IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS OR APPARATUS FOR CLIPPING HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Knight at the Office of
the Commissioners, of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
March 1869.
I, HENRY KNIGHT, of Ryde, Isle of Wight, in the County of
Southampton, Importer of Italian Sculptures, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS OR
APPARATUS FOR CLIPPING HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
constructing and arranging the parts of instruments or apparatus for
clipping horses and other animals. The said instruments consist of a
flat plate of metal one edge of which is provided with teeth arranged
like the teeth of a comb. This plate when the instrument is used rests
upon the skin of the horse, the hairs to be clipped or cut off standing
up between the teeth. Upon the said toothed plate a cutter or series
of cutters works, the said cutter or cutters cutting off the hairs against
the edges of the teeth of the said toothed plate. When I use a series
of cutters I make them in the form of a series of teeth on the edge of
a plate, which I will call the cutting plate, the size and arrangement of

page_text: the teeth of the said cutting plate resembling those on the toothed
plate first described. A reciprocating motion is given to the cutting
plate in the manner herein-after described, and its teeth are thereby
made alternately to cover and to slide across the teeth of the toothed
plate, by which motion the hairs are cut by an action similar to that of
shears. In order to give the required reciprocating motion to the
cutting plate I employ an axis turning upon the toothed plate, a rotatory
motion being given to the said axis by means of a winch. This axis
carries a triangular cam or a pinion having three teeth equidistant from
each other, which cam or pinion works in an opening in the cutting plate.
In the said opening are two teeth or projections at opposite points against
which by turning the winch the cam or teeth of the pinion are made to
strike and give an alternating motion to the said cutting plate. By each
rotation of the winch six cuttings or shearings are effected. By means of a
screw the winch may be connected directly with the cutting plate
and a reciprocating motion given to the said plate by moving the
winch backwards and forwards. By means of the same screw the position
of the winch may be arranged conveniently for clipping either upwards
or downwards.
Instead of employing the winch and axis described I employ in
another arrangement of my Invention a quick threaded screw working
on and situated parallel to the edge of the toothed plate. A screw box
working on the said screw is connected to the cutting plate, and by
means of a handle a reciprocating motion may be given to the screw,
and through it to the cutting plate. Instead of the screw described a
right and left handed screw thread may be cut on the same cylinder and
a guide on the cutter made to engage therein. By this arrangement the
required reciprocating motion is obtained by continuous rotation of the
cylinder in either direction. When I use a single cutter I employ a
quick threaded screw arranged as last described, but having several
threads, so as to produce as quick a motion as possible in the screw box
working upon it. To this screw box the single cutter is attached, and
by a key or handle a rotatory motion may be given to the said screw and
the single cutter made to travel over the teeth of the toothed plate
from end to end and clip the hairs between the said teeth as it travels
in cither direction. Two or more cutters of the kind last described may
be employed in place of a single cutter.
I make the teeth of the toothed plate in the following manner :-
The said teeth taper from the top or acting surface downwards, they also

page_text: taper at the point, and the lower angle of cach tooth is slightly rounded.
The spaces between the teeth of the cutting plate are inclined backwards
so as to permit of the ready escape of the hair after clipping. The
teeth of the toothed plate in the several arrangements are set a little in
advance of the cutting plate or cutters. The fixed handle by which the
instrument is held when in use is connected to the case of the instrument
by means of a set screw which permits the said handle to be set at any
required angle.