AN IMPROVED BIT FOR RIDING HORSES, AND FOR HORSES USED IN SINGLE AND DOUBLE HARNESS
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
DIGGLES, of College Street, in the Parish of Saint John, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty George the Fourth, by Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the
Nineteenth day of August now last past, after reciting that I, the said George
Diggles, had presented a Petition to His Majesty stating (amongst other
things) that I had, after much labour, trouble, and expence, found out and
invented "AN IMPROVED BIT FOR RIDING HORSES, AND FOR HORSES USED IN SINGLE
AND DOUBLE HARNESS," His said Majesty did grant unto me, the said George
Diggles, my exors, admors, and assigns, licence and full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said George Diggles, my exors, adñors, and assigns,
and every of them, by myself or themselves, or by my or their deputy or
deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said George Diggles,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should agree with, and no others, from
time to time, during the term therein and herein-after expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend his said Invention within
that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the
said George Diggles, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, or any of them, should in
my and their discretions seem meet, and that I and they should and lawfully
might have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage
from time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising by reason of the

page_text: said Invention, for and during the same term, to have, hold, exercise, and
enjoy the said licence, powers, privileges, and advantages therein-before
granted to me, the said George Diggles, my exors, admors, and assigns, for
and during and unto the full end and term of fourteen years from the date of
the said Letters Patent next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be complete
and ended; and in the same Letters Patent is contained a proviso that if I, the
said George Diggles, my exors or adññors, or any person or persons who
should thereafter, during the continuance of that grant, have or claim any
right, title, or interest, in law or equity, of, in, or to the power, privilege, or
authority thereby granted, should make any transfer or assignment, or pre-
tended transfer or assignment, of the said liberty and privilege, or any share
or shares of the benefit or profit thereof, or should declare any trust thereof to
or for any number of persons exceeding the number of five, or should open or
cause to be opened any book or books for public subscription to be made by
any number of persons exceeding the number of five in order to the raising
any sum or sums of money under pretence of carrying on the said liberty or
privileges, or should by myself, or my exors or adîñors, or my or their agents
or servants, receive any sum or sums of money whatsoever of any number of
persons exceeding in the whole the number of five for such or the like intents
and purposes, or should presume to act as a corporate body, or should divide
the benefit of the said Letters Patent, or the liberty and privileges thereby
granted, into any number of shares exceeding the number of five, or should
commit or do, or procure to be committed or done, any act, matter, or thing
whatsoever during such time as such person or persons should have any right
or title, either in law or equity, in or to the said premises which would be
contrary to the true intent and meaning of a certain Act of Parliament made
in the sixth year of the reign of King George the First, or in case the said
power, privilege, or authority should at any time become vested in or in trust
for more than five persons, or their representatives, at any one time, reckoning
exors or admors as and for the single person whom they represented as to
such estate and interest as they should be entitled to in right of their testator
or intestate, and if I, the said George Diggles, should not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, and cause the same to be enrolled in the High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
sid Letters Patent, and also if I, the said George Diggles, my exors,
admors, or assigns, should not supply or cause to be supplied for His
Majesty's service all such articles of the said Invention as I, my exors, admors,

page_text: or assigns, should be required to supply in such manner, at such times, and at
and upon such reasonable prices and terms as should be settled for that
purpose by the Master General of His Majesty's Ordnance, or the principal
officers of His Majesty's Ordnance for the time being, that then and in any
of the said cases the said Letters Patent should be void, as by the said Letters
Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Diggles, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description, that is to say:-
The ordinary mode of driving from the curb is often attended with serious
inconvenience from the irritation occasioned by a continual action of the lever,
which frequently lacerates the mouth of the horse, and so much distresses him
as to cause a rejection of his food, and sometimes to injure his jawbone. The
constant use of the curb renders the mouth callous, and, in case of a false step,
the check looses much of its effect on a journey. The mouth being kept
partially open becomes parched, and in dusty weather annoyed by dust,
tending to the injury of the animal's health and spirits. My improved bit is
therefore designed to operate in the same way as a common bit, with a curb
chain for ordinary riding or driving, and also to afford the ready means of
exerting a very considerable purchase upon the horse's mouth when occasion
shall require it, without getting off the horse or dismounting from the carriage.
This improvement consists in a sliding piece, with a ring attached to each
cheek of the bit, to which ring the riding or driving rein is to be connected in
the usual way; and when it is found necessary to exert a considerable force
in curbing the horse, the pulling of the rein will draw the slider to or towards
the bottom of the cheek of the bit, and give an increased leverage thereto.
Fig. 1 of the annexed Drawings represents part of a horse's head with the
improved bit, as it would appear on a side view in the ordinary driving or
riding position. The dotted lines shew the position of its parts when the rein
is pulled with considerable force. Fig. 2 is a front view of the improved bit;
and the following Figures are parts of the bit detached. Fig. 3 exhibits the
side of the bit, in the position shewn by the dotted lines in Fig. 1; and the
following description, referring to Fig 1, 2, and 3, will render the improve-
ment perfectly intelligible. a is the driving or riding rein attached to the
ring b, which, instead of being fixed to some particular part of the cheek of
the bit (as is the usual way), is in this improved bit attached to a sliding
piece c. A spring & acts upon the sliding piece, and keeps it and the ring b

