Improvements in and relating to Harness for Horses and other Animals.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Oct., 1894-Accepted, 8th Dec., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Harness for Horses and other
Animals.
I, JONAS ARCHELAUS THOMPSON, a resident of Suffield, in the County of
Hartford, and State of Connecticut, United States of America, Merchant, 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:-
The object of my invention is to provide a harness or harness attachment device
that is particularly adapted for use in training and speeding horses and which will
not cause sore places and raws such as are common to the use of the old kinds of
harness, and which will permit a freer action or movement of the horse while
preventing accidents liable to occur when a horse breaks in his gait.
To this end my invention consists in the details of the several parts making up
the attachment and the harness as a whole and in the combination of such parts as
more particularly hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.
Referring to the drawings:
Figure 1 is a view of a horse equipped with my improved harness.
Figure 2 is a diagram plan view of the harness with parts cut away to show
construction.
A common form of harness for a horse includes a breast strap and breeching and
these parts in use tend to. restrict the movement of the horse preventing particularly
a free movement of the hind legs, and they are further objectionable for the reason
that they are likely to chafe the horse and cause raws at various points where these
parts lie against the body of the horse.
My improved attachment and harness excludes a breeching and a breast strap
and is so located on the body of the horse as to hold the shafts of a wagon or sulky
in a firmer manner than is possible with prior harnesses.
In the accompanying drawings the letter a denotes a saddle which may be of any
ordinary construction and having straps by means of which the shafts b are in part
supported. The letter c denotes a stay or main strap which extends from the point
of the shafts on each side of the horse, underneath the body of the horse and then
extends upward and passes over and across the hips and over the back at the root
of the tail where it is secured to a crupper d. This stay is preferably united below
the body of the horse by a stay e, girth strapsf extending from the stay or main
strap forward to a girth socket 9. To the girth socket is secured a girth h and it is
preferably provided with a pad i, the girth h having near its opposite ends buckles
or like means for securing the girth to the shaft b as by wrapping the end of the
girth several times about the shaft and then passing the end through the buckle and
into a tuck in the ordinary manner of fastening. The forward ends of the stay or main
part of the harness attachment are provided preferably with shaft sockets c¹ and
these are preferably adjustably secured to the end of the main strap as by means of
a buckle so as to adapt the harness to horses of various sizes; in the same manner
the ends of the girth straps are secured to the girth or to the girth socket by a
buckle and strap device so as to make the attachment as a whole adjustable to
horses of various sizes.

page_text: The girth socket 7 of the girth is provided with a ring k to which a martingal
strap may be secured.
The main feature of the harness or attachment consists of the main strap c with
the shaft sockets c' and the crupper or like device d, such strap extending from the
ends of the shaft down underneath the horse and up over the back near the root of
the tail. As shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings this arrangement of the main strap
holds the shaft securely against any forward sliding movement along the side of the
horse. It is secured to the girth and the latter to the shafts and these combined with
the saddle serve to hold the shafts of a light wagon or racing sulky firmly in place
and will permit a perfect freedom of movement to the horse. There is no breast
strap to extend across the muscles of the forelegs and to chafe the animal, and the
breeching is dispensed with, the portion of the main strap extending up and across
the back doing so in a manner which leaves the hind legs free to move, and as shown
by experiment and test not only avoids fretting a horse but enables greater speed to
be made owing to the freedom of action allowed.
When a horse is harnessed to a sulky or wagon by the harness as shown, and the
driver pulls back upon the reins thrusting at the same time against the shafts or
upon the floor of the wagon the tendency will be to push the shafts forward along
the side of the horse, but this is resisted by the strap, the sockets on the end of
which engage the end of the shaft. The location of the main strap over the horse's
back near the tail tends to hold the horse to his gait in a trot and prevents breaking.
The harness is particularly useful in connection with the new style of racing sulky
provided with bicycle wheels and pneumátic tires, as such a sulky used with the old
form of harness is twisted when the driver saws on the rein to get the horse back
into his gait after breaking, as by pulling back on the horse, the front ends of the
shaft lift and the wheels run under throwing the driver out of the sulky. My
improved harness prevents any accident of this kind as the points of the shaft
are prevented from rising and a firmer attachment of the shafts provided. The
apparatus also prevents the chafing by the saddle which is in the old form of harness
caused by the forward sliding movement of the shaft rocking the saddle and carrying
its back edge down upon the back of the animal when the horse is pulled. All such
forward sliding movement of the shaft is prevented by connection with the main
strap as described.
The device as a whole is used preferably as a complete harness although it may
be used in connection with the old harness which includes a breast strap and
breeching, although the need of these parts is completely obviated by the use of
the strap as described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. In a harness, a saddle or girth in combination with a main strap provided at
the front ends with means for attachment to the front ends of the shaft, a crupper
attached to the rear portion of the main strap, the said main strap being adapted to
extend from the crupper downwardly to the girth and then upwardly to the shafts,
all substantially as described.
2. In combination, a saddle a, a girth h, a main strap c, a crupper d attached to
the main strap, girth straps f connecting the main strap to the girth, the said main
strap adapted to extend from the crupper downwardly to the point of attachment to
the girth, and upwardly to the shafts, and means for attaching the shafts to the girth
and to the main strap, all substantially as described.
3. In a harness, in combination, a saddle, a girth, straps for attaching the shafts of
a vehicle to the girth, a main strap, a stay connecting the side parts of the main
strap, a crupper attached to the upper and rear portion of the strap, girth straps
adjustably connecting the main strap and the girth socket, the girth socket, and the
shaft sockets adjustably secured to each front end of the main strap, said main strap

page_text: adapted to extend from the crupper downwardly to the point of attachment to the
girth and then upwardly to the shaft, all substantially as described.
Dated this 28th day of September 1894.
JONAS ARCHELAUS THOMPSON.
D. Young & Co.,
11 & 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.