CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON BRIDLES
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PHILLIPS, of Arnold, in the County of Nottingham, Servant Man, 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 Twenty-first day of February, in the first year of Ilis
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Phillips, IIis especial licence, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said John Phillips, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Phillips, my executors, administrators, 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 mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON BRIDLES;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said John Phillips, 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
John Phillips, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly described and

page_text: ascertained by the following description thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
My improvements on bridles are designed to be applied as an effectual
means of curbing and governing a restive horse, and consist in the construction
and attachment to an ordinary snaffle bridle for riding or driving a mechanical
apparatus to be connected to the bit, by means of which very considerable
leverage may be obtained and applied to the horse's mouth, for the purpose of
drawing the bit back in the mouth in order to restrain his speed when running,
or completely stop his action.
In the Drawing hereto annexed Fig. 1 represents the head of a horse with
an ordinary snaffle bridle, to which my improved apparatus is connected;
Fig. 2 shews the improved apparatus detached. a is a small pulley, one of
which is to be attached on each side of the head to the headstall of the bridle
near the horse's cars; is a similar pulley to be attached on each side of the
horse's mouth to the rings of the bit. To the lower of these pullies I connect,
by means of a staple c, a flat strap d; to this I unite a round strap e, c, or
produce it by the elongation of d, and conduct the round strap over the pulley a
on each side of the horse's head, and downwards, so as to pass under the
pulley b; and to the extremities of these straps e I attach a rein f, which may
be called the safety rein; and whenever this rein is drawn tight, the strap e
passing round the pullies a and b will have a tendency to draw the said pullies
together, and consequently to draw up the bit, to which the lower pullies bare
attached, and bring the bit further into the horse's mouth. By means there-
fore of this or a similar adaptation of pullies, and a drawing strap on each side
of the bridle in the way above described, the rider or driver is enabled to exert
so great a power or force upon the bit in the horse's mouth as to keep the
most unruly animal perfectly under control.
In order to adapt the same mechanical principle for curbing to the bridle of
a horse which has to be lead, I attach in place of the pulley ba pully with two
extra small rollers, as shewn in the detached Figures 3 and 4, between which
small rollers I pass the strap e, and by that means am enabled while leading
a horse to exert the same leverage upon the bit in his mouth and to draw up
the bit with the same effect as in riding or driving.
Lastly, I claim as my improvement on bridles for horses the adaptation of
pullies connected in any convenient way to the bridle near the horse's ears;
and also pullies to be attached to the bit or connected thereto near the horse's
mouth in any convenient way; and likewise a drawing strap or cord passing
over these pullies, to be connected to a safety rein, for the purpose of enabling

page_text: the rider or driver to exert his power with great effect in drawing back the
bit, and thereby keeping the horse perfectly under command with very littlo
exertion.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Phillips, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of August, in the year of our Lord.
One thousand cight hundred and thirty-one.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of August, in
the second year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said John Phillips came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twentieth day of August, One thousand eight hundred and