IMPROVEMENTS IN HARNESS SADDLES AND HARNESS PADS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clay, of Yardley, in the County of Wor-
cester, Saddler, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HARNESS
SADDLES AND HARNESS PADS."
Sealed the 14th August 1868, and dated the 14th March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clay at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th March 1868.
I, JOHN CLAY, of Yardley, in the County of Worcester, Saddler, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HARNESS SADDLES AND HARNESS PADS," to be as follows :--
My Invention relates to those parts of harness called harness saddles
and harness pads, and especially to the trees of the said harness saddles
or harness pads. I make the saddle or pad tree of iron or other
hard metal or alloy. I prefer to make the said saddle or pad tree by
the process of casting, but the said saddle or pad tree may be made
by pressing, or forging, or stamping. When I make the saddle or
pad tree by casting I prefer to lighten it by making openings in those

page_text: parts where continuity of surface is not required. The saddle or pad
tree is made of the usual form, that is, the under side is formed to fit
the back of the animal, and the top or upper side is formed with a
trough to receive the backband or strap. When the harness saddle
or harness pad is provided with a cantle I make the said cantle of
metal and separately from the saddle or pad tree, and fix it to the
tree by means of a bolt at the back and the usual hook or stop knob
at the front of the said tree; I then cover the upper side of the saddle
or pad tree with leather, which is secured thereto by pins or bolts,
and screws or rivets. The detached metallic cantle may either be
covered with leather or other covering or enamelled with a vitreous
-enamel, the enamelling being either plain or ornamental. The back-
band stay at the end of the trough of the saddle or pad tree may
also be enamelled. Those parts of the harness saddle or harness pad
called the flaps are made in the usual manner and are secured to the
saddletree by rivets and to the top leather by stitching in the usual
manner. The panels or paddings of the said saddles or pads are made
and fixed in the usual manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Clay in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 4th September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CLAY, of Yardley, in the County of Worcester, Saddler, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Clay, Her special licence that I,
the said John Clay, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Clay, 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 HARNESS SADDLES

page_text: par-
AND HARNESS PADS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Clay, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing, under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should
ticularly 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 John Clay, 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 following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to those parts of harness called harness saddles
and harness pads, and especially to the trees of the said harness saddles.
or harness pads. I make the saddle or pad tree of iron or other hard
metal or alloy. I prefer to make the said saddle or pad tree by the
process of casting, but the said saddle or pad tree may be made by
pressing, or forging, or stamping. When I make the saddle or pad
tree by casting I prefer to lighten it by making openings in those
parts where continuity of surface is not required. The said saddle or
pad tree is made of the usual form, that is, the under side is formed
to fit the back of the animal, and the top or upper side is formed with
a trough to receive the back band or strap. The metallic saddle or
pad tree is made by preference in one piece, but it may be made in
two or more pieces. When made of two or more pieces the said pieces
may be joined together by rivetting, or screwing, or otherwise. When
I make the said saddle or pad trees by casting I make the moulds and
conduct the casting process in the ordinary manner. When I make
the said saddle or pad trees by pressing or stamping I employ press
and stamping tools and mechanism of the kind commonly employed
in making similar articles. When the harness saddle or harness pad
is provided with a cantle or top I make the said cantle or top of metal
or other sufficiently hard material, and separately from the saddle or
pad tree, and fix it to the tree by means of a bolt at the back, and the
usual hook or stop knob at the front of the said tree. I cover the
upper side of the saddle or pad tree with leather, which is secured thereto
by pins or bolts, and screws or rivets. The detached cantle or top may
either be covered with leather or other covering, or when made of metal
it may be enamelled with a vitreous enamel, the enamelling being either

page_text: plain or ornamental. The backband stay at the end of the trough of
the saddle or pad tree may also be treated in a similar manner to the
cantle or top. When the detached cantle or top of the saddle or pad
is made of metal I prefer to make it by stamping or pressing in dies;
it however may be made by bending or fashioning sheet metal into the
required form by hand. Those parts of the harness saddle or harness
pad called the flaps are made in the usual manner, and are secured to
the saddle or pad tree by rivets, and to the top leather by stitching in
the usual manner. The panels or paddings of the said saddles or pads
are made and fixed in the usual manner.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that
I do not limit myself to the precise details herein described, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention;
but I claim as my Invention of improvements in harness saddles and
harness pads,
Firstly. Making the trees of the said harness saddles and harness
pads of iron or other hard metal or alloy, substantially as herein-before
described.
Secondly. Making the cantles or tops of harness saddles and harness
pads of metal or other hard material and separately from the saddle
or pad tree, and attaching the said detached cantles or tops to the trees
and finishing the said cantles or tops, substantially as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Clay, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
JOHN CLAY. (L.S.)