Improvements in the Manufacture of Horse Shoes and Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1899

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Horse Shoes and Apparatus
therefor.
I, ALBERT HUSSON, of Sedan (Ardennes), in the Republic of France, Veterinary
Surgeon, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-.
This invention relates to a method of manufacturing shoes for horses and other
animals, enabling them to be formed in such a manner that they are shaped
exactly in accordance with the conformation of the hoofs of the animal.
Shoes for protecting the feet of horses against wear as hitherto employed pre-
sent numerous and serious defects.
It is necessary that they should be formed and applied by experienced work-
men. Horses are exposed during the operation of shoeing and afterwards to
laming and numerous other accidents, the cause of which is the shoe; owing
to it the animal loses the greater portion of its natural hold and adherence of the
hoof upon the ground, which produces falls and all their attendant consequences.
The shoe frequently becomes out of truth during the whole period of its dura-
tion, it more or less reduces the elasticity of the foot and is the cause of the greater
part of the deformations to which this latter is liable, and also the cause of wounds.
Finally a workman who is inexperienced or lacking in patience, frequently
finishes the operation by altering the foot by means of his rasp in order to cause
it to fit the shoe, when of course the correct and only rational procedure is to
provide a shoe which will fit the horses foot.
In addition to this the method of fixing the shoe itself leaves much to be de-
sired, frequently resulting in injuries and accidents such as heated or beaten
sole, pricks and so forth.
It has therefore with justice, that the horse shoe has been termed a necessary
evil, and much labour has been spent for the purpose of diminishing its defects
and difficulties without a really satisfactory result having hitherto been attained.
It is true that a' shoe has been devised in which the inner edge is reduced in
thickness, the upper face being oblique towards the outside whilst the external
edge is strengthened. This shoe to some extent approaches the rational con-
formation of the shoe which is obtained by my improved process of manufacture
but it is still far from being perfect.
Certain essential features were wanting and these present novel and original
characteristics.
In the first place, the supporting wings upon bars with their special arrange-
ments.
Secondly, the plantar rib or flange with its return beneath the wing pieces and
the heels, which imparts to the tread upon the ground an impress exactly similar
to that given by nature, not only to the foot of an unshod horse but also to the
greater number of hoofed or unguiculated animals.
It was by observing this impression upon the ground that I perceived the im-
portant part played by the bars in supporting the foot, and the security which
they give to its adherence, both when the animal is standing, travelling at any
speed or in jumping; and caused me to see the necessity for the wing pieces,

page_text: which confer the same advantages upon an animal which has been shod. A shoc
formed in accordance with my invention of either cast iron or steel, or, in fact of
any suitable metal, does not present (like the foot of the horse itself) either plane
surfaces, edges, or straight lines, with a single exception, that of the top of the
edge of the wing, which is contiguous to the branch of the fork, which is left
straight by nature itself.
The upper face of the shoe is continuous from one edge to the other; it is
also inclined, sloping towards the periphery, less in the toc, and more in the
quarters and heels.
The external edge slopes obliquely inwards in the downward direction;
forming an angle of approximately 90 degrees with the upper face of the shoe,
and meets the lower face at an angle of 45 degrees.
The internal edge is extremely reduced being about two millimetres in thickness
only, its continuation forms heels and follow the wing pieces to the extremity
of these latter, continuing, remaining the same thickness.
The lower face forms a decided concavity; in cross section it forms a segment
of an angular parabola about one third peripheral. It is turned so as to form
heels and retains this profile along the entire length of the wings.
The sponges are almost pointed, their edge is very oblique, and follows the
parietal rind, whilst conforming to its shape as exactly as possible, in order to
form, in the same manner as this rind, a kind of plane oblique angle in all
directions when this latter is bent back in order to constitute the bars." In short
the sponges should not leave any space for packing.
The wings cover the bars and the lateral intermediate spaces of the fork, the
direction of which they follow their height increases from rear to the front in
order that contact with the bar may not be lost whilst at the same time allowing
their upper face to slope towards the periphery of the foot, and on the other hand
in order not to cause the rib of their lower face to leave the plane of the plantar
rib. Their free extremity is reduced in thickness and contracted into a whistle
shaped portion turned upwards and in a forward direction.
