Patent Publication Number: US-7591125-B2

Title: Apparatus and method for cinching a saddle

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/593,183, filed Dec. 17, 2004, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates generally to saddlery, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an apparatus and method for cinching a saddle to an animal, 
   2. Brief Description of Related Art 
   Most saddles are secured on an animal by means of a cinch or girth strap which is connected to both sides of the saddle and passes beneath the body of the animal. The cinch is typically connected to each side of the saddle with a flexible strap. On one side of the saddle, a strap is passed through an opening or ring provided in the saddle and through a buckle provided on one end of the cinch. Similarly, on the other side of the saddle, a second strap is passed through an opening or ring provided in the saddle and through a buckle provided on the opposite end of the cinch. The second strap is often referred to as a latigo. 
   The straps connecting the cinch to the saddle are looped one or more times through the buckle and through the opening in the saddle before securing the strap in an adjusted position by either a tongue on the buckle or by looping the strap about itself before being terminated in a locking loop. In those cinches having a buckle through which the strap makes several loops, it requires considerable pulling pressure to tighten the cinch about the animal due to the leather strap being looped upon itself resulting in a leather-to-leather sliding contact with the resultant large friction force occurring therebetween. Attempts have been made to solve this problem by providing a cinch buckle provided with rollers to reduce the frictional forces, thereby facilitating the process of cinching the saddle to the horse. 
   Such buckles also facilitate the removal of the straps from the buckle when one desires to remove the saddle from the horse. However, such buckles still require that the strap be un-looped from the buckle completely before the saddle may be removed from the animal. Such task is tedious and time consuming. Moreover, the strap must be re-looped through the buckle when placing the saddle back on a animal. 
   To overcome this problem, a cinch strap providing a quick disconnect has been suggested and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,503,715 issued to Schnitger. The Schnitger device includes a connecting buckle with a hook portion that is connectable to a buckle of the cinch strap. The buckle of the cinch strap is modified however so as not to have a catch member. The latigo is looped through the slots provided on the connecting buckle. The connecting buckle may be quickly released from the cinch strap without requiring the latigo from having to be un-looped completely from the connecting buckle. Nevertheless, the Schnitger device does have its drawbacks in that modification of a conventional cinch buckle in the form of removing the catch member and/or grinding the buckle so that it may receive the hook of the connecting buckle is required prior to using the Schnitger device. Therefore, a need exists for an improved cinch connector that permits quick and easy attachment and detachment of a saddle while requiring no modification of a conventional cinch. It is to such an apparatus and method that the present invention is directed. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEW OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a saddle having a cinch employing a cinch connector constructed in accordance with the present invention. 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the cinch connector of the present invention. 
       FIG. 3  is an diagrammatic view showing a strap looped between the saddle and the cinch connector. 
       FIG. 4  is a diagrammatic view showing a latch bar of the cinch connector inserted in a buckle of the cinch. 
       FIG. 5  is a diagrammatic view showing a tongue of the cinch connector being inserted into a hole of the strap. 
       FIG. 6  is a diagrammatic view showing the cinch connected to the strap with the cinch connector. 
       FIG. 7  is a diagrammatic view showing the latch bar of the cinch connector being removed from the buckle of the cinch. 
       FIG. 8  is a side elevational view of another embodiment of a cinch connector constructed in accordance with the present invention shown with the shield removed for the sake of clarity. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to  FIG. 1 , a saddle  10  is shown mounted on a horse  12  and secured to the horse  12  with a cinch assembly  14  constructed in accordance with the present invention. The saddle  10  depicted in  FIG. 1  is commonly known as a western style saddle. However, it should be understood that the cinch assembly  14  of the present invention is applicable to other types of saddles and need not be limited to western style saddles. 
   The cinch assembly  14  includes a cinch or girth  16 , a pair of straps  18  (only one of the straps  18  depicted in  FIG. 1 ), and a cinch connector  20 . The cinch  16  is a strap typically formed of a soft material and which passes along the underbelly of the horse  12 . The cinch  16  is provided with a buckle  22  on each end thereof (only one of the buckles  22  being depicted in  FIG. 1 ). The buckles  22  include a ring  24  and a catch  26  that is pivotally connected to the ring  24 . The cinch  16  is adjustably connected to the saddle  10  with the straps  18  and the cinch connector  20 . The straps  18  are flexible straps which are attached to each side of the saddle  10 . The straps  18  may be either permanently attached to the saddle  10  or looped through a ring  30  provided on each side of the saddle  10 . The cinch connector  20  functions as a “quick connect” between the buckle  22  of the cinch  16  and the strap  18 . The cinch connector  20  may be used on one or both ends of the cinch  16 . 
   Referring now to  FIG. 2 , the cinch connector  20  includes a frame  32 , a tongue  34 , and a latch bar  36 . The frame  32  has a top frame member  38 , a bottom frame member  40 , and an intermediate frame member  42  supported in a spaced apart, parallel relation to define a first strap receiving slot  44  and a second strap receiving slot  46 . The first strap receiving slot  44  and the second strap receiving slot  46  permit the strap  18  to be looped twice through the frame  32  and reduce the frictional engagement between the strap  18  resulting from looping the strap  18  upon itself. The friction may further be reduced by providing rollers (not shown) on the top frame member  38  and the intermediate frame member  40 . In contrast, it should also be appreciated that the frame  32  may be constructed to form only one strap receiving slot. 
