Various objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more filly apparent and appreciated as the sine become better understood from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings of the preferred embodiments in which:
FIG. I illustrates a sport shoe in side elevation with heel region disk sole, intermediate region outsole and forefoot region disk sole illustration of the general profile of the invention.
Pig. 4 is an exploded cut-away broken-away side view of sole disk and sole disk attachment structure.
Pig. 6 illustrates the side cut-any broken-away assembled view of
Fig. ? is a broken-away cut-away view of an alternate embodiment of a sole disk and sole disk attachment structure illustrated with said sole disk attachment structure at a canted positional arrangement to said sole disk with the Bill bottom surface of said sole disk remaining on a footing surface.
Pig. 11 illustrates a schematic drawing underside view and preferred placement of heel and forefoot sole disks and disk attachment structure and region of intermediate outsole.
Pig. 12 Is a top view of sole disk of the ct-away broken-any view of sole disk of
Pig. I is a at-away view of an alternate embodiment of a sole disk and sole disk attachment structure modified for universal utilitarian products attachment.
Pig. 20 is a schematic side elevation view of the horseshoe of
Referring now to the drawings. Drawing
The invention is illustrated installed on the forefoot region, as at 16 and heel region, as at 16A of a shoe shown in side elevation of
Drawing
The combination of structures of said sole disks upon which the shoe rotates via said sole disk attachment structures, said sole disk attachment structure may either be an integral part of, or, mounted and attached to shoe sole 43 and/or as heel and toe regions of intermediate outsoles
Referring now to
In general the function of said sole disk 16 attached to its sole disk attachment structure 1? such as shown in
More specifically a shoe wearer can rotate ones shoes while maintaining a fixed axial positions of rotation with a fixed linear position of said sole dislc4 which sole disk is fictionally adhesively established fixed in place at a footing surface where said shoe wearer may rotate at by weight of the shoe wearer bearing down on the non-slip undersurface of the said special outsoles sole disk 16 or 16A upon which said shoe wearer rotates on via the shoe's rotary sole disk attachment structure rotatably connected to and on said sole disks upper surfaces 32 and 47 complementarity configured to undersurface 48 end 49 of said sole disk attachment structure. Said structure 17 and 17A is held rotatable to said structure 16 and 16A by corresponding catch ring groove 27 and clasp ring 26. Said sole disk 16 and 16A is preferably made of fairly resiliently flexible materials such as the elastomer materials. And the sole disk attachment structure preferably made of fairly rigid internally lubricated materials such as ACETYL below. The alternate embodiment of a sole disk 32 and sole disk attachment structure 33 of
In
More specifically a shoe that can rotate independently at a fixed linear footing position of its outsoles is best supported most beneficially when said outsoles is made in the form of a disk coaxially connected to potentionally rotate in positional arrangement at the forefoot region of the shoe which encompasses the ball of the foot within the diameter of the said sole disk. The said sole disk preferably extending rearward from the region of the toes first joint, as at 22, to include a region of the ball of the foot, sat 23,
The perimeter of the sole disk is sharply tapered to a point allow a certain degree of sole disk edge resilient flexing, such as illustrated in
The said sole disk perimeter flexing at a canted position also assures that the sole disk will never have an undesirable linear wheeling motion on the sole disks edge prevented by maintaining contact with a footing surface substantially inward from the edge perimeter of the sole disk at which canted configuration said edge perimeter also comes into contact with an edge region of the shoe bottom's sole disk attachment structure 17, as at 48 which acts as a soledisk brake and locking mechanism as illustrated in
The following alternate embodiment of a sole disk 32 and sole disk attachment structure 33,
Also in this alternate embodiment a shoe is made more unlikely to cause slippage on a footing surface especially when a shoe is lifted to the usual S degrees of a canted configuration to a footing surface, because in said canted position, in this embodiment, the entire undersurface of the disk sole 32 remains in contact to said footing surface as illustrated in
Along with the above mentioned features the said alternate embodiment also has the same basic rotational means of a shoe's sole disk attachment structure 33 to rotate clockwise or counter clockwise to any point of 360 degrees connected to the circular top structure of a sole disk 33 upon which said sole disk attachment structure 33 can rotate when its attached sole disk 32 is frictionally held in place on a footing surface.