The holes are formed flat in the two branches; they are made of any suitable
section for the reception of any appropriate description of nail. No packing of
the foot takes place; on the contrary it is preferable that the foot should form
a packing for the metal.
The concavity which is always reversed towards the external edge, should
be given to the greatest extent compatible with the state of the sole upon which
the shoe and the wings should bear quite equally and without leaving an interval
at any point.
The fixing is effected without rivets whether nails, tacks or screw-threaded
rivets are employed.
These latter should be presented beneath the shoeing hammer in such a direction
that they meet the wall perpendicularly in all directions and traverse it in
tangential radii. In order to make them flush it is only necessary to cut them
off carefully where they project.
The rational horseshoe which has been described, by reason of its curved sur-
faces and lines which are all oblique one with respect to the other, cannot be
produced by hammer work. It is out of the perpendicular in all its parts and
even in all its points; it is this which constitutes its essentially rational character-
istic and its physiological quality, but the result is that no point of support can
be obtained for it either upon the anvil or bickers which would enable it to be
modified by means of the hammer in order to impart to it suitable concavity and
shape. For the purpose of manufacturing a shoe of this kind. I have devised an
appliance which I term a shaping anvil and which, in the same manner as a
hatters shape, enables the form of the hat to be altered according to that of the
head, permits of modelling the shoe in accordance with the horses foot.
The shaping anvil consists essentially of a metal part comprising:
1. In the centre a concave form intended for the reception of the upper face

page_text: of the shoe and formed with a triangular prismatic cavity serving for the re-
ception of a clip whatever may be the length of the shoe.
The setting and shaping guides are constituted by a part haying the form of the
frustrum of a pyramid which is intended to, act upon the shoe; these parts are
rigidly connected with a rod guided in the thickness of the metal. The rod, at
its free extremity, is screw threaded and provided with a nut by means of which
it may be adjusted as desired. Wedges may be interposed between the extremity
of the shaping guide and the metal part in which it is maintained: it is thus
possible to firmly fix the shaping guide in any required position.
A certain number of shaping guides (one half in the direction of the length are
mounted in the metal part; the other half of the guides is mounted in a part
which is displaceable with respect to the part with which it is connected by
means of a nut. The shaping guides which are thus displaceable constitute, as
a whole, the device for effecting transverse setting. Longitudinal setting, along
the main axis, is effected by means of a part termed the sponge wedge, a varied
assortment of which is provided; this wedge is mounted between two guides in
which it is capable of longitudinal displacement, a screw enabling it to be ad-
justed as desired.
This shaping anvil is employed in the following manner:
After the foot to be shod has been pared in a suitable manner, its plantar edge
is traced by means of a pencil upon a sheet of cardboard which thus constitutes
a podometric card of the same extent as the hollow form of the anvil in which it
is placed.
The heads of the guides are brought in contact with the pencil line and
rendered immovable by means of wedges and the nut; a sponge wedge corre-
sponding to this same line is selected and the card is removed from the form.
Then after having selected and heated a shoe of suitable dimensions it is
placed upon the form of the anvil.
When the transverse diameter of the shoe is too great, the part for effecting
transverse shaping is suitably operated and then screwed home into its first
position, the second and longitudinal shaping part remaining entirely open.
It is then only necessary to completely tighten up this latter in order to impart
to the shoe a configuration which mathematically conforms to that of the foot.
In this manner this desideratum in farriery, that of removing any temptation to
the farrier of rasping the horses foot so as to cause it to fit the shoe, is realised.
The same podometric card may usefully be marked with the shape of all four
feet of the horse and have its name indicated upon it when it will serve for a long
time without modification..
By adding to the anvil above described a heating box of small dimensions
corresponding to those of four superposed shoes (about 0. 18 x 0.017 ×.0.07
internally) all the materials necessary for preparing and renewing shoes for
cavalry on the march and even in the field, is provided.
My invention presents the following advantages:
The shoe is readily formed by casting and stamping cast steel, iron and the
various steels are equally suitable.
