IMPROVEMENTS IN HORSES' BITS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Byford, of Carlton Villas, 34, Edgware Road,.
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HORSES' BITS."
Sealed the 30th December 1856, and dated the 25th July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Byford at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th July
1856.
I, THOMAS BYFORD, of Carlton Villas, 34, Edgware Road, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HORSES' BITS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object a method of arranging bits, so as to give the
rider more power over the horse than he has when using any of the bits at
present in use. And the Invention consists in having two bars or mouth-pièces
attached at a distance from each other to the same cheeks or side pieces, such
cheeks or side pieces having rein rings attached to them at the end of each
bar, so that when in use a separate rein may be used to act on each; thus,
when the rein in connection with the upper bar is pulled upon, it acts as a
common snaffle; and when the rein in connection with the lower bar is used, it
causes this bar to press on the lower part of the under jaw of the horse, to
which pressure the animal will easily yield.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Byford in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BYFORD, of Carlton Villas, 34, Edgware Road, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Byford, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Byford, my
_executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Byford, 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 HORSES' BITS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Byford, my
executors or administrators, 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 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 Thomas Byford, 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:
This Invention has for its object a method of arranging bits, so as to give the
rider more power over the horse than he has when using any of the bits at
present in use.. And the Invention consists. in having two bars or mouth-pieces
attached at a distance from each other to the same cheeks or side pieces, such
cheeks or side pieces having rein rings attached to them at the end of each bar,
so that when in use a separate rein may be used to act on each; thus, when the
rein in connection with the upper bar is pulled upon, it acts as a common
snaffle; and when the rein in connection with the lower bar is used, it causes
this bar to press on the lower part of the under jaw of the horse, to which
pressure the animal will easily yield.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and

page_text: annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a plan, Figure 2 is a side view, and Figure 3 an edge view, of a
bit constructed according to my Invention. A and B are the two bars or
mouth-pieces, which are jointed at their centres, and are attached to the two
cheeks or side pieces C, C, having rings D, D, and E, E. The rings D, D, are
attached to the cheeks or side pieces C, C, at the ends of the bar or mouth-
piece A, and they receive the ends of the ordinary snaffle rein. The rings E, E,
are attached to the cheeks or sido pieces C, C, at the ends of the bar or mouth-
piece B, and they receive the ends of the rein, which is usually attached to
the curb.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Byford, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
THOS BYFORD. (L.B.)
Witness,
C. W. HIRD,
Portland Chambers, Great Titchfield Street,
Sol³.