US781695A - Saddletree. - Google Patents

Description

No. 781,695. A PATENTED FEB. 7, 1905. G. J. THEOBALD.

SADDLETREE.

APPLIUATION FILED JULY 25,1904.

NITED STATES .Patented February '7, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE J. THEOBALD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO VILLIAM L. ELLIOTT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SADDLETREE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 781,695, dated February 7, 1905.

Application filed July 25, 1904. Serial No. 217,924.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, GEORGE J. TIIEOBALD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Saddletrees, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specilication, like numerals on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object to provide a novel saddletree for harnesses in which the back-band passing through said saddletree will have a flat bearing on the skirt and the bottom of the passage-way in which said back-band is received,whereby all bends in the band are avoided.

The novel lfeatures of my invention will be more fully hereinafter described and then pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a central section of a saddletree embodying my invention, the back-band, skirt, and jockey being omitted from one-half said figure. Fig. 2 is a top View of one arm of the saddletree with the skirt and jockey partly broken out to better show the construction. Fig. 3 is a central vertical section of one end of the saddletree, showing a modified form of the invention. Fig. l is a plan view of Fig. 3.

The saddletree is formed with the two side arms 3 and 1, which are curved to the proper shape and are connected together at their central portions` and at their ends by sunken bridges 5 and 6, this construction being extremely common in saddletrees. Said arms form between them a passage through which extends the usual back-band 9, to which the thill-straps are connected, said back-band resting on the sunken bridges 5 and 6 and being free to slide through the passage while the harness is in use. Projecting' from each bridge 6 at the lower end of the saddletree and offset therefrom is a seat 7 for supporting and stiffening the skirt 8, said seat being offset from the bridge a distance substantially equal to the thickness of said skirt. The result of this construction is that the top of the skirt occupies the same plane as the bridge 6, and the back-band 9 has, therefore, a flat bearing on the skirt and bridge and extends ina straight line from the top of the saddletree down to and beyond the skirt. This construction permits the back-band to slide freely in the saddletree without being bent at all as it passes over the skirt, and thus obviates all unnecesthe back-band ha's to bend more or less in 65 order to pass over the skirt. The seat 7 serves also to stifl'en the skirt and takes the place of ordinary stitl'ening member, which is usually inserted beneath the skirt to prevent it from cracking or breaking at the edge of the bridge.

10 designates the usual jockey which lies on top of the arm of the saddletree and covers the back-band, said jockey at its edges being sewed to the arms of the skirt, as at 11.

12 designates a jockey-tip, which is secured 75 to the arms 3 and 4c and lies over the backband 9, said jockey-tip being preferably made ot' brass or some similar material, thus constituting a part of the trimmings of the harness.

Said jockey-tip has the two arms 13, which SO overlie and are secured to the arms 3 and a, said latter arms being cutaway to receive the arms 13, as best seen in Fig. 2, and the crosspiece 11, which connects said arms and lies over the back-band 9, thus forming a guide S5 for the latter. The thickness of the crosspiece 14 is preferably substantially the same as that of the jockey, as seen at the left, Fig. 1. In lieu of the form ot' jockey-tip shown in Figs. 1 and 2 I may use that shown in Figs. 90

3 and 4, in which the jockey-tip is arranged to be secured to the bridge 6 instead of to the arms 3 and This form of jockey-tip comprises the base-plate 16, -the side members 17, provided with the outwardly-extending flanges 1S and connected by the crosspiecc 19, said parts being shaped to form an opening 20, through which the back-band extends.

lVith 60 Where this form of jockey-tip is used, the side pieces 3 and 4 are cut away on their inner edges, as shown at 21, sufficiently tov receive the side pieces 17 of the jockey-tip, so that the inner sides thereofv will stand iush with the sides 23 of the arms 3 and 4. With this construction there are no shoulders present which the edges of the back-band 9 can rub against, as there usually is where the form of jockey-tip shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is used.

In making my invention I have endeavored to remove all possible shoulders or inequalities against which the back-band 9 is liable to rub. The back-band can be very easily inserted in myimproved saddletree, and because there are no shoulders against which the band rubs and as said band does not have to bend in passing over the skirt it will wear very -much longer than when used in saddletrees as vcommonly constructed.

I propose to make the saddletree of aluminium or some similar metal which is strong, but

horse and also oftentimes causes sore backs.

By making' the saddletree of aluminium its Weight is reduced by several pounds, much to the relief of the horse.

Various changes in the construction of the device'may be made without departing from the invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A saddletree having side arms forming between them a space for the back-band, said arms being connected at their lower ends by a sunken bridge on which the backband directly rests, and a seat for supporting the skirt, said seat projecting beyond the bridge and being oset therefrom a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the skirt.

2. A saddletree having side arms forming between them a space for the back-band, said arms being connected at their lower ends by sunken bridges on which the back-band rests, a seat 7 projecting from each bridge and oset therefrom a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the skirt, and a jockey-tip detachably secured to each side arm and occupying a position above the seat.

ln testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEO. J. THEOBALD.

Witnesses:

LoUIs C. SMITH, WILLIAM L. ELLIOTT.

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