US2961816A

US2961816A - Harness

Info

Publication number: US2961816A
Application number: US3039A
Authority: US
Inventors: Harry T Reed
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1960-01-18
Filing date: 1960-01-18
Publication date: 1960-11-29
Anticipated expiration: 1977-11-29

Description

H'. v'r. REED HARNESS Nov. 29, 1960 INVENTOR. Ha rr y 7. Reed 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 H. 'r.; REED uaansss Nov. 29, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Harry T. Reed BY ATTORNEYS Filed Jan. 18, 1960 Un ed at s .Pa efi i HARNESS T. Reed, 418 E. Colorado Ave., 1 Colorado Springs, Colo.

Filed Jan. 18, 1960, Ser. No. 3,039 9 Claims. (Cl. 54-24) This invention is directed to harness and more particularly to an adjustable animal halter. g

In raising horses, especially thoroughbreds and family pets, it is desirable that a colt be haltered immediately after its birth and that the halter be allowed to remain with the animal as it matures.

Colts grow at a surprisingly rapid rate, particularly through the first few months, and it has previously been difiicult to maintain proper fit in halters for the growing animals since available halters have limited adjustability. This has required continued substitution of increasing larger halters. This requires a number of halters and is obviously quite expensive. Some attempts have been made to solve the problem by providing leather halters with adjusting straps, etc. Leather is, obviously, unsatisfactory for continuous exposure to weather.

Many of the previous leather halter arrangements utilize adjustments having long leather strips which could be moved through the clips or other fastening means to thereby change certain dimensions of the halter. These strips must necessarily be long in order to provide a halter for both colts and horses making them unwieldy and tending to tangle on pulled up halters.

According to the invention, I have an adjustable rope halter which overcomes the foregoing difliculties and additionally is simple and relatively inexpensive to manufacture. A halter made according to the invention is usable on a horse, for example, from colt stage throughout its life. Such halters are rapidly and easily adjustable, are sutficiently strong for use, yet are soft, smooth and pliable.

Briefly, my invention consists of a halter made entirely from a strong, smooth, pliable and nonelastic rope-like material (generally of a loose braid to retain softness), preferably preshrunk nylon or the like which will not mildew or rot. Such material will substantially retain its strength during aging while resisting the natural elements and other conditions normally destructive to harness.

The halter is formed by a novel arrangement of knotting rope strands into essentially a nose band neckband, browband and cheekbands. The arrangement of knotting is inclusive of a plurality of novel, easily adjustable knots whereby the halter may be rapidly adjusted as often as desired, without removing it from the animal, and without long, hang straps or rope ends.

It is therefore among the objects and advantages of my invention to provide a strong, soft and pliable, rapidly and easily adjustable halter.

It is another specific object to provide an adjustable halter made entirely from a rope-like material.

Other objects and advantages will become readily obvious to those skilled in the art, particularly horse breeders, trainers, ranchers and the like, from a studyof the following description with reference to the appended exemplary drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a view of one side of a halter according to my invention as worn on an animal;

, in pairs.

Fig. 2 is a view of the halter from the other side of the animal of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side view showing an alternative halter arrangement according to the invention;

Figs. 4,5 and 6 are enlarged details of adjustable knots used in forming the halters of Figs. 1-3.

The halter of Figs. 1 and 2 is composed of a double strand neckband 11, placed around the neck 12 of a horse and joined into a loop by knot 16. The strands extend beyond the knot 16 and are tied into a knot 13 intercon-' necting a double strand noseband 14 with the neckband.

