Improvements in or relating to the Shafts or Poles of Vehicles.
Year: 1896

page_text: This Print is in accordance with the Original Specification as it stands after
Amendment (under Section 11 of the Patents, &c. Act, 1883), as required by
the decision of the Law Officer of the 29th day of July 1898.
Date of Application, 39th Dec., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 24th Sept., 1897-Accepted, 6th Nov., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to the Shafts or Poles of Vehicles.
I, JOHN KIRBY PILKINGTON, of 47 & 49, Fox Street, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Veterinary Surgeon, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to certain improvements in the shafts or poles of vehicles,
and is designed to provide a shaft or pole which will be stronger and less liable
to break if the horse slips or falls, and to which moreover the harness can be more
easily and more quickly connected.
-
The invention comprises a vehicle shaft made without the usual pointed end
which is so liable to break when the horse falls and a metal end to the shaft having
a look or claw. This hook or claw is made in such manner that the loop or
shaft tug interposed between the back band and belly band and also the loop at
the ends of the trace can be coupled thereto at right augles to each other. For
this purpose, the claw or hook is made in a special manner with a given portion
arranged to receive the loop of the trace, and a given portion arranged to receive
another loop, and thus when the back band and belly band and the trace are in
position, they will be at right angles to one another and occupy given positions.
The only alteration required in the ordinary harness is the substitution of the
short trace for the long trace usually hitherto used. The said shaft end may be
a casting, forging or stamping, and it is provided with a spring bolt with a handle
which normally closes the portions aforesaid. To harness or unharness a horse,
all that is necessary is to slide back the spring bolt and pass the hook or claw
through the loops of the harness, after which the spring bolt is allowed to spring
forward closing the opening. One advantage of this arrangement is that it avoids
having to unbuckle the harness when the horse is down, and so prevents people
getting into danger. So long as the spring bolt lies across the opening the fasten-
ing is made, and the loops are kept in place, so that they cannot slip no matter what
amount of vibration there may be. In use, we pass the shaft ends through the
loops of the back and belly bands first, and then when these loops occupy their
appointed position, loop the traces in place. The invention as applied to poles of
vehicles will be understood without further description.
Among the advantages obtained by the use of this invention may be mentioned
that the pointed ends of shafts are dispensed with, thus avoiding any possibility
of the horse injuring himself thereby, a long trace is dispensed with and so avoids
any rubbing or chafing of the horse's body, harness and shafts, and there is no
chance of the horse getting its legs over the trace when kicking, it dispenses with
buckling and complication in harness, a horse can be instantly harnessed or
unharnessed by sliding back the spring bolt, a horse when being broken in or for

page_text: general use can be turned with greater ease and at a sharper angle, and finally,
knee motion is prevented, thus making a two wheeled vehicle, to run, almost as
steady as a four wheeled one.
Dated this 29th day of December 1896.
J
WM. P: THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (AMENDED).
Improvements in or relating to the Shafts of Vehicles.
I, JOHN KIRBY PILKINGTON, of 47 & 49, Fox Street, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Veterinary Surgeon, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed; to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to certain improvements in' the shafts of vehicles, whereby,
inter alia, the harness can be more easily and more quickly connected.
The invention will be understood from the following description, reference being
had to the accompanying drawings,, in which,
Figure 1 is a side elevation of shaft end in use showing the invention applied
thereto;
Figure 2 a detail view on a larger scale of the shaft, end; and
Figure 3 a sectional end elevation taken on the line ab.
Figure 4 the invention in use.
In these, A is a vehicle shaft made without the usual pointed end which is so
liable to break when the horse falls, B a metal end to the shaft having a hook or
claw. This hook or claw is made in such manner that the loop or shaft tug inter-
posed between the back or saddle band C and belly band D, and also the loop at
the ends of the trace can be coupled thereto, at right angles to, each other. For
this purpose, the claw or hook is made in a special manner with a given portion F
arranged to receive the loop of the trace, E, and a given portion G arranged to
receive the loop interposed between C and D), and thus when the bands C and D and
the trace E are in position, they will be at right angles to one another and occupy
given positions. The only alteration required in the ordinary harness is the sub-
stitution of the short trace E for the long trace usually hitherto used.
shaft end B may be a casting, forging or stamping, and it is provided with a spring
The said
bolt H with handle I which normally closes the parts F and G. To harness or
unharness a horse, all that is necessary is to slide back the spring_bolt H, and
pass the hook or claw through the loops of the harness, after which the spring bolt
is allowed to spring, forward closing the opening. One advantage of this arrange-
inent is that it avoids having to unbuckle the harness when the horse is down,
and so prevents people getting into danger. So long as the spring bolt lies.across
the opening the fastening is made, and the loops are kept in place, so that they
cannot slip no matter what amount of vibration there may be. In use, we pass
the shaft ends through the loops of the back and belly bands first, and then when
these loops occupy their appointed position, loop the traces in place.
The loops on the saddle bands are the ordinary loops through which the shafts
are usually passed; and these loops are slipped over the hook in cases where loop. 4
is large enough to pass over the vertical end of the hook, by simply pushing the
hook through the loop. In some cases, however, the loop is not large enough to.
go easily over the hook, and it is then. necessary to bend the loop into a horizontal
position, slip it up over the vertical end of the hook and past the corner onto the

page_text: horizontal part of the hook. The loop is always sufficiently large and flexible to
pass over the corner without difficulty.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I am aware
that it has previously been proposed to shorten the shafts of vehicles and to attach
a shortened trace to a loop or staple at the end of the shortened shaft as is described
in the Specifications of Letters Patent No. 4296 of 1883 granted to Thomas
Hargreaves Briggs and No. 16852 of 1895 granted to William Wilfrid Bromwicli
and Charles Ashburnham Floyd and I make no claim thereto but what I claim is:-
1. The improvement relating to the shafts of vehicles, which consists in attaching
a short trace, or the saddle baud, or both to the shaft by means of a hook and lock-
ing the same in the hook by a movable piece, whereby, on displacing the movable
piece, the trace, back band, or both, can be instantly disconnected from the shaft
without unbuckling.
2. The combination with a looped short trace and a looped' saddle band of a short
shaft and a metal end thereon having a rigid bent hook with a portion substantially
at right angles to the shaft and a portion substantially parallel to the shaft, receiv-
ing respectively the trace and saddle band loop, and a spring pin closing the
opening of the hook, substantially as described.
Dated this 23rd day of Santember 1907
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
.Patent Agents,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London.