Improvements in Buckles.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 10th June, 1-90-Accepted, 12th July, 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Buckles.
A communication from abroad by EPHRAIM LATHOM, of Washington, D.C., Inventor,
and ETHAN A. SAWYERS, of Brownsville, County of Linn, State of Oregon,
Farmer, both in the United States of America.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6 Bank Street, Manchester, both in
the County of Lancaster, and 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, 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 buckles used for securing together portions of harness
and other straps, and its object is first, to provide a buckle in a single piece and
without movable parts to serve the usual purpose of loose tongued buckles in joining
together such portions of harness and other straps as require to be readily buckled
and unbuckled in service. Second, to adapt the same buckle to serve as a union,
whereby any person may either make or mend harness quickly without sewing the
parts together. Third, to adapt the said buckle to be readily cast in a common two
part flask without the aid of separate cores. To this end the invention consists in a
buckle made of a single piece of metal and shaped as hereinafter described and
claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure 1 represents a bridle showing buckles according to this invention.
Figures 2 and 3 show two forms of this buckle in longitudinal vertical section
engaged with a portion of a strap or straps.
Figure 4 represents, in perspective, the buckle shown in Figure 2.
Figure 5 represents the buckle shown in Figure 3, as seen from above.
Figure 6 represents a modification of the buckle.
a represents the side bars of the buckle; d the forward, upper cross bar, c the rear,
upper cross bar, d the forward lower cross bar, and e the midway support having a
stud standing vertically from it to serve as a tongue to the buckle.
9 and h
represent two straps shown in Figure as permanently secured together by the
buckle, which, in this instance, serves as a union in place of sewing.
In Figure 2 the upper strap is the end portion of the lower strap / turned
back on itself in loop form to engage a harness ring or other object, and it is shown
in the act of being buckled or unbuckled.
The lower cross bars d, k and the support e are in one plane, and the upper
bars b, c may be in another plane sufficiently raised above the first to admit two or
more straps between them, as shown in Figure 3, or one of the bars borc may
be so much higher than the other as to admit one or more thicknesses of strap
for any special purpose. It is essential to this invention that there be cross
portions and at a sufficient distance from the base of the stud to prevent the
under strap being bent close down beside the stud and pushed off therefrom in
service, and yet one cross bar must not be under another so as to prevent the
The curved form of
pattern being readily drawn from the sand in moulding it.
lower cross bars, shown in Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5, is preferred, not only because
of its neater appearance, but because, as shown in Figure 4, the single curved bar
takes the place of two bars ek, shown in Figure 6, or, as shown in Figure 5, two
curved cross bars take the place of three bars de k in Figure 6 making the device
lighter and more easily cast; and yet the style shown in Figure 6, with three lower
cross bars has the advantage of plainness and simplicity which, under some circum-
stances, would be desirable.
To secure straps together for making harness and other purposes, it is only

page_text: necessary to puncture a single hole in each strap at the point where the tongue f
should enter, then work the two straps into place in the buckle and press them
down around the stud or tongue. This union or buckle holds the straps in line and
it cannot be broken nor will it ever wear out in service.
A few of these buckles carried along will enable any one to make or mend harness
in the wilderness with no tools but an awl, a nail or even a thorn or sharp pointed
stick to make the holes, and a mend may be thus made with one of these buckles
quicker than a harness maker could do it in the old style with needle, thread and
tools, and, when so done, it will be neater in appearance and stronger.
To use this buckle for buckling and unbuckling separable portions of harness it is
only necessary to make the hole in the upper strap g, Figures 2 and 4, large enough
to pass freely over the tongue while the hole in the strap h is made to be crowded
tightly thereon.
A little practice enables any person to use it more readily than the old fashioned
loose tongued buckle which, by the very nature of its looseness, often becomes stuck
fast and difficult to be moved after long idleness.
The great advantages of this buckle to all users of harness, and especially to
frontiersmen are too evident to require argument.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated. to me
by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is
1. A buckle having two upper cross bars and two or more lower cross bars joined
to. side bars, the upper and the lower bars being a proper distance apart to receive
and closely fit upon two or more straps, and a stud or tongue standing upward from
a lower cross bar nearly central between the upper cross bars, substantially as
shown and described.
2. A buckle having upper cross bars and lower cross bars separated the upper from
the lower a proper distance to receive two or more straps between them, a stud
standing from a lower cross bar upward, nearly central between the upper bars,
cach of the lower cross bars being located to one side of the vertical plane of the
nearest upper cross bar and out.from under the same so that the whole buckle may be
cast as one piece without the aid of cores.
3. A buckle, having two upper cross bars, and two or more lower cross bars located
out from under them, a stud or tongue standing vertically from a lower bar nearly
central between the upper bars, and portions of the lower bars located at a consider-
able distance from the base of the stud in the direction of the buckle's length, as and
for the purpose specified.
Dated this 9th day of June 1890.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.