All drawing figure lines of said alternate embodiment define circular or annular structures. In the drawing of the sole disk attachment perimeter structure 33 the rounded end, as at 35A, of catch finger 4, defines the perimeter of a circular opening of said structure 33 into which said opening perimeter sole disk 32 is fitted and attached to. And said sole disk attachment structure 33 housing wall 36 and ceiling 38 all define circular structures. The additional structural features of the said alternate embodiment, as mentioned, allows the entire expanse of the bottom underside surface 34 of sole disk 32 to remain in fall contact to a footing surface by the sole disk attachment structure 33 dynamically reconfiguring its positional arrangement to a static position of sole disk 32 when shoe 19 and its bottom attached said structure 33 are canting up to the usual said S degrees of hill cant that occurs automatically, such as when a foot of the shoe wearer has canted said shoe in accompaniment to certain rapid twisting or turning movements of the upper body when that person is engaged in high stress physical sports and the said shoe's said sole disk 32 and sole disk attachment structure 33 configures in a manner as illustrated in FIG.? where the catch finger 35 of said sole disk attachment structure 33 is forced to flex upward at catch finger's rounded end 3M engaged at beveled catch groove 41 of sole disk 32, and the catch horning shell wall, as at 36, of catch finger 35. is forced to flex somewhat outward as said shell wall 36 moves downward and eventually folds against the surface of the beveled lower perimeter, as at 14, of sole disk 32, illustrated in FIG.?, as shell ceiling 38 comes down to rest against top end corner 37 of sole disk at preferred angle of S degrees as shown in
The sole disk 32 is attached to shoe bottom sole disk attachment structure 33 by placing the disk at its upper most beveled surface 40 that provides a mechanical advantage when said sole disk is forced thereat to slide upwards engaged to lubricated rounded end 3M of flexibly resilient catch finger 35 which defines the resting open circular diameter of circular catch finger 35 opening which is resiliently stretched outward to open more widely as sole disk's beveled surface 40 moves upward and forces said catch finger 35 to engage forcing nibs 42 (nibs 42 may be formed as a molded integral fixed part of ceiling 38, or said nibs may be placed as the heads of screws screwed into ceiling 38, and said screws may be of a length sufficiently long enough to be used to attach the sole disk attachment structure 33 to the bottom surface of a shoe's midsole by screwing either a regular screw thread or self taping screw tread through said shell ceiling 38 into the bottom surface of said shoe's midsole) until said catch finger is forced by said nibs 42 to resiliently map-fit inwards into sole disk's beveled catch groove 41 creating—air-tight seal thereat for hollow space 50 where said sole disk 32 is then held to shoe bottom sole disk attachment structure 33 that, can by these means therefor rotate clockwise or counter clockwise to any desired radial segment position on sole disk 32 at said sole disk's beveled groove 41 engagement to rounded housing wall catch finger end 3M surface and where by wall 36 and sealed in air space 50 of the housing of said sole disk attachment structure 33 said structure can substantially flex resiliently downward and upward and substantially cant to various directional positions relative to the static position of its ached sole disk 32 by which features the unit substantially absorbs the shock energy of impacts away from the shoe wearer's foot and also substantially prevents disk sole 32 footing slippage.
The sole disk attachment structure 33 may be manufactured as an integrated special fixed region of the shots midsole layer, or optionally the outsoles layer with said structure and said midsole, or said outsoles formed as a single part by various molding techniques; or structure 33 may be formed as a separate part and mounted and attached to the underside of a shoe by any known method or practical means including attaching by screws for instance would allow the said structure 33 to be readily removed from the shoe as a complete unit with attached sole disk 32. Manufacturing of said unit can only be accomplished by any outside party only by written and signed consent of the inventor.
The said sole disk attachment structure of either embodiment may be made of any internally lubricated material, and a lubricant of stable viscosity may additionally be placed onto a beveled clasp or catch or onto the end of catch finger 35 and/or beveled surface 44 to assure ease of assembling of a unit or for creating an air tight seal for the hollow air space 50 of sole disk attachment structure 33.
