Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Apr., 1887
Complete Left, 24th Feb., 1888
Complete Accepted, 26th Apr., 1888
I, GEORGE WILLIAM HEATON of 92 Ferndale Road, Clapham, in the County of
Surrey barrister at law do hereby declare the nature of my said invention to be as
follows:
:-
I form and make, from inetal or other material, a Vicarious Armature or sheath for
the animal's foot, following its contours and, taking away all superfluous weight, I
have a plate of metal or other material conformed to the ground plan of the said foot
and an Armature around the same which latter is firmly fastened in the front or off
side of it, all the lines of the said Armature converging towards one place of
fastening and there, in the method I preferably employ, being drawn tight by means
of a screw clamp or other device.
To the said armature, by means of screws wedges dovo-tailing attachments or other
suitable device, I fasten the wearing surface, or shoe, which is to be made of metal
or other suitable material.
In this way I have a foot-harness for animals which dispenses with all injurious
interference with the foot, which requires nothing, in a state of health, further than the
due periodical removal of the growth of horn: which is easily put on and off:
which affords a ready means of treating morbid or abnormal states of the foot: which
supplies an artificial support when needed: which may be made much lighter and, (in
the long run) cheaper than shoes of the fashion now in use.
For several years I have experimented upon methods tending to similar ends but
I claim for those now set forth, and to be more fully set forth horeafter in due
course, novelty and utility, especially for my device in regard to the heels of the
foot, which consists in a bridge thrown round the heels in a plane nearly parallel
with the flexor tendon, which bridge avoids touching the sensitive parts of the
coronet of the foot, and takes a firm bearing, with its connexions with the other
parts of the said Armature, at the counters or posterior quarters of the hoof or foot.
I also, in the cases of feet of a certain shape and constitution, modify the aforesaid
bridge or heel cap, when the configuration of this part of my Invention takes a shape
which, coming round from the bottom or side of the Armature, fits, by springs or
other curved arrangement, into the pit or hollow behind the flexor tendon in a manner
which I have ascertained to be secure and safe in the cases above contemplated.
" 1007

page_text: other Cattle.
I, GEORGE WILLIAM HEATON, of 9, Strathleven Road Brixton in the County of
Surrey barrister at law, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
-
My improvements in shoes relate to means of attaching them securely to the foet
-and in such a manner as to permit the hinder portion of the foot to retain its elastic
character; they also provide facilities for surgical and remedial treatment, and for
mitigating concussion by the use, if desired, of elastic material in the wearing-shoe and
by carrying, if desired, a False-frog; they can supply guards against Speedy-cut or
Interfering and Overreach, and provide for the rest and recovery of the horse's powers
by allowing the foot to be bared as often as is desired, and generally they permit as
near an approach to the natural state of the foot in their use as is compatible with the
use of any shoe.
In order to carry out my invention I take a ground-plan of the foot and measures
of the outside of the same and form and make of steel iron or other suitable metal or
mixture of metals or other material a plate conformed to the said ground plan with
the addition of lugs at the toe and quarters or heels or at other desirable points: The
toe lug is bent upward towards the coronet of the foot and may serve as a standard
pillar to which a band of metal or other suitable material is affixed with or without
springs. The said plate I call the "sock-plate," the said band I call the front
"binder" and the whole armature, except the wearing shoe I call the "sock." The
two lugs at or about the quarters or heels being bent upwards become standards
to carry each a pivot or fulcrum for the lever or heelbridge to be presently described
and sunk springs, counter-sunk sockets for locks or other similar devices by and to
which the fastenings can be made, and form pillars to support the strain upon this
part of the foot in "certain" attitudes, or beds within which the heels repose.
Of the accompanying drawings in Fig. 1. are side-, back-, and front views: in
Fig. 2. a plan view seen from above; and in Fig. 4. a plan view as seen from below.
A is the point where the toe-lug and front binder, CA, meet: B is the point where
the toe-lug rises from the sock-plate; C is the pivot or fulcrum of the lever-bridge CE;
H is the re-entering dip or curve in the latter in conformity with the shape of the
heels.
