A NEW OR IMPROVED HOOK FOR BEARING UP THE HEADS OF HORSES IN DRAWING CARRIAGES
Year: 1809

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ABRAHAM
SEWARD, of Lancaster, Tin-plate Worker, do send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the First day of March,
in the forty-ninth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
Abraham Seward, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Abraham
Seward, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of years
therein expressed, and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"A NEW OR IMPROVED HOOK FOR BEARING UP THE HEADS OF HORSES IN DRAWING
CARRIAGES;" in which Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging
me, the said Abraham Seward, under my hand and seal, to cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within one month next and immediately after the date of the
said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being
thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Abraham Seward, do hereby declare that my said Invention consists in a spring
or springs being so fixed to what is commonly called the watering hook of a
saddle as to communicate by means of the bearing rein a certain freedom of
action to the motion of the horse's head in travelling.
These improved watering hooks may be constructed in various forms, and

page_text: the application of a spring or springs be varied in many different ways, accord-
ing as circumstances may require, or the ingenuity of the maker suggest.
The annexed Figure represents what I conceive to be one of the most
proper and convenient constructions of these improved hooks. The lid or
cover is removed in order to shew the inside work. A is a round plate of brass
or other metal, firmly screwed or otherwise fixed to the pummel of a saddle
B; C is the bearing rein; D, D, is the watering hook, moveable round the
centro O. To the hook at D is rivetted or otherwise fastened a circular wire,
having upon it what is commonly called a worm spring e, c, f. To the plate A
at g is rivetted or otherwise fixed a ring or flat piece of metal, having a hole
through it sufficiently large to admit the circular wire, but not so large as to
suffer the spring to pass through it. By this means the end f of the spring is
prevented from moving during the motion of the hook and circular wire, and
the other end, reacting against the hook, has a constant tendency to keep it in
the situation represented in the Figure, and consequently resists in some degree
any force tending to draw the hook round the centre O. From the above
description, it is easy to conceive that by means of the spring e, e, f, the bearing
rein C is constantly drawn back with a certain degree of force, at the same time
allowing it a proper motion or play; thus a freedom is given to the motion of
the horse's head similar to that which is given by the hand of a rider. In place
of the worm spring, a spiral or other spring or springs may be made use of in
the construction of my improved hook.
In witness whereof, I, the said Abraham Seward, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and nine.
ABM (L.S.) SEWARD.