IMPROVEMENTS IN HARNESS SADDLES AND HARNESS PADS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clay, of Yardley, in the County of Wor-
cester, Saddler, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN HARNESS
SADDLES AND HARNESS PADS."
Sealed the 18th February 1873, and dated the 5th September 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clay at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
5th September 1872.
I, JOHN CLAY, of Yardley, in the County of Worcester, Saddler, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HARNESS SADDLES AND HARNESS PADS," to be as follows:-
:-
My Invention has reference to that part of harness saddles and
harness pads called the top or seat, and my said Invention consists in
making the said top or seat and the hook or rein holder of the said top
or seat of one piece of metal or metallic alloy.
By my Invention the top or seat of the harness saddle or pad is made
more economically than by the ordinary method of manufacture, and is
also more durable, and capable of being made highly ornamental.

page_text: In carrying my Invention into effect I prefer to make the said top or
seat and its hook or rein holder by the process of casting, but other con-
venient processes may be employed. For example, the said top or seat
and its hook or rein holder may be made by forging or by stamping or
pressing, or by a combination of the processes of forging and stamping
or pressing. The metallic top or seat thus made in one piece with its
hook or rein holder is connected to the saddle tree by screw bolts and
nuts, or otherwise, and the upper face of the said top or seat may be
finished and ornamented by the application thereto of enamelled or
coloured leather or other material, the said leather or material having a
variety of ornamental forms given to it, as may be desired. The metallic
top or seat need not however be covered on its upper face.
Although I generally make the top or seat of the saddle or pad and
its hook or rein holder of one piece of metal or alloy, yet the said parts
may be made of two or more pieces of metal or alloy joined together in
any convenient way.
The metal and metallic alloys which I principally use in carrying my
Invention into effect are iron, brass, and German silver, but other hard
and durable metals and alloys may be used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said John Clay in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st March 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CLAY, of Yardley, in the County of Worcester, Saddler, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her.
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Clay, Her special license that I, the a
said John Clay, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Clay, 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,
-

page_text: 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 HARNESS SADDLES AND
HARNESS PADS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Clay, 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 John Clay, 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 the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention has reference to that part of harness saddles and
harness pads called the top or seat; and my said Invention consists in
making the said top or seat and the hook or rein holder of the said top
or seat of one piece of metal or metallic alloy.
By my Invention the top or seat of the harness saddle or pad is
made more economically than by the ordinary method of manufacture,
and is also more durable and capable of being made highly ornamental.
In carrying my Invention into effect I prefer to make the said top or
seat and its hook or rein holder by the process of casting, but other con-
venient processes may be employed. For example, the said top or seat
and its hook or rein holder, may be made by forging or by stamping or
pressing, or by a combination of the processes of forging and stamping
or pressing. The metallic top or seat thus made in one piece with its
hook or rein holder is connected to the saddle tree by screw bolts and
nuts, or otherwise, and the upper face of the said top or seat may be
finished by the application thereto of enamelled or coloured leather or
other material, the said leather or material having a variety of orna-
mental forms given to it, as may be desired. The metallic top or seat
need not however be covered on its upper face.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in side elevation,
Figure 2 in longitudinal vertical section, Figure 3 in plan, and
Figure 4 in end elevation a harness saddle provided with a top or seat

page_text: constructed according to my Invention; Figure 5 is a part of the
same.
a is the top or seat of the saddle, and as is its hook or rein holder, the
said top or seat and hook or rein holder being made of one piece of
metal or metallic alloy by the process of casting. The said top or seat
is furnished with an internal rim or beading a³, within which rim or
beading a filling in plate of metal d covered on its top with leather is
fixed. This filling in plate is shown separately in Figure 5. Besides
serving to complete or finish the upper surface of the top or seat a of
the saddle, the said plate d also serves as the means for connecting the
top or seat a to the metallic or other foundation or tree c of the saddle.
This is effected by securing on the under side of the said plate d screw
bolts e, which bolts are passed through holes in the saddle tree c, and
fixed by the screw nuts f. The top or seat a and its filling in plate d
are thus secured together, and to the saddle tree c. Instead of fixing
the metallic top or seat a to the saddle tree c by means of the plate d,
as represented, the said metallic top or seat a may be fixed directly to
the saddle tree by bolts and nuts or other fastenings, and the upper side
of the said top or seat may be covered with leather, or ornamented in
any desired manner.
Although I generally make the top or seat of the saddle or pad and
its hook or rein holder of one piece of metal or alloy, yet the said parts
may be made of two or more pieces of metal or alloy joined together in
any convenient way.
The metal and metallic alloys which I principally use in carrying my
Invention into effect, are iron, brass, and German silver, but other hard
and durable metals and alloys may be used.
When I use iron the plate or plates, from which the top or seat is
made, is or are fashioned by preference by stamping or pressing, and the
top or seat so made may be finished by being japanned or painted instead
of being covered with leather.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as
the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Inven-
tion. But I claim as my Invention the improvements in harness
saddles and harness pads, herein-before described and illustrated in the

page_text: accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making the top or seat of the
saddle or pad and the hook or rein holder of the said top or seat, of one
or more pieces of metal or alloy by the process of casting or forging
or stamping, or by a combination of these processes, substantially as
described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Clay, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
or stamping, or by a combination of these processes, substantially as
described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Clay, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
0 Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
JOHN CLAY. (L.S.)