APPARATUS FOR CLIPPING OR SHEARING HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS
Year: 1873

page_text: APPARATUS FOR CLIPPING OR SHEARING HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS,”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd April 1873.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 232, Oxford Street, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLIPPING OR SHEARING HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS,”
to be as follows:
-
The Invention relates more particularly to that portion of the horse
clipper giving motion to the cutter plate, and is designed for the purpose
of enabling such cutter plate to act with greater rapidity than hitherto,
whether when worked by hand or automatically..

page_text: In order that the Invention may be clearly understood I will describe
its adaptation to the "horse clipper" described in the Specification of
Letters Patent granted to John Robert Grayson for improvements
in apparatus for clipping or shearing horses or other animals, dated
October 22, 1869, No. 3076, although the improvements are equally
applicable to all similar class or construction of horse clipper, i.e., when
one cutter plate moves or slides over a bottom plate or comb.
•
The reason I have more particularly selected the horse clipper patented
by the said John Robert Grayson for the purposes of illustration is that
the cutter plate, as shewn and claimed in the Specification of such
Letters Patent, combines the novelty of an uniform friction being main-
tained whilst working (through the medium of fixed studs and friction
plate washers), together with the means employed for actuating such
plate by a vibrating lever actuating such plate from the centre of motion
between the two friction studs.
-
In adapting my present improvements to the "horse clipper" I
employ by preference a similar lever having its fulcrum in the bottom
plate, one end of which is provided with a stud working in the slot of
the top cutter plate between the friction plates in the centre of motion,
as herein-before referred to. The opposite end of such lever beyond its
fulcrum I connect by means of a rod to one end of a lever, the con-
necting pin of which forms the fulcrum thereof. This lever is one of
two levers connected together in the form of a "toggle" joint, the opposit
or other lever having its fulcrum fixed in the bottom plate. By this
arrangement, the "toggle" jointed levers when in a position parallel with
the cutter plate will have their fulcra at the greatest distance apart, but
if from this position the levers be moved equidistantly on either side the
centre of their motion the versid sine of the segment formed by the
radial movement of the toggle, the joint will cause the fulcrum of the
lever sliding in the slot of the bottom plate to move a distance equal to
the versid sine described by the segmental throw of the radial movement
of the toggle jointed levers. The motion of the sliding fulcrum being
transmitted through the connecting rod to the lever actuating the
cutter plate, gives the same a to-and-fro sliding motion or cut with each
single throw or movement of the toggle jointed levers in or out. Thus
it will be seen that by connecting the toggle jointed levers with a
common hand lever, such as described in the herein-before recited

page_text: Letters Patent, or by friction wheels and connecting rod or other well
known equivalent, a rapid, clean, and easy cutting motion will be trans-
mitted to the cutter plate.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said William
Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 232, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, 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 APPARATUS FOR
CLIPPING OR SHEARING HORSES OR OTHER ANIMALS," upon the condition.
(amongst others) that I, the said William Clark, my executors or admini-
strators, 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 on or
before the Fourteenth day of October, One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-three.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Clark, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say: :-
The Invention relates more particularly to that portion of the horse
clipper for giving motion to the cutter plate, and is designed for the

page_text: purpose of enabling such cutter plate to act with greater rapidity and
accuracy than hitherto whether when worked by hand or automatically.
In order that the Invention may by clearly understood I will describe
its adaptation to the horse clipper described and set forth in the Speci-
fication of Letters Patent, granted to John Robert Grayson, on the
22nd of October, 1869, No. 3076, to which are also added slight modi-
fications or extensions thereof relating to the parts designed for regu-
lating and maintaining the frictional contact between the surface of the
cutter plate and under plates, such improvements being equally applic-
able to all horse clippers of similar construction, that is, where a cutter
plate moves or slides over a bottom plate or comb with a pressure that
requires when adjusted to be maintained in action.
The clipper shewn and described in Grayson's Patent differs from the
clipper theretofore constructed in respect to the arrangement of fixed
studs, nuts, and friction washers, in connection with the cutter plate,
and is such that the same when lubricated will have an uniformity of
friction in action that will allow the same to be maintained, whether the
cutter plate be driven at a quick or slow velocity. The capability of
realizing a continual pressure and an uniformity of friction in the
manner herein-after described, has enabled me to further develop the
utility and advantages of the 'horse clipper by adapting thereto an
arrangement of levers that will transmit to the cutter plate an easy,
rapid to-and-fro movement, which will materially accelerate the cutting
or shearing operation. .
In adapting the first part of these improvements to the horse clipper
I employ by preference a lever for actuating the cutter plate which has
its fulcrum in the bottom plate, the end of which is provided with a
stud working in a slot in the top cutter plate, in the centre of motion
between two friction plates. These friction plates are caused to exert
a pressure on the cutter plate by means of a yielding pressure, obtained a
through the medium of concave washers, which are forced down on
the cutter plate by nuts screwed on fixed studs, or by pressure finger
plates, or other equivalent, that will cause the frictional contact of the
cutter plate against the under plate to be maintained at an uniform and
even pressure.
Having thus preliminarily set forth arrangements provided for the

