Improved Apparatus for Attaching Whipple Trees, Thills, or equivalent parts to Vehicles, so that they may be Readily Released for Detaching the Horses, applicable also as a Coupling for other purposes.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 15th May, 1890
Complete Specification Left, 10th Feb., 1891-Accepted, 14th Mar., 1891
PROVISIONAI. SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Attaching Whipple Trees, Thills, or
equivalent parts to Vehicles, so that they may be Readily
Released for Detaching the Horses, applicable also as a Coupling
for other purposes.
I, JOHN STONEHAM, of 58, Clinton Place, New York, County and State of
New York, United States of America, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a horse detacher for vehicles, which though permitting
the sudden release of the horses cannot become spontaneously opened.
The detacher may, however, be also used as a coupler for other purposes.
It is composed of a clamp consisting of two pivoted jaws. The lower jaw is
screwed down upon the foot board of a carriage, while the upper jaw is operated by
a lever within reach of the driver or the occupants of the carriage. This lever is
slotted near its lower end and within this slot there is pivoted one end of a link
the other end of which is pivoted to the rear end of the upper jaw. A spring is
connected to both the upper jaw and the lever. When the horses are to be
attached to the vehicle, the clamp is opened by pulling the lever backwards.
After the cross bar of the thills or the whiffletree has been introduced between the
If the horses become
jaws, the lever is swung forward to again close the same.
at any time unruly, they may be suddenly released by drawing the lever back and
thus opening the clamp.
Dated this 1st day of May 1890.
JOHN STONEHAM.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Attaching Whipple Trees, Thills, or
equivalent parts to Vehicles, so that they may be Readily
Released for Detaching the Horses, applicable also as a Coupling
for other purposes.
I, JOHN STONEHAM, of 58, Clinton Place, in the City of New York, County
and State of New York, United States of America, Gentleman, 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 a horse detacher for vehicles, which though permitting
the sudden release of the horses, cannot become spontaneously opened.
The invention consists in the various features of improvement more fully pointed
out in the claim.
In the accompanying drawings:-
Fig. 1 is an elevation of a carriage provided with my improvement.
Fig. 2 is a side view of the detacher, showing it open.
Fig. 3, a sectional side view thereof, showing it closed.
Fig. 4 a rear view of the slotted section of lever b.
Fig. 5 a top view of the engaging end of jaw a¹.
Fig. 6 a horizontal section through the shafts of a cart constructed with a view
to be provided with my improved compling, and Fig. 7 a cross section on line c, d,

page_text: The letters a, a, represent the two jaws of a clamp connected by pivot a². The
lower jaw a, is provided with lugs a³, that may be screwed tightly down upon the
foot board of a carriage A.
To the rear end of jaw a, there is pivoted a hand lever b, readily accessible to
the driver. A pull rope 6', secured to lever, extends into the carriage within
easy reach of the occupants. The lever is slotted a short distance above its
connection with jaw a, as at 62, and within this slot is received the rear end of the
jaw a when the lever b, is in its upright position Fig. 3. The rear end of jaw a',
is pivotally connected to one end of a link e, the other end of which is pivoted by
pin c, to the lever b, within the slot thereof. When the lever is in its upright
position, this link e, is also in its upright position, occupying the lower part of
slot b².
d, is a spring connected at one end to lever b, and at the other end by staple d',
to jaw a'. This spring holds the lever in its upright position.
When the horses are to be attached to the vehicle, the lever b, is swung backward
against action of spring d. This will cause the lower end of link e, to be drawn
backward to open the forward ends of jaws a, a', Fig. 2. After the cross bar B
of the thills or the whippletree has been introduced between the jaws, the lever b,
is swung forward to again close the same. By swinging the lever b, backwards the
horses may, of course, be readily detached at any time. It will be observed that
it is impossible to open jaw a', before swinging lever, backward, because any
pressure that would have a tendency to raise the forward end of the upper jaw,
would cause the rear end of said jaw to bear tightly upon link c; but this link
cannot possibly turn unless the lever is vibrated.
In Figs. 6 and 7 I have shown the two shafts of a cart so constructed that the
cart can only tilt to a limited extent when the horse is suddenly detached. The
shafts e, e, are grooved and are slipped over shafts e', e', secured to the vehicle.
When the horse becomes detached, carries the shafts e, along and the wagon tilts,
until it is arrested, by the ends of the shafts e¹, striking the ground.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The combination of jaws a, a', with a slotted hand lever b, and with link c,
said link, being pivoted to the jaw a¹, and to the hand lever within the slot,
substantially as specified.
2. The combination of jaws a, a' with lever b, slotted at 62, and with link c,
pivoted to the lever and to jaw a', the rear end of jaw a', and the link c, being
adapted to be received by slot 62, substantially as specified.
3. The combination of jaws a, a', with lever b, slotted at 62, and with link c,
pivoted to the lever within said slot and to jaw a¹, and with the spring d, sub-
stantially as specified.
Dated this 10th day of February 1891.
HERBERT J. ALLISON,
Agent for the Applicant.