AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN HOOKS FOR CART HAMES
Year: 1885

page_text: I THOMAS MARSH Trading as S. Marsh and Son of Churchfield West Bromwich
in the County of Stafford Cart Hame Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN HOOKS FOR CART
HAMES" to be as follows:-
In cart hames having hooks of the ordinary construction there is great risk of
the unhooking of the draft chains and pole chains from the draft hooks and pole
hooks by the trotting or other sudden notion of the horse.
The object of my invention is to prevent the accidental separation of the draft
chains or pole chains from the hooks of the hame and also to prevent the loss of
the small chains by which the lower ends of the hames are connected together.
In constructing a hame hook according to my invention I attach by a joint pin'
to the free end of the hook or other part of that side of the hook which terminates
in the free end a loop or tongue having a spring by which the said loop or tongue
is made to cross obliquely the opening of the hook or the space between the two.
branches of the hook.
When the link of a chain is passed onto a hook of the kind described it depresses
the spring loop or tongue in order to pass it and seat itself in the curved bottom
of the hook. The spring loop or tongue resumes its normal position after the
link has passed it and the link cannot return that is cannot pass from off the hook
until the spring tongue has been depressed by hand so as to leave the opening
between the two branches of the hook free from obstruction. There is thus no
risk of the link becoming accidentally unhooked while the removal of the link is
when necessary readily effected by depressing the spring loop or tongue.
My invention may be applied to all the hooks of cart hames that is to the draft
hooks the pole chain hooks and the small bottom hooks for connecting the hames
together.
When the position of the hook is such that the loop or tongue tends to fall by
its own weight into the position which retains the chain in the hook as in draft
books the spring may be dispensed with. I prefer however to use the spring in
all cases. The small hooks by which the bottom of the hames are secured together
are both provided with the said spring loops or tongues. The chain connecting
the two hooks is left attached to one of the said hooks in separating the hames
and its accidental loss is prevented by the action of the spring loop or tongue.
100K
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: An Improvement or Improvements in Hooks for Cart Hames.
"
I THOMAS MARSH trading as S. Marsh and Son of Churchfield, West Bromwich
in the County of Stafford, Cart Hame Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature
of my Invention for AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN HOOKS FOR CART
HAMES " and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In cart hames having hooks of the ordinary construction there is great risk of
the unhooking of the draft chains and pole chains from the draft hooks and pole
hooks by the trotting or other sudden motion of the horse.
The object of my invention is to prevent the accidental separation of the draft
chains or pole chains and other chains from the hooks of the hame and also to
prevent the loss of the small chains by which the lower ends of the hames are
connected together.
In constructing a hame hook according to my invention I attach by a joint pin
to the free end of the hook or other part of that side of the hook which terminates
in the free end, a loop or tongue or shackle having a spring by which the said loop
or tongue or shackle is made to cross obliquely the opening of the hook, or the
space between the two branches of the hook.
When the link of a chain is passed onto a hook of the kind described it depresses
the spring loop or tongue in order to pass it and seat itself in the curved bottom of
the book. The spring loop or tongue resumes its normal position after the link
has passed it and the link cannot return, that is, cannot pass from off the hook
until the spring tongue has been depressed by hand so as to leave the opening
between the two branches of the hook free from obstruction. There is thus no
risk of the link becoming accidentally unhooked while the removal of the link is
when necessary readily effected by depressing the spring loop or tongue.
My invention may be applied to all the hooks of cart hames, that is, to the draft
hooks, the pole chain hooks and the small bottom hooks for connecting the hames
together.
When the position of the hook is such that the loop or tongue tends to fall by
its own weight into the position which retains the chain in the hook, as in draft
hooks, the spring may be dispensed with. I prefer however to use the spring in
all cases. The small hooks by which the bottom of the hames are secured together
are both provided with the said spring loops or tongues. The chain connecting
the two hooks is left attached to one of the said hooks in separating the hames and
its accidental loss is prevented by the action of the spring loop or tongue.
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings represent in side elevation and
Figure 3 in front elevation, a draft hook for a cart hame constructed according to
my invention; Figure 4 is a section of the same taken on the line a Figure 2.
In Figure 2 the draft chain is represented in the act of being passed onto the
hook.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4.
b is the flat body or plate of the hook secured in the ordinary way to the staple
on the hame and c is the hook; d is the spring loop, tongue or shackle by which
the draft chain e is prevented from being accidentally separated from the hook c.

