Improvements in or relating to Trace Holders.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Jan., 1893-Accepted, 25th Mar., 1893.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Trace Holders.
A communication from JOHN JORDAN WHEAT, of Indianapolis, County of
Marion, State of Indiana, United States of America.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in trace-holders in which the draught
between the horse's shoulder and the vehicle to be drawn is equalized by means of
an interposed coiled spring, and the objects of the invention are to reduce the strain
and friction upon the trace at its point of attachment, to protect the spring from
the weather and dirt of the road; to furnish a more secure fastening than heretofore
for the trace, and to so construct the entire device, for these purposes, as to make it
ornamental and to make the device more compact and practical than previous
devices for interposing a coiled spring for such purposes have been.
These objects are attained by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying
drawings in which
Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the device and the manner of attaching.
the trace.
Figures 2 and 3 are plans the former an inverted one.
Figure 4 is a side view partly in section.
Figure 5 is a side elevation partly in section.
Figure 6 is a plan of a modification of the device showing a step mounted above..
the cap, and the cock-eye stopped by the standard H.
Figure 7 is a section on line x-x of Fig. 6.
Figures 8 and 9 are respectively a section and a plan showing modifications.
Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.
The base-plate A and cap B form the framework of the device. On the inner
side of the base-plate A are three bosses or lugs C D and E as shown in Figs. 3
and 5, preferably cast integral with the base-plate; the lugs C and D may be
cast or connected together as shown in Fig. 2, to secure greater rigidity and
stanchness of the parts.
The top of the lug D has a portion b projecting above the top of the companion
lug C and wearing a leather collar 6' the use of which is to prevent the rattling of
the lugs D and M.
Depending from the base plate A is a projection F with a hole for a screw f by
means of which the device may be fastened to the cross-bar or thill of the vehicle,
or other suitable point of attachment, as shown in Fig. 1.
A small pin or lug E is adapted to receive and hold one of the hooked ends of the
spring K.
A boss G is located on one side of the base-plate, perforated to receive the
standard H which may project slightly above the cap B.
Coiled about the lugs C and D of the base plate A and attached to the lug Ę of
the base plate by one of its curved ends is a coiled wire spring K of any desired
resistance or metal, but preferably of steel wire of a gauge suitable to furnish the
desired resistance.
This is coiled openly about the lugs as shown in the drawings so that when
compressed or when released from pressure the adjacent coils will not rattle from
contact with each other; both ends of this wire are hooked to engage with the
lugs E and N.
The cap B is designed to fit down over and enclose the coiled wire K and the
lugs on the base plate, to cover them from view and to protect them from weather..
and the dirt of the road.

page_text: The cap B is provided with lugs L M and N preferably cast integral with the
cap and similar to those on the base plate, the lug L having the shape of a trun-
cated cone and depending about three fourths of an inch from the top of the cap
as shown in Figure 4; the lug M depending slightly and about one fourth of an
inch below the lug L. The lug.M. differs from the- lug D on the base plate in
having no leather washer or collar. The lug N is adapted to hold the upper
hooked end of the coiled wire in the same manner as the lower one is held by the
.lug E on the base plate.
The lug C of the base plate is drilled and the lug L of the cap is drilled and
tapped to receive the bolt O, having a head o which may be countersunk in the
base plate, as in Figure 5, or the bolt may extend entirely through the cross-bar 1,
as in the modification shown in Figure 7.
This bolt O serves to hold the base plate and cap together and also by its pressure
upon them to compress the spring into the cap which encloses it.
Projecting from the outside of the cap B and preferably integral therewith is a
cock-eye P upon which the loop 9 of the trace R is fastened in the usual manner.
The spring K is so adjusted upon the lugs E and N within the cap that the said
cock-eye always occupies when at rest such a position that the trace is curved when
taut against the outer circumference of the cap B, and the spring is sufficiently
strong so that in ordinary driving a portion of the trace between the loop q and the
standard H will always bear upon the outer circumference of the cap B as shown
in Figure 1, thus preventing strain and friction directly upon the cock-eye and the
loop and distributing said friction and strain over the bent portion of the trace
and over a portion of the circumference of the cap B. The cap B is really the
stem of the cock-eye P expanded to form a protecting cap or cover for its.contents.
The standard H serves as a stop preventing the cock-eye from being turned too
far by an unusual strain upon the trace.
In a modified form of this device as seen in Figures 6 and 7 S represents a step
mounted upon the top of the cap B and secured thereon by the bolt O which
supports it.
In this modified form the base plate is fastened to the cross-bar by
the bolt O, and the screw T in the place of the dependent lug F.
