IMPROVEMENTS IN PADS FOR THE FEET OF HORSES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Reynolds, of No. 514, Oxford Street, in the
County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PADS FOR THE
FEET OF HORSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Reynolds at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th October 1881.
WILLIAM REYNOLDS, of No. 514, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PADS FOR THE FEET OF HORSES."
This Invention has for its object improvements in pads for the feet of horses.
At the present time there are in use pads consisting mainly of solid vulcanized
india rubber; they are inserted into their places in the recess formed by the shoe
and hoof of the horse by means of suitable tongs, which bend them so as to admit
of metallic lugs with which the pad is provided entering beneath the horse
shoe.
According to my Invention I form such pads on the inner surface of spongy
rubber, which renders the pad much softer and more elastic, and better adapted to
protect the frog of the horse's foot than the pads now in use.
I also perforate the pad to allow a free ventilation of the foot, and I chequer the
pad on the under surface, thereby adapting it to pick up and retain grit from the
surface of the road, by which means a good foot hold is secured.
To prevent the pad being displaced, as now sometimes occurs, by snow and
otherwise, I form the lugs to receive screws or studs, which are inserted into or
made to engage with the horse shoe. Or I provide upon the lugs suitable flanges
or wings at the rear or posterior parts thereof.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Reynolds in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th April
1882.
WILLIAM REYNOLDS, of No. 514, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex.
“IMPROVEMENTS IN PADS FOR THE FEET OF HORSES."
This Invention has for its object improvements in pads for the feet of horses.
At the present time there are in use pads consisting mainly of solid vulcanized
india rubber; they are inserted into their places in the recess formed by the shoe
and hoof of the horse by means of suitable tongs which bend them so as to admit
of metallic lugs or blades with which the pad is provided entering beneath the
horse shoe.
According to my Invention I form such pads on the inner surface of spongy
rubber or like elastic and compressible material which renders the pads much softer
and more elastic to the tread of the horse, and better adapted to protect the frog of
the horse's foot than the pads now in use.
I also perforate the pad to allow a free ventilation of the foot, and I groove or
chequer the pad on the under surface in order to afford a better foothold than is
at present obtained.
To prevent the pad being displaced, as now sometimes occurs, by snow and
otherwise, I form the lugs to engage with the horse shoe.
In order that my said Invention may be more fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan; Figure 2 is an underside view; Figure 3 is a side view, and
Figure 4 is a front view of a pad made in accordance with my Invention; Figure 5
is a plan of the horse shoe, the dotted lines indicating the lugs of the pad;
Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9 are transverse sections on the lines 1-1, 2-2, 3- 3, and 4 - 4,
in Figure 5.
My pad resembles the pads at present in use, and which are made under a
Patent, No. 1772, in the year 1875, in so far that it consists mainly of india rubber
compound vulcanized in a mould, and has metallic lugs; the lugs are inserted into
the mould, and the compound is moulded upon them. My pad has a layer of soft
material over the comparatively hard rubber. In the Figures the part marked A
is the moulded and comparatively hard rubber, and B, B, B, 'are the metal lugs.
On to the inner surface of the india rubber compound is fixed a thickness Cof
india rubber sponge, which being very compressible and soft is a great protection
to the frog of the horse's foot. In place of spongy rubber it is possible to employ
other like elastic and compressible material, as india rubber, either vulcanized or
unvulcanized, rendered sufficiently compressible by perforating it all over with
numerous holes.
D, D, represent passages which I form through the pad for the purpose of
ventilation; the shape of these passages may be varied.
A', A¹, is a grooving or chequering which I form on the underside of the pad to
give a better foothold; there may be either a single set of grooves, as in the
Drawing, or cross grooves.
Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 indicate the manner in which my pad engages with the
horse shoe, so that it cannot be forced out by the action of snow or otherwise. The
lugs terminate at the rear in a square shoulder, which I prefer to be slightly

page_text: thickened, and the bevilling of the horse shoe also is made to terminate in a corre-
sponding shoulder. When the pad is inserted into its place in the horse's foot,
which is done by bending it with suitable tongs, as is now usual, the lugs of the
pad engage with the shoulders of the shoe, and the pad cannot be forced
backwards.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim,-
First. My improved pad with its inner surface of spongy or perforated rubber,
substantially as described.
Second. My improvements in pads for the feet of horses, substantially as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Reynolds, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty-two.