IMPROVEMENTS IN SADDLES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clay, of Yardley, in the County of Wor-
cester, Saddler, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SADDLES."
Sealed the 15th November 1872, and dated the 23rd August 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clay at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd August 1872.
I, JOHN CLAY, of Yardley, in the County of Worcester, Saddler, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SADDLES," to be as follows :-
'
My Invention has reference to that part of the saddle called the
saddle-tree, and consists in making the said saddle-tree in the manner
herein-after described.
I take a piece of sheet iron or other hard metal or alloy, and cut out
of it a blank, having in outline the figure of the seat of a saddle. A
piece is cut from the middle of this blank so as to leave only a frame.
The edges of the said frame are bent downwards, excepting at that part
which constitutes the front of the tree, and a hollow or fluted figure is

page_text: thus given to the said frame at all parts, excepting at the front. The
said frame is also bent so as to give it the figure of a seat of a saddle.
I prepare two pieces of wood similar in shape to the bars or bearings
of an ordinary saddle-tree, the under sides of the said pieces of wood
having the figure proper to fit the sides of the animal, the upper sides 5
being made to fit the under side of the fluted frame described.
The requisite webs, cloths, and leather to form the seat are fixed on
the fluted frame, and the wooden bars described having been covered at
their edges with leather, the said pieces of wood or bars are attached to
the fluted frame. This is effected by means of screw bolts passing 1
through the said fluted frame and the said bars, screw nuts being screwed
on the ends of the said screw bolts on the under side of the said bars;
the said bars and fluted frame are thereby firmly secured together.
The said fluted frame may be made in one or more pieces by stamping,
pressing, forging, or casting, and although I prefer to make the said 1
fluted frame of iron, yet I do not limit myself thereto, as other hard
metals or alloys may be used in place of iron.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Clay in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th February 1878.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CLAY, of Yardley, in the County of Worcester, Saddler, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Clay, Her special license that I,
the said John Clay, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Clay, 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 vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SADDLES," upon the

page_text: condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Clay, my executors or
administators, 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 bei
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 Clay, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention has reference to that part of the saddle called the
saddle-tree, and consists in making the said saddle-tree in the manner
herein-after described.
I take a piece of sheet iron or other hard metal, or alloy, and cut out
of it a blank, having in outline the figure of the seat of a saddle. A
piece is cut from the middle of this blank so as to leave only a frame.
The edges of the said frame are bent downwards, excepting at that part
which constitutes the front of the tree, and a hollow or fluted figuro is
thus given to the said frame at all parts excepting at the front. The
said frame is also bent so as as to give it the figure of the seat of a saddle.
I prepare two pieces of wood similar in shape to the bars or bearings
of an ordinary saddle-tree, the under sides of the said pieces of wood
having the figure proper to fit the sides of the animal, the upper sides
bearing against the under side of the fluted frame described.
The requisite webs, cloths, and leather to form the seat are fixed on
the fluted frame, and the wooden bars described having been covered at
their edges with leather the said pieces of wood or bars are attached to
the fluted frame. This is effected by means of screw bolts passing
through the said fluted frame and the said bars, screw nuts being
screwed on the ends of the said screw bolts on the under side of the said
bars the said bars and fluted frame are thereby firmly secured together.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will describe with
reference to the accompanying Drawing the manner in which the same
is to be performed.

page_text: Figure 1 represents in plan and cross section, Figure 2 in side
elevation, and Figure 3 in longitudinal section the metallic fluted frame
of the saddle-tree, constructed according to my Invention, and Figures 4,
5, and 6 represent the same attached to the wooden or other bars or
bearing pieces of the saddle-tree. In the Drawing the metallic frame
of the saddle-tree is represented without the webs, cloths, and leather,
with which in use it is provided, in order that its construction may bo
the better understood.
a, a³, is the metallic frame of the saddle-tree made in one piece from
a blank of sheet metal in the manner herein-before described. The edges :
of the said frame at the seat part a², a³, are bent downwards, so as to
give a hollow or fluted figure thereto, as seen by the sections, Figures 1,
3, and 6; the said part a³, a³, is also bent of the concavity represented in
the Drawing, so as to give it the figure of the seat of a saddle. The outer
edge of the part a², a², is also bent inwards for the purpose of forming a 1
rounded edge to the frame and to increase its rigidity. The parts of the
metallic saddle-tree frame at the front a have the figure represented in
the Drawing, that is, the plate from which the frame is made is fashioned
at front into the shape of an inverted trough, or of a figure proper to
fit the back of the animal. The cutting out of the sheet metal blank
and the piercing of the middle thereof to form a frame, are effected by
cutting tools, worked in a stamp, and the subsequent fluting and turning
inwards of the part a³, a³, and fashioning of the front part a are effected
by shaping or raising tools worked in a stamp or press.
As the cutting out and shaping tools and the stamp or press described a
are of the ordinary kind and constitute no part of my Invention I do not
consider a further description of the same necessary. Around the front a
of the saddle-tree frame a metallic rib 6 is rivetted, and to the ends of
the said rib the spring bars c, c, for holding the stirrup straps are con-
nected. d, d, are the wooden bars or bearings for supporting the metallic 3
saddle-tree frame «, a, the said bars d, d, having the form represented
in the Drawing. The metallic frame a, a², having been furnished with
the requisito webs, cloths, and leather to form the seat of the saddle, is
secured to the wooden bars d, d, at front by the screw bolts and nuts
at e, and at or near the middle by the screw bolts and nuts at f. Before 3
the wooden bars d, d, are connected with the saddle-tree frame a, a³,
their edges are covered with leather. The saddle is completed in the
ordinary way:

page_text: Although I have described and represented the fluted saddle-tree frame
as being made of one piece of sheet metal, yet it may be made of two or
more pieces by the stamping or pressing process. Or the said frame,
whether of one or more pieces, may be made by forging or by casting,
and although I prefer to make the said fluted frame of iron, yet I do not
limit myself thereto, as other hard metals or alloys may be used in place
of iron. The supporting bars d, d, of the fluted frame a, a³, may be
made of papier mâché or other hard and tough material instead of wood.
By constructing saddle-trees according to my Invention, great light-
ness, strength, and rigidity in the saddle-tree are secured.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described 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 saddles, herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say,
making that part of a saddle called the saddle-tree of a fluted metallic
frame, having the figure of the seat of a saddle, the said metallic frame
being supported upon and connected to bars or bearings of wood or other
hard and tough material, substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Clay, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
JOHN CLAY. (L.S.)