IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SECURING HORSES OR OTHER ANIMALS, AND PLACING THEM IN A LYING POSTURE IN ORDER TO FACILITATE SURGICAL OPERATIONS
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Clayton Mewburn at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th September 1881. A communi-
cation from abroad by Joseph Daviau, of Marseilles, France.
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SECURING
HORSES OR OTHER ANIMALS, AND PLACING THEM IN A LYING POSTURE IN ORDER
TO FACILITATE SURGICAL OPERATIONS." [A communication from abroad by Joseph
Daviau, of Marseilles, France.]
In order to perform operations, such as castration, "firing," and wound dressing
on horses or other animals, it is necessary that the animal be made to lie down and
be strongly secured. Hitherto it has been the custom to throw him down forcibly
on straw, and this proceeding sometimes causes fractures or serious contusions, and
is besides dangerous to the men.
The apparatus which forms the subject of the present Invention has been designed
to entirely obviate the objections above stated. The Invention essentially consists in
attaching the horse when standing by straps and other connections to a platform
or table when the latter is in a vertical position, and in then tilting this platform
together with the animal by means of simple mechanism into a horizontal
position. In this way the horse has no fall, and the veterinary surgeon can safely
operate on the animal thus firmly secured.
The apparatus is composed of an iron frame formed of two main parts connected
together by stays or cross pieces and of a table or platform, which can be moved
by means of toothed sectors and endless screws. The platform is of wood, and part
of it is covered with leather in order that the body of the horse may be better
supported and not be injured when it is secured to the platform. A number of
holes are formed in the platform to give passage to the straps and ties or ropes
which secure the horse. Three straps support the animal by the belly; another,
which passes lengthwise around his body, holds him against the platform. The
head and feet are held by ties or tethers. The straps and ties are attached to the
opposite side of the platform. The platform is fixed by collars to a horizontal shaft
which carries at each end a toothed sector. These sectors are actuated by endless

page_text: screws worked through the intermediation of bevel wheels and pinions by a shaft
fitted with crank handles. The halter is of leather, and is provided with three ties
or ropes which are led through holes in the platform and secure the horse's head.
The body is secured by nine straps; three of these are fixed to the top of the platform,
and three others which are fixed at the back are connected to the three first by
buckles; two others pass through holes on a level with the chest, and these two are
connected together by another strap fitted with buckles.
The frame is provided with rollers to run on rails, so that when not in use it
may be run alongside a partition or wall; the rollers are fixed when the apparatus
is in use.
When it is desired to perform an operation, the horse is led against the platform
when the latter is vertical; the head is first secured by a band passing under the
neck and allowing a little freedom, then the belly straps are fastened, next the ties
or ropes for the pasterns, the legs being placed in the proper position for the
operation. The horse being thus secured to the platform, the latter is lowered by
turning the crank handles. The horse is thus brought quietly into a lying posture,
and finally the straps for the flanks and the ties for the head are secured.
With this arrangement the objections and dangers attendant upon the old methods
are overcome, and the operator can proceed with safety and leisurely and without
assistance.