AN IMPROVED METHOD OF SHOEING HORSES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
CLARENDON, of Number 201, Great Brunswick Street, in the City of Dublin,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Gracious and Excellent Majesty Queen
Victoria, by Her certain Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that
part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
bearing date at Westminster, the Ninth day of November, in the seventh
year of Her Majesty's reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and forty-three, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Clarendon, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, Her special licence, full power, and sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Thomas Clarendon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and
every of them, by myself and themselves, and by my or their deputy or
deputies, servants and agents, or such other person or persons as I, the said
Thomas Clarendon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no other, from time to time and at all times during the
term of fourteen years, to be computed from the date of the said Letters
Patent therein and herein-after expressed, should and might lawfully make,
use, and exercise, and vend my Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF SHOEING
HORSES," within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-on-

page_text: Tweed, and that I and they should and might have and enjoy the whole profit,
use, benefit, commodity, and advantage, from time to time during the term
therein and herein-after expressed as aforesaid, that might grow, accrue, or arise
by reason of the said Invention or discovery; to hold, exercise, and enjoy the
said license, power, privileges, and advantages therein-before granted unto me,
the said Thomas Clarendon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, for and
during the full end, term, time, and space and expiration of fourteen years, to
be computed from the day of the date of said Letters Patent next immediately
ensuing; and in which Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said Thomas Clarendon, to cause a particular and exact description
of my said Invention, and of the manner of making and using the same,
in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in the Rolls of Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next imme-
diately ensuing the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Clarendon, do hereby declare that the following is a particular
and exact description of my said Invention, and of the manner of making
and using the same, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed
and to the figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
Whereas the foot of the horse consists of certain moveable parts surrounded
by an elastic horny covering, which in its natural and healthy state yields to
and accommodates the motion of the internal parts by alternate expansion and
contraction, and which last-mentioned action, herein-after referred to as the
elastic action of the hoof, takes place in a lateral direction and chiefly in the
hinder part of the foot, but is not equally perceptible at and immediately near
the toe, and which horny covering also yields from time to time to the perma-
nent growth of the foot; and inasmuch as according to the usual practice of
shoeing horses this elastic action, and also in many instances the regular
growth of the hoof, is prevented by the iron shoe being attached by nails
driven in round the whole or a greater part of its circumference, the heads
and necks of which nails are firmly imbedded in the iron shoe, and the shanks
of which are firmly imbedded in the horny substance of the hoof, whereby the
expansive and elastic qualities of the horny covering are destroyed and the
healthy functions of the foot are greatly impaired; and these nails being
usually fastened at their upper extremities by having their points turned back
and clinched into the external surface of the hoof, and being made of very
pure and ductile iron, are easily drawn and loosened, so that shoes so nailed on
are very liable to be cast, more especially if with a view to prevent the

page_text: injurious consequences of fettering the foot above alluded to they be nailed on
only through a portion of the circumference; and also inasmuch as the intro-
duction of so many foreign substances into the hoof as are necessary to be
employed in fastening on the shoe so nailed, whether throughout the whole or
a part of its circumference, being in general from seven to nine nails, is
injurious to the general health of the foot, and it is desirable to accomplish
the fastening on of the shoe with as few nails as possible. Now the object of
my Invention is to fasten on the shoe in such a manner as to allow of
the elastic action and growth of the hoof, and also in such a manner as to
require the introduction of not more than from four to seven nails; and I
attain that object by fastening on the shoe with nails, the heads and necks of
which are firmly imbedded into the iron of the shoe in the usual manner at or
near the toe only, but the necks of which at or near the quarters are fitted into
grooves or openings formed in the iron shoe in the direction of the elastic
action of the hoof, as shewn at A in the Drawing Number 1 hereunto
annexed, so that said last-mentioned nails, herein-after termed slide nails,
having their shanks firmly fixed in the hoofs as herein-after mentioned, or by
any other secure mode of fixture, are moved in said grooves with the alternate
expansion and contraction of the elastic horny substance in which they are
fixed, while the heads thereof being formed of a triangular or wedge or
T shape, as herein-after mentioned, while being moved in like manner take
hold of the shoe at each side of said grooves respectively in cavities
countersunk on the external surface of the shoe to a sufficient depth to free
them from the friction of the road (as shewn at B on the Drawing,
Numbers 3, 4, and 5, hereunto annexed), and so hold it close up to the base of
the foot, notwithstanding their motion as aforesaid; and this provision for t':e
elastic action of the hoof is equally applicable in accommodating the growth of
the hoof after the operation of paring at each change of shoes, and also the per-
manent growth of the foot in the growing animal, which growths respectively
take place in the same direction. And the manner in which I fix all said nails
in and to the hoof is this:-Having driven the nail in from below, I, instead
of turning back and clinching the point in the usual mode, hammer back the
point, having first cut off so much thereof as may be unnecessary, so as to form
rivet over a thin washer of copper or other metal on the outside of the hoof,
as shewn at C, on the Drawing Number 3, hereunto annexed, whereby the
ail is so securely fastened that, in most cases, I find four nails sufficient for the
astening on of each shoe; that is to say, two fast nails at the toe, one at each
ide of a common toe clip, and two slide nails, one in each quarter; but one or
wo additional nails of either sort are sometimes necessary, according to the