   The tongue  34  is pivotally connected to the bottom frame member  40  and extends to the intermediate frame member  42  so that the tongue  34  may be inserted through a hole  48  ( FIG. 1 ) in the strap  18  to fasten the strap  18  to the cinch connector  20 . In an instance when the frame  32  is formed to have only one strap receiving slot, it will be appreciated that the tongue  34  would extend to the upper most frame member. The tongue  34  is supported in a centralized location along the bottom frame member  40  with a leather shield  50 . More specifically, the shield  50  is has a flap  51  provided with a tongue receiving slot  52 . The flap  51  is looped around the bottom frame member  40  and secured to the shield  50  with a fastener, such as a rivet  53 , with the tongue  34  inserted through the tongue receiving slot  52 . In another version where the shield  50  is not employed, the tongue  34  may be supported in a centralized location along the bottom frame member  40  with a pair of stop members formed or positioned on the bottom frame member  40 . 
   The latch bar  36  is connected to the bottom frame member  40  and defines a catch receiving space  54 . The latch bar  36  is formed of a rigid material and is configured so that at least a portion of the latch bar  36  may be received through the ring  24  of the buckle  22  of the cinch  16  when the distal end of the catch  26  of the buckle  22  is disengaged from the ring  24  so that the catch  26  may then be rotated through the catch receiving space  54  of the latch bar  36  to engage the ring  24  of the buckle  22  thereby capturing the latch bar  36  to connect the cinch connector  20  to the buckle  22 . More specifically, the latch bar  36  is a substantially tapered, U-shaped member with upper ends  56   a  and  56   b  connected to the bottom frame member  40  on each side of the tongue  34 . The latch bar  36  is preferably pivotally connected to the bottom frame member  40  to facilitate moving the catch  26  of the buckle  22  through the catch receiving space  54  of the latch bar  36 . However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the latch bar  36  may be fixed to the frame so long as sufficient slack is provided in the strap  18  when connecting and disconnecting the latch bar  36  from the buckle. It should be further appreciated that the latch bar  36  may be formed in any shape, such as V-shaped, so long as the latch bar  36  is cable of passing sufficiently through the ring  24  of the buckle  22  so that the catch  26  of the buckle  22  may pass under the latch bar  36  and through the catch receiving space  54  of the latch bar  36  to engage the ring  24  of the buckle  22 . A strap  55  may be attached to the latch bar  36  to facilitate unlatching of the latch bar  36  in a manner to be discussed below. 
     FIG. 8  shows another embodiment of a cinch connector  20   a  with the shield  50  removed for the sake of clarity. The cinch connector  20   a  is similar to the cinch connector  20 , except the cinch connector  20   a  has a latch bar  36   a  provided with a bend  58  so that a first plane defined by a distal portion  60  of the latch bar  36   a  is angled with respect to a second plane defined by a proximal portion  62  of the latch bar  36   a . The angled relationship between the distal portion  60  and the proximal portion  62  permits the frame  32   a , the proximal portion  62  of the latch bar  36   a , and the buckle  22  of the cinch  16  to lay flatter against the body of the animal than with the use of the cinch connector  20 . While the distal portion  60  may be angled with respect to the proximal portion  62  at any angle, a preferred angle is in a range of from about 30 degrees to about 60 degrees. 
   Referring now to  FIGS. 3-7 , the method of securing the saddle  10  to an animal, such as the horse  12 , using the cinch connector  20  will be described. It should be noted that for the sake of clarity, the cinch connector  20  is depicted in  FIGS. 3-7  with the shield  50  removed. With the far side of the cinch  16  connected to the saddle  10  in a conventional manner, the cinch connector  20  is connected to the near side of the saddle using the strap  18 . More specifically, as shown if  FIG. 3 , the strap  18 , having been secured to the ring  30 , is threaded through the first strap receiving slot  44  of the cinch connector  20 , pulled upwardly and threaded again through the ring  30  of the saddle  10 , and pulled back down to the cinch connector  20  where the strap  18  is threaded through the second strap receiving slot  46 . It will be appreciated that the step of looping the strap  18  through the cinch connector  20  need not be repeated again unless it is desired to remove the cinch connector  20  from the strap  18 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 4 , the cinch  16  is then passed beneath the body of the horse  12 , and the latch bar  36  is inserted through the ring  24  of the buckle  22  to cause a distal end of the catch  26  to disengage from the ring  24  of the buckle  22 . The catch  26  of the buckle  22  is then rotated up through the catch receiving space  54  of the latch bar  36  ( FIG. 4 ) to engage the ring  24  of the buckle  22  thereby capturing the latch bar  36  ( FIG. 5 ). The strap  18  is next pulled to the desired tension. When the desired tension has been obtained, the tongue  34  is inserted through a selected hole of the strap  18  ( FIG. 5 ). With the strap  18  secured relative to the cinch connector  20 , the cinch assembly  14  is assembled, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 6 . It will be appreciated that the free end the strap  18  could be looped through the ring  30  and tied off in a locking loop eliminating the need for the tongue  34  without affecting the concept of the invention or preferred manner of use of the cinch connector  20 . 
   With reference to  FIG. 7 , to remove the saddle  10  from the horse  12 , the tongue  34  is first removed from the hole of the strap  18 . Next, the latch bar  36  is pulled upwardly to allow the catch  26  of the buckle  22  to be rotated down through the catch receiving space  54  thereby releasing the latch bar  36 . With the latch bar  36  released, the saddle  10  may be removed from the horse  12 . 
   To re-saddle the horse  12 , the latch bar  36  is simply secured to the buckle  22  as previously described without requiring the strap  18  to be re-looped through the first strap receiving slot  44  and the second strap receiving slot  46 . After the latch bar  36  is secured to the buckle  22 , the strap  18  is tightened and fastened with the tongue  34 . 
   From the above description, it is clear that the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objects and to attain the advantages mentioned herein, as well as those inherent in the invention. While a presently preferred embodiments of the invention have been described for purposes of this disclosure, it will be understood that numerous changes may be made which will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art and which are accomplished within the spirit of the invention disclosed and as defined in the appended claims.