The shaping anvil and the box for heating the shoes, which are of small weight
and size, may be readily packed and transported from place to place.
The opening of the
The necessity for employing a special nail is obviated.
lower face of the shoe enables French nails or better still screw-threaded rivets
to be used the head of the nail touching the ground only when the soil has but
slight, consistency, it is protected from wear and liability to being drawn out.
The blade of these fastenings, owing to its direction, is compressed after the
first strokes of the foot and tightened by the settling of the rind, thereby enabling
riveting to be dispensed with and the number of such fastenings to be reduced
without affecting the strength of the shoe; their fixing is rendered extremely
easy and may be effected by almost anybody.
The shaping of the shoe, which has hitherto been the essential portion of

page_text: .
fariiery, making it a veritable art, is effected mechanically with all the necessary
precision.
The displacement. of the shoe beneath the foot, in use, is rendered almost' en-
tirely impossible; on the one hand owing to the convexity and peripheral incli-
nation of its upper face and also owing to the reduced thickness of the internal
edge which rapidly forms for itself a recess in the sole without however injuring
it, but especially owing to the lateral point of support which the sponges and
wings find naturally in contact with the branches of the fork, the shoe cannot
but penetrate and adhere the more intimately in the concavity of the plantar
face of the foot.
I
Accidental injury and unshoeing are no longer to be feared "seeing that no
packing is left in the shoe, even in the sponges, that the external edge has a pro-
nounced-obliquity in the direction' of the centre of the foot and that no space is
left between the sole and the shoe.
a
Want of truth in the foot caused by the workmen who has pared it, when it is
not of too great an extent is rapidly corrected by wear in advance of a portion of
the rib in the region of the wall in which an excess of height is allowed to remain.
The rib, with its hooked returns beneath the heels and wings, and also the re-
cessing of the lower face of the shoe, combine to preserve almost intact the natural
grip or hold of the foot of the horse upon the ground, and enable it to at once
become firmly fixed at the exact point of contact with the ground which is pene-
trated by reason of its consistency and the amount of movement.
or at least diminish considerably, slipping and falling and prevent slipping or
The ribs oliviate
rather scraping movement when the foot first comes in contact with the ground,
which is the principal cause of wear in the shoe.
is considerably prolonged, or on the other hand, its weight may be diminished.
As a result, the life of the shoe
In addition to this, by maintaining the fork laterally without compressing it,
the wings enable it whilst bearing upon the ground to exert the whole of its
elastic action in the vertical direction and pressure to the mucus tissue, to the
pad and to the other parts of the centre of the foot, the exercise in default of
which they will necessarily waste and decay, as is actually the case with the
greater number of methods of shoeing where' the wall alone acts and serves as a
support.
Finally the rebounding effects transmitted by this new shoe (which is a copy of
nature to as great an extent as possible) are diminished by the shoe itself as much
as possible.
In the first place the foot is supported by and remains in intimate contact with
the whole extent of the upper face of the shoe and of the wings, so that the pressure
upon each point is proportionately diminished; on the other hand this pressure
is only transmitted after the division and change in direction which are produced
upon the edges and curved and oblique faces of the shoe in such a manner that
the rebounding effects are only felt by the organs of the foot and by the articula-
tions and other organs of the members to a small extent thus tending greatly to
preserve them.
In addition to this the various alterations and defects of the foot such as wire- 4
heel, inflammation of the sole, contraction of the hoof and so forth rapidly dis-
appear after a few applications of this method of shoeing.
The above are, briefly stated, the economical, physiological and therapeutical
advantages of my improved method of shoeing.
Dated this 9th dow of Vam1.
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London,. W.C., Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Horse Shoes and Apparatus
therefor.
1. ALBERT HUSSON, of Sedan (Ardennes), in the Republic of France, Veterinary
Surgeon, 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 a method of manufacturing shoes for horses and
other animals, which enables such shoes to be so formed that they will conform
exactly to the shape of the animals hoof.
In the accompanying drawing:
Figure 1 represents a reverse plan showing the lower or ground surface of a
fore shoe formed in accordance with my invention.