The said sole disk of either embodiment can be readily removed from their corresponding sole disk attachment structures by placing the flat end of a tool such as for example a conventional screwdriver into air space between the perimeters of a soledisk and its soledisk attachment structure as for example 109,
The sole disk 32 and sole disk attachment structure 33 of the alternate embodiment of
Either embodiment of the sole disk and sole disk attachment structure can be bulk to any practical size and to any sout of foot or leg gear intended for human or aninial use such as nmy be exemplifled in FIG. I6 structure 46 having through holes 45 for screws for attachment of a proper size to the hoofs of horses or adhesives may be employed tor holes 45 in another embodiment may be provided in a thinner and smaller thickness of structure 46 for use with pop-rivets to attach the structure to a belt or any sort of leg gear, or then again, adhesives employed for adhering a unit of the invention to any kind or type of cloth, plastic or leather fabricated to fit the feet of humans or the hoofs and paws of animals.
The said structures of this alternate embodiment of the invention may also be made by special order man-made materials in whole or in put as disclosed earlier in this specification.
All of the above acquirements for the fabrication and/or installation of this invention either assembled or not assembled or any part thereof can only be fabricated, acquired or installed only by written and signed contractual consent by the inventor.
The fabrication of this said embodiment of the intention can be accomplished with signed permission of the inventor by the ordinary tools of the everyday shoe repair shop for sale or installation on new or old shoes and shoes custom made for customers.
Parts for the simple construction of this said embodiment can be manufactured or fabricated in the manner that follows which as disclosed applies to both the heel and forefoot units of the invention being disclosed at times by reference numbers of the forefoot unit which may be assumed to also refer to the heel unit as they the reference numerals obviously may be applied without nun] application in a drawing figure. Said embodiment parts can be cut or die stamped from flat sheet stock materials and farther fabricated by stitching and/or the application of adhesives and also by employing screws to saw parts together and also for installation of units of the invention onto the soles of shoes including the application of heat to adhere parts together. Parts are easily matched for assembly accordingly to each parts profile an cut from flat sheet stock accordingly to the drawing figures of this specification including part profiles or silhouette shown by way of broken lines making up the whole of a region oft put
The multi-co-axial circular lines that define the structure of sole disks 51 and 5IA make up the whole of the said sole disks which a large volume manufacturer thereof may prefer to be formed by being molded into proper form by the injection molding process or other known molding methods.
The said sole disks also can be made as a two part or three part fabrication. With a two part application the bottom layer, as at 51, outsole region which contacts a footing surface may be a separate rubber pert made from a rubber material that has an excellent traction property that is bonded or sewn to the other disk part, as at 51C and 51D,
The two top adhered said disks of said sole disk 51 part may be made of (or all three, if another outsole bottom layer is added for the largest disk size to serve as a glued on but removable said sole disk 51 part that provides said sole disk 51 part with a bottom footing surface of increased traction) Lubricomp's Internally lubricated compounds of lower wear and lower friction such as graphite filled and silicone filled ACETYL or the LNP material, a PTFE and arimid filled Lunbricomp ACETYL that give more than five times better resistance to abrasive wear than unfilled ACETYL; also Lubricomp's polyurethane containing a proprietary filler of theirs could provide the needed self-lubricity. And as aforesaid, these chemicals modify the surface of the part to provide an “INTERNALLY LUBRICATED’ compound, but the presence of the lubricant does not affect the physical properties of the rubber part Any of the said “internally lubricated” materials, which lubricant is bound to the part material may be optional choices disclosed in the specification and others that provide maintenance-free lubricated parts without significant transference of the internally bound said lubricants to parts being lubricated; which parts lubrication features are highly desirable and will be optional choices to be employed in all embodiments of this invention as well as other like substances.
