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<font size=3>Thanks, Doug. When I didn't find anything in the OED2
CD-ROM I didn't search much further. Although Henry got a patent,
he presumably couldn't get a copyright since the word was in use in
1747!<br><br>
From another list, I was even given a picture:<br>
<a href="http://www.irishhorsedrawncaravans.com/Harness.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://www.irishhorsedrawncaravans.com/Harness.htm</a><br><br>
(Interesting to see "housen" and "housing"
together.)<br><br>
Joel<br><br>
At 1/14/2007 05:41 PM, Doug Wilson wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">What might "Housen"
be? (Singular or plural, although I doubt it's a<br>
Germanic plural of "house"!) The capital H looks very
much like the one<br>
in Harness; the final "n" I could be convinced otherwise
about.</blockquote><br>
Probably "housen" ....</blockquote><br>
From US Patent #59,651, Henry A. Rains, "Improvement in
Cart-harness<br>
Saddles", 13 Nov. 1866: p.1: <<As now constructed all
cart-saddles have<br>
their tree-bars of wood and the covering, technically termed the
"housen"<br>
or "housing," made of leather, with their pads nailed fast to
the wood, or<br>
....>><br><br>
-- Doug Wilson<br><br>
<br>
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