Necks for Fitting Collars.
Year: 1885

page_text: Necks for Fitting Collars.
We, ROBERT JOHN PEAT SPENCE, Civil Engineer, residing at Letham, Ladybank,
Fife N.B. and ROBERT STORBAR, junior, Saddler residing at Letham, aforesaid, do
hereby declare the nature of our joint invention for AN INSTRUMENT TO TAKE
THE ACCURATE MEASUREMENT OF HORSES' NECKS FOR FITTING COLLARS, to be as
follows:-
The Instrument in its most elementary form consists of a frame, A, of suitable
material, as shown in the accompanying drawing. A hinge at a, and a joint
at b, allow the frame to be opened out (as shown by the dotted lines), so that it
can then be slipped round the horse's neck, closed, and fastened by the insertion of
a pin, o, or otherwise. The slides, d, are then pushed in, till the small plates, e,
fixed on the ends of the slides, touch the horse's neck. The slides are next made
fast by pinching-screws, f, or otherwise.
By now unfastening the instrument, and closing it again after it is off the
horse's neck, an exact copy of the part of the neck where the Collar is meant to
bear, is obtained. This can be transferred to paper, by laying the instrument on
the paper and drawing a curve passing by the side of each plate, as shown by the
inner curved line on the drawing.
If a greater degree of accuracy is required, it can be obtained by increasing the
number of slides.
:
The instrument may be made larger or smaller, according to the sizes of necks
requiring to be measured.
The slides work in holes passing through the frame, A.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Instrument to Take the Accurate Measurement of Horses'
Necks for Fitting Collars.
We, ROBERT JOHN PEAT SPENCE, Civil Engineer, and ROBERT STORRAR, junior,
Saddler, both residing at Letham, Ladybank, Fifeshire, N.B. do hereby declare
the nature of our invention for AN INSTRUMENT TO TAKE THE ACCURATE MEASURE-
MENT OF HORSES' NECKS and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The Instrument, as has been partly explained in the Provisional Specification,
consists of a frame, A of suitable material as shown in the accompanying drawing.
A hinge, a, and a joint, b, allow the frame to be opened out to the position
indicated by the dotted lines in the front elevation, so that it can then be placed
round the horse's neck, closed, and fastened at the joint in the manner explained
farther on. The slides, d, which work in holes passing through the frame, are
then pushed in, either by the hand or by means of elastic bands, c, which constantly
and gently press the small plates or buttons, e, fixed to the ends of the slides,
against the horse's neck. The slides are next made fast by pinching-screws, f, or
some of them by pinching-screws and some by the clamp shown in the section
through PQ, which is made fast by turning the thumb-screw, g.
By now unfastening the instrument, and closing it again, after it has been
removed from the horse's neck, an exact copy of the outline of the neck, where
the collar is meant to bear, is evidently obtained. This can be transferred to
paper by laying the instrument on the paper and drawing a curve to pass by the
surface of each plate or button, as shown by the curved boundary of the shaded
portion in the drawing. This shaded portion is in fact a section of the smallest
size of neck which the instrument shown in the drawing is intended to measure.
After this preliminary explanation of the method of taking measurements with
the instrument, a short examination of its parts in detail, will, with the help of
the drawing, make the whole perfectly clear.
The Frame: The frame of the instrument from which this drawing was made,
is constructed of brass-tubing, round in section, and about inch in diameter, but
a frame has also been made of wood, which answers very well, and in fact any
material of sufficient strength, lightness and rigidity is suitable. The frame may
be made larger or smaller, according to the sizes of necks requiring to be
measured.
The Hinge: The pivot of the hinge may be screwed in, so that the frame may
be taken at any time into two parts for convenience in carrying or packing.
Also the hinge may be at any other convenient position in the frame, for example,
where the joint is in the drawing, in which case the joint would be changed to
the position of the hinge in the drawing.
The Joint The joint may be made fast by a pin, (as in Provisional Specifi-
cation), by an ordinary spring-catch, or by a verrule, h, as shown in the drawing.
The verrule has a slit or long narrow hole, into which a small pin, i, works, the
pin being fixed into the lower portion of the frame just below the joint, b. When

