IMPROVE- MENTS IN SADDLES, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE STANDING RIGGING AND OTHER FURNITURE OF SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND TO THE CONNECTING LINKS OR CHAINS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND OTHER PURPOSES WHERE TENSION COMBINED WITH A CERTAIN DEGREE OF ELASTICITY ARE REQUIRED
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
EDWARD COLEGRAVE, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the thirteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Francis Edward Colegrave, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Francis Edward Colegrave, my
exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Francis Edward
Colegrave, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in
all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of
Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SADDLES, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE
STANDING RIGGING AND OTHER FURNITURE OF SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND TO THE
CONNECTING LINKS OR CHAINS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND OTHER PURPOSES
WHERE TENSION COMBINED WITH A CERTAIN DEGREE OF ELASTICITY ARE REQUIRED;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said

page_text: Francis Edward Colegrave, by an instrument in. writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court: of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Francis Edward Colegrave, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is parti-
cularly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The first part of my Invention relates to improvements in saddles, and
consists in the adaptation to certain parts of saddles of a springing or elastic
apparatus of peculiar construction. By the employment of the peculiar
construction of spring hereafter described the horse or other animal receives
very great benefit and relief when making any extraordinary exertion; and
another advantage incidental to my improvement is, that when the horse
makes any extra exertion, as in leaping, the girths of the saddle are not liable
to break, as a certain amount of elasticity is given to them, which will also
obviate the disagreeable necessity of tightening the girths after the rider has
been some time in the saddle, as is now frequently the case. The elasticity
given to the girth has also the effect, upon a low-shouldered horse or other
animal, of preventing the saddle from slipping or riding forward, and to
prevent which the old-fashioned plush saddle cloth has been hitherto usually
employed.
The several Figures in the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed represent
various views of my improved saddle apparatus; and, as the apparatus to what-
ever kind of saddle it may be adapted, will be constructed upon precisely the
same principle, it will not be necessary to give a detailed description of more
than three arrangements. One of the arrangements shewn is intended to be
adapted or applied to hunting, military, or ladies' saddles, another to steeple-
chasing or ordinary riding saddles, and the last to racing saddles.
Fig. 1 in the Drawings represents a side view of a saddle for ordinary
hunting or riding purposes, the spring being in a quiescent or inactive state.
The saddle flap is raised or lifted up in order to shew the spring beneath;
Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the same; Fig. 3 is a detached view

page_text: of the spring drawn upon an enlarged scale; and Fig. 4 is an edge view
thereof.
The second or steeple-chasing arrangement would be similar in construction
to that shewn in the above-mentioned Figures, except that instead of three
5 sets of springs, only two are used.
Fig. 5 represents a side view of a spring which is intended to be applied to
racing saddles. In this case only one set of springs are used; but it should be
always understood that any of the three arrangements as may be considered
advisable may be adapted to any saddle whatever. In Fig. 5, which repre-
sents a front view of the racing arrangement, the springs are represented as
drawn down or in action.
In Figs. 1, 3, and 5, the frame, which is made of metal (steel by prefe-
rence), is shewn at a, a, a, a; and b, b, b, b, are lugs or eyes on the top or
upper side of the frame, and through which lugs holes are bored to admit
the transverse supporting rod c, c, one end of which is screwed for the purpose
of taking into a female screw in the lug 6*. When the spring apparatus is
adapted to a saddle, this bar or rod c is passed through the eyes of a leather
or other strap p, which is secured to the saddle-tree in the ordinary manner.
The outer end of the bar c has a round and flattened head for the convenience
of holding or turning with the finger and thumb, and screwing or unscrewing
the bar when it is required to apply or detach the spring apparatus to or from
the saddle. Vertical bars e, e, e, e, are secured in pairs in the frame a, a,
either by screws, nuts, or in any other convenient manner; and between each
pair of bars e is another vertical bar d, the lower end of which passes through
and works in a hole in the bottom bar of the frame a, and is secured to
forked pieces o, to which the girth straps are attached. The upper part of
the vertical bar d passes through a hole in the short cross bar or piece f, and
is furnished with a nut or head u, whereby the cross bar or piece f is drawn
down when the spring is in action. The necks of these bars e, e, and d,
should be made square, in order to prevent them from turning round when
placed in the frame a, a, and cross bar f. Each of these vertical bars d and
e, e, is enveloped or enclosed in a coiled spring, as shewn in the Drawing.
The girth is connected to the straps p, p, p, by means of buckles in the
ordinary manner; and when the saddle is secured on a horse, and the girth is
tightly buckled, the cross bar f is drawn down, and the coiled springs of the
bars & and e compressed, as shewn in Fig. 5, but at the same time they have
sufficient elasticity to give ease to the horse during any extraordinary
exertion, as in leaping. As the girths have a tendency to become looser after
the horse has been for some time at work, the springs will come into action,

