US2697902A - Hopple for pacer horses - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 28, 1954 R. P. EMPIE HOPPLE FOR PACER HORSES Filed Feb. 26, 1953 2,697,902 Patented Dec. 28, 1954 United States Patent Office l-IOPPLE FOR PACER HORSES Robert Philip Empie, Waterveliet, N. Y.

Application February 26, 1953, Serial No. 339,123

5 Claims. (Cl. 54-71) My invention relates to hopples for horses, and more lplarticularly to hopples for maintaining the gait of pacer orses.

Conventional pacer hopples are made from straps of leather or plastic material arranged to be looped around the front and hind legs of a horse and fastened together by buckles. These conventional pacer hopples are quite expensive, require constant care, inspection and readjustment, and must be replaced fairly often if used by racing horses since the strenuous and constant use which they normally endure during a racing season makes them rough and irritating to the horse and causes them to stretch, weaken and sometimes break during a race.

Accordingly, one important object of the invention is to provide a pacer hopple that is strong enough to endure many years of strenuous use without danger of breaking.

Another object is to provide a pacer hopple that is much less expensive than conventional hopples and is constructed from commercially available and replaceable components such that the whole hopple need not be discarded if one component should become defective or eventually wear out.

A further object is to provide a pacer hopple that is lightweight, flexible and comfortable for the horse.

In general, my invention comprises a pacer hopple including a strong flexible metal wire which is inserted through and is easily slideable within a pair of smooth flexible hoses which form the front and rear leg guards of the hopple. For greater strength the metal wire is preferably continuous and forms a complete loop. Means are also provided for adjusting the size of the loop thus formed, thereby controlling the overall length of the hopple.

The novel features which are believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, together with further objects and advantages thereof may best be understood by referring to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a hopple embodying the invention; and Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a leg guard assembly included in the hopple of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, the invention is shown in one form embodied in a hopple comprising a flexible metal wire 11 inserted through and supporting a front leg guard assembly 12 and a rear leg guard assembly 13. Metal wire 11 may conveniently be /s in. stranded steel cable, as indicated, and forms a complete loop passing through a take-up sleeve 14 located between the front and rear leg guard assemblies 12 and 13. Take-up sleeve 14 is preferably a light-weight, rust-proof metal, such as aluminum, and functions both to guide portions of wire 11 in close side-by-side alignment and to clamp the two end portions of wire 11 in adjustable position relative to one another, thereby controlling the overall size of the complete wire loop and the length of hopple 10. Take-up sleeve 14 is shown as a cylindrical block 15 having three axially extending parallel holes 17, 18 and 19 whose diameter is large enough to accommodate wire 11 as a close slidable fit therein. Central hole 18 has a widened portion 20 extending to a partial depth from one end of sleeve 14. This widened portion 20 of hole 18 snugly accommodates a conforming stop plug 21 welded or otherwise secured to one end 22 of wire 11. In assembling hopple 10, the other end 23 of wire 11 is threaded through central hole 18 of sleeve 14, through one leg guard assembly 12, back through hole 17 of sleeve 14, through the other leg guard assembly 13, and then back through hole 19 of sleeve 14 until stop plug 21 falls within widened portion 20 of hole 18. The excess portion 16 of wire 11 extending beyond sleeve 14 is clamped to an adjacent portion of wire 11 by any suitable clamp 24 such as those commonly used to fasten bare power or telephone cables together. Set screws 25 and 26 provided in sleeve 14 are then tightened against the portions of wire 11 passing through holes 17 and 19.

Leg guard assemblies 12 and 13 respectively include front and rear leg guards 27 and 28 within which wire 11 is threaded. Leg guards 27 and 28 may be leather coverings, but are shown as and preferably constitute plastic or hard rubber hoses such as are commonly used to pour beer or other beverages. Means, such as apertured metal blocks 29 and 30 are provided for holding the free ends of each hose 27 and 28 together, thereby to form leg-protecting oval-shaped rings at opposite ends of the loop formed by wire 11. Metal blocks 29 and 30 are preferably aluminum and each have two adjacent cylindrical lugs 31 projecting from one side thereof, which lugs are inserted in tight frictional engagement Within the opposite ends of a respective one of the hoses 27 and 28. Wire 11 is inserted within hoses 27 and 28 through suitable apertures 32 extending through the projecting lugs 31 of blocks 29 and 30.

