A SPRING APPARATUS FOR TRAINING HORSES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, of the British and Foreign
Patent Offices, 18, Rue de la Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, France, and 5, Piccadilly,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for an Invention of "A SPRING
APPARATUS FOR TRAINING HORSES." A communication from Gustave de
Lange, of Kalish, in Russia, Major of Cavalry in the Russian Army.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th May 1880.
HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices, 18, Rue
de la Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, France, and 5, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent. "A SPRING APPARATUS FOR TRAINING HORSES." (A communica-
tion by Gustave de Lange, of Kalish, in Russia, Major of Cavalry in the Russian
Army.)
The Invention relates to substituting for the rider's hand, in training horses and
in then maintaining them after the training, a spring apparatus by the aid of which
any one who knows something of horses can give to a horse, without even mounting
him, a handsome chest, a fine mouth, and a high step.
The Invention is represented in the accompanying Drawings, to which reference
will be made in the course of the following Specification, and the corresponding
parts of which are indicated by similar letters of reference.
This apparatus consists of two juxta-posed cylindrical tubes a, a, Fig. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
about 8 centimetres in length; in the inside of each tube two springs are inserted
of spiral shape and different power. The combined powers of these two springs
represent exactly the power of the movements of the hand of a rider, which it has,
up to the present day, been impossible to replace. In the side of the two tubes, and
between them, a thumb-screw b, Fig. 1, 2, 3, is inserted, by means of which the play
of the springs can be checked. A small strap c, Fig. 1, may be attached to this
screw to protect the apparatus in certain cases. The springs are fastened at one of
their extremities to a ring d, Fig. 1, 2, 5, 6, which serves to fix the apparatus either
to the surcingle, or to the saddle-girth, or to the small-saddle, whilst the other end
is provided with another ring e, Fig. 1, 2, 6, or with a hook e, Fig. 3, 4, 5, to which
the bridle, the bit-rein, or the reins are fastened or hooked.
This apparatus is intended, as is easily understood, to give elasticity to the bridle,
to the bit-rein, or to the reins. It can be applied to young horses as well as to
horses already full grown; to those which have the defect of bending the chest to

page_text: the right or to the left, of leaning the head upon the breast, of carrying the head
high, or of tossing the head.
The apparatus can be changed into a harness-hook by substituting for the ring e,
Fig. 1, 2, 6, fastened to the springs, a hook e, Fig. 3, 4, 5, to which the bit-rein is
hooked. In this case the apparatus is attached to the small-saddle of the harness.
The horse thus reined-in has all the liberty of movement of the head without feeling
any pain.
By slightly modifying the apparatus above described it can be employed for
horses whose mouth is strong, or which, having been well trained, have become
vicious, and for young horses which on account of their age cannot be mounted, and
have already been trained by help of the first apparatus above described.
This modified apparatus consists of three cylindrical tubes f, f, f, Fig. 7, 8, 9,
instead of two, one placed upon the two others. Each of the lower tubes is arranged
with double springs like the apparatus above described. In the upper tube a spiral
spring is enclosed of great elasticity, the power of which corresponds to that of a
single finger of a rider; this spring is furnished with two hooks g, Fig. 9, to which
the two bit-reins are fastened. The front ends of the much stronger springs of the
two lower tubes are furnished with rings h, Fig. 9, to which the two bridle-reins
are attached. At the back part of the apparatus a thumb-screw i, Fig. 7, 8, 9, is
screwed by means of which the play of one of the springs can be checked.
This modified apparatus is placed upon the surcingle, Fig. 8, 9, 11, to which it is
fixed by two screws j, Fig. 8, 9. It is more firmly fastened to it by means of a
strap 1, Fig. 8, 9, sewed to the surcingle, and which is passed through a ring m,
Fig. 8, 9, underneath the apparatus.
Fig. 10 and 11 show the different methods of employing the apparatus.
After having described the said Invention, and the manner of carrying it into
effect, I claim the application in every apparatus for training horses or reining them
in, whatever be its form or its arrangement, of springs enclosed in tubes or cavitics
of some other form, or otherwise arranged, combined with the bit for training,
mastering, or maintaining the horse, as. has been above described and represented in
the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of May; in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty.