AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF MANGER FASTENING
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Williams Baker, of Park Farm, Woburn;
in the County of Bedford, Farm Steward, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF MANGER FASTENING."
Sealed the 27th May 1859, and dated the 14th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Williams Baker
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th December 1858.
I, GEORGE WILLIAMS BAKER, of Park Farm, Woburn, in the County of
Bedford, Farm Steward, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF MANGER FASTENING," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to secure horses and cattle to their mangers
in such a manner that on the alarm of fire being given they may be quickly
released without the necessity for entering the several stalls to disengage the
animals. To this end I fit up a range of stabling or stalls with a sliding
rod, which may extend to any given number of stalls, and form a bolt for
securing a series of hinged staples, which severally carry a ring or link
through which the band or chain is passed that secures the animal to its
stall. When it is required to release the animals from their stall attachments,
it will only be necessary to give the sliding rod a short endway movement,
which will leave the hinged staples free to yield to the slight drag put on the

page_text: staples by any restless movement of the animals, or even the weight of the
attaching chain, and the ring or link will consequently slide off the staples
and release the animals.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Williams Baker in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WILLIAMS BAKER, of Park Farm, Woburn, in the County of Bedford, Farm
Steward, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said George Williams Baker, Her special license that I, the
said George Williams Baker, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Williams Baker, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 CONSTRUCTION OF MANGER FASTENING,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Williams Baker,
by an instrument in writing under my hand' and seal, 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 George Williams Baker, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to secure horses and cattle to their mangers
in such a manner that on an alarm of fire being given all the animals
occupying a long shed or range of stables may be quickly released, without
the necessity for entering the several stalls to disengage the animals. To

page_text: this end I provide a peculiar construction of bolt fastening, which I fit to
the several stalls, and I connect these fastenings together so that by one
movement the whole series of fastenings may be simultaneously acted upon,
and caused to release the animals connected thereto.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews in front view, and Fig. 2 in
vertical section, a fastening for securing cattle to their stalls. It consists of
a plate of iron a, to the lower end of which is hinged a tongue or staple b,
for receiving the ring or link through which the chain or rope for securing
the animal to the stall is passed. At the upper end of the plate a a socket c
is formed for receiving a sliding tube d, shewn detached at Fig. 3. This tube
is slotted in the direction of its length to receive the end of a stud pin e,
projecting from the socket c, for the purpose of retaining the tube in its
place, and limiting its sliding movement. A vertical slot is formed in the
socket c, to permit of the extremity of the staple 6 entering a corresponding
slot cut in the sliding tube d, which slot is continued at right angles to the
vertical cut; when, therefore, the vertical slots are brought into coincidence,
and the extremity of the tongue or staple b is inserted therein, by a simple
movement endwise of the tube d in its socket the hinged staple will be
locked in its raised position, the horizontal portion of the slot of the tube d
sliding over and holding fast the end of the staple b. This bullock fastening
I attach to the wall of the shed or stable by passing screws through the
screw holes of the plate a, and when two or more of these fastenings are to
be used in the same shed or stable, I fix them up at or near the same level,
and connect them together by a rigid connection, so that one movement will
serve to draw the bolts of all the fastenings in the row, and release the
animals from their stalls. To facilitate the connection of the bullock
fastenings with each other, I tap the sliding tubes of all the fastenings at
both ends, as shewn at Fig. 3 (the ends being drawn in section for that
purpose), and thus permit of lengths of common iron gas piping being applied
to connect the fastenings together. A continuous bolt will thus be formed,
extending in length according to the number of stalls ranged in one row or
series, and fitted with my Invention; and it will readily be seen that if the
connections are so made as to ensure the proper coincidence of the vertical
slots of all the sliding tubes d, with the vertical slots of their respective
sockets, one endway movement must cause the simultaneous disengagement
of all the staples in the row. This movement will be most conveniently
effected by carrying the continuous bolt through the end wall of the shed or
stable, and enclosing it in a fixed case fitted with a lever. Upon the first
alarm therefore of fire, this lever may be brought into operation, and the

page_text: animals will thus be released with their ties on, which will facilitate their
being led away and tied up at any convenient place, instead of being left to
run loose about the country.
Figures 4 and 5 shew a fastening intended for horses. It is constructed
and is intended to be fitted on precisely the same principle as the bullock
fastening; a further description, therefore, of this fastening will not be neces-
sary. I would remark that an obvious modification of this Invention would
be the rocking of the connected portions of hollow rod (which I have termed
the continuous bolt) in their sockets, and thereby locking the hinged staples,
the bolt being retained in the locking position by a spring stop or other
locking arrangement well known to mechanics. Or the sliding rod might be
provided with fingers or hooks standing out from the rod, and coming in
front of the hinged staples to retain them in their holdfast position. But
these plans, although falling within the principle of my Invention, are not
in my opinion so efficient as the arrangement described, with reference to the
Drawing.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved Con-
struction of Manger Fastening," and explained the manner of carrying the
'same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim, constructing manger fastenings as herein
described, whereby, on the alarm of fire being given, a row of stalled horses
or cattle may be simultaneously released from their several stalls.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Williams Baker, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
GEORGE WILLIAMS BAKER.
(L.S.)