IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ADDITIONS TO RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Large at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th April
1873.
I, JOHN LARGE, of Lyneham, in the County of Wilts, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ADDITIONS
TO RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as follows :-
The chief object of my. Invention is to prevent accidents such as now
frequently happen by persons being pushed into the spaces between
adjoining railway carriages, or falling between the station platforms and
the carriages.
For the purpose of protecting the spaces or openings between adjoining
carriages I attach to the ends of the carriages, at or near the corners,
light vertical frames, of such width that the frames of adjoining
carriages meet, or nearly so, and of such height as shall be deemed
sufficient for the purpose, say high enough to be on a level with the
chests of persons of medium height on the platform. These frames are
so fitted to the carriages as to be capable of being readily pushed on one
side by an attendant when he wants to get between the carriages to
couple them, or for other reasons. And in order to make the frames so

page_text: movable, I prefer to fit them so as to slide in horizontal guides on the
side of the carriage or in the body of the carriage; and I provide them
with springs for the purpose of returning them to position after having
been pushed aside by the attendant.
When the carriages are provided with continuous steps I make the
end portions of the step of each carriage free to be pushed inwards in
accordance with the inward movements of the buffers, and I furnish
them with springs to return them to position when the buffers again
move outwards. And I prefer to make the continuous steps of such
width and height as to slightly overlap the station platforms.
In order to prevent persons falling between the platform and the
carriages, I fix below the carriage doors a horizontal plate which moves
in and out with the door, as the latter is closed or opened on its hinges
in the ordinary manner. Thus when the door is closed the said plate
slides under the floor of the carriage; and when the door is opened the
said plate moves out and forms a step or temporary platform which
covers the space between the door and the station platform, as well as a
considerable portion of the space at each side of the door. The ordinary
steps may thus be dispensed with, and the possibility of thieves passing
from carriage to carriage while the train is in motion as they can do
when the carriages have ordinary steps, is precluded.
To make the plate move easily under the carriage floor, one or more
rollers, balls, or other ordinary antifriction devices may be provided
under the carriage floor for the plate to bear upon.
In order to prevent strong persons pushing weak ones from the s
carriage doors, I fit on the inside of the door a light wire or other frame
which forms a sort of inner door, and. which when the door is fully
opened will stand at right angles thereto and act as a kind of guard.
This frame or inner door may be made removable, so that it may be
applied only for excursion trains, or at times when large crowds of
passengers are anticipated.