IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR CLIPPING HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS.
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Price, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Veterinary Surgeon, and Charles Thomas. of Aston,
near Birmingham aforesaid, Edge Tool Manufacturer, for the
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR CLIPPING HORSES AND
OTHER ANIMALS.
66
"
near Birmingham aforesaid, Edge Tool Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR CLIPPING HORSES AND
OTHER ANIMALS.
"
Bealed the 10th November 1871, and dated the 27th May 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Price and
Charles Thomas at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 27th May 1871.
We, EDWARD PRICE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Veterinary Surgeon, and CHARLES THOMAS, of Aston, near Birmingham
aforesaid, Edge Tool Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR CLIPPING HORSES AND
OTHER. ANIMALS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in constructing and arranging in the manner
herein-after described the parts of machines for clipping horses and

page_text: other animals whereby efficiency in action, simplicity of the parts, and
non-liability to derangement are secured.
The said machines consist essentially of two serrated or toothed
cutters or cutting plates, one cutter being fixed and the other cutter
being moveable upon the fixed one. According to our Invention we
so construct and arrange the parts that the moveable cutter has an
oscillatory motion upon the fixed cutter, the oscillating cutter moving
through a small angle to effect the clipping between its teeth and the
teeth of the fixed cutter.
In arranging the parts according to our Invention, we secure the fixed
cutter to the handle by which the machine is held while in use, and
we make the said handle hollow, and provide the said fixed cutter and
moveable or oscillating cutter with long shanks or stems, which are
situated in the hollow handle of the machine. The extreme end of
the shank or stem of the moveable cutter turns on a pin or centre
at the outer end or base of the said hollow handle. The securing of
the shank or stem of the fixed cutter in the hollow handle is effected by
a screw pin at the top or inner end of the hollow handle. When the
oscillating cutter is turned upon its pin or centre it moves backwards
and forwards upon the fixed cutter, and the clipping is effected in the
usual way by the action of the teeth of the fixed and oscillating cutters.
The oscillatory motion of the moveable cutter is effected by means of
a lever turning on a pin or centre screwed to the plate of the fixed cutter.
A nearly circular recess is made in the moveable cutter in which a tubular
projection on the inner end of the actuating lever works. This tubular
projection is furnished at one side with a tooth which takes into a
straight slot at the bottom of the circular recess in the moveable cutter.
By moving the actuating lever to and from the fixed handle, by which
the machine is held, the tooth of the projection described works in the
recess in the moveable cutter, and give a reciprocating motion to the
said moveable cutter, the said moveable cutter turning upon its centre
at the extreme end or base of the holding handle. The moveable cutter.
is held against the fixed cutter and guided in its motion by a guide
plate or bar situated on the outer face of the moveable cutter, the said
bar being parallel to the cutting edges of the cutters. This guide plate
or bar is connected to the machine by the screw pin or centre, on which
the actuating lever turns passing through an ear on the said bar and

page_text: also by screw pins passing through the said bar and through slots in
the moveable cutter, and taking into screwed holes in the fixed cutter.
The slots in the moveable cutter in which the screw. pins. work permit
of the reciprocating motion of the said cutter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Price and Charles Thomas in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 27th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDWARD
PRICE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Veterinary Surgeon,
and CHARLES THOMAS, of Aston, near Birmingham aforesaid, Edge Tool
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in
the thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Edward Price and Charles
Thomas, Her special licence that we, the said Edward Price and
Charles Thomas, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Edward Price and Charles Thomas, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR
CLIPPING HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Edward Price and Charles Thomas, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Edward Price and Charles.
Thomas, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say) :—
Our Invention consists in constructing and arranging in the manner
herein-after described the parts of machines for clipping horses and
other animals whereby efficiency in action, simplicity of the parts, and
non-liability to derangement are secured.
The said machines consist essentially of two serrated or toothed
cutters or cutting plates, one cutter being fixed and the other cutter
being moveable upon the fixed one. According to our Invention we
80 construct and arrange the parts that the moveable cutter has an
oscillatory motion upon the fixed cutter, the oscillating cutter moving
through a small angle to effect the clipping between its teeth and the
teeth of the fixed cutter.
In arranging the parts according to our Invention we secure the fixed
cutter to the handle by which the machine is held while in use, and
we make the said handle hollow and provide the said fixed cutter and
stems which are
moveable or oscillating cutter with long shanks or
situated in the hollow handle of the machine. The extreme end of the
shank or stem of the moveable-cutter turns on-a-pin or _centre_at_the
outer end or base of the said hollow handle. The securing of the shank
or stem of the fixed cutter in the hollow handle is effected by a screw
pin at the top or inner end of the hollow handle. When the oscillating
cutter is turned upon its pin or centre it moves backwards and forwards
upon the fixed cutter, and the clipping is effected in the usual way
by the action of the teeth of the fixed and oscillating cutters. The
oscillatory motion of the moveable cutter is effected by means of a lever
turning on a pin or centre screwed to the plate of the fixed cutter. A
nearly circular recess is made in the moveable cutter in which a tubular
projection on the inner end of the actuating lever works. This tubular
projection is furnished at one side with a tooth which takes into a
straight slot at the bottom of the circular recess in the moveable cutter.
By moving the actuating lever to and from the fixed handle by which
the machine is held, the tooth of the projection described works in the
recess in the moveable cutter and gives a reciprocating motion to the
said moveable cutter, the said moveable cutter turning upon its centre
at the extreme end or base of the holding handle. The moveable cutter
is held against the fixed cutter and guided in its motion by a guide
plate or bar situated on the outer face of the moveable cutter, the said

