NECK YOKES FOR HORSES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Levi Babb, of Greenland, in the County of Grant,
State of West Virginia, in the United States of America, for an Invention of
"NECK YOKES FOR HORSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Levi Babb at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th October 1880.
JOHN LEVI BABB, of Greenland, in the County of Grant, State of West Virginia,
in the United States of America. " NECK YOKES FOR HORSES."
The yokes made according to this Invention consist of frames in which side
bars are connected to end or cross bars by bolts and nuts; the cross bars are higher
or stronger in the centre, and may there have strengthening pieces bolted thereto.
The side bars are provided with eyes or staples for the reins to pass through. In
the centre of each cross bar I form a ball and socket joint with retaining plate and
bolts and a threaded shank and nut, whereby I connect with bars uniting two such
yoke frames at each end, so as to permit free play of the yokes in any required
direction.
The last named uniting bars are again connected by bolts and nuts to a bar
having a staple or clevis for connecting with a pole of cart or other vehicle or
agricultural implement.
The side bars are adjustable to suit various size animals by means of the bolts
and bolt holes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent and
of an Order of the Lord Chancellor filed by the said John Levi Babb in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th April 1881.
JOHN LEVI BABB, of Greenland, in the County of Grant, State of West Virginia,
in the United States of America. "NECK YOKES FOR HORSES."
The yokes made according to this Invention consist of frames in which side bars
are connected to end or cross bars by bolts and nuts; the cross bars are higher or
stronger in the centre, and may there have strengthening pieces bolted thereto.
The side bars are provided with eyes or staples for the reins to pass through. In
the centre of each cross bar I form a ball and socket joint with retaining plate and
bolt, and a threaded shank and nut, whereby I connect with bars uniting two such
yoke [frames at each end, so as to permit free play of the yokes in any required
direction.
The last named uniting bars are again connected by bolts and nuts to a bar
having a staple or clevis for connecting with a pole of cart or other vehicle or
agricultural implement.
The side bars are adjustable to suit various size animals by means of the bolts
and bolt holes.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a front view of my neck-yoke, and Figure 2 is a plan
view of the same.
A, A, are the yokes formed of the end bars E, perforated at e, and a, a, the side
bars perforated near each end, and secured to the end bars E by bolts and nuts, as
shown.
The end bars E are provided in their upper faces (which are preferably inclined
from the centre toward each end), with ball-and-socket, or universal joints, as shown,
the ball being prevented from withdrawing from its socket by a metal plate b¹, held
in place upon the upper face of the bar E by bolts el passed through said plate,
the bar E, and a strengthening-block F upon the under face of the bar E, where
they are secured by tightening nuts, as shown.
B, B, are bars by which the yokes A are connected at top and bottom.
A threaded shank extending upward from the ball of the universal joint passes
through the bars B near each end of the same, and is secured by nuts and
washers, as shown. The bars B are connected by a bar C secured to them by
bolts D,
F is a clevis, by which the neck-yoke may be connected with the pole of a wagon,
cultivator, or the like.
The side bars a have staples b through which the reins pass.
The universal-joint connections permit free play of the yokes in any necessary
direction.
The several bars and blocks, hereinbefore described, are preferably made of wood,
but may be made of any other suitable material or combination of materials that
will answer the purpose, such as wood and leather and the like.
The side bars a, a, may be adjusted by means of the holes and bolts to suit
animals of different sizes.
From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the Drawings, the
construction and operation of the device will be readily understood. The device is
simple, inexpensive, and serviceable.
I am aware that hames have been connected in pairs at top and bottom by bars,
and that these bars have been also connected at their centres or middle by a third
bar, and this construction I do not claim.
Having thus fully described my Invention, what I claim is,-
In an improved neck-yoke for horses, the combination of the yokes A, A, composed
of the side bars E, E, and end bars a, a, secured together by means of bolts, the

page_text: connecting-bars B, B, provided with universal-joint connections, and the bar C,
attached to the bars B, all substantially as and for the purpose stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Levi Babb, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
Witnesses,
J. S. ZERBE,
O. J. BAILEY.
JOHN LEVI BABB. (L.S.)