IMPROVEMENTS IN 'BITS' FOR HORSES' BRIDLES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN 'BITS' FOR HORSES' BRIDLES."-A communication.
Sealed the 1st November 1858, and dated the 6th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
May 1858.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BITTS' FOR HORSES' BRIDLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements applicable to all kinds of horses'
bitts whereby they are controlled or stopped. These improvements are
intended to enable the immediate checking of the most fiery or runaway horse
by a simple movement of the hand; the construction of these bitts is very simple
and requires no change in the forms of bitts hitherto used. It consists in the
application of two pallets, which the driver or rider, by means of the bridle
and some small gear, causes to rise in the horse's mouth and press its upper
lip against its nostrils; the horse being unable to respire will stop almost
directly.
These improvements are represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed,
in which Fig. 1 is a view of the bitt furnished with its two pallets, which are
in their extreme and closed position; Fig. 2 is a side view of the bitt
furnished with its pallets, the two positions of the pallets are shown, one in
dotted lines; Fig. 3 is a third view of the bitt; in this view the pallets are
open and in their extreme opposite position. In all these Figures similar
letters of reference indicate like parts where they recur.

page_text: a, bitt of ordinary construction, its position is not changed in the horse's
mouth. b, rod traversing the horse's mouth, and fixed to the bitt at its two
extremities. c, cam or boss placed on rod 6; it serves to govern the horse in
ordinary, it is actuated by a simple movement of the bridle which is insufficient
for affecting the gearing of the toothed segments which raise the pallets herein-
after referred to. d, d, round, square, or other shaped rings fixed to each
extremity of rod 6; the reins are buckled in these rings. e, e, small toothed
segments fixed on each extremity of rod b, they receive the motion imparted
to rod 6 by the reins. f. f. pallets which form the principal feature of the
ff,
Invention; they are placed in the interior of the frame of the bitt, and have a
vertical rotary motion. g, g, second toothed segments placed outside the bitt
on the axis of pallets f,f; they receive motion from the first segments e, e.
h, h, springs pressing on arms of d, d, and bringing them back when the
pressure of the hand on the reins has ceased or does not exist. i, i, plates
fixed outside the toothed segments, which they serve to cover and protect.
jj, screws serving to hold plates i, i; they are fixed to the extremities of rod b,
and to the extremities of the axis of the pallets f. f. The action of this bitt
will be readily understood; it is actuated like ordinary bitts, supposing all the
parts arranged as indicated in the Drawings, and placed in a horse's mouth.
When it is required to stop the horse under ordinary circumstances the reins
should be pulled gently, this slight tension suffices to cause the cam or boss c
to act in the horse's mouth, but will not communicate motion to the pallets f,f,
by reason of the toothed segments not being always in contact or in gear,
owing to their shape. If on the contrary the horse were to run away, a greater
tension suffices to bring the gearing segments e, e, and g, g, immediately into
gear, and thereby to raise the pallets f, f, which being placed just inside the
horse's mouth will carry the horse's upper lip with them in their movement,
and close the animal's nostrils; the pain and the want of air will make the
horse stop immediately.
f,
The Invention therefore consists in the application to horses' bits of parts
whereby the unner lin of the horse
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM 35
CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent and
Civil Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto I, the
said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William Clark, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Clark, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BITTS' FOR HORSES' BRIDLES," (a communication), upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Clark, 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 Clark, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
This Invention consists of improvements applicable to all sorts of bits.
These improvements have for their object to restrain and stop short, by a slight
movement of the hand, the most fiery and furious horse.
The construction is extremely simple, and does not in any way alter the
form of those already in use. The arrangement consists of an ordinary bit, to
which I add a nose band carrying two small steel pallets which press on the
nostrils of the horse to close or stop them; the nose band is furnished
throughout the inner surface with small knives or teeth, which aid in making
the horse obey. The movement of this nose band is produced by a supple-
mentary rein; the effect is graduated according as this check rein is more or
less pulled.
This improved bit is represented in the annexed Drawing, in which Fig. 1
shows the edge view of the bit, the nose band, and the nostril stoppers; Fig. 2
shows a front view of the bit; Fig. 3 shows a front view of the nose band
jointed so as to be capable of pressing across the horse's nose; Fig. 4 is a
front view of another arrangement of hinged or jointed nose band, with red

page_text: lines, showing the different positions which may be given to the nose band by
means of the hinge. The same letters of reference indicate like parts in all
the Figures where they recur. a, bit, properly so called,, of the usual form;
b, b, two toothed segments turning on fixed axes on the side plates of the
vertical bars of the bit; these toothed segments each carry a double eye-piece,
to one eye of which is attached the rein which acts upon the nose band, and
to the other eye the chain of the nose band is fastened. c, c, two pinions
gearing with the segments b, b, and turning on an axis, also fixed on the side
plates of the vertical bars of the bit. These pinions gearing with the toothed
segments b, cause the bit to turn in the horse's mouth, which result is, however,
not very essential. d, d, two short chains, one on each side, connecting the
nose band to the bit, properly so called; e, nose band, which is as is seen formed
of a piece of curved metal which embraces the nose of the horse. This metal
piece is notched or furnished with small cutting teeth; it is hinged at its upper
part, which permits, by a slight movement, to press the nose of the horse,
(see Fig. 4); the two ends of the nose band are attached to the two short
chains d, d. f. f, nostril stoppers, consisting of metal pallets, which are of a
convex form; they are fixed to each of the hinged parts of the nose band, and
are placed over the nostrils of the horse to close them, when the latter, thereby
losing the power of respiration, becomes managable. The action of the nose
band and the nostril stoppers is effected, as will be understood, by the same
movement, the action being gradual and simultaneous.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the improved bit, characterized
1st, by a hinged nose band, which presses on the nose of the horse;
2ndly, by a nostril stopper, which prevents the respiration of the horse, the
nose band and the nostril stopper being governed by a supplemental rein.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fourth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
W. G. E. SWINNOCK,
53, Chancery Lane.
W. CLARK. (L.S.)