The assembled layered parts of the forefoot unit of this embodiment shown in the cut-away view of
The shoe's midsole, as at 52B of the cut-away view of
In the shoe heel region embodiment of attached sole disk 51A and sole disk attachment structure 52k
A shoe having a unit of the said invention installed on its sole heel region and forefoot region cannot rotate on sole disks at both said regions at the same time but can only rotate on a single sole disk located either at the said heel region or forefoot region and only when the shoe wearer lifts either the shoe's forefoot region sole disk off of a footing surface to rotate on said heel region sole disk; or lifts the shoe's heel region sole disk off of a footing surface leaving only said shoe's forefoot region sole disk to rotate on. And when said heel sole disk and said forefoot sole disk are both on a footing surface at the same time of the same shoe neither sole disk will be able to rotate and said shoe will have full non-slip fictional in place traction.
As aforementioned, assembling of the unit parts of this embodiment onto a midsole of a shoe is to simply match the profile silhouette of each part as by first preferably placing sole disk 51
The rearward portion, as at 51E, of sole disk 51 is left free of shim 52D and outsole 52 parts to allow very large diameter sole disks necessary for very large shoe soles to remain flat in traction against a footing surface when the shoe wearer lifts a shoe's heel region off of said footing surface and therefore must bend the forefoot region of the shoe at the ball of the foot of the shoe wearer as exemplified in other embodiment illustrated in
In the embodiment of FIGS. I and 2 the sole disk 16 as illustrated in
The horseshoe embodiment below of this invention shown in
When a horse, shod with horseshoes of this invention, is stepping along a pathway and brings a hoof down onto said pathway where, by chance, small obstacles on the pathway are then touching various sides of the projecting flat ends 95 of a horseshoe's rollers 73 and the horse then begins changing direction with a rotational movement of one or more of its hoofs kept linearly in place on said pathway. Question: Will the horse's said in place turning horseshoe of one or more hoofs become snagged at said pathway obstacles which are touching the straight sides of the said horseshoe's rollers 73 when die horse attempts to rotate its said horseshoed hoof or hoofs either clockwise or counter clockwise around the vertical axis of a hoof The answer is no the said hoof will not get its horseshoe snagged on said pathway small obstacles because even when two such obstacles are touching both flat ends of any or all said roller 73 such as, for example, the fifth roller at the right side of the bonds horseshoe moving clockwise of which the said obstacles touching the sides of said fifth roller 73 must therefore lay at die outside of the circular orbital movement of said roller which said roller will take and therefor will neither move against nor most away fran said pathway obstacles touching the said straight sides of roller but merely brush against said roller without increasing contact pressure as said roller follows its said orbital movement of the horseshoed hoofs rotational movement about its vertical axis at said pathway unimpeded by said obstacles. All but two rollers 73 at the ends of the horseshoe following the fifth roller mentioned will roll over said obstacle rolling within and outer region of the said fifth roller's orbit with the fifth next to Inst said following roller 73 at the opposite left side fork of the horseshoe also only brushing against said pathway obstacle and not increase pressure against it, and the following remaining four rollers of said opposite fork of said horseshoe will each follow orbits that are at the inside region of first said fifth roller's orbit and therefor will also roll over the obstacle that was at the opposite inner flat side of said first fifth roller but will not roll over obstacle at opposite end of said roller. In other words all seventeen rollers of the said horseshoe will either roll along the touched side of, roll over or entirely miss any random positional arrangements of pathway small obstacles without any said pathway small obstacle becoming snagged at said horseshoe rollers. Other featured factions of said rollers and accommodating structures of the horseshoe to deal with and avoid adversarial hone pathway objects are disclosed below.
