: top to bottom of the door frame, or it may be made shorter, as shewn
in the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Taylor, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
FREDERICK TAYLOR. (L.S.)