Since the neckband takes up the major force when the halter is used with a lead rope, it is preferably a heavy rope strand doubled back on itself in a one piece construc- T tion. The ends of the rope are formed into an adjustable knot 20 in the neckband, for easy adjustment of the' size of the looped neckband.

of a lead rope. A double strand browband 21 is interconnected with the neckband by

knots

25 and 26 and laced. through double strand cheekbands 22 and 23. The cheekbands are placed over the horses head and the ends are tied to the noseband by spaced apart

knots

27 and 28. and 27 and 28. The cheekband is retained as a double,

strand above forming knots 29 and 29'. The cheekbands 22 and 23 are tied together by knot 24 providing a size adjustment therefor. The browband is laced through the cheekband and is slidable thereon, being retained in position by

knots

31 and 32 and 31' and 32'. The checkbands, of course, retain the noseband 14 on the horses nose 30 and the spaced apart

knots

27 and 28 aid in holding the noseband straight.

Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate the ropesas placed in pairs thereby increasing the strength of the halter as well as providing a more dressed appearance than a single strand ar-i rangement. The pairs of ropes are knotted together at intervals for holding the strands together and for im- The smaller strands tied onto the larger strands, also, hold these larger ropes in position By suitable placement of browband knots 3-1 and 32 and 3 1' and 32', the resultant loops 3-3- and 34 may proved appearance.

be positioned for optimum fit on an animal.

The halter of Fig. 3 shows a modified halter arrangement wherein the browband 40 and cheekband 41 are of single strand construction and loosely joined together by loop 44. In this instance, the neckband and noseband are the same, and the single cheekbands and browbands are tied to them as for the arrangement of Figs. 1 and 2. This is a less expensive arrangement while incorporating the novel combination of

adjustable knots

13 and 20 on the neckband and a single adjustable knot 43 on single strand cheekband 41.

The detailed view of the cheekband knot 24 shown in Fig. 5 illustrates its adjustment. The knot is loosened and the end 2211 is made longer or shorter thereby taking up or letting out strands 22a. This decreases or increases the length of the cheekbands for horse.

The neckband adjustment knot 20 is shown in detailedi view Fig. 6, wherein the rope ends 11a are pulled through loop lle, formed of strands 11c, around it thereby forming loop 11d and subsequently back under loop lle. The neckband may be adjusted by loosening the knot and taking up on strands 11b or letting them out to thereby decrease or increase the size of the neckband. Due to the nature of the knot 20, it may be pulled tight to prevent. the animal rubbingagainst an .Pa ented Nov. 29, 1960 fitting the halter to the and upwardly into one side of the noseband 14a. The other set of strands 11g are looped around the strands 14a at loop 53 into loop 50 and then downward for the lead rope loop 15. The strands from loop 15 are passed through loop 50 around strands 11f and 11g by a loop 51. The other end of the strands of loop 51 are passed back through loop 50, under strands 11] and back up along strands 14b which join strands 14a as the noseband. This is an adjustable knot for the noseband. Slack from the noseband may be taken up by increasing the size of the lead rope loop 15. Another adjustment for the halter is provided by changing the length of the strands between

knots

13 and 16. Thus, for colts, this distance should be relatively short and for larger animals may be lengthened to fit the animal's head. This adjustment is, also, accomplished through the knot 13 by pulling up or slacking off strands 11g.

In most instances, it is preferable to halter a newborn colt and adjust the halter as growth dictates. Since the reason for the halter is to facilitate frequent handling of the colt, the halter fit is frequently checked. With the arrangement of the invention, the halter does not need to be removed during adjustment, assuring a good fit on the colt.

By the foregoing exemplary arrangement of rope elements and adjustable knots described hereinbefore, I have described various manners of practicing my invention; but I wish it understood that I do not desire to be limited thereby, but rather by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustable rope halter comprising, a neckband composed of at least a single strand of rope doubled back on itself and joined at its ends in a first adjustable knot, a second knot in said rope spaced from the first knot to form a loop around the neck of an animal when in use and include said first knot in said loop, a third adjustable slip type knot in said rope and spaced for positioning beneath the nose and jaw of the animal when in use, said third knot including an adjustable lead rope loop and an adjustable noseband formed in said third knot and arranged to pass around the nose of the animal from said third knot, a browband tied at its ends to the neckband, and cheekbands tied to opposite sides of said noseband, the ends of said cheekbands being tied into at least one adjustable knot, and said cheekbands being loosely interconnected with the browband.

