US683850A - Harness-pad. - Google Patents

Description

No. 683,850. Patented Oct. I, I901. J. M. CONNOR.

HARNESS PAD (Application filed June 12, 1901.)

(No Model.)

7M Ayn UN TED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

JOHN M. CONNOR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

HARNESS-PAD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of -Letters Patent No. 683,850, d t d O t ber 1, 1901.

Applicationfiled-June 12, 1901. Serial No. 64,262. (No model.)

TQ all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. CONNOR, a citi zen-of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Irnprovement in Harness-Pads, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates particularly to pads for use under the saddle of a harness; but its construction is adapted for use and can be used for a pad under the collar. It is well known that the back and shoulders of a horse are liable to become sore from the rubbing of the saddle or collar or from other cause,

and it is desirable in such cases to-have apad which can be used so as to protect the sore or injury and at the same time have the pad efiective for its ordinary use.

The object of the invention is to construct a continuous pad when first formed, but which is so constructed that a portion thereof at any point required can be cut out and removed, so as to leave an opening over the sore or injury which will prevent the rubbing of the pad on the sore or injured spot and at the same time leave the pad free as a protector, with the additional feature of permitting access to the sore or injured part without removing the pad, and so that the part can be treated and is also exposed to the beneficial efiects of air for cooling and keep ing the sore or injury from the ill effects of heat from the pad 5 and the invention consists in the features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described.

While the invention is applicable for use with either a saddle-pad for a harness or as a collar-pad, it is only shown in the drawings as a saddle harness-pad inorder to illustrate its construction in one form for which it is intended to be used.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the pad as completed and intended for use when there is no sore or injury on the back of the animal which is to be cured and protected; Fig. 2, a top or plan view of the pad with a section thereof at the center or apex of the bend removed for the purpose of preventing illeffects from the pad on a sore or injury which would come beneath the opening formed by the removed section; Fig. 8, a plan View of the section removed from thecenter of the pad in Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a detail showing one form of making attaching eyes or loops for the binding-wires of the pad; and Fig. 5, a detail, partly in section, showing one way of applying and securing the eyes or loops for the binding-wires of the ad. p The pad proper, A, is made of felt or other soft material of suitable thickness and of the requisite nature to furnish the necessary protection to the animal at the point where the pad is used. The pad in its original condition is in a continuous piece and of a length and width to be placed under the, saddle of the harness to protect the animal from the rubbing of the saddle and its component parts. The pad on each side has secured thereto straps of leather or, and, as shown, the straps are secured in place byeyes or loops bandabindingorstay wire c,running through the eyes or loops, for which purpose the straps at suitable distances apart are each provided with holes a for the passage therethrough of the eyes or loops, so that the eyes or loops will project above the straps to receive the binding or stay wire. The eyes or loops can be of any suitable formation and attached in any manner desired. A formation for the eye or loop which is adapted for use is to make the eye or loop from a strip of sheet metal, having a central section which can be formed into the eye or loop 17, and eyes I) at the ends, which eyes can be brought together, so as to' permit the passage of a staple having a head b and prongs b for the prongs to pass through the eyes, bringing the head 19 in engagement with the eyes, so that by entering the prongs into the body of the felt and turning the extreme end 19 of the prongs, as shown in Fig.5,the eye or loop will be securely fastened to the body of the pad and at the same time the fastening is of a nature to be surrounded by the material of the pad, pre- Venting the contact of the metal fastening with the animal. The eyes or loops 1? are secured to the body of the pad and the straps or are placed in position with the eyes or loops projecting through the holes a, and the binding or stay wires 0 are passed through the eyes or loops and turned at the ends, so as to prevent them from slipping out, completing the structure of the pad in the respects named.

The wires are of a flexible nature, so that they can be bent or turned to fit the pad to the saddle of the harness and back of the horse by the owner of the animal.

