IMPROVED 'MEANS AND Apparatus for Training and Testing Dogs
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Falle Geary, of No. 4, Great Winchester Street
Buildings, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
'MEANS AND Apparatus for Training and Testing Dogs.":
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Falle Geary at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th July 1875.
I, FALLE GEARY, of No. 4, Great Winchester Street Buildings, in the
City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR TRAINING AND TESTING DOGS," to be as
follows:
My Invention relates to means of training dogs and testing their
capabilities by the use of an artificial prey moved by mechanism so as
to avoid the cruelty attending the coursing or hunting of live animals.
For this purpose I imbed in the ground a tube having a slit along its
upper side, and in this tube I fit a sliding block, which may be provided
with antifriction rollers, so that it can run casily within, the tube. I

page_text: attach this block by a wire or cord to a barrel, on which it can be
rapidly wound, so that the block can be pulled along the tube with
great velocity. A stud projects from the block through the slit of the
tube, and to this stud I attach an image of a hare or other animal,
which when the block is moved in the tube under ground is made to
move with it above ground. The image thus moved forms the object
of pursuit for the dogs, and the tube being sunk they can pursue it
without their feet being exposed to injury from anything projecting
above ground.
Instead of employing a continuous sunk tube with sliding block as
above described the wire or cord may be attached directly to the image
of the animal, and may be guided through rings held in spring clips
fixed in the ground in such manner that as the image reaches cach
successive clip it is opened, and the ring is released from it and carried
along with the image.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Falle Geary in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 8th January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FALLE
GEARY, of No. 4, Great Winchester Street Buildings, in the City of
London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Falle Geary, Her special
license that I, the said Falle Geary, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Falle Geary, 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 "IMPROVED MEANS
AND APPARATUS FOR TRAINING AND TESTING Docs," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Falle Geary, my executors or adminis.

page_text: trators, 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 Falle Geary, 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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :—
My Invention relates to means of training dogs and testing their
capabilities by the use of an artificial prey moved by mechanism so as
to avoid the cruelty attending the coursing or hunting of live animals.
For this purpose I imbed in the ground a tube having a slit along its
upper side, and in this tube I fit a sliding block, which may be provided
with antifriction rollers, so that it can run easily within the tube. I
attach this block by a wire or cord to a barrel, on which it can be
rapidly wound, so that the block can be pulled along the tube with
great velocity. A stud projects from the block through the slit of the
tube, and to this stud I attach an image of a hare or other animal, which
when the block is moved in the tube under ground is made to move
with it above ground. The image thus moved forms the object of
pursuit for the dogs, and the tube being sunk they can pursue it
without their feet being exposed to injury from anything projecting
above ground.
Instead of employing a continuous sunk tube with sliding block as
above described the wire or cord may be attached directly to the image
of the animal, and may be guided through rings held in spring clips
fixed in the ground in such manner that as the image reaches each
successive clip it is opened, and the ring is released from it and carried
along with the image.

page_text: A is a tube sunk in the ground with a longitudinal slit along its
upper side. This tube is made in lengths jointed together, and at the
same time secured in position by means of annular wedge pieces B
inserted between the tube and chairs C that are fixed on sleepers or
other suitable supports. Within the tube is a block D having a stem E
projecting through the slit of the tube with an image F of a hare or
other animal attached thereto. The block D is preferably made with
antifriction rollers & to render its passage along the tube more easy
when it is hauled by the cord G.
Instead of employing a continuous tube, clip rings for guiding the
cord may be placed at intervals along the ground, as shewn in front
view in Fig. 4 and side view in Fig. 5. H is one of such rings having a
stem, which is inserted in a fixed socket clip K with sufficient tightness
to keep the ring in place unless it is forcibly pulled out of the said
socket. As the moving image approaches each successive ring a cross
bar, disc, or swell on the cord, which is too wide to pass through the
ring, causes the ring to be pulled out of the socket and carried on along
with the cord and image to the end of the course.
Instead of employing a tube sunk in the ground or a series of clip
rings attached to sockets in the ground the cord may be guided overhead
as shown in side view in Fig. 6 and front view in Fig. 7. In this case
wires or bars L are fixed at intervals across the course to
any convenient
supports at a height sufficient to let the dogs run freely under them.
On each of these wires or bars is fixed a bracket M carrying a pulley,
over which the cord G is passed, and by which it is guided. An
eccentric disc N fixed to the bracket guides the cord, so that it cannot
get caught by slipping in between the pulley and the bracket. A
tapered swell O upon the cord somewhat in advance of the image when
it comes up to the disc N and pulley throws the cord off, so that the
image passes clear under the pulley. The cord G may be pulled by any
convenient means.
I find it convenient to employ horse power for this purpose, using a
multiplying crab of the kind shewn in side view at Fig. 8 and end view
at Fig. 9. P is a barrel, on which is wound a rope or chain, and which
is connected by multiplying gear with another barrel Q, on which the
cord G is wound. A horse or horses being attached to the rope or chain
of the barrel P so as to draw it off and thereby cause the barrel to

page_text: revolve the other barrel Q is made to revolve with greater speed, winding
on it the cord G, which pulls the image.
A handle R may be employed to work the winch by hand or to
reverse it for the purpose of winding the hauling rope or chain.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim, the method substantially
as herein described of training dogs and testing their capabilities' by
drawing rapidly onwards the image of a hare or other prey, so that they
may pursue the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Falle Geary, have hereunto 'set
my hand and seal, this Sixth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.