MISCELLANEA. 
113 
THE PATENT MACHINE HORSE SHOE. 
The application of scientific principles to the making of a 
horse-shoe may seem to many a superfluous use of great means 
for a trifling end; but, as poor Richard, says,—“ for want of a 
nail the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse,” &c., and 
so on to the rider himself being lost. On reflection, every one 
must admit that the completeness of a horse-shoe is no insig¬ 
nificant matter; and persons who are familiar with the horse, 
and its various uses, know how frequently this noble animal is 
lamed, and if not rendered useless, subjected to constant torture by 
the effects of ill-fitting shoes ; as Blundeville, a writer in Queen 
Elizabeth’s reign, observes, horses “ do come to their decay 
sooner than they should do,” among other causes, “ through the 
unskilfulnesse of the ferrer.” The horse-shoe has been made 
by a very primitive method through many ages, with little 
variation, beyond the suggestions of rude empiricism to meet 
certain circumstances, or to qualify peculiarities in the horse’s 
foot; and though individual sagacity and manual dexterity may 
avoid the more palpable errors, much uncertainty and frequent 
mischiefs pervade the art of shoeing. It is rarely that so many 
qualifications are combined in one mind as have been so success¬ 
fully employed in the invention of the horse-shoe machine, 
patented by our respected fellow-townsman, Dr. Hobson, the 
inventor. Being fond of the horse, and a good judge of its 
properties, the doctor has not disdained to apply his profes¬ 
sional knowledge of human physiology to that of an inferior 
creature, and by the aid also of mechanical science and ingenuity, 
has not only devised what was wanted in the formation of a 
horse-shoe, but has invented the mechanism which should 
unerringly produce it. We had the pleasure of seeing the 
machine at work a few days ago, and, without making pretence 
to technical acquaintance with the subject, we must acknowledge 
both obvious advantages in the process and great beauty of 
operation. The iron is in bars rolled in a peculiar manner; 
they are cut into suitable lengths, and the superfluous parts 
cut off by machinery, and the ends of each piece rounded. Any 
harsh edges left by the cutting machine are ground down, and 
the pieces are then put on a moving rack, which drops them 
one by one at the mouth of the furnace, and they are carried 
gradually through the flame and radiating heat of the furnace 
without touching the coals. By a new movement at the other 
end of the furnace, the pieces are passed successively to the 
block or die, where each is bent and stamped by a very beau¬ 
tifully combined action of the machine, and the horse-shoe, 
perfectly shaped, drops into the trough to be cooled. The nail- 
holes are afterwards punched in the cold metal; and it is not 
VOL. XXV. Q 