page_text: bar being parallel to the cutting edges of the cutters. This guide plate
or bar is connected to the machine by the screw pin or centre on
which the actuating lever turns passing through an ear on the said bar,
and also by screw pins passing through the said bar and through slots
in the moveable cutter, and taking into screwed holes in the fixed cutter.
The slots in the moveable cutter in which the screw pins work permit
of the reciprocating motion of the said cutter.
Having explained the nature of our Invention, we will proceed to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figures 1 and 2 represent front elevations (partly in section) of a
machine for clipping horses and other animals, the parts of which are
constructed and arranged according to our Invention.
In Figure 1 the moveable or oscillating cutter is represented at the
end of its stroke in one direction; and in Figure 2 at the end of its
stroke in the other direction; Figure 3 represents a side elevation of the
said machine; and Figure 4 represents a cross section of the same;
Figure 5 represents the upper part of the fixed cutter; Figure 6 the
upper part of the moveable or oscillating cutter; Figure 7 represents
in elevation and edge view the upper end of the lever by which the
moveable cutter is actuated; and Figure 8 represents in elevation and
edge view the guide plate or bar of the machine. The same letters of
reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the Drawing..
a is the fixed serrated cutter or cutting plate, and 6 is the moveable
or oscillating cutter or cutting plate sliding upon the said fixed cutter a.
The fixed and moveable cutters a, b, are provided with long shanks or
stems marked respectively a³, b; c is the handle by which the machine
is held while in use. The said handle c is hollow and the shanks a³, b³,
of the two cutters are situated in the said hollow handle. The stem
or shank a² of the fixed cutter a is secured in the handle c near the top
thereof by the screw pin d,' (see Figure 4), and the extreme end of the
shank or stem 62 of the moveable cutter 6 turns upon the pin or centre e
at the base of the hollow handle c, the said pin e also passing through
and assisting in fixing the stem of the stationary cutter a, (see Figure 3).
The oscillatory motion of the moveable cutter 6 is effected by the lever f
turning on the pin or centre 9 passing through the cutter b, and being
screwed into the fixed cutter a. At the top of the acting end of the
leverf is a tubular projection f³, which takes into the nearly circular

page_text: recess / in the moveable cutter 6 (see Figures 4 and 6), the said tubular
projection having some play in the said recess h. The tubular pro-
jection of the lever f has at one side a tooth or nib f³, which takes
into the slot * at the bottom of the recess in the moveable cutter b;
i is the plate or bar (shown detached in Figure 8), by means of which
the moveable cutter b is held against the fixed cutter a, and guided in
its motion upon the said fixed cutter. The said plate or bar i is con-
nected to the machine by the screw pins k, k, and also by the screw
pin or centre g, on which the actuating leverf turns. The plate or bar i
has a tubular projection * at its back which fits into the tubular pro-
jection of the actuating lever f, and the pin g passes through the said
tubular projections fa, ², and is screwed to the fixed cutter a, as will be
understood by an examination of Figure 4. The slots 7, 1, in the move-
able cutter 6 in which the screw pins k, k, work, and the recess h
through which the pin or centre 9 passes, permit of the reciprocating
motion of the moveable cutter b upon the fixed cutter a.
In using
the machine the handle c is held in one hand, and the actuating lever f
is worked by the other hand. By moving the leverf to and from the
fixed handle c the tooth or nib f³ of the projection f³ by its engagement
with the slot 2 in the moveable cutter b, gives to the said cutter b_a
reciprocating motion, the said cutter moving through a small angle upon
the pin or centre e at the base of the handle c. By the motion of the
moveable or oscillating cutter 6 upon the fixed cutter a the clipping
is effected between the teeth of the said moveable and fixed cutters as is
well understood. The arrow in Figure 1 indicates the direction in
which the actuating leverf is moved to cause the moveable cutter b
to traverse the fixed cutter a in the same direction, and the arrow in
Figure 2 indicates the direction in which the actuating lever fis moved
to cause the moveable cutter 6 to make its return stroke upon the fixed
cutter a, as will be understood by an examination of the respective
positions of the said moveable cutter in Figures 1 and 2.
3
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that
we do not limit ourselves to the precise details herein described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature
of our Invention, but we claim as our Invention of improvements in
machines for clipping horses and other animals,―
Firstly. The arrangement or combination of parts substantially as.
herein-before described, and, illustrated in the accompanying Drawing,

page_text: for jointing the serrated moveable cutter or cutting plate to the fixed
handle by which the machine is held while in use, whereby the said
moveable cutter is made capable of an oscillatory motion through a small
angle upon the fixed cutter or cutting plate.
Secondly. The arrangement or combination of parts substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing
for giving the oscillatory or reciprocating motion to the moveable cutter
or cutting plate of the machine.
Thirdly. The arrangement or combination of parts herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing for connecting
the holding and guiding plate or bar of the moveable cutter or cutting
plate to the machine.
In witness whereof, we, the said Edward Price and Charles Thomas,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twentieth day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-one.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
EDWARD PRICE.
(L.S.)
CHARLES THOMAS. (L.S.)