Improvements in Shoes for Horses or other Animals.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in Shoes for Horses or other Animals.
I, ERNEST KINGSCOTE, of 31, Lower Seymour Street, Portman Square, in the
County of London, Physician, do hereby declare the nature of my invention to be
as folows:-
The object of my invention is to provide shoes for horses, or other animals, which
are of a character such as to prevent the slipping of horses, or other animals, to
which they are especially liable on roadways of asphalte, or wood, or the like; the
said shoes moreover preventing excessive noise and not being liable to cause injury
to the hoofs of the animals to which they are applied. According to my invention
I make the said shoes, or those portions thereof which come in contact with the
road in travelling, of the wool of sheep or lambs, or other animals, the said wool
being felted and compressed to the requisite degree to give a proper coherence of
the wool fibres and the requisite firmness of the material. I may make the shoes
of this material in any convenient way; for example, by felting together a quantity
of wool sufficient to make the required shoe and then subjecting it to heavy
pressure in dies of a shape corresponding to that of the shoe to be produced, or of
a shape to produce a blank somewhat approaching that shape, and afterwards
trimming the blank to proper shape. Or I may make sheets, or blocks, of felted
and compressed wool and cut the shoes therefrom. The shoes may be made entirely
of the said material and be applied to the hoof in any convenient way, such as by
nailing on as ordinary shoes are applied, or by providing them with an upper part
to be secured to the hoof from above; or I may make the base of the shoe of iron,
or other metal, shaped so as to receive and securely hold a bearing surface of the
said felted and compressed wool; or I may provide shoes made of the said material
with fastenings by which they can be secured to the ordinary shoes.
The wool may be impregnated with any suitable cohesive or preservative
material if desired.
DL: 10th dow of Tuno 1807
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Shoes for Horses or other Animals.
I, ERNEST KINGSCOTE, of 31, Lower Seymour Street, Portman Square, in the
County of London, Physician, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:
The object of my invention is to provide shoes for horses, or other animals, which
are of a character such as to prevent the slipping of horses, or other animals, to

page_text: .
which they are especially liable on roadways of asphalte, or wood, or the like, the
said shoes moreover preventing excessive noise and not being liable to cause injury
to the hoofs of the animals to which they are applied. According to my invention
I make the said shoes, or those portions thereof which come in contact with the
road in travelling, of the wool of sheep or lambs or other animals, the said wool
being preferably that of lambs as this I find has a large number of fine off-shoot
fibres projecting from the main fibre which allow of a very effective felting or
compacting of the wool which is necessary in producing a material which will
withstand the hard wear to which such shoes are necessarily subjected. The said
wool is felted and compressed or compacted which can be efficiently done as here-
inafter described to the requisite degree to give a proper coherence of the wool
fibres and the requisite firmness of the 'material. I have found that this can be
done by taking a sheet or layer of the wool of the requisite thickness to give when
felted and compressed or compacted the thickness of finished material requisite for
a shoe and I subject this wool to repeated dippings in water or other 'suitable
liquid and compression or compacting which can be done by hand or by means of
any suitable pressing or compacting tool. The shoes are then cut from the
material thus prepared or the wool may be subjected to repeated wetting and
pressure in dies of a shape corresponding to that of the shoe to be produced, or of
a shape to produce a blank approximating that shape, the blank being afterwards
trimmed to the finished shape. The shoes may be made entirely of the said
material and be applied to the hoof in any convenient way, such as by nailing on
as ordinary shoes are applied, or by providing them with an upper part to-be
secured to the hoof from above; or I may make the base of the shoe of iron, steel,
or other metal, shaped so as to receive and securely hold a bearing surface of the
said felted and compressed or compacted wool; or I may provide shoes made of
the said felted and compressed or compacted wool with fastenings by which they
can be secured to the ordinary shoes.
The wool may be impregnated with any suitable choesive, or preservative
material if desired which may be done by adding the said cohesive, or preservative,
material to the wool, or the water in which the wool is dipped, during the felting,
and compressing, or compacting operation.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. Shoes for horses, or other animals, formed of, or from, felted and compacted
wool.
2. Shoes for horses, or other animals, formed by taking a sheet, or layer of wool,
and subjecting it to repeated dipping in a liquid and felting or compressing or
compacting operations, and then cutting the shoe therefrom.
3. Shoes for horses or other animals formed by taking wool and applying a
liquid thereto and subjecting it to a compressing or compacting operation in moulds
or the like substantially as hereinbefore described.
4. Shoes for horses or other animals made by taking lamb's wool and subjecting
it to alternate dipping in a liquid and compressing or compacting operations and
forming the shoe therefrom substantially as herein before described
Doted this 101.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.