IMPROVEMENTS IN BITS FOR HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS."
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lionel Weber, of Place du Congrès, Brussels, in the
Kingdom of Belgium, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BITS FOR
HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lionel Weber at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
January 1865.
I, LIONEL WEBER, of Place du Congrès, Brussels, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BITS FOR HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS," to be as follows:-
In constructing a bit for horses and other animals according to this Inven-
tion the bit is composed of four cheeks or branches, two to come on each side of
the mouth of the horse. The two cheeks on each side are of different lengths,
and are connected together at their upper ends by a pin joint. Each cheek
carries at its lower end a ring, to which a rein is to be attached. The two
shorter cheeks are also prolonged a short distance above the point where they
are pinjointed to the longer cheeks, and at the upper ends of these prolonga-
tions they are furnished with other rings, by which they are connected to the
head stall. To these rings is also attached a light chain, which is to pass
behind the lip of the horse or other animal. The two shorter cheeks, which
come one on either side of the mouth of the animal, are connected together

page_text: intermediate of their length by a transverse bar, which forms the mouth-piece
of the bit. The two longer cheeks are also joined together by a similar cross
bar, which when the short and long cheeks or branches on either side of the
bit are nearly parallel with each other comes behind and corresponds with
the bar connecting the shorter cheeks. When the rein connected to the
rings of the shorter cheeks is pulled on, the cheeks merely act as levers to
draw back the mouth-piece of the bit, as in an ordinary snaffle bit. When,
however, the rein connected to the rings of the longer cheeks is pulled on,
the bit acts as a curb, the cheeks being then caused to separate the one from
the other by turning on their pin joints, so causing the cross bars which form
the mouth-piece of the bit to separate the one from the other, and by this
means produce additional pressure on the jaws of the animal.
It will thus be seen that the bit combines the advantages of a snaffle and
a curb, and that the snaffle and the curb can be used either separately or
jointly.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Lionel Weber in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LIONEL
WEBER, of Place du Congrès, Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Lionel Weber, Her special licence that I, the said Lionel Weber,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Lionel
Weber, 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 BITS
FOR HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
J, the said Lionel Weber, 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

page_text: 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 Lionel Weber, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
In constructing a bit for horses and other animals according to this Inven-
tion the bit is composed of four cheeks or branches, two to come on each side
of the mouth of the horse. The two cheeks on each side are of different
lengths, and are connected together at their upper ends by a pin joint. Each
cheek carries at its lower end a ring, to which a rein is to be attached. The
two shorter cheeks are also prolonged a short distance above the point where
they are pinjointed to the longer cheeks, and at the upper ends of these
prolongations they are furnished with other rings, by which they are connected
to the bend stall. To these rings is also attached a light chain, which is to
pass behind the lip of the horse or other animal. The two shorter cheeks, which
come one on either side of the mouth of the animal, are connected together
intermediate of their length by a transverse bar, which forms the mouth-picce
of the bit. The two longer cheeks are also joined together by a similar cross
bar, which when the short and long cheeks or branches on either side of the
bit are nearly parallel with each other comes behind and corresponds with
the bar connecting the shorter cheeks. When the rein connected to the rings
of the shorter cheeks is pulled on, the cheeks merely act as levers to draw
back the mouth-piece of the bit, as in an ordinary snaffle bit. When, however,
the rein connected to the rings of the longer cheeks is pulled on, the bit acts
as a curb, the cheeks being then caused to separate the one from the other by
turning on their pin joints, so causing the cross bars which form the mouth-
piece of the bit to separate the one from the other, and by this means produce
additional pressure on the jaws of the animal.
It will thus be seen that the bit combines the advantages of a snaffle and
a curb, and that the snaffle and the curb can be used either separately or
jointly.
The Drawings hereunto annexed shew a bit constructed in the manner
above described.
Figure 1 shews a front view of the bit with the bars which form the mouth-
piece close together; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the bit, shewing the
parts in the same position; and Figure 3, a perspective view, shewing the bars
separated the one from the other.

page_text: a, a are the rings to which the snaffle reins are attached, these rings being
at the lower ends of the shorter cheeks b, b, and c, c, are the rings at the lower
ends of the longer cheeks d, d, to which the curb reins are connected; e, e, are
the pin joints which connect together the two cheeks on each side of the bit;
ff, are the rings at the top of the cheeks b, b, by which the bit is connected
to the head stall; g is the mouth-piece of the bit, composed of a bar con-
necting together the shorter cheeks, and of another bar connecting the two
longer cheeks; h is the strap or chain which passes behind the lip of the horse
or other animal; this chain is connected by hooks to the rings f, f. When the
snaffle reins are pulled on, the parts of the bit remain in the same positions_as<
those shown in Figures 1 and 2, and the bit works as an ordinary snaffle
bit. When the curb reins are pulled on, the parts separate in the manner
shewn at Figure 3, and so press upon both jaws of the animal, as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lionel Weber, have hereunto set my 1
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
LIONEL WEDD
LIONEL WEBER. (..)