IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLIPPING OR SHEARING HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Tidmarsh, of Twickenham, in the County
of Middlesex, Watch Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR CLIPPING OR SHEARING HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS."
Sealed the 28th May 1869, and dated the 2nd December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Tidmarsh at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd December 1868.
I, JOHN TIDMARSH, of Twickenham, in the County of Middlesex,
Watch Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLIPPING OR SHEARING HORSES AND OTHER
ANIMALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the construction of apparatus for clipping
or shearing horses and other animals in the following manner :-
Heretofore apparatus for clipping and shearing have been made
with the same number of teeth on the comb plate as there are on the
cutting plate. Now according to my Invention I form the comb
with a much greater number of teeth than the plate carrying the

page_text: cutting blades. I make the comb segmental in form and the teeth close
together, and by preference, although not necessarily, the same distance
existing between the top and bottom of each tooth. The plate carrying
the cutting blades or knives is also segmental in shape and is secured
to the comb plate by a nut or screw. The blades or knives are by
preference formed in a piece with the plate, although they may be made
separately and attached thereto, a handle on the plate carrying the
cutters imparts a to-and-fro motion to them which is regulated by a
stud or studs on the comb plate. The cutting blades are by preference,
although not necessarily triangular in shape, and cut both ways. I use
by preference three cutting blades, they do not radiate from a common
centre, neither do the teeth composing the comb radiate, and it is by
this means that the hair is gathered by the comb and cut by the cutters
both with great facility and in a better and more effectual manner than
heretofore.
The Invention therefore essentially consists in the employment of
combs segmental in shape, with the teeth thereof close together and
not radiating from one common centre, in combination with a plate (to
which a to-and-fro motion is imparted) also segmental in shape, and
carrying cutting blades or teeth, by preference three, but which do not
radiate from a common centre.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said John Tidmarsh in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
TIDMARSH, of Twickenham, in the County of Middlesex, Watch
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Tidmarsh, Her special licence
that I, the said John Tidmarsh, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Tidmarsh, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no

page_text: 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
APPARATUS FOR CLIPPING OR SHEARING HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Tidmarsh, my
exccutors or administrators, 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 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Tidmarsh, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is to
say:
My Invention consists in the construction of apparatus for clipping
or shearing horses and other animals in the following manner :-
Heretofore modifications of apparatus for clipping and shearing
have been made some of which have. the same number of teeth on
the comb plate as there are on the cutting plate, and in some a single
cutter is used on the cutting plate. Now according to my Invention
I form, as herein-after more particularly described, the comb with a
much greater number of teeth than the plate carrying the cutting
blades, I make the comb as shown in the Drawings hereunto annexed,
in Figures 1 and 4, segmental in form and the teeth close together and by
preference, although not necessarily, the same distance existing between
the top and bottom of each tooth. The plate carrying the cutting blades
or knives is also as shown in Figure 2 segmental in shape, and is
secured to the comb plate by a nut or screw. The blades or knives
are by preference formed in a piece with the plate, although they may
be made separately and attached thereto; a handle on the plate carrying
the cutters imparts a to-and-fro motion to them which is regulated by
stud or studs on the comb plate. The cutting blades of which I use
three by preference are of a triangular shape, or are made with inclined
sides and cut both ways, they do not radiate from a common centre,

page_text: neither do the teeth composing the comb radiate, as that arrangement.
of teeth and blades is not efficient in practice, whereas by the means,
adopted by me in my improved apparatus the hair is gathered by the
comb. and cut by the cutters with greater facility and in a better and
more effectual manner than in apparatus used heretofore with the
object of cutting or shearing hair or wool.
The Invention therefore essentially consists in the employment of
combs, segmental in shape, with the teeth thereof close together, and
not radiating from one common centre, in combination with a plate
(to which a to-and-fro motion is imparted) also segmental in shape, and
carrying cutting blades or teeth, by preference three, but which do not
radiate from a common centre.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a front view of the comb,
and plate with handle attached, constructed according to my Invention;
Figure 2 is a front view of the plate carrying the cutting blades;
Figure 3 is a side view; and Figure 4 is a front view of the apparatus
complete. Similar letters of reference refer to like parts in all the
Figures.
.
a is the comb-plate, and a' the comb formed at the outer end thereof;
and which is segmental in shape, forming a portion of the radius of a
circle, the centre of which is the centre of the pin 6 on the plate a;
the teeth of the comb a' are parallel to another and are cut out of the
plate a as shown. c is the plate carrying three cutting blades d, d, d;
the edges of these blades are bevilled to bring them to cutting edges
so that they will cut on both sides; this plate c has an aperture es
formed in it, the centre of which is the centre of the outer edge of this
plate and the base of the blades d, d, d. The plate c is placed on the
pin b on which it is free to move, and is there secured by a thumbscrew
f, as shown at Figures 3 and 4. The plate c is somewhat arched,
curved, or bent as shown at Figure 3, so that its top and bottom ends
may rest on and press against the top and bottom of the comb plate a,
the screw keeping the central part close up to the base of the pin b,
y and are handles for holding the apparatus and for communicating
a to-and-fro motion to the plates a and c, or the handle g may be used
for holding the plate a and the handle h for giving motion only to
the plate c. i and karc pins or studs on the plate for limiting
the movement of the plate con the plate a. The dotted lines in
Figure 4 show the extent of the distance the plate travels over the

page_text: plate a. To use the apparatus the comb a¹ is placed in the hair of the
animal which passes down to the bottom of all the teeth in the comb,
the cutting blades d, d, d, arc then caused to travel over the teeth of
the comb by communicating a to-and-fro motion to the handles g
and or only to the handle h, and so all the hair held between the
teeth of the comb a¹ is cut.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I make no claim to the
employment of segmental shaped combs the teeth of which radiate
from a common centre, neither do I claim the use of a segmental shaped
comb, and segmental shaped cutting plate, neither do I claim simply
the employment of parallel or vertical teeth when taken separately or
alone, but I do claim as my "Improvements in Apparatus for Clipping
or Shearing Horses and other Animals," the employment in such
apparatus of combs segmental in shape having teeth whose central
lines are parallel to one another, and to the line in which the instrument
is moved forward when in action in combination with a plate (to which
a to-and-fro motion is imparted) also segmental in shape, and carrying
cutting blades or teeth which do not radiate from a common centre,
but have when at rest their central lines parallel to those of the teeth,
all substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Tidmarsh, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
EDW. GRIFFITII BREWER,
89, Chancery Lane,
London.
JOHN TIDMARSH. (L.S.)