Q: A (or several) "housen" in 1747?

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>>What might "Housen" be?  (Singular or plural, although I doubt it's a
>>Germanic plural of "house"!)  The capital H looks very much like the one
>>in Harness; the final "n" I could be convinced otherwise about.
>
>Probably "housen" ....

 From US Patent #59,651, Henry A. Rains, "Improvement in Cart-harness
Saddles", 13 Nov. 1866: p.1: <<As now constructed all cart-saddles have
their tree-bars of wood and the covering, technically termed the "housen"
or "housing," made of leather, with their pads nailed fast to the wood, or
....>>

-- Doug Wilson


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