St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-07-22
HORSE CLIPPING.
,oue Nowadays Inn Far Quicker Time
Than Formerly and mt Much
Less Cost.

In the old days, with comb and shears,
it took man eight hours to clip horse,
and he had to be an expert to do II In
that time. With the introduction OF
the hand clipper, such as is used Tor
clipping mems hair, into this use, the
time required for clipping horse was
reduced to half day. Later these cfp"
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.
b 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 a chain. To keep this flexible shaft
from kinking and twisting when 1t IS
turned it is .incased and carried in
flexible tubing. The shaft is made TO
turn by attaching one end of it to the
axle of a wheel which is turned by
means of 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
standard resting on the floor; the
smaller one, to which the flexible shaft
il 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
operctor simply holds the clipper and
| guides it over the surface to be clipped.
Nowadays this sort of clipper is oper-
ated also by machine power, gas en-
CINE being used for this purpose, and
with power clippers horses are clipped
in less time still.
In horse-clipping 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
on either side of the room, attached to
the ceiling by hangers in the usual man
| ner. Hanging from each of these pull
tleys is long, fexible shaft within its
| flexible casing, with a clipper at the
end. These flexible shafts, the tubes
| that inclose them being an inch or two
| in diameter, and about as flexible al
| rope or hose of like size would be, are
| each perhaps eight to ten feet 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
it. When he has finished one side Of 9
| 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 horse
doesn't like to be clipped it may take
| hours to clip him, but ordinarily il
these days, with power clippers and the
horse willing, the clipping is done in A
| minutes to an hour. A horse has beer
clipped in "a minutes. but probably
/ about an hour would be the time usual
| " required. In the old days it cost $2t
to $50 to get horse clipped; it is dons
nowadays for two dollars and fifty
4 cents to three dollars.-N. Y. Sun.