AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CON- STRUCTING AND MAKING SPRING HOOKS OR WOODCOCK EYES, USED FOR COACH HARNESS, WHICH PRINCIPLE OF SPRING IS INTENDED ALSO TO BE APPLIED TO HARNESS BUCKLES, TERRITS, HOOKS, HARNESS AND SPRING SWIVELLS
Year: 1818

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SIMPSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Plater, send greeting.
WHEREAS I did, by Petition, humbly represent to His present Majesty
King George the Third that I had invented "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CON-
STRUCTING AND MAKING SPRING HOOKS OR WOODCOCK EYES, USED FOR COACH
HARNESS, WHICH PRINCIPLE OF SPRING IS INTENDED ALSO TO BE APPLIED TO HARNESS
BUCKLES, TERRITS, HOOKS, HARNESS AND SPRING SWIVELLS," His said Majesty
was pleased to issue His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great
Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of February, One
thousand eight hundred and eighteen, in the fifty-eighth year of His reign,
which Letters Patent do give and grant unto me, the said John Simpson, and
to any exors, admors, and assigns, or to my or their servants or agents, His
said Majesty's especial licence to make, use, exercise, and vend my said
Invention within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and to have and enjoy the whole profit and advantage arising by reason of the
said Invention during the term of fourteen years from the date of the said
Letters Patent, by which His Majesty also requires and strictly commands all
His subjects whatsoever within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, that during the continuance of the said term of fourteen years
they shall not, either directly or indirectly, make, use, or put in practice, my
said Invention, or any part of it, or in any ways counterfeit, imitate, or
resemble the same; the said Letters Patent also contain a proviso obliging me,
the said John Simpson, to particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my

page_text: said Invention, and in what manner the sainc is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar
months after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in fulfilment of the said proviso, I, the said John
Simpson, have executed this Instrument, by which I do declare that my said
Invention is described in manner following (that is to say) :-
My improved method of constructing and making spring hooks or woodcock
eyes used for various parts of coach harness consists in a particular method of
applying the spring which is to keep the moveable part of the spring hook or
woodcock eye in its proper position. In the common spring hook or woodcock
eye, as heretofore constructed, the said spring is applied withinside the eye or
loop, whereby it is exposed to injury, and is liable to be clogged with dirt and
rust, and then it will neither effectually close the moveable part of the eye into
its proper position, nor allow the same to be properly opened. In my
improved method the spring is applied at the back part of the joint on which
the moveable part turns, and is so lodged within a hollow or cavity formed in
the shank of the spring hook or woodcock eye that the spring is protected
from being clogged by dirt, or being diverted from its proper direction.
No. 1, in the Drawing hereunto annexed, contains three views of a spring
hook or a woodcock eye constructed according to my improved method.
A is the appearance when the moveable part of the eye is closed by the action
of the concealed spring, and it is held in its position thereby. B shews how
the moveable part R, S, can be pressed open upon its joint R by applying the
thumb or finger or other pressure, in order to introduce any loop or ring into
the eye, and the internal spring always tends to close the moveable part into
the position shewn at A. C represents the cavity in the shank when cut open
to expose the internal spring T, and shews the shape of it. The spring is bent
at right angles, and one extremity is fixed fast in the cavity of the shank by a
.screw or rivit, or other means, and the other extremity or point of the spring
bears on a small projecting tooth at the back of the joint, in the manner shown
in the Figure. The upper part of the cavity in which the spring is lodged is
covered by a thin plate so as to conceal and shut up the spring. T shews the
form of the spring when taken out.
No. 2 shews a harness buckle, the loop or eye of which is constructed on
my improved plan. E shews the buckle, with the moveable part R, S, of the
eye pressed open; and F is an edge view of the same buckle. G shews it with
the eye closed as in use. The internal spring is concealed within a hollow in
the metal of the buckle, as is shewn by the dotted lines T, and operates as in

page_text: the former instance upon a projecting tooth at the back of the joint R of the
moveable piece, but from the position of this spring it does not require to be
bent like the spring first described.
No. 3 is a territ constructed according to my improvement, H shewing it
shut, and I representing the moveable part R, S, pressed open. The dotted
lines T shew the place of the internal spring, which is concealed within the
lower part of the bow of the territ.
No. 4 is a hook constructed according to my improvement. K shews the
hook when the moveable part is closed, and L when it is opened. The
internal spring is applied at T in the same manner as in the territ.
No. 5 represents a pair of hames, of which the territs II and I are con-
structed in the manner of No. 3, before described. Also the tugs or draft
eyes A and B of the said hames are made in the manner of the spring hooks
or woodcock eyes, No. 1. Harness swivells and spring swivells for various
purposes, buckles, territs, hooks, and hames may be made in the same form
as the spring hooks or woodcock eyes, buckles, territs, hooks, and hames here-
before described, but of different shapes, proportions, and dimensions, according
to the purposes to which they are to be applied.
All the above-mentioned articles may be made of any material or materials
of which such articles are usually made or may be made, and of different
dimensions and shapes, without departing from my improvement, which con-
sists in the manner of applying the spring to the moveable part, and concealing
and protecting the same as I have already described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Simpson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighteen.