IMPROVEMENTS IN HARNESS SADDLES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Cox, of Walsall, in the County of
Stafford, Harness Saddler, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HARNESS SADDLES."
Scaled the 15th June 1875, and dated the 24th December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Cox at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th December 1874.
I, WILLIAM Cox, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford, Harness
Saddler, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN HARNESS SADDLES," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference to the saddle trees of harness saddles, and
consists of the improvements herein-after described in the said saddle
trees, by which improvements the said saddle trees are made stronger
and more durable than saddle trees of the ordinary construction.
In making a harness saddle tree according to my Invention I form
the saddle tree, by preference of cast iron, and by the ordinary casting

page_text: process and at the same time and by the same process I form at each
end of the saddle tree the transverse bands called the back band plates.
These back band plates being cast on and forming one piece with tho
saddle tree have great strength and cannot bo torn from the saddle by
carcless uso or separated by the ordinary use of the saddle as commonly {
happens with harness saddle trees manufactured in the ordinary way.
Although I prefer carrying my Invention into effect by the casting
process yet I do not limit myself thereto, as harness saddle trees con-
taining my improvements may be made of wrought iron by the process
of stamping and forging; and although I prefer employing cast iron or
wrought iron in making harness saddle trees according to my Invention,
yet I do not limit myself thereto, as other metals and alloys, such
for example as brass may be used although with less advantago than
iron.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent 1
filed by the said William Oox in the Great Seal Patent Offico
on the 17th June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
Cox, of Walsall, in tho' County of Stafford, Harness Saddler, send
greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Cox, Her special 2
license that I, the said William Cox, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Cox, 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 8
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN HARNESS SADDLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Cox, my executors or administrators, by an instrument

page_text: 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 William Cox, 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 tho
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention has reference to the saddle trees of harness saddles, and
consists of the improvements hercin-after described in the said saddle
trees, by which improvements the said saddle trees are made stronger
and more durable than saddle trees of the ordinary construction.
In making a harness saddle treo according to my Invention I form thic
saddle trec by preference of cast iron, and by the ordinary casting
process, and at the same time and by the same process I form at cach
end of the saddle trec the transverse bands called the back band plates.
These back band plates being cast on and forming one piece with the
saddle tree have groat strength and cannot be torn from the saddle by
careless usc.or separated by the ordinary use of the saddle as commonly
happens with harness saddle trees manufactured in the ordinary way.
Although I prefer carrying my Invention into effect by the casting
process. yet I do not limit myself thereto, as harness saddle trees con-
taining my improvements may be made of wrought iron by the process
of stamping and forging; and although I prefer employing cast iron or
wrought iron in making harness saddle trees according to my Invention,
yet I do not limit myself thereto as other metals and alloys, such for
example as brass may be used although with less advantage than iron.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in plan, Figure 2
in longitudinal vertical section, and Figure 3 in end clevation a metallic
harness saddle tree made according to my Invention.
Figure 4 represents in plan the saddle tree of a harness pad made
according to my Invention.
The harness saddle trec has longitudinally the bow or arch form repre-
scuted, and has a trough form in cross section, the trough being formed

page_text: of the bottom part, or plate a and the vertical side plates b, b. At each
end of the saddle trec is a transverse band or bar c called the back band
plate. These back band platos are made in one piece with the body a, b,
of the harness saddle trec. In the trough of the saddle tree the back
band lies, its ends passing through openings at d, d, between the trans-
verse plates c and the base part a of the body.
I do not limit myself to the particular shape and position represented
of the transverse plates or bars c, c, as their shape and position may be
varied. For example the said transverse plates or bars may have the
shape and position represented with respect to the saddle tree of tho
harness pad, Figure 4, that is to say, instead of making openings d, d,
near the ends of the body, as in Figures 1, 2, and 3, by the romoval or
non-extension of the base plate a the said base plate a may be con-
tinuous from end to end of the saddle tree, and the back band pass
under the transverse bands or bars c, c, Figure 4, and between the said
bands and the ends of the base plate a.
The saddle tree, Figures 1, 2, and 3, is attached to the leather foun-
dation by the side eyes e and the eyes in the transverso bars or plates c, c,
and also by rivets, or screws, or nails passed through holes in the base
plate a. The parts marked f, g, crossing the summit of the saddle troo
carry the seat of the saddle and the bearing hook.
In the saddle trec of the harness pad, Figuro 4, the central cross bar
carries the bearing hook and also a loop or cyc for the crupper strap to
be attached to the pad. No scat is used with tho harness pad. The
saddle tree of the harness pad is fastened to the leather foundation by
rivets, screws, or nails passed through tho base plate and by the cyc
pieces c. One of the oyo pioces e however on one side of the saddle tree
pad forms a socket into which the terret screws.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to bo performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein doscribed and illustrated
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention, the improvements in harness
saddles herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, that is to say, forming the body or trough of harness saddle
trees together with the transverse bands or back band plates, and the
attachments of the saddle treo of metal, and by preference in one piece

page_text: by the ordinary casting process, whereby the said saddle treos are made
stronger and more durable than harness saddle trees of the ordinary
construction.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cox, havo hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Fifteenth day of Junc, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
-
GEO. BATES,
Walsall.
WILLIAM COX. (L.S.)