page_text: This spring loop, tongue or shackle is jointed at f to the free end of the hook c
which end is furnished with a knuckle or enlargement g and the ends of the
arms of the loop, tongue or shackle d are also furnished with knuckles h, h between
which the knuckle g of the hook is fitted, the three knuckles h, g, h being jointed
together by the joint pin f (see Figure 4). The spring loop, tongue or shackle d
when in its normal position, is made to cross obliquely the opening of the book or
the space between the two branches of the hook as represented. The said loop,
tongue or shackle is raised so as to close the opening of the hook and maintained in
that position by the flat spring i carried by the loop, tongue or shackle the free
end of the spring i bearing against the inner excentric side of the extremity of the
hook. When the loop, tongue or shackle d is depressed, the spring i is brought
into a state of tension by travelling over the excentric extremity of the hook as
represented in Figure 2 and the said spring in recovering its normal shape raises
the said loop, tongue or shackle d into the position represented in Figure 1.
In order to engage the end link of the draft chain e with the hook c the said end
link is made to press upon the upperside of the loop or shackle d and depress it
into the position represented in Figure 2. The link of the chain e is thereby per-
mitted to pass the said loop or shackle d and seat itself on the curved bottom of
the hook c and as the spring loop or shackle resumes its normal position after the
link has passed it the said link cannot return as represented in Figure 1 and the
accidental unhooking of the draft chain is prevented. In order to remove the link
of the draft chain from the hook c it is necessary to depress the spring loop or
shackled by hand into the position represented in Figure 2; a passage is thereby
left between the two branches of the hook for the disengagement of the draft
chain.
Figure 5 represents a portion of a cart hame of the kind called a leader hame
to which a hook having a different shape from that represented in Figures 1, 2, 3
and 4 is applied. In this form of hook, the spring loop, tongue or shackle & is
jointed to the outer branch c² of the hook c instead of to the free end of the hook
as before described.
Figure 6 represents a pole van hame the hooks of which are provided with my
invention.
The draft chain hook e in the said Figure 6 is constructed in the manner
represented in Figures 1. 2. 3 and 4 and the parts are marked with the same letters
of reference. The smaller hook, also provided with my invention, is the pole
chain hook.
Figure 7 represents a shaft staple and hooks used with hames each of the said
hooks being provided with my spring loop, tongue or shackle d, i. To the end
hook the end of the draft chain connected to the hook on the hame is hooked and
to the other end hook m the chain connected to the rear part or breeching of the
harness is hooked. To the middle hook n the chain of the back band is hooked.
Figures 8 and 9 represent a portion of a pair of hames provided with bottom
hooks P for connecting the said hames together by means of a chain each of the
said bottom hooks p being provided with a spring loop, tongue or shackle con-
structed according to any invention. In Figure 8 the two hooks p, pare
represented connected together by the chain q and in Figure 9 they are represented
disconnected, the connecting chain q being left attached to one of the hooks the
spring loop, tongue or shackle d preventing the accidental loss of the chain.
The spring of the jointed loop, tongue or shackle d may in some cases be
dispensed with as herein before pointed out but the use of a spring in all cases
increases the efficiency of the loop, tongue or shackle.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven.
tion and the manner in which the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim as my invention is
First The addition to or combination with the hooks applied to or used in
conjunction with cart hames of a jointed loop or tongue or shackle which is made

page_text: by the action of a spring or by its own weight to cross obliquely and close the
opening of the hook or the space between the two branches of the hook, whereby
the accidental separation of the draft or other chain from the hook is prevented
substantially as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
Secondly. The combination of the jointed loop or tongue or shackle claimed in
the first claim to the bottom hooks of hames for the purpose and substantially as
herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
C
.
THOMAS MARSH.