Figure 1 represents a similar view of a hind shoc, drawn to a smaller scale.
Figure 2 is a rear view of the foot of an animal which has been shod.
Figure 3 is a plan view of the shaping anvil hereinafter described.
Figure 4 is a section taken upon the line 4-4 of Figure 3, and
Figure.5 represents a key or wedge.
Figure 6 represents a section of Figure 1 taken on the line 2-2 of that figure,
looking in the direction of the arrow.
Figure 7 represents a section of Figure 1, taken on the line 4-4 of that figure,
looking in the direction of the arrow.
Figure 8 is a view showing the shoe in front élevation and
Figure 9 is a view representing the shoe in side elevation.
Shoes for protecting the feet of horses and other animals against wear as hitherto
employed present numerous and serious defects.
It is necessary that they should be formed and applied by experienced workmen.
During the operation of shoeing and after the completion of such operation the
ammals are liable to laming and numerous other accidents, the cause of which
is the shoe, and on this account the animal loses the greater portion of its natural
hold and adherence of the hoof upon the ground, which produces falls and their
attendant consequences.
The shoe frequently becomes out of truth during the whole period of its duration
it reduces more or less the elasticity of the foot and is the cause of the greater
part of the deformations to which this latter is liable, and also the cause of wounds.
Finally a workman who is inexperienced or lacking in patience, frequently
finishes the operation by altering the hoof by means of his rasp in order to cause
it to fit the shoe, when of course the correct and only rational procedure is to
provide a shoe which will fit the horses hoof.
In addition to this the method of fixing the shoe itself leaves much to be desired,
frequently resulting in injuries and accidents such as heated or beaten sole,
pricks and so forth.
The horse shoe has therefore with justice been termed a necessary evil, and
much labour has been expended for the purpose of diminishing its defects and
difficulties without hitherto however, obtaining any really satisfactory result:
It is true that a shoe has been devised in which the inner edge is reduced in
thickness, the upper face being oblique towards the outside whilst the external

page_text: edge is strengthened. This shoe to some extent approaches the rational con-
formation of the shoe which is obtained by my improved process of manufacture
but it is still far from being perfect.
Certain essential features were wanting and these present novel and original
characteristics. In the first place, the supporting wings which rest on the bars
or webs G, with their special arrangements A B Figures 1 and 1ª.
Secondly, the plantar rib or flange C Figs. 6 and 7 with its return beneath the
wing pieces and the heels, which imparts to the tread upon the ground an impress
exactly similar to that given by nature, not only to the foot of an unshod horse
but also to the greater number of hoofed or unguiculated animals.
It was by observing this impression upon the ground that I was led to perceive
the important part played by the bars in supporting the foot, and the security
which they give to its adherence, both when the animal is standing, travelling
at any speed, or in jumping; and this has caused me to see the necessity for the
wing pieces, which confer the same advantages upon. an animal which has been
shod.
A shoe formed in accordance with my invention, of either cast iron or steel, or
in fact of any suitable metal, does not present, like the foot of the horse itself,
either plane surfaces, edges, or straight lines, (with a single. exception, that of
the top of the edge of the wing, which is contiguous to the branch of the fork,
which in its natural form is straight).
The upper face of the shoe is continuous from one edge to the other; it is
also inclined, sloping. towards the periphery, less at the toe, and more at the
quarters and heels, see Figures 8 and 9.
The external edge B C Figures 7 and 9, slopes obliquely inwards in the down-
ward direction forming an angle of approximately 90 degrees with the upper face
of the shoe, and meeting the lower face at an angle of 45 degrees.
The internal edge, Figures 1, 1ª and 6, is extremely reduced, being about two
millimetres in thickness only, its continuation forms heels and follows the wing
pieces to the extremity of these latter, remaining of the same thickness. The
usual toe-piece F is also provided, Figs. 7, S, and 9.
The lower face H Figures 6 and 7 forms a decided concavity; in cross section
it forms a segment of a parabola. It is turned so as to form the bars or webs G
and retains this profile along the entire length of the wings, forming the above-
mentioned heels for the shoe.