2. A halter according to claim 1 in which the rope of the neckband and noseband is preshrunk nylon.

3. An adjustable rope halter comprising, a rope neckband forming a loop from a securing knot and having its ends joined in a first adjustable knot in said loop, a second loop interconnected with said securing knot, a second adjustable slip type knot formed in said second loop and arranged to be positioned beneath the nose and jaw of an animal when in use, said second knot inclusive of a lead rope loop and noseband loop, said lead rope loop and said noseband loop being coextensive and interconnected through said second knot whereby adjustment of one causes opposite adjustment of the other, a browband tied at its ends to the neckband, and cheekbandsknotted to opposed sides of said noseband and having at least one adjustable knot in one of the cheekbands, said cheekband being loosely interconnected with said browband for limited movement therebetween.

4. A halter according to claim 3 in which the rope for the neckband and noseband is a soft, loose braid, preshrunk nylonv 5. A halter according to claim 3 in which the neckband, noseband and lead rope loop are made of a single length of rope.

6. An adjustable rope halter comprising, a neckband composed of a single length of rope doubled back on itself and having its free ends tied through the looped end so as to be joined in a first adjustable knot, a securing knot in said rope spaced from said first knot to form a first double strand loop and a double strand loop for positioning around the neck of an animal when in use and including said first knot, a second adjustable knot in said first loop arranged to be positioned beneath the nose and jaw of the animal when in use, a lead rope loop extending from said second knot whereby the animal may be led, a noseband loop extending from said second knot and coextensive with said lead rope band providing mutual adjustment thereof, a double strand browband tied at its ends to opposed positions on said neckband, and double strand cheekbands tied to opposed sides of said noseband and having at least one adjustable knot in one of the cheekbands, said cheekband being loosely interconnected with said browband for limited movement therebetween.

7. A halter according to claim 6 in which the double strands of each side of the cheekbands are tied at spaced positions, and the double strand cheekbands are tied together at a point spaced from said ties.

8. The method of making an adjustable halter comprising forming a loop of sufficient size to encompass the neck of an animal by joining the ends of a strip of rope material substantially larger than required to form said loop, the joining of the ends of the strip being in a first adjustable knot, tying said loop into two loops one of which is a neckband and includes said first adjustable knot, forming a second adjustable slip-type knot in the other loop in position to be carried beneath the nose and jaw of the animal on which it is mounted, a portion of said second knot looped upwardly for passing over the nose of the animal and a portion looped downwardly into a lead rope loop, securing at least one strip of rope material to opposed sides of the neckband to form a browband, and securing at least one other strip of rope material to opposed sides of the noseband forming cheekbands, the cheekbands loosely engaging the browband for limited movement therebetween, and at least one adjustable knot in the cheekbands for adjusting the size thereof.

9. The method of making an adjustable halter comprising doubling a length of rope, passing the free ends through the looped end in an adjustable knot forming a loop substantially larger than a size to encompass the neck of an animal, tying said loop into two loops one of which is a neckband and includes said adjustable knot forming a second adjustable slip-type knot in the other loop in position to be carried beneath the nose and jaw of the animal on which it is mounted, a portion of the second loop extending from the second knot forming a noseband for passing over the nose of an animal, a portion of said second loop extending from second knot forming a lead rope loop, said noseband and lead rope loop being coextensive through said knot for mutual adjustment, securing at least one strip of rope material to opposed sides of the neckband to form a browband, and securing at least one length of rope to opposed sides of the noseband forming cheekbands, the cheekbands loosely engaging the browband for limited movement therebetween, and at least one adjustable knot in the cheekbands for adjusting the size thereof.

Ostberg June 6, 1882 Smouse Apr. 3, 1906