page_text: up to that part of the cheek which is near the mouthpiece e, e (as seen in
Fig. 2); and the purchase of the lever at this point being small, the riding or
driving rein will act in the same manner as the ordinary rein attached thereto;
but when it becomes necessary to exert an extraordinary power upon the
horse's mouth, the rein a being pulled back with considerable force, will cause
the cheek of the bit f to move out of the perpendicular position, and the
sliding piece c with the ring to slide downward towards the lower part of the
cheek, as seen in Fig. 3, and also by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. To prevent
the ring and slider from being drawn too low, a stop is to be placed on the
bit used for a saddle horse; but the bar at the bottom of a driving bit, as
shewn in Fig. 2, operates as a stop. By these means the rider or driver has
obtained so much purchase upon the mouth that the animal will yield to the
pressure of the curb; but as the tension of the rein is relaxed, the cheek of
the bit resumes its first position, and the spring d draws up the sliding piece c,
with the ring 6 and rein a, to their ordinary places, as in Fig. 1.
Having described the operation of the improved bit, I proceed to shew the
particular construction of its several parts. Near the upper extremity of each
cheek ff, I affix a piece 9, which I call the cap, shewn in two positions
detached at Fig 4 and 5. This cap may be made fast to the cheek by
screws, rivets, or otherwise. On the under side of the cap a piece projects,
with a hole perforated through it, and into this hole the upper end of the flat
helical spring d is passed, as shewn in Fig. 6. At the lower end of this spring
a swivel i is attached (shewn by itself in Fig. 7), and to the swivel the sliding
piece c is connected by a small screw (both the latter are shewn in Figure 8),
in order to enclose the spring, and shield it from dirt and dust. A cover or
box k, in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, is placed on each cheek of the bit, which cover or
box is also shewn detached in Fig. 9. For the convenience of occasionally
oiling and wiping or exchanging the spring, this cover or box k is made to
slide up and down in grooves formed in the opposite edges of the cheeks, in
the manner shewn at 1, in Fig. 10; or the cover or box, instead of sliding in
grooves, may be fastened to the edges of the cheeks by screws, to be taken out
and replaced as occasion may require. The grooves are made in the upper
parts of the cheeks, widened so as to form the back of the box or cover for the
spring; and as this widened part extends only the length of the spring in its
quiescent state, and of part of the swivel (being less than half the whole length
to the stop in the cheek of the riding bit, or to the bar of the driving bit), it
follows, that the cover may be taken off as well when slided down in the
grooves as when unscrewed, and the upper end of the spring may then be
withdrawn from the hole in the cap g; and by taking out the screw of the

page_text: sliding piece c, the spring may be removed, cleaned, and replaced, or another
of greater or less elastic force substituted, as circumstances may require.
When these improved bits are used with double harness, I recommend the
sliding pieces which act upon the inner cheeks of the bits to be in the form
shewn in Fig. 11, having the ring on the side of the inner sliding piece of
each horse's bit for facilitating the draft of the cross reins.
By the above explanation I conceive that the nature, principles, con-
struction, and advantages of my improved bit will be fully explained; but I
wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to any particular
dimensions, and am aware that several parts may be slightly varied without
deviating from the principle of my Invention; and I do not claim the mecha-
nical contrivances above described as new in themselves, but only as applied
to a bit, which contrivances being perfectly new, to the best of my knowledge
and belief, and never before used in this Kingdom, I hereby claim as my
Patent right and the exclusive use of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Diggles, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four