CONSTRUCTING AND MAKING HARNESS ON AN IMPROVED PRINCIPLE" FOR HORSES OR OTHER ANIMALS USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF DRAWING OR CONVEYING CARRIAGES, TO BE CALLED RELEASE HARNESS
Year: 1819

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I, JOHN
SIMPSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Plater, send greeting..
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in and by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of January last, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, did give and grant unto me, the said John Simpson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said John Simpson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my and their
deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said John
Simpson, my exécutors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter, during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within' that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and also in all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantation's abroad, my Inven-
tion of "CONSTRUCTING AND MAKING HARNESS ON AN IMPROVED PRINCIPLE" FOR
HORSES OR OTHER ANIMALS USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF DRAWING OR CONVEYING
CARRIAGES, TO BE CALLED RELEASE HARNESS;" in which said Letters Patent
there is a proviso obliging me, the said John Simpson, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said. Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will appear.
1
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Simpson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
The object of my Invention is to release horses or other animals from
any description of carriages at the will of the persons using such carriages, in
case of accident or from any other cause. I effect this object by so construct-
ing or making the harness that any part or parts thereof may be separated or
divided, as under, and thereby the horses or other animals may be quickly
released from the carriages.
In the Drawings annexed to this Specification, Figure 1 represents a horse
in the shafts of a single horse carriage, shewing a general view of some of the
various means which may be employed to release the horse; and Figure 2,
the horse after being released.
The same letters of reference refer to the same parts in these and the
following Figures:-A, in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, represents a part of one of
the hames, to which is jointed the draught eye B. Figures 1, 3, and 4; to
the pin or bolt C of the joint is fastened by rivets or other proper means
a rein or strap, by pulling which the pin can be withdrawn and the joint
separated, but which pin is prevented from coming out, in ordinary use, by the
means herein-after described. A similar contrivance is likewise applied to the
joint of the other hame, and by pulling these reins or straps the traces are
released from the hames. D, Figures 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7, is the saddle; E, the
backband having a knuckle-joint in it, as shewn at e, in Figures 5, 7, 8, 9, 10,
and 11. The pin or bolt f of this joint has also a rein or strap F rivetted or
otherwise fastened to it, on pulling which the pin or bolt is withdrawn from
the joint which opens, and the backband is released from the saddle. G is
the breeching and kicking strap passing through a loop in the crupper, as
shewn in Figures 1, 16, and 17. This kicking strap has likewise a knuckle-
joint in it, as represented at g, in Figures 16, 17, 18, and 19. This joint has s
also a pin or bolt h, with a rein or strap H rivetted or otherwise affixed to it,
which, on being pulled, suffers the joint to open and thereby releases the
breeching and kicking strap from the crupper. The three last-mentioned pins
or bolts are likewise prevented from coming out in ordinary use by the means

