CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SADDLES FOR RIDING
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
TAYLOR, of Banbury, in the County of Oxford, Sadler and Harness Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of May, in the sixth year
of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Taylor, His especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Thomas Taylor, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Taylor, my exors, adiñors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN SADDLES FOR RIDING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
that I, the said Thomas Taylor, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed;
to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Taylor, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists, first, in the application of air-tight bags, as a sub-
stitute for the ordinary elastic stuffing or padding of the seats and flaps of
saddles.
Secondly, in a means of fixing the forepart of the panel or under pad to
the saddle tree, in place of nailing it thereto.
And in order to the Invention being most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will now describe the Drawing hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents the plan of an air bag for the seat of a gentleman's
saddle; it consists of two compartments a and b, they being formed in separate
portions, or are divided one from the other by the space c. The object of
such division is, that the air in one compartment shall not on any sudden
pressure on one side the saddle rush to the other, which would be prejudicial
to the ease of the rider, and might tend to throw him from his seat. These
air-tight bags I prefer should be of air-proof india-rubber fabric, such as is
extensively manufactured under a Patent granted to a Mr. Macintosh, con-
sisting of layers of flexible india-rubber cement placed between woven
fabrics; and the air bags employed by me are made of such air-tight materials,
as are now very commonly in use for seats and pillows, and are made in a
similar manner, differing only in shape to suit the purposes of the saddles to
which they are to be applied or incorporated with; that is, the top and bottom
of such air-tight bags are cemented together at the edges, and at the part c;
and in order to prevent their being distended too much there are pieces of
tape or other fabric cemented at the parts shewn by the dotted lines d, d. To
each part a, b, is applied an air way e, such as are commonly employed for
ordinary air pillows and seats. Figure 2 shows an air bag for the flap of a
gentleman's saddle made of the same materials, in like manner to that
described for the seat of the saddle. Figure 3 shews the side view of a
saddle constructed according to my Invention. I prefer to construct the saddle
in the following manner :-Having sewed on the skirts to the saddle tree, I
then lay the air bags a, b, on the seat part of the saddle, and by a few long
stitches along the part c, affix the same thereto, the cover is then to be sewed
on, and the saddle completed. The air bags or pads being first fixed on the
flaps, and the same covered with leather in cases where the flaps are intended

page_text: to have pads or elastic surfaces. I have not thought it necessary to show as
side saddle, as it will be evident that the air bags to be applied thereto will
only differ slightly in shape, but in other respects the directions and explana-
tion above given will be sufficient for their application to this description of
saddles. Figure 4 shews the under panel or pad of the saddle, and which
goes on to the horse's back, and which according to the most general con-
struction of saddles is usually nailed to the saddle tree, but in some instances
such panel has been applied by straps and buckles in front, and also by iron
staples or books, there being eyes affixed to the panel or pads, for in such
instances the panel has been divided into two parts or halves. The eyes
before mentioned working on the staples or hooks which are affixed to the
saddle tree, and the back part of such panels are affixed by short plates of
iron attached to the panels or pads, and passing under the covering of the
back of the saddle tree, are by means of screws affixed to the saddle tree.
Now my second improvement consists in the application of the screws f
passing through the upper part of the front of the saddle, and entering into
uuts or plates affixed to the panel or pad, Figure 4, which is composed of one
piece, as is shewn in the Drawing; by this means the panel can be readily
removed from the saddle if desired, the panel being affixed at the back of the
saddle by the plates g, which move on a sort of hinge movement made to
plates of iron affixed in the panel, these plates g passing under the covering of
the saddle tree, there being suitable openings cut in such cover for the purpose;
they are made fast to the saddle-tree, there being suitable openings cut in
such cover, for this purpose they are made fast to the saddle tree by screws
entering into the saddle tree.
Having thus described my Invention and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I would have it understood, that what I claim as secured by the
present Letters Patent are first, the application of air-tight bags as a sub-
stitute for the ordinary elastic stuffing or padding of the seats and flaps of
riding saddles as above described.
And secondly, the affixing of the forepart of the panel or under pad of
riding saddles by means of screws f, and the plates or nuts attached at the
forepart of the panel or pad, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Taylor, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirty-first day of October, in
the year
of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid Thomas Taylor, came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord Ono
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.