US585587A - Hitching device - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

J. MSPRATT..

HITGHING DEVICE.

No. 585,587 Patented Jim@ 29, I1897. f

wilgzsszs :as co.. moroLutHov.wAsHmsoN n c UNITED STATES PATENT OEETEE.

JOHN MUSPRATT, OF NEV BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

HITCHING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 585,587, dated June 29, 1897. Application filed December 14,1896. Serial No. 615,628. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN MUSPRATT, a citi- Zen of the United States, residing at New Bedford, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Hit-ching Device, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a hitching-post, and has for its object to provide a device of the class named which is not open to the obj ections urged against fixed hitching devices, of which one of the most serious is the fact that they offer obstructions to pedestrians, particularly at night or at other times, as when thoroughfares are crowded, when it is impossible to discover at any great distance the existence of a device of this class.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear in the following description, and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

.In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of a hitching device constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical central section of the same. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing a slightly-modified construction of counterbalancing device.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

The hitching-post embodying my invention comprises a rod l, adapted for the attachment of a hitching strap or chain, with which it may be permanently provided, but which is preferably provided with an eye 2, as shown in the drawings, and means for yieldingly holding said rod in an upright position and adapted to prevent displacement of the lower end thereof. In the construction illustrated the rod is provided with a rounded and preferably enlarged lower extremity 3, adapted to iit in a suitable seat 4, said seat having a central opening 5, through which extends a iiexible connection 6, attached to a counterbalancing device 7, consisting inthe present instance of a weight. The flexible connection may consist of a chain, as shown in Fig. 2, extending from thelower end of the rod to the weight, or the weight 8 (shown in Fig. 3) may be provided with a rigid Vextension 9, flexibly connected, as by a snap-hook 10 or its equivalent, to the lower end of the rod. The rounded lower extremity of the rod is adapted to rock freely in the seat, and inasmuch as the counterbalancing-weight allows it to yield it is adapted to be swung in either direction through an arc of one hundred and eighty degreesto occupy a position parallel and in contact with the pavement, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. Thus when encountered by a moving object the rod is adapted to yield freely and afford no obstruction and avoid injury to predestrians and moving objects coming in contact therewith.

When strained longitudinally, as by an effort upon the part of a hitched animal to escape, the weight may be elevated into contact with the under side of the object, such as a plate or ear 1l, in which the socket 4 is formed, thus arranging the strain directly in line with the rod, and by avoiding transverse strain enabling the same to be constructed of small cross-sectional area: In other words, by using a post which is yieldingly held in its upright position, and hence is adapted to arrange itself directly in the line of any strain applied thereto, arod of comparatively slight construction will be found to possess the necessary strength to resist any strain which may be applied thereto in practice, the resistance of the rod to tensile strain. being greater than that to a transverse strain.

The socket plate or ear ll is preferably of met-al bolted, as at l2, to the curbstone 13, with its upper surface flush with that o f the corresponding surface of the curbstone, and hence of the pavement, said plate being hollowed or cut away at its upper and lower sides concentric with the opening 5 to reduce the weight thereof without materially diminishing the strength, the upper cut-away portion forming the socket 4,in which the rounded and enlarged lower extremity of the rod is fitted. In order to allow detachment of the hitching-rod from the socket-plate, the upper end of the connection 6 is preferably provided with a snap-hook 14 to engage a staple in the lower end of the rod, as shown in Fig. 2.

While in the above description l have set forth a preferred manner of mounting and arranging the socket plate or ear with relation to the sidewalk, it will be understood IOO that I do not limit myself to said arrangement, inasmuch as it may be let. into the curbstone or sidewalk or otherwise arranged in a fixed position without defeating the object of the invention, and that various other changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted to Without departing from theuspirit or sacriticin g any of the advantages of Ithis invention.

claim is l. A hitching device having an inflexibler strain, and yielding means flexibly connected with 'the lower end of the rod to allow the temporary unseating of the rod when subjected to a longitudinal strain and to reseat the same when relieved of strain, whereby the rod is adapted to aline with any strain applied thereto, substantially as specified.

2. A hitching device having a socket or seat, a rod provided with a rounded lower extremity iitted to rock in the socket or seat, and means flexibly connected to the rod for yieldingly holding the same in an upright position, substantially as specified.

3. A hitching device having a seat, a rod removably iitted at its lower end to rock in the seat, yielding lneans for normally holding the rod seated in an upright position, and

a flexible connection between said yielding means and the lower extremity of the rod, said connection extending through an opening in the floor of the seat, substantially as specified.

4. A hitching device having a seat, a rod fitted at its lower end .in the seat, yielding means7 as a weight, arranged below the plane of the seat, and a iexible connection, as a Having described my invention, what I` chain, connecting the weight with the lower `extremity of the rod and extending through an opening in the floor of the seat, substantially as specified.

5. In a hitching device, the combination of a socket plate or ear provided with means for attachment to a fixed object and having in its upper side a seat and a communicating opening, a rod provided with a rounded lower extremity Iitted in said seat, and counterbalancing means, as a weight, flexibly connected through said opening with the lower extremity of the rod, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto a'liixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN MUSPRATT.

Vitnesses:

WILLIAM H. BONNEY, THOMAS H. SoULE.

Images