Improvements in Shoeing or Protecting the Feet of Horses and other Draught Animals.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Nov., 1888
Specification Accepted, 15th Jan., 1889
Improvements in Shoeing or Protecting the Feet of Horses and
other Draught Animals.
I, JUSTIN CAILLET, of 35 and 37, Galerie Vivienne, Paris, in the Repulic of France'
Engineer, 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 :-
This invention relates to improved means for shoeing or protecting the feet of
horses and other draught animals and has amongst its principal objects
-
1° To permit the hoof expanding and contracting with its natural freedom.
2° To allow the utilization of portions of the horny substance of the hoof for actual
wear.
3° To ease the animal and make it feel more footsure and confident.
4° To spare weight to the foot.
5° To deaden shocks.
6° To avoid nailing through the hoof.
7° To prevent slipping.
8 To divide and separate the protecting means, in order to avoid imprisoning
the foot.
9° To obtain the greatest possible bearing surface for the foot.
10° To utilize the hardest part of the horn, now cut away.
11° And by avoiding operations extending beyond the part actually cut away, to
guard against all risk of injuring the foot.
Amongst the disadvantages incidental to the use of horse-shoes of the ordinary
kind, the following may be enumerated :-
1° The animal when shod is raised from the ground a distance corresponding
with the thickness of the shoe, direct contact of the frog and of the heels with the
ground being thereby prevented. The animal is thus deprived of the use of the two
principal organs which nature has provided for guarding by their elasticity against
the effect of sudden shocks and by the form of the frog against slipping.
2° The weight of the shoe being considerable, unnecessary fatigue is occasioned.
3° Owing to the rigidity of the shoe, the hoof is confined and compelled to grow
narrower towards the heels.

page_text: 4° The horny extremity of the hoof or its best and most serviceable portion for
wear is at intervals pared away instead of being allowed to wear away gradually
and naturally. The natural "plumb" or erect attitude and snart bearing of the
animal is thus interfered with, and the means for securing same left to the care and
judgment of the farrier.
5° Owing to the employment of long nails which traverse the hoof in various
directions, the renewal of the horn by natural growth is impeded; and unless the
nails be applied with exceptional skill and care, diseases of the foot and lameness are
apt to be engendered.
6° The opening and closing of the heels being prevented by the use of a rigid
shoe, the security of foothold and power for starting derivable from such action are
lost.
7 The rounding off of the fore part of the hoof to match the shoe, is also objection-
able as tending to narrow the bearing, surface and to intercept the natural angle of
fibrous growth.
8° The reduction of the surface of the forepart of the hoof for the reception of the clip
or upwardly projecting tongue commonly employed for steadying the shoe in position,
is also objectionable.
.
9° Owing to the accumulation of dirt between the shoe and the ground-plate of
the hoof, heating of the frog is endangered.
10° The paring away which takes place at every shoeing and the removal of a
considerable thickness of the hardest and most serviceable portion of the horn is
above all highly objectionable. To this part the utmost preservative efforts should on
the contrary be directed.
Having thus enumerated the principal defects in and objections to the present
mode of shoeing, I may remark that although improvements in the shape and
quality of the horse-shoe have from time to time been effected, its principles remain the
same as in remote ages.
A horse's hoof consists of two distinct parts; one, the fore part, composed of horn,
a hard material, which is apt to split when used on hard roads having a surface of an
artificial character which nature could not provide against. The other or hind part
comprising the frog and the heels is composed of a softer substance and acts in a
similar manner to the ball of the human foot, becoming harder by continued use,
although retaining the elasticity necessary to intercept and guard against shock to the
limbs. The frog and heels being the instruments specially provided by nature to
enable the animal to avoid slipping, cannot perform their functions when the hoof is
fitted with and raised from the ground by means of the ordinary shoe.
In order to meet the objections and obviate the drawbacks herein before enumerated,
or the more serious of them, whilst complying with the conditions of the laws of
nature, I have devised for protecting the feet of horses and other draught animals
what I term "
Hippo-Armour Caillet." By my system, the hoof is protected at all
its weak parts; whilst the strong parts are utilized and the natural functions of the
hoof allowed full play; the wearing of the horn is permitted to take, place naturally
and in a plane suited to each animal, whilst means for protecting those parts of the
hoof which are liable to split or break by contact with hard roads are periodically
renewed without interfering with the natural shape, structure or growth of
the hoof.
In order to give the best tractive effect, the fibres of the horn are arranged in a
longitudinal direction to meet the road surface end wise and to protect the toe.
The sides of the hoof are exposed to a strain transverse to the direction of the
fibres; and it is from this circumstance that the tendency for the sides to split
arises. By the elastic medium I apply to the sides, this tendency is diminished
and the effort to be exerted by the toe is alleviated; the play of the frog and the
heels being at the same time left free.
وو
And in order that my invention of "Hippo-Armour or nailless horse-shoe and
the mode of applying the same may be fully understood, I will proceed to describe
the same with the aid of the accompanying drawings, whereof Fig. 1 is a front
'

