CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF SHOES OR SUBSTITUTES FOR SHOES FOR HORSES AND OTHER CATTLE, AND METHOD OF APPLYING THE SAME TO THE FEET
Year: 1824

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
THOMAS HODGSON, of William Street, in the Parish of Lambeth, in the
County of Surry, Veterinarian, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventh day of October, in the fifth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Thomas Hodgson, His especial licence that I, the said John Thomas Hodgson,
my exors, adiiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Thomas
Hodgson, my exors, adiññors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein'
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF SHOES OR
SUBSTITUTES FOR SHOES FOR HORSES AND OTHER CATTLE, AND METHOD OF APPLYING
THE SAME TO THE FEET;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said John Thomas Hodgson, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent (as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear).

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said John
Thomas Hodgson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say) :-
My said improvements in the construction and manufacture of shoes, or
substitutes for shoes, for horses and other cattle, consist in making them of a
greater or lesser substance or thickness, according to the substance of hoof
removed from the undermost surfaces of the hoofs of horses and other cattle,
as shewn in Figs. 2 and 3 at f, f, so that the hoofs, when fitted with these
improved substitutes for the ordinary shoes, constructed and applied according to
the following geometrical proportions, will preserve the relative position of the
foot with the leg of the animal, and thereby prevent any alteration in the form
of the hoof from taking place, and the consequent lameness of the foot and leg
arising therefrom. The inclination of the anterior and posterior parts of the
convex surface of the hoof is about thirty-three degrees from the perpendicular,
as shewn in Fig. 1 of the annexed Drawing, which, as well as Figs. 2 & 3,
represent the semi-circumference of a hoof expanded or laid flat. The depth
of the hoof at the inner and outer part of the front of it, taken from the upper
part in the direction of the line c, c, and at the distance from the inflections in
the heels of the crust of one fourth part of the circumference of the upper
part of the hoof to the lowermost part of the crust at the distance of one
third of the circumference, should be in measure equal to the diameter of
the circumference of the upper part of the hoof, and at the posterior part
or the inflections be equal to the semidiameter of the circumference;
the lowermost part of the crust should be in measure from the point of
one inflection to the other equal to the circumference of the upper part
of the hoof. This proportion depends upon the thickness of the cone,
form, or outward bulge of the cylinder, a difference in which, and in the
situation of it at a particular part of the front of the hoof, constitute the only
natural varieties in the forms of hoofs; the hoof may, therefore, be a trifling
degree less in depth at the front and in the measure of the lower circumference,
but it is presumed that this rule of proportion will be a sufficient guide to the
shoeing smith for general purposes. The same rule is also equally applicable
to the hoofs of mules and asses, and for oxen or other neat cattle, only with
the exception that the hoofs of the:o are cloven. The form of the convex
surface of the hoof is cylindrical, but with a slight mixture of the cone in the
bulging-out parts in front of it. I recommend that the shoes, or substitutes
for shoes, be made of an oval form, but broadest in front, to conform with the

page_text: bulges; such a shoe is represented in Fig. 4, only supposing that the dotted
lines between d; d, wero a: continued line, such a form can be accommodated
to the bulge on either of the hoofs by merely a little inclination being given to
it either way.in fitting it on to suit the bulges in the near or off feet, & also
cutting it open at the heels or inflexions, and without requiring the shoes being
made in pairs, or right and left, as at present. I also recommend that instead
of the shoe being curved or turned upwards at the heels, or opposite to where
the hoof becomes cylindrical, that on the contrary it should be turned down-
wards and outwards so as to leave the same space between it and the hoof
öpposite as between the lowermost part of the crust where the hoof is cylin
drical and the ground before the action of the hoof has taken place. This
improvement is shewn at a, in Fig. 5, which is a section through the hoof and
shoe. I also recommend that the undermost surfaces of the shoes be studded
all over with teeth or roughnesses like a rasp, with a view to prevent the horse
or other animal from slipping, and also that they be made concave in order
that the roughnesses may not project below the outer rims or borders of the
shoes, which would tend to prevent the due bearing of the feet upon the ground.
In Fig. 4 a single line only of these roughnesses is indicated. In this Figure
the dotted lines a, a, shew the parts where the hoof and shoe do not come into
contact with each other, as was before indicated at a, in Fig. 5. The semi-
circle c, c, c, in Fig. 4, is struck from the point of the frog of the hoof; the
parts marked b, b, b, beyond the semicircle are those where the shoe can be
brought into close contact with the hoof by means of the nails, not only with-
out injury but also forming a larger surface of attachment, and for the better
support of the animal and its load or burden. From within the semicircle
c, c, c, to the points of the inflections d, d, the under surface of the hoof should
be pared moderately concave to avoid contact with the shoe until the
descending expanding action of the hoof has taken place by the weight of the
animal upon it. I am fully aware that shoes for horses and other animals
have already been made more or less of an oval shape, and of greater or lesser
thickness, and also turned downwards and outwards at the heels and with
rough surfaces underneath them, but I believe without regard to any rule of
exact proportion as here laid down; and I hereby claim as my Invention every
application of the said rule to the shoeing of horses and other animals.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Thomas Hodgson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.
JOHN THOMAS (L.s.) HODGSON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of April, 1825, the
aforesaid John Thomas Hodgson came before our said Lord the King in His
Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every
thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made
for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-five.