I now proceed to describe more in detail the Lever or heelbridge which is a
cardinal feature of my invention and is made of steel or other suitable metal or mixture
of metals or material and is thrown round the horse's heels behind the flexor tendon,
avoiding all contact with the sensitive parts of the coronet or heels yet following and
conforming to the outline of the same. It is made to take, together with its
connexions with the other parts of the armature, a firm bearing, preferably at the
counters or posterior quarters of the foot.
The front "binder is attached to the lower arm of the said lever as shown in a

page_text: preferable form, out of many possible forms in Fig. 3. and is drawn tight and locked
down when the lever comes home to its position of rest, it may be jointed, or the use
of a spring may be adopted, to facilitate the management of its "slack;" A band,
corresponding to the front "binder," which I call the "heel-binder"
may, optionally,
be used for further and better security of fastening. This heelbinder starts from the
inner side of the "sock plate" near the heels and passes diagonally round the horny.
heel of the hoof to the outer side thereof and has its other end fastened to the upper
arm of the Lever and is drawn forward and locked down when the Lover comes home
to its position of rest. In Fig. 1. it would pass round at D, and be fastened
between C and E. I must remark that the heel-binder, in many cases, can be
dispensed with. When the foot is to be inserted into this harness, or "sock," the
Lever, working on the two fulcra herein before described, is pushed backward and the
"sock" can easily be put on the foot with the latter's ground surface turned upward.
or downward, and, being put on, the Lever is pushed forward to the afore described
position behind the flexor tendon and locked, whereupon the shoe is securely locked.
and fastened nor can it come undone in ordinary course till released by manual effort.
Also the heel-binder may itself carry the pivot or fulcrum on which the Lever-bridge
works as shown Fig. 1.
Any sort of wearing-shoe can be fastened to the ground surface of the "sock plate"
according to the qualities of weight elasticity durability or cheapness which are
appropriate or desired and the worn out remains of such wearing shoe can be removed
and now wearing shoes substituted for them with great ease.
Preferably I employ a compound wearing-shoe in three parts, to wit, a toe part of
metal and two branches which are made of or carry an elastic substance, and with
healthy well constituted feet the latter parts or branches carrying an elastic substance
may be dispensed with, leaving the heels bare.
An alternative form of the use of the Lever as beforementioned operating with
locks or snaps is for the said Lever with its attached "binder" or "binders" to be
drawn to and held in its position of rest by means of a screw or ratchet or other
suitable device taking advantage of the increasing diameter at the front or off side of
the hoof.
It is desirable in the use of this armature that the part of the "sock plate" which is
in contact with the horse's foot should be treated with some elastic dressing which may
be a strip of leather gutta percha or paper or paper-pulp or other substance suitable
to make good any slight defect in fitting, arising from over-rasping the foot at the
periodical removals of the growth of horn or from any other cause.
If it be desired to omit the heelbridge portion of the Lever this can be made
removable after its function as a Lever is discharged, though absolute theoretical
security of fastening will be sacrificed by such omission.
I believe that this form of the Lever, to wit, bending round and bridging over the
heels (which, taken together with the front "binder," is virtually an upper ring, or
periphery, on the smaller end of the frustum of a conoidal body) is essential to the
theoretic security of a foot-harness dispensing with the use of nails; the comfort
convenience and benefit-the elastic and other adaptations of my invention are
grounded upon this fundamental security, and though I do not claim the encase-
ment of the hoof by an armature generally as part of my invention I believe the
use of a Lever of the form and use and mode of action hereinbefore described to be
entirely novel and the form shown in Fig. 3 with a slotted arm, T S, which fetches
down S-the end of F b, the front binder, to the position S', in the direction
indicated by curved arrows, is a profitable way of expending its action.
In the event of the use of nails driven into the hoof being desired or necessary in
certain cases I propose as an improvement in the method of shoeing horses and
other cattle to make the shoe of two plates or horizontal equivalents to plates, the
upper of which shall fit the foot, and preferably be made in three pieces, and not
touch the ground, and shall be, at each re-shoeing identically replaced on the foot:
and the under, or wearing-plate, shall be affixed not to the foot but to the said upper

page_text: or non-wearing plate. In this way shoes may be lighter and have other advantages
over solid shoes.
In the case of the disease or malformation known as dropped sole" my
"Sock"
gives effectual support; and a False Frog, and heel branches of the wearing shoe
containing elastic material or composed thereof, and carrying metallic or other springs,
is easily arranged.