page_text: elevation, Fig. 2 a vertical section and Fig. 3 a plan of the under side of a horse's
hoof fitted with my improved means of protection.
When the hoof has grown to such a length as to require the paring off and removal
of a certain thickness from the lower face corresponding with the thickness of the
ordinary horse-shoe, I cut into that portion of the horn (but without paring down the
whole face thereof) two recesses, one at each side, of the form represented; such
recesses being wider at the top than at the bottom and wider at the back than at the
front, as shewn in the plan view, Fig. 4. The depth of the recess from the front
face of the hoof a is such as to nearly but not quite reach the ground plate 6 of the
hoof. Into each recess, I fit a block c of semi-elastic material, such as hard india-
rubber, compressed paper, wood, cork or a compound of india-rubber and emery or of
india-rubber and other substance adapted for increasing the friction and holding
power. The lower face of each block is rounded as shewn and projects somewhat
beyond the face of the adjacent portions of the horn.
In the accompanying drawings, a block of the kind described is shewn as applied at
the toe of the hoof as well as at the two sides.
In some instances, I line the top of the block with a thin metallic plate c¹ and
attach the india-rubber or other semi-elastic material thereto by the process of
vulcanisation or other suitable means. The extremities of the plate may be sharpened
or serrated so as the better to engage with the horn at the ends of the recess. Or,
the uncovered face of the plate may be provided with points or projections adapted
for embedding themselves in the surface of the horn forming the floor of the recess.
The block whether provided with a metallic backing or otherwise is sufficiently
elastic and the angle of the dovetail sufficiently moderate to permit of the block being
bent and sprung into place. By way of additional security or in substitution for the
method of fastening by dovetailing, the block may be secured to the horn by means
of a screw or screws whereof the head or heads may be sunk in the semi-elastic
material.
Under the weight of the animal, the projecting faces of the blocks, although
exercising a certain amount of attrition or grip upon the ground, yield sufficiently
to permit of the intervening faces of the horn also acting as working surfaces, these
faces being thus subjected to gradual and regular wear simultaneously with the faces
of the semi-elastic blocks until the latter are nearly worn through, whereupon the
recesses are recut and filled as before described.
For many purposes I consider that the application of two semi-elastic blocks of the
kind hereinbefore described, one placed at each side of the hoof, is sufficient, but three
or more may be employed. Or, a single block of horse-shoe form may be substituted,
the same extending around the front of the hoof and along a considerable proportion
of each side thereof. In fixing such a shoe or hoof-protector when composed of
india-rubber or other material compounded with india-rubber but unlined with metal,
I insert between the face of the recess and the back of the shoe a thin plate of metal
made sufficiently hot to slightly burn the opposed faces of the horn and shoe or
protector. Upon the heater being suddenly withdrawn and the shoe being pressed
into place, the india-rubber will adhere with great tenacity to the roof.
Although I prefer to employ blocks wholly or partially composed of material of a
semi-elastic or moderately yielding character, I would have it known that I do not
regard this as an essential feature of my invention.
By the improved method of shoeing or protecting the feet of horses hereinbefore
described, it will be observed that the horn or a considerable proportion thereof is
utilized and worn away as growth takes place, the tendency of the sides of the hoof
to split is reduced owing to the work being more equally distributed over the toe, the
heels and the frog; the heels are free to expand and contract laterally, and the frog
is enabled to perform its natural functions. The employment of nails is at the same
time dispensed with, the additional weight due to the ordinary shoe is avoided,
and the finished appearance of the foot is neater, the hoof protector being scarcely
visible.

page_text: Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim :-
1. The improved method of shoeing or protecting the feet of horses and other
draught animals substantially as herein described and consisting in letting into the
working face of the hoof a block or blocks composed of any suitable material and
preferably of a semi-elastic character; the natural and artificial portions of the
bearing surface which are thus alternately presented being subjected to simultaneous
wear.
2. In shoeing or protecting the feet of horses and other draught animals, the
employment of blocks of the kind herein described and composed of hard india-rubber,
compressed paper, wood,. cork or an equivalent semi-elastic material.
3. In shoeing or protecting the feet of horses and other draught animals, the
employment of blocks of the kind herein described, and composed of india-rubber
compounded with emery or other substance adapted for increasing the friction and
grip upon the ground.
4. In shoeing or protecting the feet of horses and other draught animals, the
employment of blocks of the kind herein described backed with thin metal plates
and attached thereto by the process of vulcanisation or other suitable means.
5. In shoeing or protecting the feet of horses and other draught animals, attaching
an india-rubber block of the kind herein described to the face of a recess formed in
the hoof by slightly burning the opposed surfaces and then pressing the block or shoe
into contact with the hoof, substantially, as set forth.
6. In shoeing or protecting the feet of horses and other draught animals by means
of blocks disposed at intervals and let into the working face of the hoof, the herein
described method of securing such blocks in position by dovetailing the same either
horizontally, vertically or in both directions into their recesses and either with or
without the assistance of screws or equivalent fastenings.
Dated this 26th day of November 1888.
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM,
191, Fleet Street, London, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.