IMPROVEMENTS IN STIRRUPS."
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francisco del Riego, of Regent Street, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STIRRUPS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francisco del Riego at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th December 1876.
FRANCISCO DEL RIEGO, of Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex. "lat-
PROVEMENTS IN STIRRUPS."
My Invention relates to safety stirrups designed to release the foot in the event
of the rider falling, thus avoiding injury by dragging on the ground owing to the
entanglement of his foot, as frequently happens with the ordinary stirrup.
My Invention consists in making the horizontal bar or foot plate to detach itself
from the legs of the stirrup iron, or to open out so as to release the foot when
pressure is applied against the edge of the bar or plate, as for instance by the leverage
of the foot against the same when the weight of the rider comes on it in the act of
falling.
My Invention may be carried into effect in various ways; for instance the foot
plate or tread may be made to entirely detach itself, in which case it is connected
to the legs or arched part of the stirrup iron by slots or hook-shaped recesses at
the ends of the said foot plate, and at the same or opposite sides thereof which
engage with or receive grooves, shoulder hooks, collets, pins, or holes at the ends of
the legs of the stirrup iron which are slightly sprung into place when connected
with the foot plate, so as to retain the latter with sufficient security to support the
weight and motion of the body in riding, and yet admit of ready disconnection
in case of accident, as above mentioned. A short chain or other connection
may be provided to prevent loss of the foot plate. Or the foot plate may be
pivotted at one end to one of the legs of the stirrup iron, and hooked or otherwise
detachably connected to the other leg, as above mentioned, and in addition the foot
plate may be hinged near its pivotted end, so that after turning horizontally and
unlocking itself it will drop and hang down vertically. To still further facilitate
the disconnection of the parts; one or both of the legs or arched part of the stirrup
iron may be hinged or jointed so as to open towards the side at which the foot
enters the stirrup, and so assist to unlock the foot plate.
Another method is to make the latter in two halves, each pivotted to its leg of
CD11

page_text: the stirrup so as to turn horizontally, the two halves meeting and being preferably
made with rebates overlapping one another and connected and retained in position
by a stud on the one entering a slot in the other, or by other suitable means.
To increase the leverage with. which the foot under the circumstances above
mentioned acts in order to release itself from the stirrup, it is desirable to provide
the stirrup iron with a second arch or cross piece below that to which the stirrup
leathers are attached to serve as a fulcrum for the instep or upper side of the foot
to press against; or instead of this second arch a rigid rod on the upper part of the
arch of the stirrup may pass up between the stirrup leather and afford a certain
resistance to the tilting of the stirrup to increase the leverage with which the foot
acts under the circumstances above referred to.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Francisco del Riego in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th June
1877.
FRANCISCO DEL RIEGO, of Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex.
MENTS IN STIRRUPS."
" IMPROVE-
My Invention relates to safety stirrups designed to release the foot in the event
of the rider falling, and thus avoid injury by dragging on the ground, owing to the
entanglement of the foot, as frequently happens with the ordinary stirrup.
My Invention consists in making the horizontal bar or foot plate to detach itself
from the legs of the stirrup iron or to open out, so as to release the foot when
pressure is applied against the edge of the bar or plate, as for instance by the
leverage of the foot against the same in the act of falling.
My Invention may be carried into effect in various ways, and in order that it
may be more readily understood I will proceed to describe it with reference to the
accompanying Drawings, which represent several examples of the mode in which
my Invention may be carried out in practice.
Figure 1 represents an elevation of one arrangement of the improved stirrup;
and Figure 2 an under side plan of the horizontal bar or foot plate.
Figure 3 also shows an under side plan of a slightly modified arrangement.
Figure 4 shows an elevation, and Figure 5 an under side view of another arrange-
ment of stirrup.
Figure 6 shows an elevation, and Figuro 7 an under side view of another arrange-
ment; and Figure 8 a front elevation, and Figure 9 a side clevation of a stirrup
provided with a rigid upward extension or rod and a jointed leg, either or both of
which may be used in connection with any of the foregoing arrangements for (lis-
connecting the bar or foot plate.
Figures 10 and 11 are horizontal sections; and Figures 12 and 13 an elevation
and under side view showing modifications of the Invention.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the Figures.
a, c, are the legs; and b, the bow of the stirrup iron; c is the horizontal bar,
tread, or foot plate connected to the legs a in various ways, as hereafter described,
so as to be automatically detached to release the rider's foot when the latter presses
against the edge of the plate or bar c with a certain amount of leverage due to the
position of the foot in the stirrup and the weight of the rider in falling.
One form of connection is to provide two slots d, d, in the foot plate c at either
end and at opposite sides, as shown in Figure 1, the said slots being of a width to
exactly receive a groove or neck e made near the ends of the legs a. The sides of
the slots nearest the ends of the plate c are slightly inclined, as shown, instead of
being at right angles to the centre line of the plate c, so as to rather narrow the
entrance of the slots, and the legs a are slightly wider apart than the slots so as to
spring into the slots and press against their inclined sides, and thus render the con-