page_text: pointed out hereafter. The four reins or straps which have been thus
described as affixed to the pins or bolts of the joints may either remain single
so as to make use of either of them as required, or they may be united wholly
or in part so as to act together.
Having thus described some parts of the harness which can be released by
any person or persons using the carriages, I shall next describe such parts of
the harness as may be acted upon by the horses or other animals after such
previous release, namely the belly-band, which may have a knuckle-joint at I,
Figures 1, 5, and 13, with a pin or bolt i, Figures 2, 5, and 13, and a strap K,
rivetted or otherwise secured to it, which passes between the fore legs of the
horses or other animals, and is affixed either to the collar or hames. This
strap, on the animals moving forwards, draws out the pin or bolt i, and and the
joint I. becomes separated, and the animals are thereby released from the
carriage, taking with them those parts only of the harness which are shewn
in Figure 2. One end of the belly-band may also be hooked by means of an
eye or loop R, upon the releasing spring hook J, Figures 5, 14, and 15, one
end of which has a double arm turning upon a pin j, as a centre; one of the
arms is placed at right angles with the other, and when shut lodges in a
recess made for it in the bottom of the hook J, and has a tendency to keep the
other arm upright, in use as shewn in Figure 14, by the action of the loop k
upon it, aided by the spring b. When, however, the belly-band is pulled
forwards by the action of the horse, the upright arm yields or gives way, as is
shewn in Figure 15, and permits the loop k to pass over it and the belly-band
to be set at liberty. The spring hook J may be affixed to the shaft of the
carriage, either by means of a strap united with it being buckled around the
the shaft, as shewn at J, Figures 5 and 14, or it may be screwed or otherwise
fastened to it.
Figure 27 represents the knuckle-joint A, B, and the pin or bolt C. The end
of the hole in the knuckle B is widened so as to permit the end of a spring C,
which is rivetted in a groove in the bolt or pin, to lodge in it, and retain the
pin or bolt in its place in the knuckle joint until it is released by pulling the
strap or rein affixed to it. The end of the hole so widened may be closed up
by means of a metal plate soldered to it or otherwise.
Another method of forming the pin or bolt C is shewn at Figure 28, which
is by making it cleft down the middle, and the ends turned back a little and
rounded, so as to spring open and lodge themselves in the widened end of the
knuckle B, Figure 27, from whence they may be released by pulling the
strap or rein affixed to the bolt or pin. Instead of widening the hole B,
Figure 27, any other hole in it may be widened if necessary..

page_text: Another method of forming the bolt and knuckle is.shewn in Figures 29
and 30, in which A, B, represents the knuckle, and C the bolt.or pin. C is a
spring catch rivetted in a groove made in the bolt, to the head of which catch
the strap or rein is fastened, and which is also passed through a loop or eye d,
made in the bolt for that purpose. The end of the hole A in the knuckle- 5
joint A, B, is widened and afterwards covered with a plate of metal e, secured
firmly to it, under which the catch of the spring clodges and retains the pin
or bolt in its place until it is withdrawn by pulling the rein or strap affixed to
it, by which the catch is withdrawn from underneath the plate e, and the joint
may be opened.
A variety of other methods may also be contrived for effecting this object,
but which are not necessary to be described in this Specification. I can also,
if required, place my releasing joints in any other part or parts of the harness,
so as to release the bridle, collar, or saddle, or any other parts of harness
used with horses or other animals in drawing carriages.
Figure 12 represents one side of the trough or saddle shewn in Figure 5,
but which is removed for the sake of shewing the releasing jointe of the
backband E. In Figure 12 is shewn an aperture a for the pin or bolt of
the knuckle-joint to pass through, as shewn in Figure 7.**
I shall now proceed to describe other parts of the harness, which are
formed upon methods specified in a former Patent granted to me by His most
Gracious Majesty on the Tenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred
and eighteen, but are modified as here shewn, to accommodate them to
their particular purposes, and therefore are not claimed by me under this
Patent.
In Figure 7 a is the water hook, the back part of which 6 is made to open to
admit the watering rein within it, and is kept shut by means of the concealed
spring C, acting upon a projecting tooth at the foot of the moveable part of
the hook.
Figures 21 and 22 represent two views of the spring hooks of the back-
band, shewn in their places at m, in Figures 1 and 15. n is the moveable
part of the spring-hook, which can be depressed to fix the hook to the loop on
the shaft, and which is again raised by the action of the concealed spring C,
upon the tooth at the foot of the moveable part of the hook.
Figures 23 and 24 represent two views of the spring hooks of the traces,
which are formed in the same manner as the two last described, but with loops
and screw pins in them for the traces to be stitched round; and the situation
of the concealed spring is changed. to accommodate it to the altered form of
the spring-hooks.

page_text: Figures 25 and 26 are two views of the spring-hooks p, p, of the bridle
reins, in which q, q, shew the moveable parts which yield to hook them to the
bridle-bit, and again spring up to their place by the action of the concealed
spring r upon the foot of the moveable part q.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth
T
ne thousand night hundred and ninotoon