page_text: maintainance of an accurate friction between the plates which will be
more fully described hereafter, I will proceed to describe the arrange-.
ment of mechanism giving the accelerated motion to the cutter plate.
For this purpose the plate of the clipper is provided with two or more
levers arranged in accordance with the medium employed for driving
them, the peculiar construction and adaptation of which will transmit
to the cutter plate a double or quadruple throw for every single move-
ment of the handle actuating the same, or if driven automatically for
every single revolution of driving disc or crank.
The principle of this Invention consists in placing two levers or
their equivalents with their fulcră at right angles to each other,
that is, one at right angles to the cutter plate and the other parallel.
therewith. The extremity of this parallel lever from its fulcrum
when caused to reciprocate will describe the segment of a circle
radially on each side of its centre of motion; the versed sine described
between the segment and chord so formed will represent a distance or
throw in a rectilinear direction of a given point from the segment to the
chord and back again during the time the lever is moving the length of
the radial throw before mentioned. The extremity of this parallel lever
is provided with a straight slot or segmental curved one which if the
latter is in a position reverse to that which it describes when actuated by
the working of the handle of the clipper. Into this slot a stud is inserted
which forms one end of the lever working at right angles to the cutter
plate. The opposite end of this lever on the other side of its fulcrum
is also provided with a stud which fits into the slot formed in the cutter
plate in a central position between the frictional plates, herein-before
mentioned, so that when a vibrating motion is given to the working
handles the segmental slot of the parallel lever will transmit to the
cutter plate, through the lever placed at right angles thereto, a to-and-fro
sliding movement with each and every single vibration of the actuating
lever. Or an equivalent of this arrangement may be obtained. by
forming a stud at the extremity of the lever giving the segmental throw
which works or slides in a slot of the lever placed at right angles to
the cutter plate and which through the medium of a stud at its
extremity gives motion to the same in a manner before described, that is,
for every single throw of the segmental stud in the slot of the lever
a to-and-fro motion will be given to a second slotted lever or direct to
the cutter plate.

page_text: In order that the Invention may be better understood, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I have hereunto attached two
Sheets of Drawings made about full size, similar letters of reference
being marked on corresponding parts and on all the Figures alike. But
as the design and arrangement of parts giving the quick movement
to the cutter plate forming the subject of the second part of this
Invention is a further developement of the usefulness of the horse
clipper consequent upon the previous arrangement of parts set forth
in John Robert Grayson's Patent, No. 3076, A.D. 1869, together with.
additions and modifications thereto, and which relate more particularly
to those parts of the horse clipper designed for maintaining determined
and adjustable friction between the movable cutter plate and under
fixed plates, I will first proceed to describe and illustrate a few of such

page_text: and working contact of the plates A and B when once adjusted. The
arrangement and application of such friction plates will be more readily
understood on reference to Figures 2, 3, and 4.
Fig. 2 represents a similar modification to the last, with the exception
that a friction ptate is used in lieu of friction washers. In this arrange-
ment the cutter plate B retains the peculiarity of its concaved formation,
above which and bearing only on the root of the cutters is an upper
curved friction plate 6, which is secured to the bottom plate by means of
bolts or fixed studs a, a. These bolts pass through slots in the inter-
mediate cutter plate B, and are so arranged with respect to the upper
friction plate that they form fulcră to the same, that cause it when
raised behind by the set screw and block d to press on the cutting teeth
of the intermediate concave plate B with an intensity proportionate to
the back elevation given to the top friction plate 6.
Fig. 3 represents an arrangement of yielding friction washers which
are a modification of the friction plate shewn at Fig. 2. In this view
the plates b, b, are bowed in the form of an arc, and are substituted for
the ordinary friction plates or washers shewn at Fig. 1. The pressure of
their frictional contact against the cutter plate being regulated by the
nuts screwed on the fixed studs a, a; and Fig. 4 represents an arrange-
ment of friction plates and retaining pressure fingers that are a modifi-
cation of the continuous plate shewn at Fig. 2. In this Figure the
rectilinear movement given to the plate by the actuating lever is
maintained by the fixed studs and the bottom plate A, which terminate
in recesses formed in the under side of the friction plates b, b. These
friction plates are retained on the upper surface of the cutter plate in a
position equidistant on either side the centre of motion of such cutter
plate, with a determined pressure through the medium of yielding
fingers b¹, b¹, which are fixed to and project from the bottom plate A.
Having shewn as examples various arrangements of parts in con-
nection with horse clippers for obtaining adjustable friction between the
cutter and under plate, and the means employed for maintaining such
friction, I will proceed to describe the means employed for giving the
accelerated motion to the cutter plate, the design and arrangement of.
which, forming the second part of this my present Invention, is illus.
trated on Sheet 2, of which Fig. 5 represents a diagram of the lines.
explanatory. as to how the double motion is first obtained, in which