The shape of my improved horse-shoe will be readily understood from an in-
spection of the enlarged views shown in Figures 1, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
The wings cover the bars and the spaces in the hoof adjoining them, the direction
of which they follow; their height increases from the rear to the front in order
that contact with the bar may not be lost, whilst at the same time allowing their
upper face to slope towards the periphery of the foot. Their free extremity A
Figures 1 and 1 is reduced in thickness and contracted into a whistle, shaped
portion turned upwards and in a forward direction.
The holes E are formed flat in the two branches; they are made of any suitable
section for the reception of any appropriate description of nail. No packing of
the foot takes place; on the contrary it is preferable that the foot should form a
packing for the metal.
The concavity which is always reversed towards the external edge, should be
given to the greatest extent compatible with the state of the sole, upon which the
shoe and the wings should bear quite equally at all points.
The fixing is effected without rivets by means of nails, screws or the like.
These latter should be driven by the shoeing hammer in such a direction that
they meet the wall perpendicularly in all directions and traverse it in radial
planes. In order to make them flush it is only necessary to cut them off carefully
where they project.
The improved shoe by reason of its curved surfaces and lines which are all

page_text: oblique one with respect to the other, cannot be produced by hammer work. It
is out of the perpendicular at all its parts, even at all its points; it is this which
constitutes its essential characteristic and its physiological quality, but the result
is that no point of support can be obtained for it either upon the anvil or bickers
which would enable it to be modified by means of the hammer in order to impart
to it suitable concavity and shape. For the purpose of manufacturing a shoe of
this kind, I have devised an appliance which I term a shaping anvil and which,
in the same manner as a hatter's shape enables the form of the hat to be altered
according to that of the head, permits of modelling the shoe in accordance with
the horses foot.
The shaping anvil Figure 3 consists essentially of a. metal part comprising a
central concave part intended for the reception of the upper face of the shoe and
formed with a triangular prismatic cavity serving for the reception of a clip
whatever may be the length of the shoe. The setting and shaping guides consist
of heads H having the form of frustrums of pyramids which are intended to act
upon the shoe; these heads are rigidly connected to rods guided in the metal
of the anvil. Each rod at its free extremity is screw-threaded and provided with.
anut h by means of which it may be adjusted as desired. Wedges he composed
of pieces of metal of the shape shown in Figure 5 tapering slightly in thickness
from top to bottom. may be interposed between the extremity H of the shaping
guide and the metal part of the anvil in which it is maintained; it is thereby
possible to firmly fix or pack the shaping guide in any required position:
A certain number of shaping guides (one half in the direction of the length
are mounted in the metal part G¹ the other half of the guides are mounted in a
part G3 which is displaceable with respect to the part G¹ with which it is connected
by means of a nut g. The shaping guides which are thus displaceable constitute,
as a whole, the device for effecting transverse setting. Longitudinal setting,
along the main axis, is effected by means of a part I termed the sponge wedge,
a varied assortment of which is provided; this wedge is mounted between two
guides c. c, in which it is capable of longitudinal displacement by means of a
screw by which it can be adjusted as desired.
This shaping anvil is employed in the following manner.
After the foot to be shod has been pared in a suitable manner, its plantar edgé
is traced by means of a pencil upon a sheet of cardboard which thus constitutes
a podometric card of the same extent as the hollow form of the anvil in which it
is placed.
The heads H of the guides are brought in contact with the pencil line and
rendered immovable by means of the wedges h³ and the nuts h a sponge wedge I
corresponding to this line is selected and the card is removed from the form.
Then, after having selected and heated a shoe of suitable dimensions it is
placed upon the form of the anvil.
When the transverse diameter of the shoe is too great the part G2 for effecting
transverse shaping is suitably operated and then screwed home into its first
position, the second and longitudinal shaping part G₁ remaining entirely open.
It is then only necessary to completely tighten up this latter in order to impart
to the shoe a configuration which mathematically conforms to that of the foot.
In this manner the desideratum in farriery, that of removing any temptation
to the farrier of rasping the horses foot so as to cause it to fit the shoe, is realised.
The same podometric card may usefully be marked with the shape of all four
feet of the horse and have its name indicated upon it so that it will serve for a
long time without modification.
