AN IMPROVED HOBBY HORSE
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
HOBBY HORSE." A communication from abroad by Amedée Constant
Ponceau, of Rue des Vieux Augustins, Paris, France.
Sealed the 10th October 1862, and dated the 14th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 14th April 1862.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED HOBBY HORSE," (communicated to me from abroad by Amedéo
Constant Ponceau, of Rue des Vieux Augustins, Paris, France,) to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is the construction of a hobby horse caused to move
on wheels with motions corresponding with those of the animal at full gallop.
The horse itself and the mechanism for imparting motion thereto are supported
upon a frame mounted on four wheels. Two uprights near the centre of the frame
support a fixed axis, which latter carries two pulleys; vertical rods from this axis
support the body of the horse and carry pulleys at their upper end similar to
the others. The head is pivoted about an axis which carries a pulley inside
the body; a cord or band passes from this pulley to those at the top of the
uprights, which, descending to the pulleys at the bottom thereof, is led to a

page_text: guide pulley below the frame where the ends cross one another and are passed
in a reverse direction round a large pulley, the axis of which supports the fore
wheels of the frame. The fore part of the frame is connected by a vertical
bolt to the part carrying the hind wheels to enable it to move like the fore part
of an ordinary four-wheeled carriage. The hind feet of the horse are sup-
ported by excentric pivots on the naves of the rear wheels. By communicating
motion to the carriage the rear wheels thereof impart a natural motion to the
horse while the body oscillates about the central supports, and the rider is
enabled by the reins to guide and alter the position of the head as well as the
direction of the frame as desired, which is effected through the motion
communicated by the pulleys and straps. With clockwork or other internal
mechanism the horse may be made to move automatically for a certain time
whereby it will be peculiarly adapted as a toy for young children.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or-such-others-
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 HOBBY HORSE," (communicated to me from abroad by
Amedée Constant Ponceau, of Rue des Vieux Augustins, Paris, France,)
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Archibald
Brooman, my executors or adminstrators by an instrument in writing
under 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

page_text: 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 1, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof reference being had to the Drawings bereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in the construction of a hobby horse styled by the
Inventor "galocipede," and in imparting to it motions corresponding with
those of a horse at full gallop. In addition to its use as a toy the galocipede
accustoms children at an early age to horse exercise.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of this hobby horse; a is the axle of the hind
wheels b, b, of a frame to which I prefer to fit only one front guide wheel; c is
a crank on the axle united to the rod d fixed under the tail of the horse in
order to impart rising and descending, and, at the same time, oscillating to-and-
fro motions; f is a rod attached to the body of the horse at e, supported and
free to move at bottom upon a pin at g. The movements are made to take
place through the rider alternately bringing his weight upon the saddle h, and
upon the stirrups i, taking hold of the upright rod 1, which passes through a
longitudinal slot made in the shoulders of the hobby horse. This upright
enables the rider to turn the horse to the right or left; for this purpose the
rod is connected by rods or chains m to the plate n which carries the axle of
the fore wheel p. The red lines shew the positions respectively taken by the
rods d and f to explain the movements imparted to the horse by the rider
Instead of
alternately applying his weight on the saddle and on the stirrups.
the weight of the rider clockwork may be applied inside to cause the galloping
movements.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)