IMPROVEMENTS IN SADDLE GIRTHS FOR HORSES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William lemy Beck, of 139, Cannon Street,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SADDLE GIRTHS FOR HORSES "-A communication from abroad by
11
רד
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Beck
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 2nd August 1875.
I, WILLIAM HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS in Saddle GIRTHS FOR HORSES," to be as follows:-
The Invention has for object the maintenance of the tension of the
saddle girths by self-acting means, notwithstanding the contraction of
the horse's belly during the exercise of riding, and consists in inserting
in the saddle girth a series of springs so arranged as to take up or com-
pensate for
any slackness occurring in such girth.

page_text: An arrangement of locking apparatus consisting of a click or catch
and sliding ratchet plate is employed in connection with the springs to
prevent the loosening of the girth (as for example, by the breaking of
the springs) after it has been tightened up. Such locking apparatus is
so adapted that although it does not allow of the loosening of the
girth it does admit of the further contraction of such girth as may be
required to maintain the necessary tightness.
The springs may be connected directly to the saddle girth, but it is
preferable to arrange them in a distinct apparatus, which can be buckled
to the saddle frame (sattelgestellstrupfen), such apparatus consists of
an upper plate or buckle, to which the upper ends of the springs are
attached, and a lower plate or buckle, to which the lower ends of the
springs are attached The sliding ratchet plate is fixed to one of tho
said plates or buckles, and adapted to slide in guides on the other plate
or buckle, on which is also placed the before-mentioned safety click or
catch, the tooth of which takes into the ratchet plate
▲ stop is also adapted to the ratchet plate to limit the range of the
springs, so as to prevent excessive stretching of such springs when
buckling on the saddle
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said William Henry Beck in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st February 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of August, 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 suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Henry Beck, Her a
special licence, that I, the said William Henry Beck, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Henry Beck, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times

page_text: 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 SADDLE GIRTHS FOR HORSES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Henry Beck, my
exccutors or administrators, by an instrument m writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Henry Beck, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheets of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say :-
The Invention has for object the maintenance of the tension of the
saddle girths by self-acting means, notwithstanding the contraction of
the horse's belly during the exercise of riding, and consists in inserting
in the saddle girth a series of springs so arranged as to take up or com-
pensate for any slackness occurring in such girth.
An arrangement of locking apparatus consisting of a click or catch
and sliding ratchet plate is employed in connexion with the springs to
prevent the loosening of the girth (as for example, by the breaking of
the springs) after it has been tightened up Such locking apparatus is
so adapted that although it does not allow of the loosening of the girth
it does admit of the further contraction of such girth as may be required
to maintain the necessary tightness.
4
The springs may be connected directly to the saddle girth, but it is
preferable to arrange them in a distinct apparatus, which can be buckled
to the saddle frame (sattelgestellstrupfen). Such apparatus consists of
an upper plate or buckle, to which the upper ends of the springs are
attached, and a lower plate or buckle, to which the lower ends of the
springs are attached. The sliding ratchet plate is fixed to one of the
said plates or buckles, and adapted to slide in guides on the other plato
or buckle, on which is also placed the before-mentioned safety click or
catch, the tooth of which takes into the ratchet plate.

page_text: A stop is also adapted to the ratchet plate to limit the range of the
springs, so as to prevent excessive stretching of such springs when
buckling on the saddle.
Fig. 1, Sheet 1 of the Drawings, represents a front view of the
apparatus as applied to the saddle
Fig. 2, Sheet 2, a back view of the apparatus detached from the
saddle, Fig. 3, Sheet 2, a vertical section through the centre of Fig. 2,
and Fig. 4, Sheet 2, a transverse section through the lower plate B of
Fig 2.
Similar letters refer to like parts in all the Figures.
A is an upper plate forming a buckle secured to the saddle frame by
the straps a, a, and to which the upper ends of the springs f. f, are
attached B is a lower plate or buckle, by preference slightly curved,
as shewn in Fig 4, to which the lower ends of the said springs f,f, are
attached, S is a flexible plate firmly fixed to the upper plate or
buckle A, being provided with a row of holes forming a ratchet for the
reception of the tooth of the safety click or catch Z, and by preference
covered on the under side with leather or other suitable covcung i The
said flexible plate S is free to slide on the plate B in the guides m, m, a
projection or stop a on the plate S preventing the extension of the
springs, beyond a certain limit The click or catch Z is hinged to
the plate or buckle B, and is provided with a spring d, which acts upon
it in a manner similar to the sping of a knife blade, so as to ictain it
open, as in Fig. 1, or shut, as in Fig 3, as may be desired. b, b, arc
straps for connecting the lower plate B by means of the buckles to the
girth or girths g, g, as shewn in Fig 1
The action of the apparatus is as follows -The safety click or catch
being disengaged from the plate S, as in Fig. 1, the girths may be
tightened up by means of the buckles and straps b, b, extending the
springs, as seen in Fig 2, the plate S sliding in the guides m, m,
until its motion is arrested by the stop or projection & coming in contact
with the lower end of the plate or buckle B, or with a stop fixed or
formed thereon, whereby the extension of the springs is prevented from
excceding a certain limit. The safety click or catch Z being then closed
up, so as to engage with the holes in the plate S, as seen in Figs 2 & 3,
the apparatus is in working condition, any contraction of the horse's
belly will cause the springs f, f, to contract, drawing the plate or

page_text: buckle B up the plate S, and with it the safety click or catch Z, which
having the upper side of its tooth bevelled, as shown, will slip into a
fresh hole higher up in the ratchet plate S, so as to prevent the lower
plate or buckle from slipping back on the ratchet plate S; the loosening
of the girth is thus prevented in the event of the springs ƒ,ƒ, breaking.
The spings f, may be single springs placed side by side, as shown, or
double springs placed one inside the other, or such other kind or arrange-
ment of springs as may be found suitable.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to or may be performed, I would have it
understood that what is claimed as the Invention to be secured by tho
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The use of springs in saddle girths for the purpose of main-
taining the tension thereof, as hercin described and illustrated in the
Drawings.
Second. The arrangement and combination of parts, whereby the con-
traction of the springs is permitted, the extension of the springs limited,
and the loosening of the girth prevented, substantially as herein described
and illustrated in the Drawings.
Third The use in connection with the springs of the safety click or
catch and ratchet plate, adapted and applied substantially as herein.
described and illustrated, and for the purpose set forth.
Fourth. The use in connection with the springs of the sliding plate
and stop in combination with the upper and lower plates or buckles for
the purpose of limiting the extension of the springs, substantially as
herein described and illustrated in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Beck, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this First day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-