By adding to the anvil above described a heating box of small dimensions
corresponding to those of four superposed shoes (about 0. 18 × 0.017 × 0.07
internally) all the materials necessary for preparing and renewing shoes for
cavalry on the march and even in the field, will be provided.
My invention presents the following advantages.

page_text: The shoe is readily formed by casting and stamping; cast steel, iron and the
various steels are equally suitable.
The shaping anvil and the box for heating the shoes, which are of small weight
and size, may be readily packed and transported from place to place.
The necessity for employing special nails is obviated. The opening of the lower
face of the shoe enables French nails or better still screws to be used; the head
of the nail touching the ground only when the soil has but slight consistency, it
is protected from wear and liability of being drawn out.
The shank of these fastenings, owing to its direction, is strained after the first
strokes of the foot and tightened by the settling of the rind, thereby enabling
rivetting to be dispensed with and the number of such fastenings to be reduced,
without affecting the strength of the shoe; the fixing is rendered extremely easy
and may be effected by inexperienced persons.
The shaping of the shoe, which has hitherto constituted the branch of farriery
in which the farrier has been able to display the most skill, is effected mechani
cally with all the necessary precision.
The displacement of the shoe beneath the foot, in use, is rendered almost im-
possible on the one hand owing to the convexity and peripheral inclination of
its upper face and also owing to the reduced thickness of the internal eilge which
rapidly forms for itself a recess in the sole without however injuring it, but
especially owing to the lateral point of support which the wings find naturally
in contact with the branches of the fork, the shoe cannot but penetrate and ad-
here more intimately in the concavity of the plantar face of the foot."
Accidental injury and unshoeing are no longer to be feared seeing that no
packing is left in the shoe, that the external edge has a pronounced obliquity in
the direction of the centre of the foot and that no space is left between the sole
and the shoe.
Want of truth in the foot caused by indiscriminate paring when it is not of
too great extent is rapidly corrected by wear in the advance of a portion of the
rib in the region of the wall in which an excess of height is allowed to remain.
The rib, with its hooked return beneath the heels and wings, and also the re-
cessing of the lower face of the shoe, combine to preserve almost intact the natural
grip or hold of the foot of the horse upon the ground, and enable it to at once
become firmly fixed at the exact point of contact with the ground which is pene-
trated by reason of its consistency and the amount of movement. The ribs
obviate, or at least diminish considerably. slipping and falling and prevent
slipping or rather scraping movement when the foot first comes in contact with
the ground, which is the principal cause of wear in the shoe. As a result, the
life of the shoe is considerably prolonged, or on the other hand, its weight may
be diminished.
In addition to this, by maintaining the fork laterally without compressing it,
the wings enable it, whilst bearing upon the ground to exert the whole of its
elastic action in the vertical direction and preserve to the mucus tissue, to the
pad and to the other parts of the centre of the fot, the exercise in default of which
they will necessarily waste and decay, as is actually the case with the greater
number of methods of shoeing where the wall alone acts and serves as a support
Finally the rebounding effects transmitted by this new shoe (which is a copy
of nature to as great an extent as possible) are diminished by the shoe itself."
In the first place the foot is supported by and remains in intimate contact with
the whole extent of the upper face of the shoe and of the wings, so that the
pressure upon each point is proportionately diminished: on the other hand this
pressure is only transmitted after the division and change in direction which are
produced upon the edges and curved and oblique faces of the shoe in such a
manner that the rebounding effects are only felt by the organs of the foot and by
the articulations and other organs of the members to a small extent thus tending
greatly to preserve them.

page_text: In addition to this the various alterations and defects of the foot such as wire-
heel, inflammation of the sole, contraction of the hoof and so forth rapidly dis-
appear after a few applications of this method of shoeing.
The above are, briefly stated, the economical, physiological and therapeutical
advantages of my improved method of shoeing.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
The improvements in shoes for horses and other animals and the shaping
apparatus or anvil enabling the said shoes to be forged exactly in accordance with
a podometric diagram taken from the foot to be shod, substantially as described
with reference to the drawing."
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant..