IMPROVEMENTS IN HORSES' BRIDLES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edouard Armand Count de 'Strada, of Paris, France.
Captain in the French Army, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HORSES' BRIDLES."
'
Sealed the 31st January 1861, and dated the 3rd August 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edouard Armand Count
de Strada at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 3rd August 1860.
I, EDOUARD ARMAND Count de STRADA, of Paris, France, Captain in the
French Army, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Ix-
PROVEMENTS IN HORSES' BRIDLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in applying to bridles for saddle or draught horses
a pair of curved lever arms, one at each side of the horse's head, the fulcrums
of which levers are situated in a plate fixed to the headstall towards the
junction of this latter and the muzzle or nose band. By means of a'special
rein, the horseman or driver may cause the free ends of these levers to apply
themselves on the nostrils of the horse, and press thereon sufficiently to prevent
this latter from breathing conveniently, by which the horse will be compelled
to stop. If the driver then ceases any further strain on the above-mentioned

page_text: rein, the lever arms will be carried back to their original position along the
muzzle by the action of a spiral spring arranged round the fulcrum pin of
each of the said lever arms.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edouard Armand Count de Strada, in the Great Seal
'Patent Office on the 2nd February 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDOUARD
ARMAND, Count de STRADA,--of- Paris, France, Captain in the French Army,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Fler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said: Edouard Armand Count de Strada, Her special licence that I, the.
said Edouard Armand Count de -Strada, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Edouard Armand Count de Strada,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN HORSES' BRIDLES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edouard Armand
Count de Strada, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
unler my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Edouard Armand Count de Strada,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner,
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and, ascertained
in and, by the following statement :-
"
The object of these improvements is to provide horses' bridles with an
apparatus offering a ready means for the horseman or driver of stopping a
horse wearing a bridle provided with this apparatus, which latter being under; s

page_text: the command of the horseman or driver enables him at any given monient to
press the free ends of a pair of lever arms on the horse's nostrils, and thus,
entirely or partly prevent this latter from breathing until the required result,
viz., the stopping of the horse, be obtained. The apparatus is particularly
calculated for runaway or restive horses, for stopping or breaking them, and
the same may be applied to any description of bridle either for saddle or
draught horses.
. In the annexed Drawings, the Figs. 1, 2, and 3 show several views of the
apparatus, while in Fig 4 the same is shown fixed to a bridle applied to a
horse's head. The Figs. 5 and 6 show an inside and sectional view of part of
the apparatus; these Figs. 5 and 6 are drawn at full size, while those 1,
2, & 3 are at half that size. In all the Figs. corresponding parts are
indicated by the same letters of reference.
Fig. 1 represents a top, and the Figs. 2 & 3 two outside views of the
apparatus. In Fig 2. the lever arms A, hereafter to be mentioned, are
shown in their normal position, viz., laid on the nose band or muserole B,
while Fig. 3 shows the said lever arms in the position they assume when
pressing on the horse's nostrils, as is represented in Fig 4. In Fig 3 part
of the leather with which the apparatus is lined or covered is represented cut
away. Fig 5 shows a view from the inside of part of the apparatus, the
plate D. and the leather lining r being partly removed, and the lever arm A,
the nose band B, and the strap C partly cut off. Fig 6 shows a sectional view
over the line x, y, of Fig. 5..
The apparatus consists of a pair of curved lever arms A, the curvature and
breadth of which corresponds about with that of the nose band or muserole. B,.
in order that when applied on the outside of this latter, viz., one of the lever
arins on each side of the horse's chaufrin or nose, the said lever arms do not:
offer anything very conspicuous to sight. The muserole B, as well as the lever
arms A, are made of strips 6 and a of hoop iron, or other suitable sheet metal-
or material: combining strength with sufficient flexibility. A strap C serves'
for fixing the muserole B round the horse's head. At each end of the strip b
is rivetted a small plate D, provided with a slit g, and at the inside with an
elongated eye or hook, for fixing the muserole by means of suitable straps h
and h to the headstall and to the bit. On each of these plates D is rivetted a
.small support or bracket E, in which is secured one end of a spindle or pin-d,
the other end of which is rivetted to the plate D. This pin d serves as a.
fulcrum for the lever arm A to turn on, for which purpose one end of this.
lever arm forins an inverted hollow drum or spring box f through a per-

page_text: foration, in the centre of which passes the fulcrum pin d, round which pin a
spiral spring e is wound in the drum. f, one end of which, springe is fixed to
the plate, D, and the opposite end to the drum f, in such, manner that when
the lever arms A are momentarily kept in the position shown in the Figs. 3
&.4 the spring e will be partly wound up round the pin d, and thereby gain
sufficient power for, on liberating the lever arms, to carry them back to their
normal position on the muserole as shown in Fig. 2. The extent to which
the lever arms A are allowed to shift position depend on the distance at which
the arms K of the bracket E are set apart. The free ends A¹ of the lever
arms A are made in the form of a curved disk or quoit, the size and shape of
which disks A¹ must correspond about with that of the horse's nostrils, so as
to allow them to cover these latter either entirely or at least sufficiently for
preventing the horse from breathing by those parts whenever the disks A are
pressing thereon. The inside of each disk A is provided with a small eye i,
in which takes the hooks j, or ends of a thin leather strap m, which latter is
passed through the upper holes of the bit, or through the straps h, connecting
this latter to the plates D. This strap.mis further provided with a ring H
gliding freely over it, and to which a rein or string I is attached, the other end
of which rein is held by the horseman or driver for allowing him to actuate
the lever arms A, that is to say, when required, by drawing at this rein lower
the lever arms, and cause their free ends A³ to press on the horse's nostrils,
and stop it by preventing it from breathing. The required result being thus
obtained, the driver ceases to draw on the rein I, and thereby allows the
springs e to carry the lever arms A back to their normal position on the
nose band B.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
putting the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend
to confine or restrict myself to the precise details of the above-described
apparatus, or to the shape and size of its component parts, or to the material
of which the same are to be manufactured; but what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is, providing horse's bridles. with an
apparatus under the command of the horseman or driver, which apparatus is
intended to serve for stopping, arresting, or subdueing runaway or restive
horses by preventing them at a given moment from breathing through their
nostrils, for which purpose the apparatus is provided with a pair of lever arms,
the free ends of which the horseman or driver may, by drawing on a special
rein, cause them to press on the horse's nostrils, so as either entirely, or partly

page_text: prevent the horse from breathing by those parts, the said lever arms being
actuated by spiral or other springs, or provided with any other suitable means
for carrying them back to their normal position on the muserole as soon as
the strain on the above-mentioned rein ceases.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edouard Armand Count de Strada, have
⚫ hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
T. PARMENTIER,
Capitaine au 79° de 'Ligne,
France.
E. A. COMTE DE STRADA. (L.S.)
France, Capitaine au 79° de Ligne.