SAFETY HARNESS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Smith, of No. 10, Salisbury Street, Adelphi,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "SAFETY HARNESS."_
A communication
Sealed the 6th July 1855, and dated the 9th March 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
March 1855.
I, WILLIAM SMITH, of No. 10, Salisbury Street, Adelphi, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "SAFETY
HARNESS" (a communication) to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the prevention of that class of accident
which frequently occurs to pleasure carriages and other vehicles when the
harnessed draft animals become frightened and run away.
I effect this by means of an arrangement of levers, hooks, or similar fasten-
ings, held or retained by springs or similar mechanical arrangements contained
within the harness, or connected thereto, which enables the whole of the
harness to be disengaged from the animal or animals instantaneously and with
certainty, by the jerking of a safety rein placed within the reach of the coach-
man and perfectly under his control, and by which means one, two, or any
usual number of horses used together for drawing any carriage may be wholly

page_text: or separately disengaged; moreover, I provide for the coachman guiding the
carriage by its pole or shafts until it stops of its own accord.
I attach my mechanical apparatus to the saddle and its girth, as also to the
hames of the collar, and the connection with the traces, and also to the bridle
hook, and wherever else the peculiarities of the kind of harness used demand
its being applied, to ensure the perfect and instantaneous severance of the
entire harness from the animal or animals whenever the coachman finds
danger imminent and desires to disengage any animal or animals from the
carriage.
By my Invention I am also enabled to disengage the traces. and other parts
of the harness with great ease in the event of an horse falling whilst in
harness, without the trouble of unbuckling the traces and other parts of the
harness, which, under existing modes of harnessing, becomes next to impossible
when the horse falls upon traces or becomes entangled therewith.
I am also enabled by my Invention to use the same harness for various sizes
of horses when adjusted accordingly, which from the nature of the construction
harness can be done with great facility.
of
my
I also provide for using the driving reins alone, and compose and construct
them that the safety rein for acting upon my mechanical arrangements may be
contained within them
I also apply the same mode of construction for the traces when desirable.
:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SMITH, of No. 10, Salisbury Street, Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex, send
⚫ greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Smith, Her special licence that I, the said William Smith,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Smith, 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

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for." SAFETY HARNESS," (being a com-
munication,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Smith, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 William Smith, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formied; to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement
My Invention has for its object a mechanical arrangement of harness
intended to prevent the grave and numerous accidents that occur when horses
in harness become frightened and run away. This system enables the coach-
man, by means of a safety rein, always kept within reach, to immediately, by
á slight-jerk, release the horses and drop the whole of the harness, and this
too with any number of horses; the coachman is at the same time enabled to
guide the carriage by the póle till it stops of its own accord.
"The harness is composed principally of the saddle, which is secured by
means of a girth of special construction, whereby it is permitted to become
unfastened at the will of the coachman; also the haums or haims, which,
fitting as usual over the collar of the horse, unfasten likewise by means of
the safety apparatus, and are by that means disengaged; and, lastly, the
bridle hook, which is placed as usual upon the crown of the saddle, is so
disposed as to open of itself and liberate the bridle, which the horse carries
away. All these parts open simultaneously by pulls of the safety rein in
the hand of the coachman, already referred to; and by means of very simple
mechanism contained in a box, that I would place, by preference, in the side
of the saddle itself, and which occupying but a small space would not detract
from the elegance of the harness. ..
With the view of fully explaining my Invention, I have hereunto annexed
four Drawings, three of which represent the complete set of safety harness
under the various aspects its employment would present, and one Sheet of
Drawings shewing the several parts which constitute the mechanisin of my
'Invention, and the several Sheets are thus described.
Sheet No. 1 represents my improved safety barness in its usual state when
the horses are in quiescence; V being the bridle hook upon which the bearing
rein is fastened. A, the safety rein, attached to the curved lever and