page_text: structure of the hoof and the habits of the animal; and for beavy draught
horses even three additional nails may be required. In applying the shoe
by this mode of fastening, I generally use a shoe having clips on the inside of
the heels to give increased steadiness, and having, when intended for frosty
weather or wooden payment, a wide fullering or continuous concavity on the
under surface; and also to prevent the wearing of the hoof by friction, I
tack on a thin plate of brass of about an inch long by half an inch broad, and
the tenth of an inch in thickness, to the sole of the hoof on each heel before
fixing on the shoe; but I do not consider said plates or heel clips or fullering
to be indispensable. And the manner in which I form the said grooves or
openings for the slide nails is this, I punch holes of from the fifth to the
fourth part of an inch in length, and of from the eighth to the sixth of
part
an inch in breadth, through the shoe at either quarter, the length of said holes
being in or about the direction of radii from the point of the frog, and extend-
ing from about the middle of the substance of the shoe to within about the
eighth of an inch of the outer edge thereof; and I enlarge said holes laterally
from about one half of their depth towards the under surface of the shoe by
means of a punch of a wedge shape, so as to form cavities enlarging towards
the under surface for the reception of the heads of said slide nails, as shewn
at B, on the Drawings hereunto annexed, as aforesaid. The slide nail I have
hitherto used is the ordinary horse nail with the head reduced to a triangular
or wedge shape with the file. I introduce it with the flat paralelled to the
outer surface of the hoof close up to the back of the groove, so as to leave
the entire length of the groove for its action outward and back again; but
this action, it is to be remarked, rarely amounts to the eighth of an inch at
either side, so that when the foot has attained its full size a smaller average
depth of groove than above mentioned will be sufficient. The application of
the slide nail is susceptible of many variations. The groove instead of being
formed entirely within the substance of the shoe, as above described, may be
cut from the external edge inwards, and the countersinking, instead of widen
ing gradually from the groove for the reception of a wedge-headed nail, as
above described, may be made square so as to form a step or shoulder, with
the groove for the reception of a T or crutch headed nail; and instead of
being open to the road, as above mentioned, 'may be, closed at the surface
by a tap, under which the head of the slide nail, which may also be made
to act as a roller, may work in a protected chamber.
The rivetting process
may also be varied by using screw nuts, or by using a continuous band of meta
pierced for the reception of the several nail points, and attached round the
whole or a part of the outside of the hoof by having those points rivetted o

page_text: screwed back on it. But I find thin detached washers or burs of about one
fourth of an inch in diameter more convenient.
Having thus described my Invention and the manner of practising same, I
would have it understood that I do not claim said clips or fullering as my
Invention, and that I do not claim any part or parts of the rivetting process
or apparatus above described, except as applied to the hoofs of horses for the
purpose of fastening their shoe nails; and that I do not claim any part or
parts of the horseshoe above described, except as cut or grooved for the recep-
tion of and connexion with such slide nail or nails.
But I do claim an exclusive right to the use of nails rivetted or screwed
over the hoof in shoeing horses, whether the same be used independently of
or in conjunction with my Invention of slide nails.
And I also claim an exclusive right to the use of slide nails in conjunction
with grooved or cut horse shoes, whether the same be used independently of
or in conjunction with said fast nails as aforesaid, and to every process and
apparatus, and combination of processes and apparatuses, by which a nail
or other holdfast projecting from the hoof of the horse may be made by its
head to hold up the horseshoe, and at the same time to move with the elastic
motion or growth of the hoof in any groove, slit, or aperture in the shoe.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal,
this Sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, in presence
of
THOS (L.S.) CLARENDON.
THOMAS PEILE, Dublin,
23, Luke Street, Merchant.
THO PEILE, J, Sol",
27, Grt. Brunswick St., Dublin.