IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAMWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Grantham, of King's Arms Yard, in the
City of London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TRAMWAY CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 15th April 1873, and dated the 9th November 1872.

page_text: the platform at each end longer than usual, and I make the entrances
at the ends of these platforms and not at the sides, as at present. The
steps leading to these platforms are long enough to admit of a separate
entrance and exit at each end. To these are applied two gates, which
open inwards and thus form a partial barrier between the passengers
entering and those leaving. On the side where they enter a man stands
with a table, where he receives money and gives tickets; these tickets
being so colored or marked as to shew where the passenger entered,
and when leaving he passes on the other side where is a box to receive
the tickets. To this box the inspector at the terminus has access, and
the number of tickets thus collected is a check on the conductor who
gives them out. These operations are performed at the end, which is
for the time the back, but when going in the other direction the gates
above described are closed and the steps folded up, so that no one can
gain admission.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Grantham in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GRANTHAM, of King's Arms Yard, in the City of London, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of November, 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 John Grantham, Her special license
that I, the said John Grantham, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Grantham, 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 TRAMWAY
CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Grantham, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in

page_text: writing under my hand, hand ar 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 John Grantham, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
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 tramway carriages.
At present great difficulty is experienced in collecting the fares in
tramway carriages and in preventing fraud either by the passengers or
the conductor.
My Invention is most applicable to my Patent steam tramway
carriage, though it may be used for horse carriages. I begin by making
the platform at each end longer than usual, and I make the entrances
at the ends of these platforms and not on the sides as at present. The
steps leading to these platforms are long enough to admit of a separate
entrance and exit at each end. To these are applied two gates, which
open inwards and thus form a partial barrier between the passengers
entering and those leaving. On the side where they enter a man stands
with a table, where he receives money and gives tickets; these tickets
being so colored or marked as to shew where the passengers entered,
and when leaving he passes on the other side where is a box to receive
the tickets. To this box the inspector at the terminus has access, and
the number of tickets thus collected is a check on the conductor who
gives them out. These operations are performed at the end, which is
for the time the back, but when going in the other direction the gates
above described are closed and the steps are folded up, so that no one can
gain admission.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shewn various views of a
tramway carriage constructed as above described.
The carriage is of the form generally adopted for carrying passengers
on tramways in towns and other populace places. At the end of each
platform A and A' are two sets of steps, one for entering marked B, the
the other for leaving marked C. The steps are hinged so as to fold up

page_text: at that end of the carriage which for the time is the forward end, and
at each step there are also gates marked D, which are closed at the
forward end but are set open at that end which for the time is the after
end as at A¹. The passengers enter and leave the carriage as shewn by
the arrows. At the side on which the passengers enter is a small table E
at which a man is placed, who receives money and gives out tickets as
at an ordinary railway station for all passengers, whether inside or out.
On leaving the carriage the passengers gives up their tickets, which are
placed in the box F to be collected and checked by an inspector at the
end of the journey.
The peculiar arrangement above described is applicable not only to
tramway carriages to be drawn by horses but also to tramway carriages
to be propelled by steam.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim, the
construction of tramway carriages with apparatus to control the entrance
and exit of passengers, substantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Grantham, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
2
JOHN GRANTHAM. (L.S.)