The pad as shown in Fig. 1 is in the form in which it is intended to be used where there is no sore or injury on the backof the animal; but in case of a sore or injury the pad is of a nature to be used without changing its general formation and structure, as all that is required to form the pad into one for use with a sore or injury on the back of the animal is to remove a central section or portion B, so as to leave an opening C of the width required to have the pad clear of the sore or injury on each side, and such removal can be accomplished by using a knife or other cutting implement which will cut through the body of the pad, so that the section or portion B can be removed. It will be understood that in case the sore or injury. is not directly on the backbone of the animal, but is at one side, a section of the pad can be removed in the same manner as described for the removable section B, such side sections being preferably cut on the dotted lines and on the line of cutting for one edge of the section or portion 13. The eyes or loops 7) are preferably arranged on the pad so as to have them in such relation as to permit the section or sections to be removed cuton lines between two of the eyes or loops, so that an eye or loop will be on the removed section or portion, as shown for the removed section or portion B in Fig. 3. This leaves the removed section with the attaching means intact, and in removing a section the retaining-straps are not cut, but left intact, so as to attach the two ends of the pad one to the other, and the removal of a cut-out section or portion is made easy, requiring only the slipping out of the stiffening or stay wires 0 from the eyes or loops sufficiently to clear the ends of the Wires from the eyes or loops of the to-be-removed section, which can then be withdrawn, leaving the protected opening C to overlie the sore or injury. The pad will be held in shape after the removal of a section or portion by reentering the stiffening or stay wires into the loops or eyes, so that the wires will hold the pad in shape notwithstanding a section or portion thereof has been removed, thus not impairing the pad for use.

The construction shown employs a fastening-strap D, having a slit cl therein to pass over the saddle end hook and hold the pad against slipping independently of the saddle, and, as shown, the attaching-strap D is secured to one of the eyes or loops Z) by a pin cl, but could be otherwise attached. The removal of the section or portion B in the construction shown removes the attaching-strap, and in such case a string can be passed through the hole a of the connecting-strap, by means of which the pad can be secured to the saddle-hook of the harness. The pad at each end is provided with the usual retaining-straps E for the passage of the saddle flaps of the harness in the ordinary manner of attaching pads to the harness.

It will be seen that with my construction of pad a continuous pad is provided for use when the back of the animal is well and that this same pad is likewise adapted for use without any special change in its structure or nature, except the removal of a section or portion, when the back of the animal is sore or injured, and the removal of a section or portion to protect the sore or injury does not in the least affect the nature and utility of the pad, which still retains its pad qualities for use underneath the saddle. The pad is exceedingly simple in construction and can be readily and easily applied to a harness, as all that is required is to bend the stiffening or stay wires in a shape to form the pad as required to fit the saddle of the harness and the animal, and the removal of a section or portion of the body of the pad to protect a sore or injury on the back of the animal does not impair the pad for use, as it can be used with the portion or section removed equally as well as with the pad intact, and after .the sore or injury has been cured the removed section or portion can be replaced, if so desired, returning the pad to its normal condition practically, as the removed portion or section when replaced will beheld in position by the retaining or stiffening wires, which are passed through the eyes or loops of the replaced section or portion.

The essential feature of the pad of my in vention (forming the pad originally as a continuous pad and of a material from which sections or portions can be out and removed, in connection with the connecting-straps and the stiffening or stay wires) can be utilized in the construction of collar-pads, it only being necessary to cut the pad proper in a continuous strip and of the form required for a collar-pad and providing the pad on each side with connecting-straps and retaining or stay wires, as in the construction of the harness-pad, it being understood, of course, that the pad is to be provided with the necessary straps and hame-hooks for attachment of the pad to the collar.

I claiml. A harness-pad having a continuous body provided on its upper side with connectingstraps and retaining or stay wires, detachably connected to the body, permitting the removal, by cutting out from the body, of a portion or section thereof without impairment of the pad, substantially as described.

2. A harness-pad having a continuous body provided on its upper side with connectingstraps and retaining or stay wires detachably connected to the body by eyes or loops se cured in the body, permitting the removal, by cutting out from the body, of a portion or section thereof without impairment of the pad, substantially as described.

In a harness-pad, the combination of a neeting-straps one adjacent to each side edge continuous body forming the pad proper, ooncutting out from the body, of a portionor sec} tion thereof without impairment of the pad,

of the bodyon the outer face thereof, eyes substantially as described. or loops on the body passing through holes in the straps, and retaining or stay wires inserted through the eyes or loops over the couneoting-straps, permitting the removal, by

JOHN M. CONNOR. Witnesses:

BERTHA A. PRICE,

THOMAS E. MOGREGOR.

Images