US257500A - Island - Google Patents

Description

(NoModeL) P. J. LAYDEN.

HORSESHOE.

Patented May 9, 1882.

DH T N E V N WITN ESSES.

N, PEYERS, Pnam-Uma m her, Wzshingion, D. c.

UNTTED STATES PATENT Orrroe.

PATRICK J. LAYDEN, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

HORSESHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 257,500, dated May 9, 1882,

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK J. LAYDEN, of the city and county of Providence, and State of Rhode Island, have invented anew and useful Improvementin Horseshoes; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

The improved shoe hereinafter described is particularly adapted for use upon horses having tender feet, produced by oorns, contracted hoofs, quarter-cracks, &c.; and the improvement consists in deflecting downwardly the heel portion of the shoe below the main portion thereof, arranging cushions of elastic material upon said deflected heel portion, and providing for an engagement between said cushions and heel portion whereby the former are retained in position when the shoe is upon the hoof of the animal, and also before the shoe is applied.

The object of my improvement is to provide ahorseshoe which shallfurnish a yielding hearing for the tender portions of the foot, and thereby prevent lameness, with simple and inexpensive means for retaining the elastic cushions upon the shoe before the shoe is applied as well as after the same is secured to the hoof.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 represents my improved shoe in perspective. Fig. 2 shows the same with the cushions removed. Fig. 3 represents in perspective one of the cushions employed. Fig. 4. shows in perspective my improvement embodied in a bar-shoe, and Fig. 5 represents in perspective the heel of said bar-shoe with the cushion removed.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, A denotes the shoe, and (t a the toe and heel portions thereof, respectively. By a bend, as at b, the heel portiouis depressed and made to occupy a plane below the main portion of the shoe, and the arms of said heel portion are provided with dovetail slots 0, for retaining the elastic cushions D in position. These cushions are composed of rubber or other suitable elastic material, and each is provided with a wedge-shaped dowel, d, which depends from the table portion 07, as shown in Fig. 3. When the cushions are upon the shoe the tops of the portions (Z lie in a plane slightly'above the main portion of the shoe, or on a level therewith, and the dowels d occupy the slots 0 and hold the cushions in position. Instead, therefore, of a hard and rigid bearing being offered for the heel of the hoof, a soft and yielding bearingis provided, which prevents lameness from corns and quarter-cracks. The construction also allows a contracted hoof gradually to assume its proper proportions, since the hoof can no longer grow down upon the inside of the metal heel portion of the shoe, and thereby be prevented from expanding.

As shown in Figs. land 5, my improvement is equally adapted to a shoe whose heel portion consists of a bar, a In this construction of shoe but one cushion,D, is necessary, which is arranged with reference to the main portion of the shoe as above described, and is held in position by the engagement of its wedgeshaped dowel with the dovetail slot 0 in the heel or bar a". The cushion D therefore will present a yielding bearing not only for the heel of the hoof, but for the frog of the foot, which latter will be retained in position and in good condition by the said cushion.

Although I prefer to slot the depressed heel of the shoe and provide the cushions with dowels to retain them in position, yet I am aware that this construction maybe varied without departing from the spirit of my invention-as, for instance, by providing the depressed heel portion with an upwardly-projecting wedgeshaped rib or ribs and furnishing the cushions with dovetail cavities to engage said ribs.

1 am also aware that instead of depressing the whole of the heel portionof the shoe, so that both the upper and under surfaces of said portion lie in planes below the upper and under surfaces, respectively, of the main portion of the shoe, as shown, the upper surface alone may be depressed (the heel portion thereby be ing made thinner) sufficiently to accommodate the cushions.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that my improved shoe is simple and inexpensive in construction, that the metal portion may be either cast or wrought, and that the cushions may be combined with the metal shoe and the completed article sent to the trade without danger of loss of the said cush- 10118.

Horseshoes have heretofore been constructed with depressed heel portions provided with elastic cushions secured therein by screws, 850., and a surrounding wall, and they have also been made with an elastic cushion extending all the way around the upper or inner face of the shoe and secured thereto by portions of the cushion entering recesses or slots in the shoe and by tongues projecting from the shoe and bent over the cushion; and, also, horseshoes have been made with a recessed shouldered flange depressed below theface of the shoe and combined with an elastic sole to register in said flange; and, also, horseshoes have been provided with depressed heel portions crimped to receive a bearing-piece of wood, &c., which may be held thereupon by clamps or the like; but these all differ from my invention in their merchantable im practicability and complexity

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