IMPROVEMENTS IN HORSE-SHOES
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jonathan Gavett at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th February 1882. A communica-
tion from abroad by John Kiernan of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States of
America.
JONATHAN GAVETT, of Bishopsgate Street Within, in the City of London
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HORSE-SHOES." [A communication from abroad by John
Kiernan of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States of America,]
This Invention relates to horse-shoes, and is designed to provide various
improvements in the form or make of such shoes to render the same more
advantageous in use than the shoes ordinarily used.
In carrying the said Invention into practice the metal bar or blank is bent in
the usual "horse-shoe" form so as to extend from one side of the rear of the foot
around the bottom of the hoof to the other side of the rear portion, and is provided
with nail-holes for attaching the shoe to the hoof by means of nails in the
ordinary manner. Instead, however, of leaving the surface entirely flat as in
ordinary horse-shoes I so form my improved shoe that there is a continuous calk,
flange, or projection extending downward and completely around the shoe, that is
to say, from the rear point on one side to the corresponding point on the other
side of the foot, or from a thickened portion on one side to a thickened portion on
the other side, as hereinafter described. This continuous calk runs along the inner
edge leaving ample space for the nail-holes outside the same. Its thickness and
depth may be varied according to circumstances, but for an ordinary shoe the
thickness of the said calk may be about from one sixteenth to one eighth of an
inch at the part which touches the ground and its depth or amount of projection
from the surface of the plate in which the nails are inserted may be about half an
inch, more or less. The calk is preferably made taper in transverse section being
thinnest at the part which touches the ground. The inner part of the inetal
forming the shoe continues to slope inwards to the edge. Each of the two rear
extremities of the shoe is provided with a thick rounded portion extending
completely across the metal, the thin continuous calk joining these thickened
portions and the latter being flat on the side which is to come in contact with the
ground. At the toe part of the shoe there is also a thickened flat part which

page_text: extends transversely from the edge of the continuous calk (being in one piece
with the latter) to the edge of the plate thus forming a solid block which may
extend an inch more or less longitudinally; and a thin curved toe piece may be
provided to fit outside and in front of the hoof. I provide a crease or channel in
the plate, both on the right and left hand sides of the shoe at the part where the
nail-holes are made. The continuous calk or flange is of such a depth that it
extends below the frog of the animal's foot and completely protects the same from
contact with the ground. The lower edge of the said calk, with the thickened
portions at toe and heel, are the only parts which come into contact with the
ground, the surface of the part in which the nails are situated not being subjected
to any friction whatever as it never touches the ground. This construction affords
the animal a very firm hold; it allows the foot to expand naturally; and provides
complete protection for the frog.
The shoe as above described is specially designed for use in summer or at any time
when the roads are free from ice, snow, or any substance tending to make them
slippery. For use in winter, or when the roads are slippery from any cause, I
slightly modify the construction by dispensing with the thickened portions at the
heel and toe; in this case a sharp thin piece extends transversely across the metal
at each heel end of the calk and the calk is extended to the front of the toe portion
so as to afford a sharp edge at that point in place of the thickened solid portion
herein before described.