page_text: the frame is closed, the verrule is pushed up so as to overlap the other partion of
the frame, and it is then turned round, so that the pin passes into the small offset
from the main slit, and is thus kept fast. The arrangement may be easily under-
stood from the drawing. The frame is shown unfastened, in order that both the
joint and verrule may be seen.
The hinge and joint could be dispensed with, if the slides were graduated, the
instrument being in that case passed over the horse's head and the graduations of
the slides being read off while it is on.
:-
Slides About the slides scarcely any remark is necessary except with regard
to their heads, k, through which the elastic bands are passed. These heads are
segments of hollow rings with slits on their outer edges which may be best
observed in the side elevation. The elastic band, (for each slide) which is con-
tinuous, is first passed over the portion of the slide within the frame, then round
the frame on each side of the slide, and then both. portions on each side of the
frame are separately passed through the slit in the head of the slide. It is thought
better that the upper-most and lower-most slides should be unprovided with elastic
bands. The slides may be graduated, so that the measurement may be recorded
by registering the distance between the end touching the horse's neck and the
inner edge of the frame, for each slide. This may be done either while the instru-
ment is on the neck or after it has been taken off. The number of slides may be
increased or diminished according to the degree of accuracy required.
Elastic bands or Springs:-The use of the elastic bands is to draw in the slides
equally all round, so that the frame, if simply closed and fastened, without the
pinching-screws or clamps tightening the slides, would take up a symmetrical
position with regard to each side of the horse's neck. Any other method of fixing
the bands for this purpose may be used, the only difference being in the mode of
fixing them to the slides or frame. The same object may be accomplished also
with spiral springs coiled round the portions of the slides within the frame,
between it and the plates, e, so that when the slide is being drawn or pushed out,
the spring is compressed and exerts an inward pressure. Or the springs may be
coiled round the slides outside the frame, one end of each spring being fixed to the
frame and the other to the head of the slide. The instrument can be worked
without elastic bands or springs, but not nearly so conveniently. A separate
figure in the drawing shows two views of an elastic band stretched.
Pinching-screws or Pinching-screws and Clamps :-Pinching-screws as shown
at, f, may be used for fixing all the slides, in which case no clamp is necessary. If
a clamp be used, it tightens a number of the slides at once. For example the two
clamps in the drawing tighten five slides each. The clamp, shown in the section
through P Q is simply a long flattened bar, 1, passing up the centre of the frame,
and which after passing through a small tube, m, fixed into the frame, is termi-
nated by a thumb-screw, g. This thumb-screw when turned, by impinging on the
small tube, m, draws the whole clamp forcibly down. The slides pass through
small oblong holes in the clamp, so fitted that when the clamp is drawn down, the
edge of each oblong hole catches its respective slide and presses it hard against the
edge of the hole in the frame through which it works. It thus exerts on each
slide the same action as a pinching screw. If the frame were not hollow the
clamp might be fitted on the outside.
Although horses only are mentioned in the title of this Patent, it is evident that
the neck of any beast of burden requiring to be fitted with a Collar can be
measured by its means.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
(1.) The whole Instrument is novel, being an embodiment, applicable to the
accurate measurement of horses' necks, of the Geometrical principle:-that the
outline or contour of a solid in any plane can be ascertained with any required

page_text: degree of accuracy, if from given points in a given figure surrounding the solid in
that plane, a sufficient number of offsets to the solid be measured in given
directions in the plane.
(2.) The Frame represents a given figure surrounding the horse's neck in the
plane in which its outline is required: the hinge and joint enabling it to be put
round and removed from the neck, much more conveniently than by passing it
over the horse's head.
(8.) The Slides, graduated or ungraduated, represent the offsets from the frame
to the horse's neck, their directions being fixed by the directions of the holes in
which they move and their positions by the positions of these holes in the frame.
(4.) The elastic bands or springs, draw or push in the slides so that they always
touch the neck, and keep the frame in a symmetrical position with regard to the
sides of the neck.
(5.) The pinching-screws or pinching-screws and clamps keep the slides in their
position so as to preserve the measurement after the instrument has been removed
from the horse's neck.