A NEW, IMPROVED, AND STILL MORE EXPEDITIOUS MODE BY THE APPLICATION OF MACHINERY TO MY FORMER MODE, OF MAKING AND WORKING HORSE-SHOES
Year: 1800

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MOORCROFT, of Oxford Road, in the County of Middlesex, Veterinary Surgeon,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster on or about the Third day of May, in the fortieth year of His said
Majesty's reign, did give and grant unto me, the said William Moorcroft, His
especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority, .that I, the said
William Moorcroft, my executors, adiñors, and assigns, should and lawfully
might, during the term of years therein expressed, make, use, exercise, and
vend my Invention of "A NEW, IMPROVED, AND STILL MORE EXPEDITIOUS MODE BY
THE APPLICATION OF MACHINERY TO MY FORMER MODE, OF MAKING AND WORKING
HORSE-SHOES," within that part of Great Britain called England, the Dominion
of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me,
the said William Moorcroft, my executors, adiñors, or assigns, shall seem meet;
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, whereby it is
declared that if I, the said William Moorcroft, should not particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which
the same was to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in the High Court of Chancery
within one calendar month next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, that then the same should cease and beconie void.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Moorcroft, do hereby declare that my said Invention, is described in
manner following, that is to say:
In order to remove the possibility of the slightest doubt, I think it necessary,
first, to observe that the former mode of making and working horse-shoes, to
which, in the said Invention herein-after to be fully and completely described,
I have applied machinery as aforesaid, is that process for which His said most
Excellent Majesty did grant unto me, the said William Moorcroft, His Letters
Patent, bearing date at Westminster, on or about the Sixteenth day of April,
in the year One thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, under the title or
general description of my Invention of an improved and expeditious method of
making and manufacturing of horse-shoes and other articles formed of metals,
and of the nature of which said last-mentioned Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, a particular description was made under the
hand and seal of me, the said William Moorcroft, and inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery, on the Fourteenth day of May next immediately
following the date of the said last-mentioned Letters Patent; and in the next
place, I proceed to describe my said new machine, with the organization,
application, and manner of using the same, which constitute and are essential
to my said new, improved, and still more expeditious mode of making
and working horse-shoes, for which His. said most Excellent Majesty hath
granted His Letters Patent. hércin first-mentioned and in part, recited.
In the annexed Drawings, Figures 1 and 2 afford a perspective view of the
whole machinery. Figure 1, A, A, A, represents. the arbor-or, horizontal axis,
which is made to revolve by immediate communication with the first mover,
whether it be a water-wheel, a steam-engine, or any other, of the well-known
engines for communicating the force of animals, or the inanimate powers
made use of to drive machinery. This. axis gives motion to every other
part of the mechanism. B, B, is a snail wheel,, having its. radii gradually.
enlarged in one half thereof, from B to B, and gradually, in the same
manner, demiuished in the other half. This snail wheel in, its; revolution
acts upon the arm C, C, of the shears. C, C, m, alternately, raising and
depressing it, and consequently causing the shears to open and shut, in the
action of cutting bars of iorn into lengths fit for making horse-shoes, for,
which purpose those shears are. constructed and designed. D, D;. represents;
another snail wheel, of the same. kind as. B, B; it acts upon the bending appa-
ratus Q, Q, Q, and is capable of being thrown in and out of action by the gear,
bar L, M, N, which, when employed. in bearing the snail wheel against, the

page_text: constantly moving wheel n, connects them both by one or more side-bolts, pins,
or protuberances, but when left at liberty is carried in the opposite direction
by means of the cross lever and counterpoise O, so as to be out of gear, and
suffer the round part of the great arbor to move in the snail without carrying
it round. Q, Q, Q, is the apparatus for bending the horse-shoes, shewn in per-
spective in its place, but more clearly designated in the Figure or coloured
Plans, Figures 3, 4, and 5. E, E, is a third snail wheel, similar to the two
former B and D. It is also, like D, thrown in and out of gear or action by a
gear-bar .I, K, and a cross lever and counterpoise P: The office of E, E, is
.to..press the lever F, F, of the punching frame 20, by which the holes in the
shoes aro in part punched. The punching frame 20 consists of a platform
supporting eight or any fit number of levers, denoted by the letters a, a, &c. in
the plan, Figure 6, and the section, Figure 7. The inner extremities of these
levers carry cach a punch. or pointed tool in such situations respectively as that
when the levers are pressed downwards the points regularly enter an horse-shoe
fixed in the middle of the platform, as is shown in Figure 6. The great lever
F, F, which by means of its counterpoise 21, has its longer arm kept up
(when not pressed upon), is employed in receiving the action of the snail E, E,
which it transmits nearly in a perpendicular direction to the levers a, a, &c.
and their punches. R, R, are the supports of the horizontal arbor; Z is a
barrel upon which the rope 7 is wound. Nos. 2, 2, is a catch bar or lever which
keeps: a catch No. 3, in the racket wheel 4, and prevents the barrel from
over-running when: required to hold its rope. The barrel Z can be thrown
into and out of action by the gear-bar or bent lever 18, 19, which removes it
towards or from the constantly moving wheel 1, Figure 1. Nos. 10, 10, repre-
sent the upright beams or sheers of the stamping engine, between which moves
a ram with its follower. Figure 2 exhibits the upper part of the stamping
engine broken off for the sake of bringing it within the square of the Drawing.
No.11 represents the ram; 12, its follower; 13, the inclined faces, between
which the horns of the follower are compressed, and made to let go the ram.
This piece No. 13 is. moveable, and is drawn down to an adjustable stop by a
cord (not represented in the Drawing) whenever the workman intends to.
discharge the ram. 23, the upper die having one face of the shoe engraven,
carved out, or otherwise figured thereon. No. 15, Figure 1, represents the
lower die, upon which the other face of the shoe is engraven, carved out, or
otherwise figured. The rope 7 passes from the barrel Z,. Figure 1, over the
pulley or wheel 8, Figure 2, and thence down between the shears 10, 10, to the
follower, which by its means is raised or let fall. Nos. 5 and 6, Figure 1, are

page_text: same.
blocks which clip the rope 7, and may be fixed at any elevation upon the
The lower block 5 serves to press the bar 19, and throw the barrel
Z out of gear when the ram is raised to the intended height, whence it happens
that the ram remains stationary till the attendant, by first drawing down the
piece 13, discharges the ram, and then by drawing the rope 16 tilts the lever
17, and raises the catch bar and catch 2, 2, which suffers the barrel to
But
overrun, and permit the follower to descend and again catch the ram.
as this might be done with violence in the fall, and the rope 7 might also be
thrown out of the pulley 8, the block 6 is so fixed as to ascend and strike
against the wooden spring 14, and give the necessary check. The barrel is
again thrown into gear by raising No. 19. Figures 3 and 4 represent the
upper face of the apparatus for bending the bars into the shape of horse-shoes
(after the same have been more or less fashioned, grooved, or formed by rollers,
or otherwise). This machine consists of a strong frame, supporting a platform
m, m, m, between the sides of an excavation or opening, in which the piece
k, k, is made to slide backwards and forwards. Upon this piece k, k, are fixed
two other pieces b, b, moveable in their own planes upon the centres or strong
pins e, e. Figure 5 represents one of these pieces 6 turned up to shew its
lower surface, where e is the hole for the pin on which it turns, and d and n
are friction rollers. In Figures 3 and 4, g is an adjustable stop; the pieces
i and i are fixed to m, m, m, and present inclined edges, which by their reaction
upon the extremities p, p, bring those extremities near together, and keep the
rollers n, n, farther apart when k, k, is remote from f than when it is nearer.
The piece frises or stands projecting above m, and its circumference cor-
responds with the figure of an horse-shoe. The pieces c, c, are also fixed
upon m, and present inclined curves towards the rollers d, d, which, when k, k,
is slided towards f, do, by their reaction, force those rollers, and consequently
the rollers 1, 2, near together, as these moveable parts of the apparatus are
advanced in the last-described direction. The piece h, h, represents a bar of
iron, previously cut to the proper length, then made red hot, and placed in
contact with, the stop 9, opposite the pieces b, b. In this situation the snail
D, D, Figure 1, being thrown into action against the bearing part.a, forces
k, k, and its pieces b, b, towards f. The rollers n, n, immediately press the
red-hot bar against f, and by virtue of the reaction of the edges of c, c, they
press it completely round the curved edge of that piece, as is clearly seen in
Figure 4. As the snail D, D, Figure 1 withdraws itself, the piece k, k,
is made to return by any of the counterpoises or reactions which are well-
known to mechanical men, at which period the shoe is taken out, and another

page_text: presented to undergo the same operation. From the bending machine the shoe
is conveyed to the stamping machine, when the shoe is placed in the die,
No. 15, Figure 1, the rain being previously raised to its intended limit of cle-
vation, as adjusted by the block 5, is instantly discharged by the workman,
who depresses the piece 13, and the shoe receives the impression of the
dies. The struck shoe is then disengaged, and the cord 16 being drawn,
delivers the barrel Z (already thrown out of gear by the pressure of the block 5
on the bent lever 18, 19) and permits the follower to descend and again take
up the ram, and in this manner the work may be repeated at pleasure. The
fashioned shoe is now ready to have the holes punched, which is done by
fixing it on the bed G, Figure 6, where, by the action of the snail E, E, Figure
1, on the lever F, F, and thence on the heads of the levers a, à, &c., the
punches are driven nearly thro' the shoe. The holes are compleated in the
single punch press W, X, Y, Figure 1. The wheel S on the great arbor drives
the wheel T, on the axis of which is a fly to equalize its motion. This last
axis is bended into a crank, which raises and lowers a piece, X, Y, carrying a
single punch over a bed or support, upon which the workman or attendant
applies the shoe, so as successively to receive the punch in the indentations or
holes already made in the frame, Figure 6. Lastly, in order to give a complete
finish to the work, and remove the burs or irregular prominences of the
exterior circumference, or other parts, the shoe is subjected to another lighter
stroke of the stamping engine. The above-described operations of bending,
stamping, and indenting the holes in the frame No. 20 are performed at one
heat, after which the shoe is suffered to cool, and taken to the single punch
press W, X, Y, to complete the holes, and a slight heat is again given for the
last stamping. It is also proper to be observed that the before-described course
of work would be much impeded if the struck shoe were to be disengaged from
the lower die by any tool or implement, and that for this purpose it is necessary,
and constitutes part of this my Invention that the ower die should be slightly
moistened or smeared with oil, or with water, or with a mixture of oil and
water, or with a strong mixture of soap and water, previous to the reception of
every shoe. The mixture of soap and water answers better than the other
fluids, and the principal effect which these fluids severally produce is that of
blowing up the shoe to a short height by their elastic expansion the moment
after the stroke. Great inconvenience and mischief would also be experienced
in the said course of manufacturing, if the ram were suffered to return to the
work, and the faces of the dies were suffered to come together after the
rebound which follows the stroke. To prevent this second stroke, a pair of

page_text: racks with ratchet teeth are fixed to.the upright No. 10, 10, upon which the
ram hangs itself by one or more catches. These racks start out as the ram
ascends in its rebound, and are again pressed in during the next elevation.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Moorcroft, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Second day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred.
resence
ROB S. SLOPER.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Second day of June,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Moorcroft came before
our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Second day of June,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Moorcroft came before
our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Second day of June, in the year above written.