page_text: a and b represent two levers coupled together by the pin c. The lever a
has its fulcrum at d which is fixed, and lever 6 has its fulcrum at e
which is movable, and can slide in a rectilinear direction in the slot f,
so that during the time the lever a on its fixed fulcrum is moving the
length of the segment c, c¹, the movable fulcrum e of the lever 6 will
have traversed the distance there and back in the slot f. A lever
coupling the sliding fulcrum e with the cutter plate of the horse clipper
would transmit to the same a double motion with each single movement
of the clipping handle. Fig. 6 represents in plan the principle of this
movement reduced to its simplest practical form, as applied for giving
motion to the cutter plate of the hand horse clipper; Fig. 7 represents
a side view of the same.
Fig. 8 represents a diagram of an arrangement composed of compound
levers, giving to the cutter plate double vibrations for each single throw
of the handle actuating the same.
In these Figures A. is the bottom plate or comb, and B, the cutter
plate. The fulcră of the levers a¹ and 9 are placed at right angles to
each other, and secured to the plate A. The lever a¹ forms a bell crank
with the actuating handle c¹; the short end of this lever is provided with
a segmental slot c into which fits the stud on the end of the lever
the slot c of the lever a¹ is curved in a direction reverse to that of its
radial throw, thus it will be seen that during the time the slot c is
moving the length of its curve the lever g will have had transmitted to
it a complete vibration to and fro, so that whilst the handle c¹ is opening)
and closing, the slot c will have traversed its whole length there and
back, during which time the lever g through the medium of its stud i
will be forced in a direction at right angles to its segmental throw_a
distance corresponding to the versed sine of such segment equally on
either side its centre of motion, effecting during each traverse of such
slot a double vibration to the lever g, which being coupled by the stud i
to the cutter plate B transmits a double action to such plate, or in other
words gives for every single throw of the handle c¹ a double. movement
of the cutter plate. By reason of the curved slot in the lever c, a very
short movement is required to be given to the handle c'. The Drawing
represents the same as half open.
In Fig. 8 an arrangement of compound levers is shewn as applied to
the cutter plate B, the adaptation of which thereto acting in accordance
with the principle of the movement derived from their combined action

page_text: transmits to the cutter plate four motions with each complete action of
the handles actuating the same. This view is shewn as an example of
the adaptability and extension of these peculiar form of levers and
their application to the cutter plate of horse clippers for the purpose
described.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, I would
remark in conclusion that I am aware it has been suggested to obtain a
double to-and-fro motion at each movement of the operator or handle by
means of a slot, but the arrangement described and shewn for this
purpose in the Specification of Letters Patent, dated the 7th of February
1872, and granted to George Smith, No. 395, does not resemble the
present arrangement. Various modifications of the levers a¹ and g, and
also of the configuration and application of the slot giving the double or
accelerated motion to the hand horse clipper may be adopted without
departing from the essential features of this Invention, but what I claim
as the Invention whereof the exclusive use is secured to me by the said
Letters Patent is,-
First. The arrangement, adaptation, and employment of friction plates
for the purpose of obtaining and maintaining an adjustable friction
between the cutter plate and under plate of horse clippers, in the
manner. herein-before substantially described, set forth, and fully
illustrated in the Drawings of Sheet 1 hereunto annexed.
And, secondly. The construction of clippers in which the cutter plate
receives a double or quadruple to-and-fro action at each motion of the
handles by means of the construction of a curved slot or slots actuating
a pin in a lever, having its fulcrum in the under plate, as substantially
described, set forth, and fully illustrated on Sheet 2 hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this 1st day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
WILLIAM CLARK. (L.S.)
Witness,
WILLIAM JAMES FULLER.