Unusual collar on eBay

[Robert MoonShadow]

Saw this collar, and thought there might be someone here that collects this type of unique collar…it’s made from rubber, and is air-filled. Just a cool item, I think…I’m not sure what it’s purpose is – it’d be cool to know.
Anyways, here’s the link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Horse-Drawn-Collar-Rubber-Air-Equestrian-/150569386984?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item230ea283e8

[Andy Carson]

That is a pneumatic collar. In theory, the air cushion accomidates the movement of the horses shoulders, which prevents rubbing of the neck and shoulders. In addition, there is some cushioning in case the pulled object hits a solid obstruction. I had done some reading about these when I was doing a little background reading about draft buffers. There was a company created in WV in 1898 to manufacture these collars and they recieved praise in very non-scientific tests (I have added a link below). I love inventions from this time period, where engineering was advanced and widespread enough to really improve things, but internal combustion hadn’t taken everything over yet. I bet someone could make some substantial contributions to animal power today if they simply “mined” that period of history for animal-related inventions and tested them.

http://books.google.com/books?id=14vmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=pneumatic+collar+for+horse&source=bl&ots=5gdOvOWAId&sig=Fi4hxndxTMlp_Kxj_jw9Awxo_HY&hl=en#v=onepage&q=pneumatic%20collar%20for%20horse&f=false

[Robert MoonShadow]

Thanks, Andy for the explanation! I’d agree with you about “mining” the past for buried or forgotten treasures and wisdom…kind of an apt description of what we do nowadays with draft power.

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