Improvements in Curry Combs.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Feb., 1897-Accepted, 8th May, 1897
Improvements in Curry Combs.
We, MARKUS FOLMAN and MOSES MULER both of 36, Krochmalna, Warsaw,
Poland in the Empire of Russia, Manufacturers 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 has for its object an improved curry comb for horses which
differs from the ordinary curry combs in that the comb which cleans the hairy
covering of the horse consists of long conical teeth arranged closely side by side
and preferably made of wire.
In order to form a correct idea of the object of the application, the same will
be compared in the following specification with the curry combs hitherto
employed.
The cheaper sorts of curry combs hitherto employed have fine toothed combs
stamped out of sheet metal. In order to admit of this stamping, the sheet metal
must not be too thick nor too hard. For these reasons however the point of
the teeth very rapidly wear off, whilst the burr produced by the stamping wears
away less at the base. On account of the weakness of the sheet metal employed
these combs bend very easily.
After the points of the thin sheet metal comb have worn away, the comb no
longer sufficiently penetrates the hair coat of the horse, but the burr produced
by the stamping exerts its deleterious action, which consists as before in pulling
out hairs from the skin of the horse and from the brushes used for cleaning the
curry comb. As the combs are fine toothed, they rapidly become choked with
dust and dirt, and consequently require frequently brushing out.
The dearer curry combs have tapered teeth of stronger sheet metal; the metal
is somewhat harder and the teeth are somewhat larger. As however it is
impossible to make the distance between the teeth too great, the thickness of
the teeth is very limited, and such curry combs become therefore also very rapidly
choked, although they have a somewhat longer life. The tapered teeth are
not entirely free from burr and therefore very easily pull out hairs. A further
not unessential drawback of these stampel and tapered curry combs is that they
make grooves in the hair of the horse and impart to the coat of the living
animal therefore a less smooth appearance owing to the fine burr from which
they are never free, for the simple reason that the cost of a curry comb would
be made too great by removing the burr from the combs. More particularly in
the case of gentlemen's horses which are kept clean and therefore frequently
curry-combed the last mentioned drawback becomes disagreeably apparent.
The drawbacks hereinbefore enumerated of the curry combs hitherto employed
are entirely avoided by the curry comb which forms the object of the present
invection. The teeth of the curry combs according to the present invention consist
of thin but sufficiently strong and preferably round pins arranged to any suitable
extent in close proximity and made very much longer than the teeth of the curry
combs at present employed. On their points the comb teeth or pins are carefully
rounded so that they cannot injure the skin of the horse under any circumstances.
As these comb pins may be placed very closely together, they thoroughly clean the
hairy coat of the horse, as owing to their being made from resistant metal they
may be made very long, that is to say, several times as long as the teeth of

page_text: ordinary curry combs and therefore the comb becomes choked much less rapidly ;-
as the pins are rounded and as even with the cheapest curry combs this rounding
of the pins, which are produced in millions, on account of their small cost of
manufacture is always existant, they are always free from burr, they cannot pull
hairs out of the coat of the horse or out of the brushes employed for cleaning
the curry comb, and they do not rub the hair of the horse into ridges but render
it smooth. On account of the greater length of the comb teeth there is little
wearing away of the same, and on account of their thin form they penetrate
even after considerable wear equally well into the hairy coat of the horse as when
new. The great length of the comb pins or teeth enable the same to effect a
thorough cleansing of the hairy coat, even when the hairs are very close, where
with the ordinary curry combs it is not possible to work thoroughly.
In the accompanying drawing, two forms of construction are shown as an
example of this improved curry comb.
Figure 1 is a plan view of a circular curry comb in which the comb teeth or pins
are arranged in a spiral line;
Figure 2 shows a four cornered curry comb;
Figure 3 the same looking at the back;
Figures 4-6 show various methods of arranging the pius. The figures are
cross sections of a four cornered curry comb parallel to the teeth;
Figure 7 is a longitudinal section of a curry comb of the form shown in
Figures 2 and 3, the pins being retained at two points and actually formed into
clamps shaped like teeth. The section in Figure 7 is at right angles to the rows
of combs.
In Figures 1-4, the comb teeth or pins are indicated by a. Each row of pins
forming a coinb is terminated at both ends by a strong protective tooth b. The
protective tooth is of course always rounded in order to avoid pulling out the hair.
Between the rows of combs the ordinary guide strips care fastened and prevent
the teeth engaging too deeply. The round form of comb shown in Figure 1 is to
be preferred to the square one shown in Figures 2 and 3 for the reason that with
the former it is possible to evenly currycomb in all directions, but with the latter
only in the longitudinal direction of the handle. Figure 3 indicates a comb also
consisting of separate long pins d which serve for combing out the mane and tail.
The attachment of the teeth a in the frame plate of the curry comb may take place
in the ordinary manner indicated in Figure 4, in which they are firmly driven
conically into the frame plate e. In order to prevent these pins becoming loose
they may be attached also to separate bars, which in turn are again firmly
attached to the plate e in any suitable manuer. Such a form of construction is
shown in Figure 6. The pins lie with their broad ends against the plate e and
cannot fall out even if they become loose.
A somewhat similar modification of the construction shown in Figures 4 and 6 is
that shown in Figure 5, in which two teeth are combined to form a clamp a¹.
A third form of construction of the teeth is shown in Figure 7. Here the
teeth also form clamps (if the curry comb he looked at from the side) which
are fastened at their free ends and are so sharply bent in the centre that they
form a sufficiently pointed but still somewhat rounded tooth.
Other forms of construction of the teeth may be employed within the compass
of the present invention, also the means for fastening the teeth may be of any
suitable kind deemed capable of carrying out the object.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The improvement in curry combs for horses and the like, characterised by the
separate combs or rows for cleaning the hairy coat of the horse, being formed of
long pins (a, a', a²) arranged in close proximity to one another and having their
free ends rounded, which pins may be of any suitable section and may be fastened

page_text: to the curry comb frame (e) in any suitable manner, substantially as hereinbefore
set forth.
2. A form of construction of the herein described curry comb in which the
separate rows of pins are terminated at the ends by strong protective teeth (b)
which prevent too deep an engagement of the end teeth on the curry comb being
unintentionally inclined and also prevent any bending of the end pins, substantially
as described.
3. A form of construction of the herein described curry comb in which the
thinner ends of the pins are driven through separate strips (f) and arranged to.
bear with their broader ends in such a way against the frame (e) that they cannot
fall out even if they become loose, substantially as described.
Dal
TA
1007
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents.