IMPROVEMENT IN THE FORMATION OF HORSE- SHOES
Year: 1821

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
GOLDFINCH, of Hythe, in the County of Kent, Lieutenant Colonel in His
Majesty's Royal Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Fourth, in and by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifth day of April last, for Himself, His heirs and suc-
cessors, did give and grant unto me, the said Henry Goldfinch His special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Henry
Goldfinch, my exors, admors, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and
themselves, or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or
such others as I, the said Henry Goldfinch, my exors, adiñors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter, during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, my
exors, adiñors, or assigns, or any of them, may, in my or their discretion,
seem meet, my Invention of an "IMPROVEMENT IN THE FORMATION OF HORSE-
SHOES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Henry Goldfinch, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters

page_text: Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in. compliance with the requisition and obligation
in the said grant contained as aforesaid, I, the said Henry Goldfinch, do
hereby describe and ascertain the nature and use of my said Invention and
new manufacture and the form thereof, and in what manner the same is to be
made and performed, by the Plan or Drawing in the margin of these Presents,
and by the following description and Specification thereof (that is to say):-
The Invention consists in making horseshoes of iron or any other suitable
substance divided into two distinct or seperate parts, and attaching the two
distinct or seperate parts to the horse's foot by nails of any suitable form (to be
placed and driven in the manner herein-after described), so that the division
of the two distinct or seperate parts shall be at or near the toe, the purport and
principal of this division of the shoe being to give freedom to the expansion
and spreading of the toe or fore part, as well as other parts of the horse's
hoof, and to facilitate the natural action, extension, and growth of the sole.
The method of nailing in all cases must be that termed the foreign or
French plan, that is, instead of the nail holes being made as is the English
"custom, as close to the outer edge of the shoe as possible, and the nails driven
directly up the hoof, the nail holes, whether fullered or countersunk, are to be
made at the distance of from one third to one half of the width of the shoe
from its outer edge, and are to be punctured and made slanting towards the
exterior of the shoe and foot, and the nails are to be driven slanting towards
the outside of the foot. Where from any cause nails alone may not be
sufficient to keep the shoe securely to the foot, the outer edge may be beaten up
so as to embrace the hoof, either generally or partially, forming what are termed
clips at particular points, as the nature of the case may suggest. The bisected
shoe may also, where circumstances require it, be further secured to the foot,
without prejudice to the principle of expansion, by a pin or pins of iron or any
suitable substance, fixed at the division into one half of the shoe, and fitted into
a hole or holes drilled in the opposite half shoe to receive them, but not so
tightly as to prevent the two half shoes from seperating when acted upon
by the growth of the foot or other expansive force, the length of the pin or
pins to be about half an inch, more or less, and their diameter as great as the
thickness of the shoe will admit.
In the Drawing annexed the method of placing the nail holes and pin or
pins described above is shewn. The form of the horseshoe described in the
Drawing differs little from the shoe in common use. It is however to be
understood that it is not thereby intended to confine the Patent to this or any
other precise form or shape of shoe, but that it should vary as the different

page_text: natures of horse's feet or other circumstances may suggest, the principle of the
Patent being evidently equally applicable to shoes of any other form or shape.
In like manner it is to be understood that it is not intended that the shape
or method of making the division of the two parts of the shoe should be
confined to that shewn in the Drawing, but that the division may be made in a
straight, oblique, or indented form, or overlapped, or in any manner or shape
that different cases may required. Neither is it intended to confine, the
number or distribution of the nails to that shewn in the Drawing, but that
they should also vary according to circumstances.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Goldfinch, have hereunto set
and put my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-one.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1821, the aforesaid Henry Goldfinch came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.