AN IMPROVED HURDLE FOR FOLDS FOR LAMBS AND SHEEP
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bryant Rushbrook, of Saint Andrew's Street
North, Bury Saint Edmunds, in the County of Suffolk, for the In-
vention of "AN IMPROVED HURDLE FOR FOLDS FOR LAMBS AND SHEEP."
Sealed the 11th February 1870, and dated the 14th August 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bryant Rushbrook
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th August 1869.
I, JOHN BRYANT RUSHBROOK, of Saint Andrew's Street North, Bury
Saint Edmunds, in the County of Suffolk, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED HURDLE FOR FOLDS FOR LAMBS AND
SHEEP," to be as follows:-
The object and intention of this Invention is to so construct a hurdle
that when put together with other ordinary hurdles it shall allow lambs
to pass into and out of the fold by openings formed therein, but the
sheep that may be in the fold cannot pass out by the same openings.

page_text: The means by which this may be effected are as follows:-To the
bottom and next horizontal bars of an iron hurdle I adapt an upright
picce of metal carrying a long wooden roller. This piece of metal has a
rod fixed to the back thereof about midway of its height, and this rod has
a long thread or screw formed thereon, which passes through a plain
hole made in each of the outer upright bars of which the hurdle is
formed, the middle upright bar of the hurdle serving as a division for
the two openings formed thereby and by the upright sliding pieces of
metal above mentioned. Two levers, one at each side of the aforesaid
outer bars of the hurdle fit on to the before-mentioned long screw.
By means of these levers the openings in the hurdle may be adjusted so
as to be either narrower or wider to suit the size of the lambs as they
grow. I propose to adapt rollers to the top of each opening, and also
each side of the middle upright bar of the hurdle. The use of these rollers
is to prevent the wool on the lambs being dragged off or injured as
the lambs squeeze through the aforesaid openings in the hurdle by
which they enter and leave the fold.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Bryant Rushbrook in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th February 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BRYANT RUSHBROOK,, of Saint Andrew's Street North, Bury Saint
Edmunds, in the County of Suffolk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Bryant Rushbrook, Her special
licence that I, the said John Bryant Rushbrook, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Bryant
Rushbrook, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
'make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great

page_text: Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED HURDLE FOR FOLDS FOR LAMBS AND SHEEP," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Bryant Rushbrook, my
executors 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 immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Bryant Rushbrook, 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, that is to say:-
The object and intention of this Invention is to so construct a
hurdle that when put together with other ordinary hurdles it shall
allow lambs to pass into and out of the fold by openings formed therein,
but the sheep that may be in the fold cannot pass out by the same
openings.
.
The means by which this may be effected are as follows:-To the
bottom and next horizontal bars of an iron hurdle I adapt an upright
piece of metal carrying a long wooden roller. This piece of metal
has a rod fixed to the back thereof about midway of its height, and
this rod has a long thread or screw formed thereon, which passes through
a plain hole made in each of the outer upright bars of which the hurdle
is formed, the middle upright bar of the hurdle serving as a division for
the two openings formed thereby and by the upright sliding pieces of
metal above mentioned. Two levers, one at each side of the aforesaid outer
bars of the hurdle fit on to the before-mentioned long screw. By means
of these levers the openings in the hurdle may be, adjusted so as to
be either narrower or wider to suit the size of the lambs as they grow.
I propose to adapt rollers to the top of each opening, and also each side
of the middle upright bar of the hurdle. The use of these rollers is
to prevent the wool on the lambs being dragged off or injured as the
lambs squeeze through the aforesaid openings in the hurdle by which
they enter and leave the fold.
"
And in order to explain this Invention more completely I now proceed
to describe the best means I am 'acquainted with for carrying the same

page_text: Drawings accompanying these Presents, and to the numeral figures
and letters of reference marked thercon respectively as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a hurdle constructed according
to my said Invention; Figure 2, a section through the line A, B, at
Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrow's flight; Figure 3, a
section through the line C, D, looking in the opposite direction to the
other section. At each of the foregoing Figures I employ similar
letters of reference to denote corresponding parts wherever they appear at
each of such said Figures respectively.
A, A, marks the upright metal bars of the hurdle B, B', the horizontal
bars thereof fixed to the upright bars A in the usual way. The bars B'
have holes formed therein to receive the pivots of two upright rollers
C capable of revolving; other rollers D, D, are placed loosely on the
bar B so as to be capable of revolving thereon; E, E, are upright bars
of metal each carrying a pivotted roller G; the bars E have each a
rod H fixed thereinto; the outer end of each of these rods passes through
a hole in the standards A, A, and the said rods have a thread or screw
formed thereon on which two screwed lever nuts I are placed and
employed for adjusting the width of the opening between the upright
rollers G, and securely holding them at any required distance asunder
according to the size of the lambs that are to pass through the said
openings into and out of the pen or fold to which this improved
hurdle is applied. The bars E, E, fit loosely on and embrace the
rollers D, D, and bar B₁ on which they slide during the adjustment
of the rollers G as before stated. The rollers C, D, and G, may be
of metal or wood either alone or covered with any soft material if
necessary, the use of the said rollers being to prevent injury to the
lambs as before stated.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of
my said Invention for "An Improved Hurdle for Folds for Lambs and
Sheep," together with the best means I am acquainted with for carrying
the same into practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that I
hereby declare my Invention to consist in, and I claim, constructing

page_text: a hurdle for lambs in the manner above described with reference to
the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bryant Rushbrook, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
JOHN BRYANT RUSHBROOK. (L.S.)