It is well known that serious injuries often occur to the legs of homes, and mostly to their complex lower legs regions including inflamation and/or tearing and separation of their Sesamoidean ligaments, Suspensory ligament of the navicular bone, T-ligament, Common extensor tendon, Annular ligament Deep flexor tendon, Impar ligament Coffin joint. Pastern joint and Fetlock joint which injuries are often brought on by over-extension resistance to abnormal physical twisting forces originating at the hones hoofs not moving as they should in coordination with the horse's upper body movements as the horse places its weight on a conventionally shod hoof which had become perhaps only momentarily somewhat snagged on a pathway surface obstacle while attempting to turn its body but nevertheless often eventually causes end disease serious injury and great immobilizing pain to a horse. Concrete with a rough surface to prevent slippage is often found as the floor material of choice for horse stables and which is a primary example on which surface horseshoes of a hone may time and time again become momentarily snagged at and generally somewhat resist twisting sliding movements of a horses hoofs, which action most of the tine goes unnoticed by a horses handler, unless the home is seen to have been actually tripped by said obstacle˜ and gradually causes serious inflamation first, and over time, as concerns the horse's suspensory ligament, may degenerate to incurable end disease states such as the one known by vets, as Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Desmitis (DSLD), and then if the hoof finally becomes sagged hard enough, and again for perhaps only for a split second, may cause a ligament or even a tendon to eventually become permanently stretched or even partially or filly torn loose from a bone joint or muscle and the degenerative cause of the injury remaining a mystery. The common paving material called asphalt may also be a risky surface for a horse to walk on, especially black asphalt which absorbs heat from the sun easily and somewhat softens, and anything projecting from a horseshoe can get easily get caught up hard into its surface. And other surfaces are also risky, such as the expansion grooves of sidewalks and wooden boardwalks. In other words most man-made surfaces, hard or even somewhat soft, are not kind to a hone's legs. Such surfaces repeatedly cause stress to horses so insidiously that homes come to said incurable disease Mates with handlers never noticing before hand that these hones are being stressed in ways just disclosed. It should, therefor, be realized by horse owners that a horse might be constantly in pain from sore hoofs and legs caused by such pathway materials but not injured enough to have a noticeable limp or other signs of injury. Think of people feet which some hurt badly but people often don't show it in the way they walk. And it should be realized, too, that the lower legs of horses that are designed by nature town hard on all kinds of natural surfaces are not particularly very sensitive to pain and therefor when a horses legs are stressed the horse most of the time does not react emotionally to the stress, not even to chronic leg diseases before the end stage of the disease.
The said horseshoe embodiments of this specification are designed to have a long serviceable life with features to decrease or prevent said twisting forces from occurring to a horses legs in such a manner as to be most comfortable and safe in their application with minimum transference of heat, vibration and shock from said horseshoes to the hoof of a hone while allowing free flexing of not only the frog region of the hoof but free flexing of the entire wall of the hoof while providing overall reduced stress to a horse from outside fortes. Said horseshoe has eleven parts for its installation to a hoof Said horseshoe parts as shown in
Main one piece horseshoe body 86 which has the silhouette profile of the horseshoe. Resiliently flexible spring 75. Roller box 74. Roller 73. Resiliently flexible bottom layer 77 and integral roller keeper seal flaps 77A (an additional foam layer may be added to provide insulation). Thin flat steel or high impact plastic bottom cover plate 94, which has open regions for roller keeper seal flaps 77A and cover plate screws 14. Said cover plate 94 protects and holds flexible bottom layer 77 and integral roller keeper seal flaps 77A in place against the main body S6 of the horseshoe. Small self tapping screws 14 screw through bottom plate 94 and through flexible layer 77 and into horseshoe main body 86 to scan said bottom cover plate 94 and said flexible layer 77 to bottom of horseshoe. Large interior self-tapping horseshoe screws 91 secure the main body S6 of the horseshoe to the hoof of a horse in a special unique way to allow the frog region and entire wall of the hoof to flex normally slightly outward and resiliently back inward (most horse handlers and owners still think that only the frog region of the said hoof has flexural movement) which said normal hoof flexing action acts as a shock absorber which helps to reduce concussion on the hoof and legs of a horse when contacting a pathway surface.
It is important to know why it is so important to allow flexing of the entire hoof wall explained as follows: As mentioned, the horse hooves are extremely complex structures, very sensitive to stress and pressure and with an excellent blood and nerve supply. On the outside and underneath, they are protected by a horn, generally known as the wall of the hoof (a form of modified, hardened skin) which grows down from the coronet band, a fleshy ridge around the top of the hoof equivalent to the cuticle on a human nail. Inside the hoof the horny (wall) outer structures are tightly bonded to the sensitive ones by means of leaves of horn and flesh (called laminae) which interlock around the wall of the hoof The sensitive structures themselves surround the bones of the foot. When weight is put on the foot (hoof) it flattens and expands slightly, (flexes outward) squashing the sensitive tissues and blood vessels between the horn (wall) outside and the bones inside. The blood is squeezed up the leg into the veins, which have valves stopping the blood naming back again. When the weight is removed (from the hoof), fresh blood rushes back into the tiny vessels (called capillaries) and so the process goes on.
