AN IMPROVED SADDLE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Henton, Saddler, Lambeth, Surrey, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED SADDLE."
Scaled the 11th May 1855, and dated the 16th November 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Henton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
.. 16th November 1854.
I, SAMUEL HENTON, Saddler, Lambeth, Surrey, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED SADDLE" to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to form or construct an elastic saddle, by.
means of which the rider may set thereon with more ease and comfort than on
those in ordinary use, and also by its elasticity to fit or adjust itself to the shape
or width of the animal. To accomplish this, I construct the tree of the saddle
with leather, or such like suitable material, in lieu of wood and webbing here-
tofore used for that purpose. Between the seat and panel I fix longitudinally
two springs, parallel to each other. These springs give or yield with the
motion of the rider, and are for the purpose above stated. I also attach to
the tree at the points thereof two other springs, one on each point, for
-the-purpose-of-enabling the saddle to be adjusted to the shape_or_width_
of the animal.anime

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Henton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th May 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
HENTON, Saddler, Lambeth, Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Samuel Henton, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel
Henton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or, such others as I, the
said Samuel Henton, 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 "AN IMPROVED
SADDLE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Henton,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Henton, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention consists in forming an elastic foundation or saddle trec of
leather, or other suitable elastic material, and fitting_the_same_with_steel_
springs, and in using the said elastic foundation in lieu of the common wood
saddle tree, now in general use.
I make both the head and cantle of the clastic trec to yield laterally,
and the seat to yield both laterally and longitudinally; first, by making
the head steel under the tree points and the cantle iron over the cantle
with spring ends, so as to form yielding points and cantle; secondly,
by making the seat springs of flat steel hoops or plates, running from a
the head_to_the_cantle, and-placed-under-the-elastic-foundation of leather
or other material. The head steel, and spring points, and cantle iron, and
spring ends, and seat springs are to be fastened to the tree or elastic foundation

page_text: by rivets or other suitable means. These elastic foundations are to be made by
cutting pieces of leather or other suitable elastic material to the required form,
and fastening the same together double, or in two, or more or less, thicknesses,
so as to form two halves or divisions of the foundation. These parts are then
joined together along the centre of the tree, from the head to the cantle, with a
lap joint from the head to the seat, and, with a jump joint at the cantle, but
leaving an opening hollow between the two half trees in the seat. This opening,
when the two half trees are joined together, is covered by a separate piece of
leather or other material, extending from the head to the cantle, and stitched
or fastened to the half trees at each side. At the head, above the elastic
foundation, there is a plate of iron or steel rivetted to the under head iron or
steel, before mentioned. The trees thus formed are then covered and lined, so
as to make a saddle of the necessary form and size. I vary the size and
pattern of the said foundations to suit the form and dimensions of the saddle
The Drawings accompanying this Specification are laid down to a geometrical
scale of three inches to a foot, and show the respective parts of the said
foundation or saddle tree separately, and as fitted together.
Fig. 1 shows the half tree.. a is the part which is to be cut, as here shown,
or in a similar form or manner, so as to give a lap joint; b is the hollow part
which forms the opening in the seat.
Fig. 2 shows an elevation or front view of the head steel, of which c, c, are
the spring points.
Fig. 3 shows a top view or plan of the head steel. c, c', are the spring
points, as before.
Fig. 4 shows the cantle iron or stay; Fig. 5 shows the seat spring e; and
Fig. 6, the covering piece f.
Fig. 7 shows a view of the under side of the tree, and mode of fitting the
respective parts together ready for covering. The said parts both here and at
Fig. 8 are lettered with similar letters to those in the foregoing Figures, in
which they are shown separately.
Fig. 8 shows a view of the upper side of the tree, also as fitted together, and
shows the upper head plate g.
I have now ascertained and-described the nature of my said Invention, and
in-what-manner-the-same-is-to-be-performed,-and-illustrated-the-same-by
Drawings to the best of my ability. It must, however, be understood-that-I
do not confine myself to the precise form or shape of the respective parts as

page_text: shown upon the Drawings, or the precise mode of fitting the said parts
together, as both the shape and manner of fitting may be varied; neither do I
confine myself to applying the same to riding saddles only, but include in my
said Invention such variations in shape and such modifications in the manner
of fitting the parts together as the principle of my said Invention admits, both
in the construction of riding and other saddles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Henton, have hereto set my
hand and seal this Sixteenth day of May. A. D. 1855.
SAMUEL (L.S.) HENTON.