IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN'S ROCKING TOYS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Marsden Latham, of 71, Fleet Street, in
the City of London, Secretary to the General Patent Company, Limited,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN'S
ROCKING TOYS. A communication from abroad by David R. Smith, of
the City of New York.
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Sealed the 16th July 1861, and dated the 19th January 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Marsden Latham
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th January 1861.
I, ROBERT MARSDEN LATHAM, of 71, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Secretary to the General Patent Company, Limited, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
CHILDREN'S ROCKING Tors," a communication to me from abroad by David
R. Smith, of the City of New York, to be as follows:-
The said improvements in the construction of children's rocking toys are
applicable to rocking horses and rocking vehicles, but as the arrangements are
in both cases similar, I need only now describe the construction of a rocking
horse made in accordance with this Invention. The body of the said horse
is supported upon a pair of flat wormed springs, which are secured to the
under side of the horse's hind legs, and also to a cross bar in the frame or
base: on which the said horse stands, so that the vertical pressure of a child's
weight on the horse, combined with the backward and forward movements of

page_text: the body, causes the said springs to vibrate, and thereby gives the horse and
its rider a backward and forward rocking motion. To prevent the said horse
rocking back too far, a longitudinal bar is attached in front of the same, and
secured to the said cross bar in the frame or base. A rocking horse constructed
according to this Invention will not be dangerous to children's feet like a
common rocking horse; it cannot be upset, but stands firm on its base and
consequently is not destructive to carpets.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Marsden Latham in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th July 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MARSDEN LATHAM, of 71, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Secretary
to the General Patent Company (Limited), send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Robert Marsden Latham, Her special licence that I, the said
Robert Marsden Latham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Robert Marsden Latham, my executors administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN'S ROCKING TOYS,"
a communication to me from abroad by David R. Smith, of the City of New
York, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Marsden
Latham, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Marsden Latham, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by

page_text: the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The said improvements in the construction of children's 'rocking toys are
applicable to rocking horses and rocking vehicles, but as the arrangements
are alike in both cases, I need only to describe a child's rocking horse made
in accordance with this Invention. The body of the said horse is supported
upon a pair of helical, spiral, or other wound springs, the outer ends of which
are secured to the under side of the horses' hind legs; their extreme ends are
connected to a cross bar or axle within the base on which the said horse is
mounted. The weight of the said horse and its rider overhangs the said
springs, and but little effort is required on the rider's part to give the necessary
motion to the horse's body. A flat steel spring is secured at one end to the
said cross bar or axle end, and at the other end to the horse's chest, which, by
acting as a check spring, prevents the said horse from rocking backwards or
forwards too far. The said cross bar or axle is held in its place by bolts
screwing into its ends through the sides of the said base, and by pegs or
projections on the ends of the said axle fitting into corresponding holes in
plates fitted on the inner sides of the base; the said horse can be adjusted,
that is, elevated or depressed, to suit different weights, by loosening each of
the bolts holding the said axle, and by drawing out one of the sides of the base
sufficiently to allow the shifting of the said pegs or projection into different
holes, in which they are retained by tightening up the bolts as before.
Figure 1 in the accompanying Drawings is a side view of a rocking horse
constructed according to the said Invention; Figure 2 is a plan view of the
base and springs for supporting the said horse; Figure 3 is a side view of
cross bar or axle; Figure 4 is an end view; and Figure 5, a plan view of
Figure 3.
Letter (a) is the horse; (b) are the helical springs; (c) are the sides of the
base; (d) is the check spring; (e) are rails connecting the sides of the base;
(f) is the cross bar or axis, and (9) are the projections on its ends; Figure 6
shows one of the plates fitted on the inner sides of the base, and letter (h) are
the holes for the said projections.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I do
not confine myself to the exact details herein-before described, as the same
may be varied without departing from the principle of the said Invention; but
what I claim under the above in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the construction of children's rocking horses or vehicles mounted on
springs, as herein-before described.

page_text: Second, the mode of adjusting the said horse to suit different weights, as
herein-before described.
Third, the use of a check spring for preventing the said horse from rocking
backward or forward too far, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Marsden Latham, have here:
unto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
W. H. BATEMAN,
71, Fleet Street,
London.
ROBERT M. LATHAM. (L.s.)