IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ADJUSTMENT OF HORSE-SHOES
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Akers at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th March
1867.
I, WILLIAM AKERS, of The Broad, Hellingly, in the County of Sussex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION AND ADJUSTMENT OF HORSE-SHOES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture and
construction of horse-shoes, and in the method of adjusting or fitting the same
to the horse's feet, the object being to produce a shoe which shall be more
durable than the ordinary shoe and consequently cheaper.
The shoe instead of being formed in one piece in the usual manner consists
of a compound shoe. I propose to construct a plate or false shoe of a suitable
outline or form of thin metal, the extremities of the heel being raised or made
thicker than the other part; this plate is to be firmly fixed to the hoof by
nails or screws, and by a slot fitting on a square projection at the heel of the
false plate, and a layer of gutta percha, india-rubber, or other suitable material
may be placed on the false shoe, filling up the space to the level of the raised
heel pieces; I then form the outer or true shoe in three sections, a front or toe
piece and two side pieces. The two side pieces are formed with angular
recesses in their forepart, in which a metal tongue or projecting plate is stamped
out in order to register and be inserted into corresponding angular extremities
of the front or toe piece and into recesses formed therein. These side plates
are fixed to the false shoe by means of nails or screws, and by a square pro-
jection on the india-rubber or other material intervening. The screws or nails

page_text: penetrate into the hoof. The toe piece has a vertical projection in the centre.
which fits in a recess in the front of the hoof; to the rear of this projection a
horizontal plate is rivetted extending to the width of the bar forming the shoe
and through the plate and shoe a female screw thread is drilled. The toe
piece is then also secured to the false shoe by the insertion of the horizontal
plate through a slot or groove formed on the upper surface of the false shoe
in the centre, and by means of a screw passing through the plate and through
a hole or opening out in the india-rubber or other material, and through the
false plate, but not into the hoof which is slightly hollowed out at that part.
By this arrangement it is evident that a slight extent of yielding to the shock
or jar of the shoe on hard ground is afforded; the toe piece may of course be
further secured by screws or other fastenings, and the angular extremities
fitting in the recesses of the side pieces entirely prevent the possibility of lateral
displacement. When the toe piece becomes worn, it may be readily removed
and a new piece substituted, and in frosty weather the toe plate may be
removed, and a roughened plate substituted. In like manner the side plates
may be removed and others substituted, and when several plates are worn they
may be united two and two by welding to form new plates.
I also propose to dispense with the use of india-rubber, gutta percha, or
other intervening substance as described, and to apply the plates to the false
shoe in the same manner as with the india-rubber, in which case, the projec-
tions on the false plate at the heel are not formed, but the plate is made flush
all round, merely forming the square projection as before for securing the
true side plates of the shoe.