It was thought until very recently that it was almost entirely pressure on the hoofs frog region which pumped the blood around like this, but recent research has shown that, although the frog plays a part; it is the expansion of the whole foot (allowed by flexible expansion of the hoof wall ) which is important The frog region, together with the plants cushion inside the heels of the hoofs foot, mainly helps reduce concussion on the foot.
Today millions of horses feet are tied to horseshoes which do not allow proper blood flow to their legs which may be another contributing factor of leg tissue breakdown which can lead to the widespread disease known as DSLD above,
When shoeing a horse with a horseshoe unit of this invention which allows fill free outward flexing of the entire wall of the hoof the said horseshoe unit may be precisely positioned on the hoof of a horse by known & as a professional farrier knows, the anatomy of the bottom parts or regions of said hoof. The forefeet hoofs have a different anatomy configuration orientation than that of the horse's hindfeet hoofs. The said forefeet hoofs are much more round in shape than the hindfeet hoofs, the hindfeet hoofs being much more pointed in shape than are the forefeet hoofs. Therefor said horseshoes will be made in shapes for fitting to either the said forefeet hoofs or said hindfeet hoofs as well as coming in different sizes in accordance to the size and type of horse to be shod. All sizes and shapes of said horseshoes have rollers, which as disclosed, will self-adjust automatically to the vertical axis of rotation of all types, sizes and shapes of a horse's hoofs. And all said horseshoes will have a horseshoe main body 86 horseshoe screw holes formed large enough to accept various degrees of outward movements of screw shanks 96 within screw hole air space 97 to allow a safe and proper full magnitude of flexing of a hoof wall for all types of horse hoofs below. Prior to Adding any type of horseshoe to a horses hoof the said hoof must first be properly filly prepared for accepting a horseshoe in accordance to the particular condition of each individual hoof In addition horseshoes of this invention require that the bottom surface of a hoof and especially as concerns the hoof wall should be made as homogeneously flatly level and smooth as possible in order for the said horseshoe, which will allow said hone's hoof wall to flex on its surface, to have a complete closely fitted contact with said hoof. Also a stable viscosity water seal grease, nil grease or any such product compatible to the health of the hoof should be applied between the bottom surface of said hoof wall and top surface of said horseshoe to assure freedom of flexibility of the hoof wall on said horseshoe.
The horseshoe is attached to the said hoof by the special and unique interactive structures of the horseshoe screws 91 and horseshoe main body 86 horseshoe screw hole 89 structures which together accomplish complete flexural freedom of a hoofs flexible wall. The large diameter self-tapping threaded 99 region of screws 91 have smooth round shanks 96 of much nailer diameter than said screw threat 99, and which said shank 96 diameter is directly attached to the screw head 90. The horseshoe main body 86 screw hole 89 is minutely smaller than said screw thread diameter region 99 which permits a snug or partially screwed in fit of said screw's thread region 99 to said main body screw hole 89 wall. Said large self-tapping horseshoe screws 91 attaches the horseshoe main body 86 with roller boxes 74 and rollers 73 already assembled in it to a horses hoof wall in the following manner: First, with the horseshoe main body 86 downside turned up, self-lubricating washers are placed onto screw hole's bottom end right angled screw head housing overhead surface 102, as at 100 and lot, Fi& 22, which act as self-lubricating screw head flat washer bearings which may be made of internal-lubricated materials such as Acetron NS or Parker Compound N1090-85 or PTFE Compounds or Hytrel Type HTX-8177 which may also be primary or optional choices of materials for other parts of the horseshoe, The first larger washer 101 has a round axial hole of a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of screw hole 89 wall diameter, and said washer 101 has—outer perimeter diameter which completely coven right angled screw head housing overhead surface 102 to diameter of said housing's vertical wall 104. Next a self-tapping horseshoe screw 91 is screwed or force fitted into screw hole 89 which precisely guides said screw 91 to a position therein as illustrated at the left side