US577838A - Vehicle-boot - Google Patents

Description

D. R. GOWAN.

VEHICLE BOOT.

Patented Mar. 2, 1.897.

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Nrrnn STATES DAVID R. COVVAN, OF MOLINE, ILLINOIS.

VEHICLE-BOOT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 577,838, dated March 2, 1897.

Application filed April 7, 1896.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID R. COWAN, of Moline, county of Rock Island, and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Vehicle-Boots, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to vehicleboots; and it consists of improved mechanism connected to the boot and to the vehicle-body and including a spring, the said parts being so constructed and arranged that the spring will act to hold the boot yieldingly either in an open or closed position.

The invention consists also in the details of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a sectional elevation of the rear part of a buggy, showing my invention applied thereto, the boot being in a closed position. Fig. 2 is a similar view with the boot in a raised or open position.

Referring to the drawings, l represents the rear portion of a buggy or wagon body in the form of arectangular box or receptacle, which is provided with a cover or boot 3, consisting of a rectangular boot-frame 4, corresponding in size and form to the box and adapted to rest on its upper edge, as plainly shown in Fig. l. The frame is provided, as usual, with a suitable covering stretched and secured thereover. The boot thus formed is hinged at its forward edge, as at 5, by any suitable means, to the front of the box, so that the boot may be lifted to the position shown in Fig. 2 to permit access to the interior of the box.

In order that the boot may be held yieldingly in either a closed or an open position, I have designed the mechanism which constitutes my invention, and which embodies a connecting device between the boot and vehiclebody pivoted thereto and a spring applied to said parts and acting on said device in such manner that it will hold the boot yieldingly closed and also in an open position. In applying this connecting device I fix at the front of the box, at one side, a horizontal rearwardlyextending bracket 6, and to the rear end of this bracket I pivot theforward end of a bar 7, which extends rearward and has its rear end pivoted, as at 8, to the lower end of a link 9, the upper end of which is pivoted, as at 10,

Serial No. 586,482. (N0 model.)

to the boot-frame. The bar and link form a jointed connection between the vehicle-body and the boot, and when the latter is in a horizontal closed position the bar will extend at a downward inclination from the bracket and the link will occupy a substantially vertical position, the pivot S joining the bar and link, being thus considerably below the connection of the bar and bracket. When, however, the boot is raised, as shown in Fig. 2, the bar and link will extend nearly in line, and the point of connection of the two will be on the other side of and above the connection of the bar with the bracket. I apply to these connecting parts a spiral spring l0, the forward end of which is connected to the bracket at a point in advance of the connection of the bar 7 therewith and preferably in line with said point of connection, and the rear end of which is connected to the forward end of a rod 1l, whose opposite end is connected to the pivot S. This spring when the boot is closed, as in Fig. l, exerts a pull in a line extending from the bracket-plate to the pivot 8, connecting the link and bar, and the latter being below the point of connection of the bar with the bracket the tendency of the spring will be to exert a downward pull on the boot through the medium of the link 9, the result being that the said boot will be held yieldingly in a closed position. When, however, the boot is raised to the position shown in Fig. 2, the pivotal connection 8, passes to the other side of the bracket, and the tendency of the spring in. this position will be to pull forward on the parts and hold the boot yieldingly in an open raised position.

It will be noted that the connecting device between the boot-frame and the vehicle-body extends between its ends below the point of connection with the vehicle-body when` the boot is closed and that the spring is connected to this device at a point below its connection with the bracket, and this is the essence of the invention, and it is obvious that the details may be variously modified without departing from the limits of my invention, provided the above construction is preserved.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is ICO l. The combination with the vehicle-body l thereto, the bar pivoted at its front end to the Vehicle-body at a point rearward of the oonnection of the boot-frame therewith, a link pivoted to the rear end of the bar and to the boot-frame, and a spring connected at 011e end to the Vehicle-body and at its opposite end at the pivotal connection of the bar and link.

2. The combination with the vehicle-body, of the boot hinged at its forward end thereto, a rearwardly-extending braoket 'Iixed to said body, a bar pivoted to the bracket and eX- tending` rearward, a link pivoted to the rear end of the bar and to the boot, a spring oonnected at its forward end to the bracket in advance of the point of the connection of the bar therewith, and a rod connected at its forward end to the rear end of the spring, and at its rear end at or near the pivotal connection of the bar and link.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand, this 25th day of March, 1896, in the presence of two attesting witnesses.

DAVID R. COXVAN.

Witnesses:

HENRY C. FIESTRO, ELMER E. MORGAN.

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