page_text: mechanism contained in the box I, containing the disengaging apparatus.
ຍ,
the driving rein; v', the junction piece; t, the connecting piece and arrange-
ment, hereafter described. T, one part of the girth fastening, also hereafter
described; X, the junction ring, connecting the trace with the haums or
haines and their disengaging gear; a is the eye at the junction of the haums
on the under side of the collar and connecting it with the pole strap.
The same letters of reference refer to the same parts of Sheets 1, 2, and 3.
Sheet No. 2 represents the effect of the mechanism at the moment that the
horses start off.
Sheet No. 3 represents the complete effect of the mechanism when brought
into play and the horses are entirely liberated; and in this it will be clearly
seen how the pole can be directed, and is under the control of the coachman;
and, lastly,
Sheet No. 4 represents the details of the mechanism as applied to the
several parts of the harness.
For the better making understood the several parts of the Drawings, Sheets
1, 2, and 3, I have lettered the parts in red ink, but in Sheet 4 they are in
black ink.
One of the sides of the saddle is furnished with the box L, in Sheet 1, con-
taining all the motive mechanism, and which I therefore call the "motive
box." A section of this box is given on a larger scale in Fig. 1 (Sheet 4),
which shews the interior mechanism. Into this box penetrates a curved arın
from the rein, to which is attached the safety rein A, marked by the same
letter in Sheets 1 and 3. The other end of this curved arm is fastened at g to
one of the branches of a lever B, vibrating on the centre stud C.
To one of the branches of the lever B a chain or strap D is fastened, as also
to a sheath E, into which a description of rack M, or band of iron, pierced
with holes at regular distances, penetrates (see Fig. 2, Sheet 4); a spring F
is furnished with pegs, which pegs enter the holes in the sheath E, and the
rack M holds these two parts together. The multiplicity of holes introduced
in the rack is with the object of facilitating the shortening or lengthening, at
need, of the set.
Figure 2, Sheet 4, exhibits a horizontal section of the clasp of the girth. It
is perceived that the rack M. is united by a strap to one of the arms of a bent
lever N, oscillating on a pin n, in the other arm of which communicates by
means of a connecting link or plate O with another lever P, oscillating (or
revolving) on p, and becoming by its hooked extremity P clasped upon a peg R,
in order to unite the two parts T and T of the sheath, which forms the
mechanical clasp, which replaces the ordinary buckles of the girth. A lever or

page_text: revolving hook Q, always pressed upon by a spring S, and revolving upon an.
axis q, presses the lever P in such a manner as to always keep it hooked upon
the peg R.
It is clear from the above that if the strap A is forcibly drawn, the oscilla-
tion of the lever B in the box L will act upon the levers L and P of the girth,
and that this last, in drawing back the pivot hook Q, disengages the peg
R; the two halves of the sheath T and T separate, and the girth will be
unfastened.
The pin g (Fig. 1, Sheet 4), which serves to unite the strap A to the lever
B, enters also a groove formed in one of the arms of the bent lever G, this
last revolving upon an axis K, the upper part of which is provided with a pin
or spike, which enters a hole made in the partition of the box L, in order to
prevent the dislocation of the mechanism by means of the stress which this
last is susceptible of undergoing.
The other arm of the lever G unites itself by a chain or strap H to the bolt
I of the bridle hook, represented in Fig. 5, Sheet 4; the bridle hook consists
of two parts, one fixed V, the other moveable U.
The part U is hollow, and contains the bolt I, referred to above, and which
is encircled by a spiral spring.
The same movement of the lever B, which I have explained as opening the
girth, acts upon the lever G, and draws the bolt I by compressing the spring.
The pull of the rein causes the portion U to fall back, the hook is open, and
the rein escapes.
It is to be observed, that to prevent the girth and the bridle hook opening
too readily, a spring J presses continually against the lever B, and tends to
keep the several portions of the mechanism in their normal position.
With respect to the haums or haims, the following is the mechanism (see
Fig. 3, Sheet 4):-The chain or lines which bring it into action, and which at
one end join the saddle, are fastened to a ring X; this last is united by a
line Y of brass wire, which passes through a channel in the haums or haims,
and terminates in an I at one end with a bent lever Z, provided with a tongue
or pin Z', shewn as dotted in and turning upon a centre z.
b
The lower extremity of each haum or haim is provided with a ring in two
articulated portions; one of these parts 6 is joined by a hinge b¹ to the haum
or haim; the other piece a is joined by a hinge a¹ to the first piece b. It is
into this ring that the book of the little chain a², Sheet 3, is fixed, uniting the
lower extremities of the two haums or haims.
So long as the pin or stud Z', pressed by a spring d, remains fixed in a
corresponding hole made at the extremity of the piece a, the ring remains