page_text: and keep the girth to a proper degree of tension without at any time inter-
fering with the free action of the horse's lungs, as is now the case when horses
are tightly bound with inelastic girths. The apparatus is adapted to the.
saddle in the same manner that the girth straps are at present affixed to the
tree, and it must be fixed at an angle, and as close as possible to the point of
the saddle-tree, as shewn in Fig. 1 in the Drawing. Thus it will be seen
that the position of the frame when fixed to the loop p by means of the
supporting bar c, c, in Figs. 1 and 3, passing through it, will incline forwards
at the bottom; this is the proper direction to be taken. In order also to
prevent either wringing the side of the horse, or the leg of the rider, the
panel of the saddle must be cushioned up on either side of the frame, as
shown at q, q, Figs. 1 and 2, to the thickness and the depth thereof. The
presence of the frame, which is slightly curved, as shewn in Figs. 2 and 4,
will then be felt by neither man nor horse, nor will it materially add to the
thickness or weight of the saddle. In order that the springs may have fair
play, the ordinary sweat flap under the frame must be carried down to the
bottom of the panel, and a small extra flap r, the same size as the outside area
of the spring frame, should be placed as a species of bed to the frame, in
order that the friction of the motion of the springs may not injure or unneces-
sarily wear the saddle flaps. The way of affixing the instruments to the
saddle is clearly shewn in the Figures, and has been already described; it will
therefore only be necessary to say that the girths should be cut three or four
inches shorter than those now in use.
The second part of my improvements relates to the construction and
employment of a springing or elastic apparatus, similar in principle and action
to that above described, and whereby the standing rigging and other furniture
of ships or vessels may be made to withstand far more severe trial, use, aud
wear than the present unyielding and rigid rigging and furniture will do.
Fig. 6 represents, in side elevation, part of the shrouds of a vessel with my
improvements adapted thereto. The shrouds and blocks of the standing
rigging are shewn at 5, 8, 8, 8. Two strong square metal horizontal bars t, t, t, t,
are employed, and through these bars strong metal bolts u, u, u, u, with
strong eyes at one end are passed; these bolts u, u, have eyes at one end,
whereby they are secured, either to the sides of the vessels when the eyes are
at the lower ends, or to blocks above when the eyes are at the upper ends.
The opposite ends of these bolts are furnished with nuts or heads for the pur-
pose of acting against the horizontal bars. The bolts u, u, are furnished with
coiled springs as shewn in the Drawings. Thus it will be seen that these
shrouds which support the mast and other rigging have a certain amount of

page_text: elasticity or yield given to them, so that when they are assailed by any
violent or sudden storm of wind' they will yield in some degree and afterwards
return to their original place, instead of breaking, as is sometimes the case, so
that it will be obvious that the mast will be less likely to go over the side in a
storm than when rigid and unyielding standing rigging is employed.
In Figs. 7 and 8 I have shewn the same principle of construction applied
to the anchor cable. Fig. 7 is a plan view of the improvement as adapted to a
windlass and chain cable; and Fig. 8 is a similar view of the spring apparatus
detached, and drawn to an enlarged scale. t, t, are, as before, strong square
metal bars; and u, u, u, u, are two strong metal forks, made so that the prongs
fit inside one another. At the centre and outer end of each fork is a strong
eye for the purpose of attaching a chain cable to the apparatus. The legs of
the forks are surrounded with strong spiral or coiled springs, as shewn
at Fig. 7. In putting the instrument together the prongs or legs of the inner
fork are placed first through one of the bars, second, each through a spring,
then through the second bar, and secured by nuts n, n, on the extremities of
the prongs or legs, as shewn. The other fork is then attached in the same
manner from the opposite end. The eye of the smaller or inner fork is made
fast to the deck, and the eye of the larger or outer fork is attached to the end
of the cable, and it will be seen that in the most violent storms it will
become almost an impossibility for the ship to break away from her moorings,
and, to a certain extent, she will also be prevented from dragging her moorings,
as the springs are made to yield to any sudden jerk or strain, and will return
to their original position as the vessel rides to her anchor. The same instru-
ment may be adapted to any other part of the vessel where it may be
considered applicable, and great and sudden resistance or strain is likely to
happen.
The last part of my improvements relates to the construction and employ-
ment of an arrangement of springs adapted to the connecting links or draw-
bars or chains of railway carriages, and other places where tension combined
with elasticity is required. This may be effected as represented in Fig. 9.
The frame of a railway carriage, horse-box, or truck is shewn at w, w, and is
divided into three compartments by the cross beams or bars v, v; draw-bars,
with hooks at the outer ends, are seen at x, x, and are attached at their inner
ends to two strong metal forks u, u, u, u, made in the same way as those above
described for the cable stay of a vessel, only larger. t, t, are two strong square
metal bars, made and bored similar to those mentioned above. The legs or
prongs of the forks t, t, are enveloped by very powerful coiled springs, which

page_text: can be made to any strength. The buffer rods y, y, are also made to bear
against the bars t, t, and thereby act upon the coiled springs between the two
bars. Hence it will be seen that when a train is put together the sudden
jerk which is occasioned by the train being put in motion' will be received by
the bars t, t, which will be compressed together by the draw-bars being drawn
out. It will also be seen that the buffers do not require any other spring for
their action than those just spoken of in the frame for the draw-bar, as they
equally press against the bars t, t.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that although in the present Speci-
fication I have described the best means with which I am at present
acquainted for adapting my improvements to the several purposes to which
they are intended to be applied, yet I do not by any means intend to confine
myself to the precise arrangement or construction of parts herein shewn, as
they may perhaps be varied without departing from the nature and object
of my Invention. Nor do I intend to claim the exclusive right of adapting
springs to saddles, except such springs be constructed and applied in the
manner and for the purposes herein set forth. . But that which I consider to
be new, and therefore wish to claim as the Invention secured to ine by the
herein before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, in relation to saddles, the employment of a springing elastic or
yielding apparatus, such as that herein shewn and described, or any modifica-
tion thereof, consisting of one or more sets of coiled or spiral springs, arranged
and combined in such a manner that when more than one set is required, or is
employed, each set may have free and independant action of the others.
Second, I claim the application of a spring or elastic apparatus, such as that
herein shewn and described, or any mere modification thereof, to the standing
rigging and other furniture of ships.
Third, I claim the application of a similar apparatus to the draw-bars or
connecting links or chains and buffer rods of railway carriages, and to any
other purposes where tension combined with a certain degree of elasticity are
required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Edward Colegrave, have here.
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
F. E. COLEGRAVE. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Francis Edward Colegrave came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
5 above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.