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US 2012/0222871 A1Published application
Horse shoe with splaying feature and flexibility
OwnerMurali Mahidharainventor
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OwnerMurali Mahidharainventor
Estimating the term…
A horseshoe with splaying and flexibility features has a U shaped compliant metallic unitary body having left and right wings and a central toe area integral with the body, and a compliant leaf-spring formation disposed proximate to or as part of the toe area. The leaf spring is arch shaped and resiliently deforms and exerts horizontal pressure sideways on the left and right wings thus splaying the left and right wings. The arch shape forms a cavity which is optionally filled with a resilient material, e.g., polyurethane, to prevent accumulation of debris in the cavity. Contiguous serrations on the left and right wings provide relative vertical flexibility of the left and right wings. The splaying and flexibility enhance horse-hoof comfort and hoof-structure re-generation. The horseshoe may be cast/forged, blanked, or welded or produced by mechanical joining. Hardened stainless steel or Titanium, or other material may be used for the horseshoe.
A horseshoe capable of accommodating splaying of a horse hoof in use, said horseshoe having a generally U shaped unitary body including a heel-region and including left and right body portions having undersurfaces lying on a common bottom plane of the horseshoe, and a central toe area connected to said left and right body portions in a location away from said heel-region, said central toe area acting like a spring element and being generally of a crescent shape including a convex outer edge and a concave inner edge, said convex outer edge being substantially in said common bottom plane, said concave inner edge in use projecting below said common bottom plane by a chosen designed dimension, whereby when said central toe area of the horseshoe in use impacts ground, said central toe area acts like a spring element and said concave inner edge of the central toe area flattens by being resiliently pushed up thereby causing and allowing said left and right body portions of the horseshoe to splay, whereby when said central toe area is not impacting the ground, said left and right body portions of the horseshoe are restored to their original positions without splay.
A generally U shaped compliant horseshoe having left and right wings and a central toe area integral with said left and right wings and including an open recess facing said left and right wings in a substantially horizontal plane, the horseshoe including a compliant leaf-spring disposed proximate to said central toe area and attachedly bridging said left and right wings, said leaf-spring having a first unstressed state and a second stressed state, said leaf-spring in its unstressed state having an arch shape projecting downwards of said left and right wings and below said horizontal plane, said leaf-spring attaining its said second stressed state upon loading of the horseshoe in use by ground impact to cause said arch shape to resiliently deform vertically upwards and thus exert horizontal pressure sideways on said left and right wings so as to splay said left and right wings by a desired predetermined dimension, said leaf-spring being restored to its first unstressed state when the horseshoe in use is not loaded or not impacting ground, when said left and right wings are restored to their positions without splay.
A horseshoe capable of accommodating splaying of a horse hoof in use, said horseshoe having a generally U shaped unitary body and including left and right body portions lying on a bottom plane of the horseshoe, and a central toe portion bridging said left and right body portions, said left and right body portions being capable of being splayed, said central toe portion being configured to function as a leaf-spring and having a first unstressed state and a second stressed state, said central toe portion in its said unstressed state having a substantially central convex formation in use projecting below said bottom plane, said central toe portion attaining its said second stressed state by loading of the horseshoe caused when the horse shoe in use impacts ground, said central convex formation of the leaf spring tending to be flattened in its said second stressed state thereby causing and enabling said left and right body portions to splay by a predetermined dimension, whereby said central toe portion continually and alternately goes through its said second stressed and said first unstressed states respectively when the horse hoof in use impacts ground and is off ground, said left and right portions of the horseshoe further selectively including serrations to allow relative flexibility between said left and right body portions in a direction substantially perpendicular to said bottom plane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.