AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN WHIP HOLDERS OR WHIP SOCKETS."
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hewitt, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN WHIP HOLDERS OR WHIP SOCKETS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hewitt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th November 1860.
I, WILLIAM HEWITT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN WHIP HOLDERS OR WHIP SOCKETS," to be as
follows:-
My said Invention consists in the introduction of springs of the kind herein-
after described into whip holders or sockets for the purpose of holding securely
the whip inserted in the said whip holder or socket. The said springs are
situated in the whip holder or socket in the position hereinafter explained.
The springs I employ in carrying my Invention into effect consist of strips of
steel of a length nearly equal to that of the whip socket. The said strips
are bent near each end so as to give them a bow shape. The said springs are
covered with soft leather or other soft material. Four or other number (but
I prefer four) of the said springs are inserted and fixed in the interior of the
whip socket, the convex side of each spring being turned towards the axis of

page_text: the whip socket. The said springs are fixed by rivets at each end, which
rivets connect the ends of the springs to the whip socket near the top and
bottom, or the springs may be attached by stitching. The convex sides of the
springs meet or nearly meet in the axis of the whip socket, and when the whip
handle is inserted in the whip socket, it presses the springs apart and flattens
them. The said springs, by their elasticity, hold the whip handle firmly, but
from their figure and smoothness do not injure the whip handle, as it is
inserted in and withdrawn from the socket.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Hewitt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th 1
May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HEWITT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Hewitt, Her special licence that I, the said William
Hewitt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Hewitt, 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 IM-
PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN WHIP HOLDERS OR WHIP SOCKETS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Hewitt, 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 William Hewitt, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say :-

page_text: My said Invention consists in the introduction into whip holders or whip
sockets of springs of the kind berein-after described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing, for the purpose of holding securely the whip inserted
in the whip holder or socket. The said springs are situated in the whip
holder or socket in the position herein-after described and illustrated in the
Drawing.
The springs which I employ in carrying my Invention into effect consist of
strips of steel, properly hardened and tempered, of a length nearly equal to
that of the whip holder or socket with which they are used. The said strips
of steel are bent near each end so as to give them somewhat of a bow shape;
the said springs are covered with soft leather or other soft material.
Figure 1 of the Drawing represents, in side elevation and front elevation, a
spring of the kind described covered with soft leather or other soft material.
Four or other number (but I prefer four) of the said springs are inserted and
fixed in the interior of the whip holder or socket in the manner represented
in the Drawing; Figure 2 represents an elevation of a whip holder or socket
made according to my Invention; Figure 3 is a vertical section of the same;
and Figure 4 is a horizontal section of the same taken through the line a,
Figure 2; Figure 5 represents a vertical section of the whip socket with a
portion of a whip handle inserted and held in the said socket; b, b, are the
bow or nearly bow-shaped springs in the socket, the convex side of each spring
being turned towards the axis of the whip socket. Each of the said springs
b, is fixed at top to the whip socket by stitching and at bottom by a rivet c,
or by stitching. The soft leather or other covering or casing to the springs
is made a little longer than the springs at each end thereof, and the stitching
or rivetting is effected through the said soft leather or other material. The
convex and nearly parallel sides of the springs b, b, nearly meet in the axis of
the whip socket, the said springs enclosing in the said axis a nearly rectan-
gular space, as seen in the section, Figure 4. On inserting the whip handle d
into the socket, as represented in Figure 5, it presses the springs b, b, apart,
and somewhat flattens them. The said springs, by their elasticity, hold the
whip handle d firmly between them, but from their figure and smoothness do
not injure the said whip handle, as it is inserted in or withdrawn from the
socket. After the withdrawal of the whip handle d the springs b, b, return by
their elasticity to their normal figure and position, as represented in Figures
3 and 4.
Instead of taking the springs separately and fixing them one at a time in
the socket, I prefer to join the said springs together before inserting and
fixing them in the socket-that is to say, I take a strip or band of leather e,

page_text: Figure 6, and fix the properly covered springs b, b, at equidistant points on it
by stitching. I join the two ends of the band e together, as represented in
Figure 7, and afterwards insert the series of springs into the socket in the
manner represented in the Drawing, and fix the said springs at top to the
socket by stitching the band e thereto, and rivet the bottom end of each spring
to the bottom of the socket; by this means the springs are readily put
together and fixed in the socket.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I
claim as my Invention the improvement or improvements in whip holders or
whip sockets horein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, that is to say, introducing and fixing in the whip holder or whip
socket bow-shaped or nearly bow-shaped springs, the said springs being
arranged or disposed in the whip holder or whip socket essentially in the
manner herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hewitt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
WILLIAM HEWITT. (L.S.)