[QUOTE=MySparrow;4590268]
That’s interesting. I wonder when and where the plate got angled?
Always something to learn from this forum![/QUOTE] The patent states that if there is an angled plate it is a driving bit that goes under a slightly different name. I dont drive, so i wouldnt know the use for a bit that digs into the tongue.
[QUOTE=Petstorejunkie;4592276]
The patent states that if there is an angled plate it is a driving bit that goes under a slightly different name. I dont drive, so i wouldnt know the use for a bit that digs into the tongue.[/QUOTE]
I’m still struggling to see where you’re seeing that?
Can you point me more specifically where you’re looking and seeing that?
Here; http://s784.photobucket.com/albums/yy121/Equibrit/Tack/?albumview=slideshow
Made it easy for you !
Equibrit, let me know if you ever feel like selling that bit.
Robert
It was not actually the patent that made that statement, it was the website http://www.bittsamling.no/bit056.html that linked to the patent, so we don’t really know if it is accurate.
“This is not a true Dr. Bristol snaffle, but the name of the design is used to describe this kind of bits. True Dr. Bristol does not have the plate set at an angle, and will have “DR. BRISTOL” stamped on the middle plate. Dr. Bristol practiced as an equine dentist for more than 30 years. The improved version of this bit was named J.S. Bristol Driving Bit, invented by the same man. This bit had the middle plate set at an angle.
This bit has a plate that is 5 cm wide and set at an angle of 45 ¤. The cannons are slightly oval and taper towards the middle plate. At it’s widest it is 1.5 cm. The cannons are slightly curved.
The cannons are rotated in order to set the middle plate at an angle.
On the right cannon “OLYMPIC” is painted on the front of the cannon.”
Equibrit, actually the patent itself states that the loops on the ends of the arms of the bit are …“twisted around or bent sideways somewhat so as to lie at an acute angle to the vertical longitudinal planeof the said link B the axis of the bore in the link…being at an angle to the axis of the loop.”
What this all means is that Bristol intended that the loops holding the central plate would lie at an angle between 0 and 90 degrees (an acute angle) so that, at rest, the plate lies flat against the tongue and only when contact is taken up does the acute angle of the loops come into play by bring the sharp edge of the plate round to impinge on the tongue.
Two recent variations (Sprenger KK and Neue Schule Tranz Angle Lozenge) use this idea but with different angles (45 and 20 degrees, respectively) and a softer lozenge rather than a plate. Bristol’s patent covers both these types but it is interesting that he didn’t try to specify exactly what type of angle would be best.
I don’t have one of those original Dr. Bristols that sit at an angle, but I drive my gelding in one of the more modern ones with copper mouth piece that lay flat in the mouth on the tongue. He loves that bit- practically bridles himself in it. He has a very soft mouth, so you don’t need to use much bit pressure at all. We like the bit, use it regularly, and have no problems with it.
No, it doesn’t. Are you blind ?
Hi, sorry that your tone is rather unfriendly - I do need reading glasses but that works for me.
My main point was simply that lines 61 - 67 in the patent describe a rotation of the loops by an acute angle around the axis of the bores through which the rings go.
I’ll leave it up to the more experienced to say how that works on the horse, or whether what is understood to be a Dr. Bristol actually does have this rotation.
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