US744863A - Step for carriages. - Google Patents

Description

No. 744,863. 7 g PATENTED NOV. 24, 1903.

. G. E. HOPPER.

STEP FOR. GARRIAGES.

APPLIGATIONSPILED AUG. 3, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

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W u llimgeys ans Fatented November 24, 1903.

CEBURN ELZVVORTH HOPPER, OF VVINNSBORO, TEXAS.

STEP IFOl-l CARRIAGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 744,863, dated November 24, 1903.

Application filed August 3, 1903. Serial No. 168,080. (No model.)

T0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CEBURN ELZWORTH HOPPER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Winnsboro, in the county of Wood and State of Texas, have invented a new and useful Step for Carriages, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved vehicle-step, and has for its object to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient device of this character designed for use on buggies, Wagons, and other vehicles and adapted to swing rearwardly when it comes in contact with a stump or other obstruction in the road and pass over the same without injury to the step or vehicle.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pair of steps carried by a single rockshaft and arranged one on either side of the buggy or other vehicle and to provide anovel form of spring and tension device therefor for normally and yieldingly holding said steps in their operative position. i

A still further object is, to form the step in the shape of a stirrup, said stirrup being arranged in theplane with the hanger, so as to prevent the step from catching on stumps or other obstructions in the road and permit the same to glide over such obstructions without injury to the step.

This invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended, it being understood that various changes in form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a side elevation of a carriage, showing a carriage step or steps constructed in accordance with my invention and showing in dotted lines the position of the step when swung rearwardly. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the same, and Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of the tension device and hangers.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

1 designates a portion of a vehicle, a buggy in the present instance, to the opposite sides of the bed 2 of which are secured in any suitable manner bearing-brackets 3. Journaled in the brackets 3 is a rock-shaft 4, the opposite ends of which are provided with depending and slightly-diverging arms or hangers 4:, which normally restagainst upstrucklugs or stops 5, formed in the brackets 3, and serve to hold said hangers in a vertical position, as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of thedrawings. The arms or hangers 4. are provided with terminal loops or stirrups 6, which extend longitudinally of the vehicle-bed and slightly beyond the sides thereof, forming the steps of the buggy or other vehicle. Secured to the bed of the vehicle and preferably at the frontthereof is a loop or eye 7, in which is pivotally supported the corresponding loop or eye of a rod or pin 8, carrying a coil-spring 9, the

threaded end of the rod 8 engaging the interior threads of a disk 10, by means of which. the tension of the spring is regulated, as will be explained more fully hereinafter. Loosely mounted on the pin or rod 8 is a circular head 11, provided with a series of longitudinally extending pins 12, the ends of which pass through suitable openings in the tension-disk 10 and engage threaded openings in a corresponding head 13. Swiveled in the head 13 is a hook 14:, the free end of which engages an arm 15, secured to the rock-shaft, the spring 9 serving to return the rock-shaft to its normal position when the vehicle-step is forced rearwardly by contact with a stump or other obstruction. The spring 9 is held in position on the rod 8 by the pins 12, being interposed between the head 11 and the disk 10, as shown, and the tension of said spring may be regulated by turning the disk 10, which causes said disk to engage the threads on the rod 8 and compress the spring, as will bereadilyunderstood. Thedistancebetween the heads 11 and 13 may also be regulated to accommodate different styles of vehicles by adjusting the pins 12.

The operation of my device will be readily understood and is as follows: Should the step come in contact with the stump of a tree or other obstruction, it will swing rearwardly against the action of the coiled spring and by reason of its peculiar shape pass over such obstructions without jarring or otherwise inhaving the steps arranged in the same plane with the hangers no projections are presented to catch on stumps or other obstructions, as is the case where the steps are arranged at right angles to the hanger.

It is obvious that the disposition of the rock-shaft and hangers may be varied somewhat to accommodate different styles of vehicles and other changes resorted to within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A device of the class described comprising, a rock-shaft provided with oppositelydisposed depending stirrup-steps, means for supporting the shaft, and means for normally and yieldingly holding the steps in operative position.

2. A device of the class described comprising, a rock-shaft provided with oppositelydisposed depending hangers, stirrup-steps carried by the hangers and having their treads arranged in the same plane therewith, and means for supporting the shaft.

3. A-device of the class described comprising, arock-shaft, oppositely-disposed hangers carried by the shaft, said hangers being provided with terminal loops or stirrups extending in the same plane therewith and forming steps, means for normally and yieldingly holding the steps in operative position, and means for supporting the shaft.

4. A device of the class described comprising, a rock-shaft provided with oppositelydisposed depending hangers, loops or stirrups forming steps carried by the hangers and having their treads arranged in the same plane therewith, a spring for normally holding the steps in operative position, means for regulating the tension of the spring, and means for supporting the shaft.

5. A device of the class described com prising, a rock-shaft provided with oppositelydisposed divergent hangers, terminal loops or stirrups forming steps carried by the hangers and having their treads arranged in the same plane therewith, a spring for normally and yieldingly holding both steps in operative position, means for regulating the tension of the spring, and means for supporting the shaft.

6. A device of the class described comprising, a rock-shaft provided with oppositelydisposed depending hangers, loops or stirrups forming steps carried by the hangers and having their treads arranged longitudinally of the Vehicle-body and in the same plane with the hangers, a spring for normally and yieldingly holding the steps in operative position, means for regulating the tension of the spring, and means for supporting the shaft.

7. In a device of the class described, the combination with a vehicle-body, of bearingbrackets provided with lugs or stops secured to the vehicle-body, a rock-shaft journaled in said brackets and provided with oppositelydisposed hangers, loops or stirrups forming steps carried by the hangers and having their treads arranged in the same plane therewith, a spring for normally holding the hangers in contact with the lugs or stops, and means for regulating the tension of the spring.

8. In a device of the class described, the combination with a vehicle-body, of bearingbrackets, a rock-shaft provided with oppositely-disposed depending steps journaled in said brackets, a threaded pin pivotally secured to the vehicle-body, a frame one end of which is loosely mounted on the threaded pin the opposite end thereof being pivotally and rotatably connected to the rock-shaft, a disk or plate provided with a central threaded opening carried by the frame and adapted to engage the threads on the pin, and a spring interposed between the disk or plate and the frame.

9. A tension device for vehicle-steps comprising, a threaded rod or pin, a frame loosely mounted on the pin, a tension-plate carried by the frame and adapted to engage the threads on the rod or pin, and a spring interposed between the frame and the tensionplate.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

OEBURN ELZWORTH HOPPER.

Witnesses:

W. H. HOLLEY, M. W. JoNEs.

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