AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN HAMES FOR HORSES AND OTHER DRAUGHT ANIMALS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Marsh, of West Bromwich, in the County
of Stafford, Hame Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
Sealed the 30th May 1862, and dated the 22nd March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Marsh at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
March 1862.
I, THOMAS MARSH, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Hame
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN HAMES FOR HORSES AND OTHER DRAUGHT
ANIMALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in: making the draught plates of hames moveable.
along a grooved bar or axis on the said hames, so as to permit the pressure
of the draught plate to be more accurately adjusted to the shoulder of
the horse or other animal than it is in draught plates of the ordinary.
construction.
I make the axis of the staple on which the draught plate works two or.:
three times the ordinary length, the collar of the draught plate being only.
about one-third the length of the said axis; the draught plate can thus slide..
from one end of the axis of the staple to the other end. But it is necessary.
that the draught plate should. after. adjustment be kept to. that part of the..

page_text: axis to which it has been adjusted; this is effected in the following manner:-
On the axis of the staple a series of circular grooves or ring-like depressions
are made, and through one side of the collar of the draught plate a pin or
screw is passed, the end of which engages in one of the said grooves or
depressions. On the under side of the axis of the staple a longitudinal groove
is made, which runs all along the said axis, and when the draught plate is
turned into a position at right angles to that which it ordinarily occupies, the
end of the pin or screw in the side of the collar of the draught plate enters
the said longitudinal groove, and the draught plate can be made to slide to
any required position on the axis. When the draught plate has been brought
to the required part of the axis it is turned into its ordinary position, when
the end of the pin or screw engaging in one of the circular grooves or ring-
like depressions, the draught plate is confined to that part of the axis. The
longitudinal groove may be dispensed with, and the pin or screw in the side
of the collar of the draught plate may be so far withdrawn as to disengage
its end from the circular groove it was engaged in, and the draught plate then
moved to the required distance. The pin or screw being again made to
advance through the side of the collar, its end engages in the circular groove
to which the draught plate has been brought; or the pin or screw may be
affixed to a spring which presses it into the circular groove opposite to which
it is brought, yet allows it to be lifted therefrom when it is required to move
the draught plate.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Marsh in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
September 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
MARSH, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Hame Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Marsh, Her special licence, that I, the said Thomas Marsh, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Marsh, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time. and at all times thereafter during

page_text: 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN HAMES FOR HORSES AND OTHER DRAUGHT ANIMALS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Marsh, 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 Thomas Marsh, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in making the draught plates of hames moveable
along a grooved bar or axis on the said hames, so as to permit the pressure of
the draught plate to be more accurately adjusted to the shoulder of the horse
or other animal than it is in draught plates of the ordinary construction.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in side elevation, and
Figure 2 in front elevation, a hame constructed according to one of the
arrangements of my Invention. The same letters of reference are employed
to indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the Drawing.
In carrying my Invention into effect, I make the axis b of the staple a, b, c,
on which the draught plate d works, two or three times the ordinary length,
the collar d² of the said draught plate d being only about one-third the
length of the said axis b, as represented in the Drawing; the draught
plate d can thus slide from one end of the axis of the staple to the other
end. It is, however, necessary that the said draught plate should after
adjustment be kept to that part of the axis to which it has been adjusted;
this is effected as follows:-On the said axis 6 of the staple a series of circular
grooves or ring-like depressions e are made at equidistant or nearly equi-
distant points; through one side of the collar d' of the draught plate d'a
pin or screw is passed, the end of which screw or pin when it is driven
home engages in one of the said grooves, as indicated in dotted lines in
Figure 1. In order to adjust the draught plate d it is only necessary to
unscrew or withdraw the screw or pin f from the groove e in which it is
engaged; by then sliding the collar d² of the draught plate d on the axis 6,
so as to adjust the pressure of the draught plate to the shoulder of the horse
5

page_text: or other animal, and screwing home the screw or pin f, the end of the said
screw or pin engages with the depression or groove opposite to which it has
been brought, and thereby secures the draught plate in its adjusted position,
the said draught plate being at the same time capable of a partial rotation on
the said axis b.
Figure 3 represents in vertical section (partly in elevation) another arrange-
ment of my Invention, and Figure 4 represents a plan of the same (partly
in horizontal section); Figure 5 represents separately, in elevation, the
axis of the staple, and Figure 6 is an end elevation of the same. In this
arrangement of my Invention, instead of unscrewing the screw or pin from
the groove in the axis when it is required to adjust the draught plate, and
driving home the screw or pin after adjustment, as in Figures 1 and 2, I fix
a screw or pin in the collar of the draught plate, and make along the axis b
of the staple a longitudinal groove g, in addition to the circular grooves or
depressions e, in which longitudinal groove 9 the pin or screw h may be made
to slide when it is required to adjust the draught plate. When the draught
plate d is turned into the position represented in Figures 3 and 4, that is to
say,
into a position at right angles to that which it ordinarily occupies, the pin
or screw his brought into the longitudinal groove g, as represented, and by
raising or lowering the collar d² the draught plate d can be made to slide to
any required position on the axis b. When the draught plate has been
brought to the required part of the axis 6 it is turned into its ordinary position,
when the end of the screw or pin h engaging in one of the circular grooves or
depressions e, the said draught plate is confined to that part of the axis, and
thereby adjusted.
Figure 7 represents in front elevation another arrangement of my Invention;
Figure 8 is a plan of the same (partly in section); and Figure 9 is a horizontal
section of the same. In the arrangement represented in Figures 7, 8, and 9
the axis 6 of the staple a, b, c, is made similarly to the axis of the staple,
Figures 1 and 2, but in this arrangement the pin i, which engages in the
circular groove e, is affixed to the free end of a spring k, the other end of the
said spring being fixed at to the draught plate d, as best seen in Figure 9;
By raising the free end of the spring k the pin i is lifted from the groove in
which it was engaged, and by sliding the draught plate d along the axis b to
the proper position, and then loosing the said spring k, the pin i is pressed
into the groove opposite to which it has been brought, and thus secures the
adjusted draught plate.
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

page_text: limit myself to the precise details herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing from
the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention the improvement
or improvements in hames for horses and other draught animals herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making
the draught plate of the said hames moveable along and capable of being
secured at the required part of a grooved bar or axis on the said hames, for
the purpose
of permitting the pressure of the said draught plate to be readily
and accurately adjusted to the shoulder of the horse or other animal wearing
the said hames.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Marsh, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
THOMAS MARSH. (L.S.)
"