Improved Means of Checking Runaway Horses.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Aug., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Apr., 1894-Accepted, 2nd June, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means of Checking Runaway Horses.
I, JAMES PHILIP OTTAWAY of Portman House, Portman Road, Boscombe,
Bournemouth, in the County of Hants, Butcher, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-.
My invention has for its object to provide means of checking horses and
preventing them from running away when left unattended, the invention being
particularly intended for application to horses drawing tradesmen's carts which in
their daily rounds are necessarily left unattended whilst their drivers are receiving
customers' orders or delivering goods.
The invention consists essentially in the combination, with the ordinary driving
reins and bit or it may be with a special bit, of a pair of check reins and of a
winding-in device capable of being thrown into gear with a wheel of the vehicle
whereby, should the animal attempt to proceed alone after being stopped and left
by its driver, the reins will be tightened and the animal checked by the pull on
the bit.
The winding-in device consists of a pair of barrels to which a pair of chains or
other extensions of the check reins are permanently connected, such barrels being
carried by a transverse shaft mounted parallel to the wheel axle and capable of
being geared at one extremity by means of a pinion with a ring of cog-teeth or pins
on the hub of the adjacent wheel of the vehicle. The pinion may either be
permanently in gear and the shaft coupled to the pinion by a clutch when it is
desired to put the winding gear in operative position, or the shaft itself may be
moved to put the pinion in gear with the teeth on the vehicle wheel, a spring
tending to throw the parts into or out of position for operation and a hand lever
being provided within convenient reach of the driver for moving the parts by
means of a sliding wedge or lever motion in opposition to the spring.
The barrels on which the check extensions wind are so coupled to the shaft by
an internal spring pawl and ratchet connection that the winding up will take place
only on the forward motion, so that should the animal back when checked as above
mentioned the barrels will unwind the check rein extensions and will not wind
them up in the reverse direction should the animal continue to back, notwithstanding
that the pull on the bit has been relieved. The check reins are detachably connected
to their extensions above referred to at some convenient point in front of the vehicle
to facilitate harnessing and unharnessing, and they are led along the shafts through
suitable guides so as not to become entangled with the harness and may be connected
to the driving reins at any convenient point.
Dated this 3rd day of August 1893.
J. F.
J
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
AWAI,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.

page_text: Improved Means of Checking Runaway Horses.
1, JAMES PHILIP OTTAWAY, of Portman House, Portman Road, Boscombe,..
Bournemouth, in the County of Hants, Butcher, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention has for its object to provide means of so checking horses as to
prevent them from running away when left unattended, the invention being
particularly intended for application to horses drawing tradesmen's carts which in
their daily rounds are necessarily left unattended whilst their drivers are receiving
customers' orders or delivering goods.
The invention consists essentially in the combination, with the ordinary driving
reins and bit, or it may be with a special bit, of a pair of check reins, and of a
winding-in device capable of being thrown into gear with a wheel of the vehicle
whereby, should the animal attempt to proceed after being stopped and left by its
driver, the animal will be at once checked by the pull on the bit.
The winding-in device is so contrived that the winding up will take place during
the forward motion, so that should the animal move backwards when checked as
above mentioned, the check-reins will be slackened and will not be wound up in
the reverse direction should the animal continue to back, notwithstanding that the
pull on the bit has been relieved.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this 2
Specification, wherein
Figure 1 is a part sectional side view of a horse and gig, with my improvement
applied, the section being taken on line 1-1 Figure 2.
Figure 2 is a plan view of the winding-in shaft and attachments.
Figure 3 is a cross-section, showing on a larger scale, one of the winding-in 2
devices as in operation.
Figure 4 is a similar view, illustrating the inaction of the device when the motion
is reversed by the animal backing after being checked.
The same letters of reference denote like parts in all the figures.
A is a shaft parallel to the wheel axle and capable of being geared with the hub 3
of one of the travelling wheels. For this purpose it is provided at one end
preferably with a rubber-rimmed friction wheel B adapted to contact with the
wheel hub and the shaft A is journalled in bracket plates C fixed, say, to the spring
bed blocks on the axle, the bracket plate nearest the friction wheel B being slotted
to allow the said wheel to be put in and out of frictional contact with the travelling
wheel hub, by means of a hand lever D pivoted at d and whose forked arm di
engages with the shaft A.
In Figure 1 the nearest travelling wheel and the friction disc B are supposed to
be removed but in Figure 21 bave shown in dotted lines the hub of the travelling
wheel from which the disc B is driven.
The winding-in device comprises a pair of barrels E fast on the shaft. A; and.a
pair of chains F forming extensions of the check reins, each chain terminating in
a sort of shackle or solid link F which is jointed to a pair of ears G loose on the
shaft A, one at either side of each barrel E. Each barrel E is provided with one
or more cam lugs or pawls e adapted to engage with a link H also jointed to the
end link or shackle F1 of the chain F and to the ears G by a common centre,
the link H being curved to embrace the barrel E, as shown, and the motion of the
link H away from the barrel being limited by a stop or shoulder h at its heel
end abutting against a stop formed by the solid part of the link or shackle F¹.
In Figure 3 I have shown only one lug or pawl e, merely to illustrate the
action, but three would preferably be used, as shown in Figure 4, in order that
the animal shall be checked almost immediately he begins to move forward.

page_text: The chains F are formed of flat square links for such a length as is likely to be-
wound on the barrels whilst the remainder may be formed of any ordinary chain.
The check reins K are connected either to the bit or to the driving reins at a point
preferably just in rear of the terrets, and they may be led along the shafts through
suitable guides and pass over guide rollers I just in front of the vehicle body, and
are detachably connected to the chains by means of snap hooks or other suitable
means to facilitate harnessing and unharnessing the animal, the chains themselves
being supported by passing over pulleys beneath the body of the vehicle.
The action is as follows:-
The driver before quitting the vehicle puts wheel B in gear with the hub W of
the travelling wheel by moving handle D from the dotted to the full line position,
Figure 1, in which position it is retained by a rack. Then should the animal run
away the shaft A will be rotated in the direction of the arrow Figure 3, the
shackle H will be engaged by lug e, the chains F wound up on their barrels and
the check reins tightened until the animal stops. Should the animal then begin to
back, the chains F will be unwound and will not be wound up by motion of the
shaft A in the reverse direction as shown in Figure 4.
It will be obvious that the two check reins might be connected to a single chain
operated by a single central winding-in device, and that the invention may be
applied in connection with either the fore or the hind wheels of a four-wheeled van
or other vehicle.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said iuven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The herein described apparatus for checking horses, consisting of check reins
in combination with a winding-in device, or devices, on a shaft adapted to be
geared with a wheel of the vehicle, the winding-in device being so constructed
as to be operated only by forward motion of the vehicle, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
Dated this 3rd day of Anrii 1894
.
J. P. OTTAWAY,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.