CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION OF A HORSE SHOE WHICH WILL COMPLETELY PREVENT SEVERAL DISEASES TO WHICH THE FEET OF HORSES ARE SUBJECT, MORE ESPECIALLY THAT VERY GENERAL DISEASE CALLED CONTRACTION OF THE HOOF, AND IS ALSO PARTICULARLY ADAPTED FOR FLAT OR CONVEX FEET, FOR HORSES OF THE CAVALRY AND FOR HUNTING, AND FOR ALL OTHER PUB- POSES WHERE THE LOSS OF A SHOE IS PRODUCTIVE OF GREAT INCONVENIENCE
Year: 1808

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, EDWARD
COLEMAN, Professer of the Veterinary College, in the Parish of Saint Pancras,
in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirtieth day of April,
in the forty-eighth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Edward
Coleman, His special licence, that I, the said Edward Coleman, during the
term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION
OF A HORSE SHOE WHICH WILL COMPLETELY PREVENT SEVERAL DISEASES TO WHICH THE
FEET OF HORSES ARE SUBJECT, MORE ESPECIALLY THAT VERY GENERAL DISEASE CALLED
CONTRACTION OF THE HOOF, AND IS ALSO PARTICULARLY ADAPTED FOR FLAT OR CONVEX
FEET, FOR HORSES OF THE CAVALRY AND FOR HUNTING, AND FOR ALL OTHER PUB-
POSES WHERE THE LOSS OF A SHOE IS PRODUCTIVE OF GREAT INCONVENIENCE;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging-me, the said
Edward Coleman, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to
cause a particular description of the nature of my. said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within one calendar month after the date of the said recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same Letters Patent, relation being thereunto
had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edward Coleman, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in
manner following, that is to say:-
As all cases of contracted feet in horses proceed from the hoof being exposed
to artificial and unnatural heat in the stable, or from the frog not receiving its
due degree of pressure, and as the frog of the horse when shod can rarely be
made parallel with the heels of the shoc, it was deemed very important to
invent a shoc applicable to all horses feet, and which would prevent the con-
traction of the heels, although the frog was not in contact with the ground;
and as the nails of the shoes are frequently broken, loosened, or altogether
lost, and the shoe thereby prematurely removed from the horse, and the
horse in consequence often lamed, and always rendered unfit for use until
again shod, and as the inconveniences from the loss of a shoe are at all
times great, but particularly so in horses used for the cavalry and for hunting, it
appeared a great improvement to apply a shoe which would be more firmly
united to the hoof than any other shoe hitherto employed, and therefore pro-
ductive of the best effects in all fect that require much iron and small nails.
This shoe can be applied with proper effect by the most ignorant smith, as the
simple difference from all other shoes consist merely in the inner and posterior
part of both heels of the shoe being turned up, so as to touch the inner and
posterior part of both bars, by which means the heels of the hoof cannot con-
tract, or the shoe have the smallest degree of lateral motion. The length of
the turn-up of the shoe is not very material, but it should be sufficiently long
to embrace the heel of the bar, and yet not to touch the bottom of the cavity
between the bar and frog. A bar shoe may also be applied with a similar
projection to press against the heels of the bars. If the hoof is already con-
tracted, the heels may be mechanically expanded a little by a pair of farrier's
tongs every time the horse is shod, and the shoc applied so as to press with
more force against the bars; but, under the circumstances, the hoof should
first be made moist by standing two or three hours in water, and the horse
not used for a day or two afterwards.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Coleman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eight.
EDWARD COLEMAN. (L.s.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirtieth day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1808, the aforesaid Edward Coleman came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.