Figure 8 shows a modified form having a raised collar a on the base plate and
within the inner circumference of the cap to protect the spring more effectually
from dust or from dampness in washing the vehicle.
The adjustment and operation of the device is as follows:-
The spring is adjusted on the base plate by hooking one end over the pin or
lug E and the other hooked end of the spring over the corresponding lug N of the
cap B. The spring is preferably so constructed that a slight end wise pressure
upon it is necessary to force it into the cap. The lugs E and N are. so adjusted
relatively to each other and to the lugs D and M that when the spring is hooked
to the lugs E and N the lugs D and M are opposite each other and a slight strain upon
the spring is necessary in adjusting the cap to the base plate to allow the lugs D
and M to pass each other. When the lugs D and M have passed each other, as shown
in Figures 5 and 8, and the cap is closed down upon and fastened upon the base
plate by the operation of the bolt O which screws into the cap, the lugs D and M
will be found to have, in slipping past each other, locked the spring K in a slightly
taut condition, thus holding the spring so that the resistance is about equal to
the amount of strain necessary to move the vehicle.
An advantage of keeping the spring in a taut condition is that the horse can be
hitched closer to the load and the trace more snugly attached, as the horse does not
need to travel a distance to take up the slack in the spring, when the spring is tant.
The cap being merely an expansion of the stem of the cock-eye and a part thereof,
it is apparent that the cap B, cock-eye P and trace 9 when the latter is attached
and tension applied, will, move synchronously together; and while the curved out-
line of the cap is pressed by the trace and divides with the cock-eye the strain of
the pull on the trace, there is no friction, as in previous devices, by reason of the
cock-eye's being movable while the cap is stationary. By having the trace and

page_text: cock-eye move in unison with the cap, the trace is not subject to that constant.
rubbing against the periphery of the cap when the cock-eye moves to and fro in its
slot which is noticed in previous devices. Also, as by this device a slot is dispensed
with, no cover for the slot is required.
The standard H instead of occupying a position in front of the cock-eye, as in
Figure 1, may be placed on the opposite side of the cap, as in Figure 9, and a boss
or projection I may be cast or otherwise fixed upon the outside of the cap to
engage with it to form the front stop to prevent too great a revolution of the
cock-eye by an unusual strain upon the spring. A boss or projection V inay be
similarly fixed upon the outside of the cap to serve as a back-stop in lieu of the
engagement of the lug M and collar for that purpose in the interior of the
cap B.
The strength of the spring should be so adjusted to the draught that the cock-eye
will engage with the standard H only in cases of unusual strain upon the trace, its
normal position when at rest being shown in Figure 1 and its position under
ordinary strain varying from its said position in Figure 1 to a point about midway
between the said position in Figure 1 and the extreme limit of its sweep as shown.
in Figure 6.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a trace-holder provided with a spring to equalize the draught a cock-eye
having a stem broadened into a cap or covering to enclose and protect said spring
substantially as described and shown.
2. In a trace-holder the combination of a spring to equalize the draught a cap or
cover attached to the spring to conceal and protect the same, said cap or cover
being formed integral with and adapted to move synchronously with a cock-eye,.
substantially as described and shown, and for the purpose specified.
3. In a trace-holder the combination of a draught equalizing spring a cock-eye
having a stem broadened into a cap or covering adapted to enclose and protect the
draught equalizing spring and a base-plate having a raised collar substantially as.
described and shown.
4. In a trace-holder provided with a base-plate A, a spring K a closed cap B
and means to fasten the spring within the cap and between the cap and base plate
the combination of the lugs D and M arranged to meet to form a back stop to
keep the spring always taut substantially as described and shown.
5. In a trace-holder having the base plate A the cap B with cock-eye attached
the spring K and the lugs b and M arranged within the cap to meet and form a
back stop and the collar 6 to deaden the sound of the meeting parts all substan-
tially as described and shown and for the purposes specified.
6. In a trace-holder provided with a spring adapted to equalize the draught and
an integral cap and cock-eye adapted to be moved synchronously by a strain on the
trace the boss V in combination with the standard H to form a back-stop substan-
tially as described and shown.
7. In a trace-holder provided with a spring adapted to equalize the draught and
an integral cap and cock-eye adapted to be moved synchronously by a strain on the
trace the boss U in combination with the standard H to form a front stop substan-
tially as described and shown.
8. In a trace-holder the base plate A cap B bolt O cock-eye P and spring K
when arranged substantially as described and shown.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Of London, Liverpool, Manchester, and Nottingham,.
Agents for the Applicant.