264 



NEW-YORK. PARMER AND 



ambition and of power, preferred his cottage and the 

 cultivation of his little farm ; yet among Americans, 

 a lar»e class of our citizens, who would claim the 

 exclusive right to the title of gentlemen, would think 

 it degrading to their dignity to be found, as the depu- 

 ties of the senate found Cincinnati!*, holding the 

 plough and dressed in the mean attire of a labouring 

 husbandman ! In Republican America, too, many of 

 our sons and daughters would excuse themselves 

 from honest industry, because it is supposed to be mi- , 

 worthy of the capacity improved by science. But 

 Americans should not forget what the lessons of his- 

 tory and experience have taught, that degeneracy of 

 morals and manners have invariably originated in that 

 class of citizens who have shunned honest industry 

 as degrading ; and that when that class becomes so 

 numerous as to controul the current of popular opin- 

 ion, the ruin of political happiness and of liberty is 

 inevitable. If then we love our country, and would 

 transmit to our posterity the blessings we enjoy, we 

 should adopt the advice of our greatest political 

 benefactor, honour the men, who with their own 

 hands maintain their families, and thereby render ag- 

 ricultural pursuits popular, render them fashionable, 

 and raise them to that dignity, to which they should 

 be elevated,; and to which they must he elevated, to 

 preserve the happiness, ami secure the permanency 

 of our republic. — Farmer's Lib. 



ART. 164— Recent Valuable Patents. 



IMPROVEMENT IN THE HORSE-SHOE. 



- 'pacification. — Be it known, that I, Stephen R. 

 blean, of the City of Washington, in the District of 

 Columbia, have invented and applied to use, a new 

 and useful improvement in the horse-shoe, called 

 " The self-expanding, or swivel-joint horse-shoe," not 

 known or used before this, my said discovery ; spe- 

 cified and described in the words following, viz. 



This shoe is formed, by simply uniting two sections 

 (one for each side of the hoof,) in the centre, at the 

 toe, by means of a rivet, which may be a separate 

 piece of iron or steel ; or it may be a projection from 

 the upper side of the lower half of the hinge joint. — 

 The rivet must be counter-sunk into the shoe, at the 

 upper end, and made flush with the upper surface of 

 the shoe, to prevent it from bearing too hard, or sink- 

 ing into the hoof; and must be made to work freely 

 in the joint — laterally. 



The benefits of this kind of shoe are practically 

 known to the inventor, and consist in the certainty of 

 it£ obviating or removing the difficulty too often ex- 

 perienced, of the horse becoming what is called " hoof 

 bound " by the shoe of the usual form now used. — 

 The frog, in the centre of the hoof, naturally endeav- 

 ors to expand ; but, beJDg confined, by reason of the 



shoe binding the hoof close upon it, often produces 

 lameness in the horse, of theabove description, which 

 no doubt, is frequently attributed to quite different 

 causes than the real one ; and Which might be com- 

 pletely prevented or removed, by using shoes of the 

 form here proposed ; as the following facts will more 

 satisfactorily prove : — 



The circumstances which led to this discovery arc 

 briefly these : — A very elegant and valuable horse, 

 belonging to a distinguished individual in this Dis- 

 trict, had become very lame. His lameness Was at- 

 tributed to a founder, and he was, for a long time 

 treated for this complaint, by different farriers, under 

 whose charge he had been placed ; but all remedies 

 having finally failed, he was pronounced " incurable,'" 

 and was accoidingly sold for a trifle to a horse-deal- 

 er. He finally (after having been hawked about for 

 some time, his lameness still increasing) came into 

 the possession of the inventor, who soon discovered, ' 

 that his lameness proceeded from bad shoeing, or 

 from shoeing in the usual manner. As a remedy, he 

 had the shoes taken oil", the frogs pared down, and in 

 this situation turned the horse out into the fields, 

 where he remained for several weeks, till his hoofv 

 became sufficiently expanded; when, on having him 

 re-shod, the idea occurred to him, that a shoe, so 

 constructed, as to allow the hoof to expand freelv, 

 would effectually prevent a return of lameness in the 

 horse. He accordingly had him shod with shoes of 

 the construction herein before described; and the con- 

 sequence has been, that his lameness never retamed_. 

 and he has become one of the most valuable horses 

 in the District of Columbia. 



Another advantage resulting from this mode of 

 shoeing, (of no small consequence, on the score of e- 

 conomy, to persons who keep a large number of hor- 

 ses.) is, that the shoes, if they are well put on in the 

 first instance, never require removing, till they ore 

 worn out — an advantage which the present meth- 

 od of shoeing does not possess, as the horse will 

 become hoof-bound if the shee remains too long in one 

 position. It is also evident, that the same shoe will 

 lit almost any hoof. 



In testimony that the foregoing is a true descrip- 

 tion of my said improvement in the horse-shoe, as by 

 me described, I hereunto set my hand and seal, this 

 9th day of June, in the year of our Lord, 1S28. 

 STEPHEN R. KEAN. 



In presence of 



URIAH BROWN, 

 JOHN F. FOSTER. 

 CAST IRON BUSH FOR GRIST MILLS. 



This article has been patented by Mr. N. Taylor, 

 and is said to be a great improvement. Its chief ex- 

 cellence consists in its preventing heat, keeping the 

 spindle firm, and when once properly fixed in the bed- 



