Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1899-08-02
HORSE CLIPPING.
Done Nowadays in Far Quicker Time
Than Formerly and at Much
Less Cont.

In the old days, with comb and shears,
II took man eight hours to clip horse,
and he had to be an expert to do it in
that time. With the introduction of
the hand clipper, such as is used for
clipping mems hair, into this use, the
time required for clipping horse was
reduced to half day. Later these clip
pers came to be operated with hand
power, by use of a crank, and then the
time required for clipping horse was
still further reduced.
In one of these hand-power clippers
the clipper is attached to the end of
flexible shaft, which is made up of short
lengths of steel wire linked together
like chain. To keep this flexible shaft
from kinking and twisting when it is
turned it is incased and carried in a
flexible tubing. The shaft is made to
turn by attaching one end Of it to the
axle of wheel which is turned by
means of a belt from it to another
wheel, which is turned by a crank.
These wheels are supported, the larger
one, to which the crank is attached, on
a standard resting on the floor; the
smaller one, to which the flexible shaft
is attached, at the end of an arm sup
ported by the standard. Turning the
wheel turns the flexible shaft within
it's flexible tubing. The shaft is at
tached to the clipper with an eccentric.
When the shaft turns the eccentric
works the clipper just as an ordinary
clipper with handles would be worked
by hand, only many times faster. The
operator simply holds the clipper ana
guides it over the surface to be clipped.
Nowadays this sort of clipper is oper-
ated also by machine power, a gas en-
CINE being used for this purpose, and
with power clippers horses are clipped
in less time still.
In a housekeeping Establishment
where machine power is used the gas
engine is belted to a shafting made fast
to the ceiling from which the power is
transmitted by belts to two pulleys, one
OH either side of the room, attached to
the ceiling by hangers in the usual man
ner. Hanging from each of thess pull
leys is a long, flexible shaft within it's
flexible casing, with clipper at the
end. These flexible shafts, the tuoes
that inclose them being an inch or Two
in diameter, and about as flexible as
rope or hose of like size would be, are
each perhaps eight to zen fee. or more
in length; long enough to enable the
operator to go all over one side of the
horse with the clipper hanging on that
side without shifting the animals po-
sition. The operator throws the clip
per, on whichever side he starts. into
gear at its pulley and begins work with
1t. When he has finished one side of
horse he shuts off the power from the
clipper used on that side and goes
around on the other side, throws that
clipper into gear, and with that clipper
begins on that side of the horse.
How long it takes to clip horse now
depends very much on the horse The
majority of horses take kindly to clip
ping. but some do not If a horse
doesn't like to be clipped it may take
hours to clip him, but ordinarily in
these days, with power clippers and the
horse willing, the clipping is done in 40
minutes to an hour. A horse has been
clipped in "a minutes, but probably
about an hour would be the time usual
iy required. In the old days II cost $40
to $50 to get. horse clipped; IL is done
nowadays for two dollars ana fifty
cents to three dollars.-N. Y. Sun.