Such a False Frog is an elastic apparatus of metal or other suitable material of the
size and shape of the sole of the foot adapted in configuration and by due recessments
to the natural or real Frog, and consisting of inner and outer lamina; the inner
being made with a view to ventilation, moisture, and surgical treatment, if required,
of spongy soft and porous material, the outer, designed to encounter the ground, of an
elastic material either pure or modified and strengthened with wire or textile substance
or manipulated in any suitable way and with any other addition or appliance to further
its resistance durability or elasticity: it can, for reasons of economy, he turned, and
also formed with a special view to the nursing and encouragement of the growth and
development of the natural Frog.
For horses of luxury I propose to insert a metallic spring diaphragm, which has a
sharper resiliency than india-rubber or the like between the said laminæ.
With a view to explain and ascertain what immediately precedes I will describe,
under the name of a "gorget," a concave plate of metal or other material, made and
perforated in a manner favourable to the retention of its quality of concavity
approximating in shape and size to the sole of the foot and with a forked aperture for
the Frog, real or false; which plate or "gorget" is made fast, in the concavity of the
sole at three or more points: the toe-fastening holding against the heel-fastenings
and vice versa-this dovice holds the False Frog securely (or in the case of "dropped
sole" supports the sole) and, by its concave form, allows the foot to retain, with an
amount of elasticity equivalent to the natural amount of that of the bare foot, its
natural hollow expression and outline and prevents the False Frog from causing the
sensation and appearance of a clumsy lump underneath the foot.
If any form of shoe be desired for the foot posterior to the quarters it should be an
elastic form, in this respect differing from the form proper to the anterior part of the
foot which ought to be that of a rigid instrument for taking hold of the ground, for
including within its limits the compressible Frog, and for giving direction to the
movements of the horse's body, and the parts of my invention which relate to the
shoeing of the posterior parts of the hoof are necessary only when these are undeveloped
or imperfect.
I wish to observe that any thing like calkins at the heel, in the form commonly
used is, postulating the presence of an efficient natural or artificial Frog, contrary to
the principle of the foot's action, the wear and work of the shoe of which is all forward
of the quarters, from which point backwards the trend of the heels rises in the vertical
plane, in the upward direction required for the unimpeded recovery of the foot from
the impact of one given step to the making ready for the next.
In the case of defective heels, or for purposes of luxury, I make the heel branches
of the working-shoe of two metal boxes, one of which fits, under vertical pressure, into
the other; the top and bottom of which construction are kept apart by springs and
held together by screws, each of which screws consists of two parts, a plunger and a
cylinder respectively, in or around which latter is a spiral metallic spring as shewn
in Fig. 5, where A B is a portion of the sock-plate, and C D of the wearing-shoe, E B
of the included spring, and a 6 of the screw enclosed in a cylinder.
If the wearing-shoe be desired to have very lasting quality it may be made of cubes,
or segments, of the hardest metal or mixture of metals screwed on separately with due
disconnection to allow for the brittleness of such hard metals.
As a simple spring for the wearing-shoe the branches thereof may be split into two
longitudinal forks or branches each; one; to be fastened to the "sock plate," and the
other, duly tempered and bent according to the requirements of each case, to be left
free to act as a spring and mitigator of concussion.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
1. The use of a horse shoe fitted with and to an armature which dispenses with
the use of nails driven into the hoof substantially as herein before described.
2. The use of a horse-shoe fastened by means of a Lever-bridge, either as a lever,
or as a bridge forming a secure fastening apart from the action of a lever substantially
as herein before described and mentioned.
3. The use of the means, for attaching horse-shoes to hoofs, substantially as herein
before described.
4. The use of the method of shoeing horsos herein before described as omitting the
fastening I have called a "heel binder."
5. The use of the mode of shoeing horses herein before described wherein nails are
used.
"
6. The use of the apparatus for "False Frog" and "dropped sole" called a
gorget" and substantially hereinbefore described.
7. The use of the several forms of wearing shoe substantially as herein before
described.
8. The use of the methods for palliating injury and all devices relating to elastic
substances and springs as herein before described.
In witness whereof I, the said George William Heaton have hereunto set my
hand and seal the Twenty fifth day of February in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and eighty eight.