IMPROVED EXPANDING AND CONTRACTING HORSE COLLAR
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Stokes, of Leigh Sinton, in the County of
Worcester, Saddler, for the Invention of an "IMPROVED EXPANDING AND
CONTRACTING HORSE COLLAR."
Sealed the 12th January 1864, and dated the 16th July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Stokes 'at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
July 1868.
I, CHARLES STOKES, of Leigh Sinton, in the County of Worcester, Saddler,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for an "IMPROVED EX-
PANDING AND CONTRACTING HORSE COLLAR," to be as follows; that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to construct such a collar as by its expansion
and contraction may fit the shoulders of any horse, and also to render
unnecessary the use of any separate hames, an iron frame being substituted for
the ordinary hamės, and which at the same time forms the framework of the
collar, so rendering the whole much stronger and more durable than the collars
at present in use. Hitherto when collars have been made open at all, they
have been so constructed as to open at the top, but this is for many reasons
objectionable; I therefore construct mine to open at the bottom by means

page_text: of a hinge at the top of the collar; at the bottom I provide a notched
bar, by lifting which the size of the collar may be enlarged or diminished
to the degree required. I also construct the bottom of the collar of such
a shape that I prevent the possibility of the horse becoming choked whilst
drawing, and by means of having the collar made to open I am enabled to
make the padding of the collar considerably narrower, by which means the
draught is adjusted to those parts where it is most needed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Charles Stokes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
STOKES, of Leigh Sinton, in the County of Worcester, Sadler, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One, thousand eight. hundred. and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Stokes, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Stokes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Charles, Stokes, my 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
"AN IMPROVED EXPANDING AND CONTRACTING HORSE COLLAR," upon the cou-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Stokes, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, .or one of
their hands and seals, 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 I, the said Charles Stokes, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner. the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and, ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to construct such a collar as, by its expansion

page_text: and contraction may fit the shoulders of any horse, and also to render un-
necessary the use of any separate hames, an iron or other metal frame being
substituted for the ordinary hame; which frame being attached to the body of
the collar in any suitable manner forms a framework for it, so rendering the
whole much stronger and more durable than the collars at present in use.
Hitherto when collars have been made open at all they have been so con-
structed as to open at the top, but this is for many reasons objectionable; I
therefore construct mine to open at the bottom by means of a hinge at the top
of the collar.
In making cart collars or collars for heavy draught I generally provide as
a fastening at the bottom of the collar a notched bar, which is attached to the
lower end of one side of the collar, and which takes into a fixed stud secured
on the corresponding part of the other half of the collar; by this means it
will be evident that by lifting the notched bar the size of a collar may be
enlarged or diminished to the degree required.
In constructing harness collars, or collars for light draught, I generally
prefer to use a perforated plate attached to the bottom of one side of the collar,
which slides into a hollow metal box secured to the corresponding part of the
other half of the collar, and which box is fitted with a spring acting on a metal
tongue, which tongue takes into either of the holes of the perforated plate that
may be desired, remaining secured therein by the pressure of the spring; but
neither in constructing this description of collar, nor in that for heavy draught
before spoken of, do I at all limit myself to the precise means or apparatus
mentioned, as any other suitable contrivances for fastening the lower ends of
the collar may be employed.
By means of having the collar made to open I am enabled to construct the
interior or padding of the collar considerably narrower than has been usual,
and of such a shape as to fit the shoulders of any horse; by this means also
the draught is adjusted to those parts where it is most needed, and the possi-
bility of a horse becoming choked whilst drawing is prevented.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be performed, I
declare that what I claim as my Invention, to be protected by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
Firstly, the combination of a metal framework with the body of the collar,
so as to render unnecessary the use of any separate hames.
Secondly, the mode of so constructing the collar as to allow the same to
open at the top, and securing the lower ends of the same by any of the means
herein-before described, or by any other suitable contrivances.

page_text: Thirdly, the construction of the interior or padding of the 'collar of the
desired shape, as herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Stokes, have hereunto 'set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of January, in the year of 'our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.