AN IMPROVED MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR CLIPPING HORSES OR OTHER ANIMALS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Flear, of Gayton, near Ross, in the County
of Hereford, Coachman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE
OR APPARATUS FOR CLIPPING HORSES OR OTHER ANIMALS."
The combs are made at the heel in the same manner as the heel of an
-ordinary pair of clipping-scissors or shears, and they work-round-a-rivet
or stud (held by a thumbscrew) as-a-centre. The combs-are-hollowed
out or shaped in such a manner that contact exists between them only

page_text: at the heel and at the cutting points or blades, in which places they are
both made perfectly flat and smooth, thereby greatly diminishing the
friction and allowing the apparatus to be worked much more easily.
The top comb is made about half an inch wider than the bottom one on
the right hand of the person using the machinc.
The teeth or cutting blades of the two combs are cut in different
directions, that is, the teeth of the bottom comb are cut from the under
side, and the teeth of the top comb from the upper side, the cutting
part of the blades lying perfectly level on each other.
-
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Flear in the Great Scal Patent Office on the
13th August 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FLEAR, of Gayton, near Ross, in the County of Hereford, Coachman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of February; in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and, seventy, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Flear, Her special licence
that I, the said John Flear, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Flear, 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 MACHINE OR
APPARATUS FOR CLIPPING HORSES OR OTHER ANIMALS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Flear, my executors or ad-
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or onc
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Flear, 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 in writing, reference.being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, that is to say:
:
The object of this Invention is to provide a simple and effective means
of clipping horses or other animals.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figures 1 and 2 represent
the front elevation of the apparatus in two positions, exhibiting the
apparatus as closed in Figure 1 and open in Figure 2; Figure 3 is a sidé
view of Figure 1, and Figure 4 exhibits on an enlarged scale in the
part a the positions of the teeth of the two combs when the machine or
clipping apparatus is closed, as shown in Figure 1, and in the part b
the positions of the same when the apparatus is open, as shown' in
Figure 2.
.
This improved machine or apparatus consists principally of two steel
or other suitable metal combs c, d, each being of a semicircular shape
round the outside edge, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, and which have
teeth or cutting blades formed in each of them.
The combs c and d are made at the heel in the same manner as the
heel of an ordinary pair of clipping scissors or shears, and they work
round a single rivet or stud e (held by a thumbscrew f) as a centre.
The combs are' hollowed out or shaped in such a manner (see
Figure 3) that contact exists between them only at the heel and at the
cutting points or blades, in which places they are both made perfectly
flat and smooth, thereby greatly diminishing the friction, and allowing
the apparatus to be worked very easily. The top comb c is made about
half an inch wider than the bottom one d on the right hand of the
person using the machine, so that the whole width of both combs is in
full action in every position.
The teeth or cutting blades of the two combs are cut in different
directions, that is, the teeth of the bottom comb d are cut, from the
under side, and the teeth of the top comb c from the upper side, the
cutting part of the blades lying perfectly level on cach other.
The-modo-of-working the apparatus is as follows:-The handle gis
held in the left hand, and the-apparatus is thereby pushed under the
hair (for which purpose the teeth of the bottom comb dare cut from the
under side) contrary to the growth so that it raises the same, and the

page_text: handle being rapidly moved to and fro by the right hand causes the
comb c to cut the hair in a very even and perfect manner, the whole
width of the clipping apparatus on account of the comb c being pro-
longed a short distance equal to the length of the arc of cut on one side
(the right of the person using the apparatus) beyond the extremity of
.the comb d.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention for
"An Improved Machine or Apparatus for Clipping Horses or other
Animals," together with the manner in which the same is to be or
may be performed or carried into practical effect, I would remark in
conclusion that what I claim as my Invention is, the improved con-
struction and improved arrangement of a machine or apparatus for
clipping horses or other animals, substantially as herein-before described
and as illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings or any
equivalent modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Flear, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Sixth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy.