IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOES FOR HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Abraham Bowen at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd August 1877.
ABRAHAM BOWEN, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Mechanical
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOES FOR HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS."
•
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in shoes for
horses and other animals whereby the said shoes may be attached to the horses' or
other animals' feet without nailing; and the said shoes may be readily put on and
taken off without injuring the horses' or animals' hoofs.
I will describe my Invention as applied to a horse-shoe. I make the horse-shoe
in two longitudinal halves or parts, the said halves or parts when combined together
having the general figure in plan of the treading part of an ordinary horse-shoe.
The said halves or parts are jointed together by preference at the middle of the hind
or straight part of the shoe by a joint which permits the said halves or parts to
open out from one another or to close upon one another. Around the flat or treading
part of the shoe and extending nearly to the hind or straight part of the shoe an
inclined flange or bezil is formed to fit closely upon a clip the outside of the horse's
hoof. For the purpose of fastening the two jointed parts of the shoe together after
they have been closed upon the horse's hoof, I make at the front end of each half
or part of the shoe a pierced knuckle or eye piece, which said knuckles or eye
pieces are fastened together by a screw bolt and nut. After the two parts of the
shoe have been thus fastened together, the shoe is very firmly secured to the hoof,
and the ordinary nailing of the shoe is dispensed with.
Instead of connecting the jointed parts or halves of the shoe together by a screw
bolt and nut as described, a spring catch arrangement may be used for the same
purpose; or the locking or bolting arrangement and the spring catch arrangement
inay be used in combination. Or instead of jointing the two halves or parts
together by a joint at the hind part of the shoe, the joint may be formed at one of
the curved sides of the shoe, and the hind ends of the jointed halves may be
connected together by a strap or screw bolt crossing the hind end of the shoe.
The back part of the flange lip or bezil of the shoe may be turned over to give
the hind part of the shoe a firmer hold upon the hoof, and when additional security
in the fastening of the shoe to the foot is required, short screws may be passed
through the flange or bezil of the shoe into the hoof,

page_text: Instead of making the shoe in two halves or pieces jointed together, as described,
the shoe may be made in one piece, of such a shape that it will spring over, or clip
firmly the hoof, the shoe being fastened securely on the hoof by any of the arrange-
ments herein-before described, in which the shoe is made in two parts.
The shoes constructed as described may be made in each of the following ways,
but I do not limit myself thereto.
The said shoes may be made by casting in malleable iron. Or they may be made
by casting a light shell in malleable iron and attaching to the said shell the treading
or wearing part by screws or rivets. Or the said light shell may be made of brass
or copper, or other metal by casting or stamping and attached to the treading part
of the shoe, in the manner described. Or the shoes may be made from rolled or
stamped pieces of iron or steel, the said pieces being fashioned into the required
shape in any convenient way.