Hopple 10 is carried in a conventional manner with leg guard assemblies 12 and 13 around the fore and hind legs on one side of the horse by a neck strap (not shown) inserted within a buckle 33 on front strap 34; a pair of central carrying straps (not shown) inserted within buckles 35, 36 on side straps 37, 38; and a rear carrying strap (not shown) inserted within buckle 39 on rear strap 40. Straps 34, 37, 38 and 40 are each securely fastened, such as by sewing, around associated metal collars 41, which, in turn, ride as free fits on wire 11. Metal collars 41 each have outwardly flared ends 45 to prevent straps 34, 37, 38 and 40 from slipping off the collar. Stop members 46 and 47 clamped to wire 11 hold collars 41 associated with side straps 37 and 38 in suitable stationary positions against leg guard fastening blocks 29 and 30, and thereby also prevent any tendency of blocks 29 and 30 to move out of engagement with hoses 27 and 28. Front and rear straps 34 and 40 are inserted around their respective collars 41 through small splits 48 and 49 in the outer central portions of hoses 27 and 28, respectively. It will be appreciated that wire 11 is threaded through collars 41 during the assembly of hopple 10.

It will thus be seen that I have provided an unusually strong hopple that is also light-weight, flexible and comfortable. It is unusually strong because its principal structural component is a wire cable easily capable of withstanding a stress of several thousand pounds which is many times greater than that exerted by even the strongest horse. The size of hopple 10 is easily adjusted or readjusted by merely passing more or less Wire cable 11 through take-up sleeve 14 and then fastening clamp 24 and tightening set screw 26. Since there is no appreciable deterioration of wire cable 11, take-up sleeve 14, or metal blocks 29 and 30 even over long periods of time, the only components susceptible of eventually wearing out are the leg guard hoses 27 and 28. These hoses are quite inexpensive and may be quickly and easily replaced.

Although I have described above a particular embodiment of my invention, it will be appreciated that many modifications may be made. It is to be understood, therefore, that I intend by the appended claims to cover all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A hopple for a horse comprising front and rear leg guards each comprising a smooth hose, and means connecting said leg guards comprising a metal wire inserted through said hoses and extending therebetween to space said hoses to front and rear leg guarding positions.

2. A hopple for a horse comprising a loop of flexible metal wire, front and rear leg guards covering and supported on spaced portions of said wire loop, and means for adjusting the size of said wire loop.

3. A hopple for a horse comprising front and rear leg guard assemblies each including a smooth leg protecting covering, and a flexible metal wire inserted through and slideable within both said coverings and extending therebetween to space said coverings to front and rear leg guarding positions, the opposite end portions of said Wire being fastened together to form a complete loop.

4. LA hopple for a pacer horse comprising front and rear leg guards each comprising a smooth flexible hose, 2. wire cable inserted through and slideable within both said hoses and extending therebetween to space said hoses to front and rear leg guarding positions, and means for fastening the opposite end portions of said wire cable together to form a loop of adjustable size.

5. A hopple for a pacer horse comprising front and rem. legguards each including a hose and means for holding the opposite ends of the hose together to form a protective leg ring, a stranded metal wire cable inserted through and slideable within both said hoses and extend ing therebetween to space said hoses to front and rear leg guarding positions, and a wire take-up sleeve located between said leg guards for fastening the opposite end portions of said wire cable together in adjustable relative position, thereby to form said wire into a loop of adjustable size.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 594,502 Trice Nov. 30, 1897 1,782,835 Wunsche Nov. 25, 1930

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