page_text: closed; but so soon as any stress is exercised upon the ring X it causes the
bent lever Z to turn by compressing the spring d, disengages the pin, and
the ring A, B, opens its two hinges a¹, b', and the hook of the little chain a².
is released..
A spring g aids in opening the ring a, b,'by the
9
the collar with which it is placed in contact.
pressure it exercises against
But with the object of securing that the spring should operate only when
required, it is kept pressed against the haum or haim by a ring f, with which
it is provided, and which is traversed by a bolt e. To this bolt is attached a
roll spring e, bound by its other extremity to a little chain which joins the
ring X. The traction of the ring X has thus the double effect of opening
the ring a, b, and disengaging the bolt e, and consequently the spring q.
A piece h, that I name the guarantee, is placed between the spring q-and
the haum or haim; it is destined to replace the mechanism of the haum or
haim in the event of its fracture, and this piece h is traversed by the ring f, and
is held by it alone; the action of the ring X liberates it instantly in cases of
danger. The guarantee h is shewn in detail in Fig. 8.
It will be observed in the Drawings, that between the haum or haim
and the motive box a strap extends, uniting them. If, when the girth
becomes disengaged, the rein A continues to be pulled, the horse; which in
running away drags upon the haums or haims, and the strap acts upon the
ring X, which causes the ring a, b, and consequently the haums or haims,
to open.
At this moment the horse is completely disengaged from the
harness.
Such are the principles and functions of these parts of my safety harness.
But I will now describe some additional application to other parts of harness
in order to further facilitate its general employment.
.
Thus, with the view of facilitating the operation of mounting the harness or
taking it to pieces, I replace the buckle of the traces by a spring rack, arranged
in the following manner :-
The trace passes into a box t, under which is fixed a spring t, (see Fig. 6,
and 6 bis, Sheet 4,) furnished with pegs, placed at the same distance as the
holes in the trace: A screw u, and a spring u', Fig. 6, serves to fix the trace
at the required length.
1
This improvement enables the traces to be readily unfastened when, for
instance, a horse falls. This cannot be done with ordinary buckles, because
the traces must be drawn to, disengage the tongue, from which results the
necessity of cutting the trace in most cases when this accident happens.
My harness-being designed to be applied to horses of different sizes, I have

page_text: devised a mode of altering at will the size of the collar, by making this last on
the lan represented in Fig. 4, Sheet 4.
Te collar is-composed of two parts, of which one, the lower, is introduced
in the upper i, as into a sheath, an iron rod k, furnished with holes, into
which pass the screws, which unite the two portions of the collar in such a
manner that I can alter at will the gradations of length necessary. This rod K
is set in a groove / in order to prevent its deviation.
The rod of the collar is composed of two pieces,, a sheath.
1 m, and a rod
fitting into the sheath m.
Lastly, the reins serving to drive the horses are "composed of two parts
united, as shewn in Fig. 7, that is, that one of the ends w fastens to some
point of the coach box, and passes into a sort of sheath at any point along
the rein. This end unites itself with the end w; this. last is joined to the
bridle. This union is effected in such a manner that if the coachman draws
toward him the sheath (or another end of the rein w²), the sheath v disengages
itself above the sheath v', dragging away a bolt æ, the head of which is fastened
in a cavity of a spring a¹; then this last would be raised, and the pegs y with
which it is provided would quit the holes made in the other portions of the
rein w¹ which remains with and would be carried away by the horse.
This mode of separating the reins is equally applicable to the traces if
judged suitable.
It is useful to remark, 1st, that the driving rein is independent of
the "safety" rein; that its slide or runner may be attached to any part;
and that it has no detention, and separates itself by draught of the horses
when escaping; 2nd, that in the case of a horse falling, the disconnection of
the safety rein A takes place immediately.
Such is my Invention; but I do not confine myself to the dimensions or
position of the several mechanical parts thereof, nor to the precise forms of
the mechanical parts shewn for effecting the several object. But what I do
claim is, the employment of such or equivalent mechanical contrivances con-
tained within and attached to the several parts of the harness, by which such
harness may be disunited or disconnected, so as to sever the connection between
the draught animal and the carriage or vehicle drawn. And I claim the
application of such apparatus for the purpose of effecting the object stated, and
the mode of uniting the command of the several mechanisms used, whether
one or more horses are employed, and irrespective of the position in which or
manner in which the acting rein shall be connected to the carriage or vehicle
or be acted upon. But when several horses are employed, the point of junction
of the several special safety reins should be near the coachman, in order that

page_text: the coachman may have it in his power to disengage only such horses as are
restive and disposed to run away.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
JOHN WILLIAM TIBBERT,
10, Salisbury Street, Adelphi.
WILLIAM SMITH. (L.S.)