page_text: nection more secure in order to retain the plate c under the weight and ordinary
movements of the body in riding.
Instead of reducing the size of the legs to form the neck e, the legs a may have
collars or shoulders secured thereon to answer the same purpose, or the connection
5 may be made by forming eyes on the legs a for the hooked-shaped part of the plate
or bar c to take into, but I prefer the connections shown. With the slots on
opposite sides of the plate or bar c the foot may be placed in the stirrup at either
side, but with the slots both on the same side, as in Figure 3, a more certain
automatic disconnection is eusured, but the foot must enter the stirrup always at
the same side.
In order to increase the effective leverage with which the foot presses against the
edge of the plate c to disconnect it when the rider falls, it may be desirable to
provide a second bow permanently attached to the legs a to serve as a fulcrum for
the toe or instep of the foot to press against when the rider falls and his foot
5 remains in the stirrup. Or I may provide instead of the additional bow fa rigid
upward extension or rod g to the top of the stirrup (as shown in Figures 8 and 9),
said extension passing up a short distance between the stirrup leathers h so as to
afford a certain resistance to the canting of the stirrup (when the rider falls)
necessary to enable the foot to press against the edge of the plate c with the effective
leverage required to ensure its disconnection.
Either the additional bow for the extension rod g may be applied in connection
with any of the foregoing or following arrangements.
In Figure 4 the plate or bar c has a slot d at one end, as before, and is at the
other end permanently connected to the leg of the stirrup iron by being pivotted
thereto so as to swing round horizontally. By this means there is no danger of the
plate or bar c being lost when it drops off, but this inconvenience can be avoided in
the arrangements shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3, by having a short chain or other:
connection by which the plate or bar c is attached loosely to the leg of the stirrup
iron, so that it cannot drop off entirely. It is desirable that the pivotted plate or
bar (Figure 4) should be hinged near the pivotted end, as at i, so that when the:
other end is disconnected the plate c will drop and hang down vertically, as shown
in dotted lines, thereby avoiding any wrenching strain on the leg at the pivotted
ond.
In Figures 6 and 7 the plate or bar is made in two halves, each pivotted per-
manently to its leg a so as to swing round horizontally, as shown. The two halves.
meet at or near the centre, and are rebated or fitted to interlock so as to mutually
support one another under the pressure of the foot in riding. is a stud fixed in
the one half of the plate passing into a slot in the other half, whereby the two
parts are retained in position with sufficient security until leverage is exerted
against the edge of the plate, as above mentioned, when the rider falls, when they
immediately spring open and release the foot.
In Figures 8 and 9 I have shown one of the legs hinged by a rule joint at l, so
as to open towards the side at which the foot is placed in the stirrup to facilitate
the unlocking or disconnection of the plate or bar c. This hinge joint may be
applied to one or both legs, and used with any of the above described
arrangements.
In Figure 10 the foot plate c is represented as being pivotted at one end to one of
the legs a of the stirrup iron, as before described, but it is connected to the other
leg in such a way that it is free to swing in either direction (as indicated by the
dotted lines) when pressure is applied against either edge of the said foot plate, so
that the foot may be placed in the stirrup at either side indifferently. The con-
nection at the free end of the foot plate is made by means of a recess d in the end
of the said foot plate at the middle of its width, the rounded portions dat either
side of the said recess projecting, so that when the foot plate c is swung round on
its pivot e these rounded projections will describe a segment of a circle of rather
greater radius than the distance between the two legs of the stirrup iron. These
rounded projections will therefore strike against the leg u, and by applying pressure

page_text: thereto the two legs may be forced apart suffiently to allow the foot plate to be
sprung into place with the leg a in the recess, where it is securely retained by the
projections d. The leg a is provided with a head by which the foot plate c is
supported under the weight of the rider in ordinary circumstances.
In Figure 11 both ends of the foot plate are connected to the legs or limbs of the
stirrup in precisely the same way as above described for the free end of the foot
plate in Figure 10, the foot plate being in this case however entirely detached.
The same letters of reference apply to the same parts, so that a further description
will be unnecessary.
In the modification shown in Figures 12 and 13, it will be seen that the leg a is
pivotted to the foot plate c, the other leg at being provided with an upwardly turned
hook h, the point of which is received in a recess in the under side of the foot plate.
The recess becomes gradually shallower at each of its ends, so that the hook h
may be free to become disengaged from the recess when pressure comes against the
plate at one side. The action of the stirrup is the same as before.
If desired both sides may be connected by the hook and recess i instead of one
side being pivotted.
Having described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. Connecting the horizontal bar, foot plate, or tread of a stirrup to the other
part, substantially as described and shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3, so as to be
detached by pressure applied to its edge, as and for the purpose specified.
Second. Pivotting the foot plate or bar at one end to the one leg of the stirrup
iron, jointing the plate or bar near that end, and connecting it detachably at the other
end to the other leg of the stirrup, substantially as and for the purpose described
and shown in Figures 4 and 5.
Third. Constructing the foot plate or bar in two halves pivotted to the legs of the
stirrup, and connected together and operating as described and shown in Figures G
and 7 for the purpose specified.
Fourth. The upwardly extending rod g, for the purpose described.
Fifth. Connecting the foot plate to the legs of the stirrup by a recess in one or
both ends of the foot plate engaging with the legs of the stirrup, substantially as
and for the purpose herein described and illustrated in Figures 10 and 11 of the
Drawings.
Sixth. Connecting the foot plate to the leg or legs of the stirrup by a hook-shaped
projection or support taking into a recess in the under side of the foot plate, sub-
stantially as and for the purpose described and illustrated in Figures 12 and 13 of
the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francisco del Riego, have hereunto set my
band and scal, this Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
FRANCISCO DEL RIEGO. (L.S.)