US62132A - Improvement in apparatus for unhitching horses - Google Patents

Description

1 tL K. HARRIS.-

Detachng Horses.

No. 62,132. Patented Feb. 19, 1867.

` AM. man-umu. go. .Y. (os animes vanessa) @uitrit tetes @anni @fitta JOHN K. HARRIS, OF MADISON, INDIANA.

Letters Paten! No. 62,132, dated February 12, 1867.

dlgs Stimuli attrib tu in tlgrsn trtteni @anni mit uniting puri nf 'the samt TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN;

Beit known that I, JOHN K. HARRIS, of Madison, Jefferson county, Indiana, have invented a new and useful Unhitching Apparatus; andI hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings making part of this specification.

My invention consistsv in a provision whereby a fractious or runaway horse may be instantly Areleased by the driver.

Figure l is a perspective view, representing the front part of a carriage from which the horse has just been released.

Figure 2 represents the'rear part of the shafts, together with the releasing strap and its accessories.

Figure 3 is an enlarged representation ofthe lock.

A represents the front portion of a carriage. The shafts B havea customary cross-bar, C, and are looped, D, to the front axle in the usual manner, but are entirely free from any whiiile-tree or other attachment for the customaryL tugs or traces, which I prefer to wholly dispense with, employing in their stead a tongue. E, projecting vertically upward from the harness at or about the intersection of the breast-collar strap I?, (or the hame tug, where llames are used) and belly-band G. A spring, H, may be employed to compensate for the alternating sido draught of the horses shoulders. My releasable lock is constructed as follows: I is a box or frame fastened fo the under side of the shaft, and having pivoted to it a ribratory hook, J, which, in conjunction with a stationary lip, K, affords a receptacle or socket, L, for the tongue. A spur, M, projecting' rearward from the hook, is`

caught or detained by a sliding bolt, N, which bolt is held to its normal or effective position by a spring, O. spring, I), serves to restore and hold the hook to lock at all times, save when yielding temporarily to the escaping tongue in the operation of release, as hereafter explained. The above-described details are of course duplicated on the other side of the horse. Extending rearward underneath the shaft, from the sliding bolt N, is a rod, Q, and from the corresponding bolt on the other side, a similar rod, Q. These rodsengage in arms R R', that depend from a bar, S, having another arm T for the attachment of a strap, U, which, passing` rearward through an orifice either in the carriage door or in the dash, terminates in a ring, V, convenient to the hand ofthe driver. The animal is very quickly hitched by the insertion ofthe tongue E behind the hook J, and maybe completely and instantaneously released by a person within the carriage pulling the strap U suiliciently to draw back the Vholt N clear of the spur M on thchook J, which then instantly yields to the forward stress of the tongue so as to release the latter and to set the horse at liberty, When the strap U becomes further useful` by enabling thc driver to hold up Vthe shafts so as to prevent their entanglement with anything on the road. The carriage having collie to rest the' driver relaxes his p11-ll on the strap, and thus `permits the vibrating yhook and the sliding bolts to spring back into lock.

I have selected for illustration the form preferred by me, but do not desire to restrict the invention thereto, as various modifications are possible; for example, a treadle or lever may replace the ring V and strap U, and the springs H and P may be omitted. i

I claim herein as new and of my invention- 1. The provision, upon each shaft ofa carriage, of a vibrating hook, J, adapted to receive and hold a tongue, E, upon the harness, and to be released by the driver, through the instrumentality of astrap, U, and its described or equivalent accessories, substantially as set forth. 4

2. 'Ihe releasable hito-hing lock, consisting essentially of the vibrating hook J, sliding bolt N, and springs O and I), the same being placed under control of the driver by the strap U, and its accessories, as set forth.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand.

` v JOHN K. HARRIS.

` Witnesses:

GEO. H. KNIGHT, JAMES H. LAYMAN.

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