The Curry Comb Cleaner: A Slotted Plate That Lifts the Dirt Out

"The nature of my invention consists in making a piece of sheet metal of either brass or iron. The width of said sheet is the width of the currycomb. Said sheet is slitted or slotted out to admit of the rows of teeth in the comb to pass through the sheet metal between the slots being left and occupying the space between the rows of teeth. One end of the said sheet is jointed or hinged to the comb. On the other end is a spring for fastening it to the back of the comb when used." "It must be evident to all that as the teeth pass through the narrow slots if they become filled up while the cleaner is below their points they will be entirely freed from dirt when the cleaner is raised up".

Measure your curry comb with the caliper: row pitch, strip thickness, tooth height and width. Run the notebook with your numbers and mark the slots on 1 mm aluminium sheet. Drill a hole at each end of every slot and cut between them with the hacksaw, then file each slot until the row slides through it freely. Rivet one leaf of a small butt hinge to the plate's end and the other to the comb's frame. Bend a clip from spring steel wire that snaps over the far end of the plate and holds it down to the back. Rub the comb over a piece of wool felt until the rows are packed with fibre. Time how long it takes to pick them clean with an awl; pack them again and time how long it takes to lift the plate and wipe it. Do it three times each.

**John Jones** of Bristol, Hartford County, Connecticut, received US 5,263, dated 28 August 1847. He preferred iron "as it is stiffer and less liable to corrode", and wrote that the cleaner "can be applied to any curry-comb". **Honest limits.** A butt hinge and a wire clip stand in for Jones's joint and spring. The comb sizes are examples; your cleaning times are the result.