of drawing Pig. 22 with a small portion of screw point projecting from top of horseshoe main homing 86 surface screw hole 89. To properly gauge the depth of all said screw shanks 96 into said screw holes 89 and magnitude of projection of said screws 91 pointed ends projecting from said horseshoe main body 86 a simple screw gauge of proper length can be made from round molding of a diameter larger than that of screw head round housing wall 304 diameter and cut to proper length and grooved along its long axis to accept screw shanks and placed sequentially onto all said screw shanks 96 with one end of said gauge placed against underside of screw head 90 which precisely limits the length of all said screw shanks 96 to the same depth length screwed into said screw holes 89 and therefor also the—magnitude of projection of each screw 9 point projecting from said horseshoe main body 86 screw holes 39 as illustrated at said left side of drawing Pig. 22 All remaining horseshoe screws 91 and washer 101 are assembled in the same manner and configuration into said horseshoe main body 86 screw holes 39. The second said nailer washer, as at 100, has a two part split axial hole diameter that is assembled to all horseshoe screws 91w snugly fit onto screw shank 96 diameter, and said washer 100 has—cuter diameter of the same size as the screw head diameter. Next a proper length of preferably coiled fatigable resiliently flexible oblong hollow plastic keeper tubing 103 is forcefully slightly compressibly fitted completely around and between screw head 90 screw head washer bearing 100, and screw head housing vertical wall 104, and against washer bearing 101. Tubing 103 as shown placed therein keeps screw shank 96 reboundably centered within screw hole 89 air space 97; below. The said horseshoe main body 86 top is greased and is now ready to be carefully positioned by a farrier onto the uplifted prepared hoof of a horse and all said assembled horseshoe screw heads 90 with points projecting from the horseshoe main body 86 to the same length are all lightly tapped at the same time by employing a small piece of ¾ inch plywood onto all said screw beads 90 and centrally striking said plywood moderately with a hand sledge until all said screws 91 projecting points have been driven into the wall of said hoof and then said plywood removed and said horseshoe main body 86 is then pulled off of hoof and all the horseshoe screw indent marts left in said hoof wall by said horseshoe screws are inspected to be sure that they we all correctly positioned for safe complete driving of screws all the way into the wall of the hoof and having passed inspection for correct positions the horseshoe main body 86 is then repositioned back into hoofs said the prior screw indents made and all said horseshoe screws 91 driven all the way into the hoof wall ending with all of the screw's threaded region 99 screwed into the hoof wall leaving only the screw shank 96 centered in screw hole air space 97 with the said screw heads lightly pressured against the horseshoe main body 86 and finally all screw heads 90 are torqued to two foot pounds of torque each, by employing preferably a battery operated power screw driver equipped with an adjustable torque gauge with an automatic click release. All said screw heads 90 having been filly seated on their washers are backed off slightly with one eight turns until the farrier can feel some slight sideways movement of said horseshoe main body 86 on the hoof by said farrier pushing hard on the side of said horseshoe main body 86 and having accomplished that last step the said horseshoe main body is now fully mounted to the underside of the hoof. Then the flexible layer 77 is properly mapped onto the heads of all bottom plate screw 14 heads. Next the bottom plate 94 is mounted in place by slipping bottom plate 94 keyholes onto all extended bottom plate screw 14 heads and pushing said plate to one side to lock it in place and tightening down all said screws 14 and the horseshoe's fill assembly is now mounted to the hands hoof Mounting of the horseshoe main body 86 in this manner allows fill free flexing of the hoof wall because the full length of the horseshoe screw's large diameter threaded ends 99 have all been screwed into the hoof wall leaving only the much smaller diameter screw shank 96 left in horseshoe main body 86 screw holes 89 with a large air space 97 left fully around said position of screw shanks 96 and therefore when a horse steps down on a pathway the wall of said hoof flexes outward with said treaded region of horseshoe screws 9! fixed in place in said hoof wall and therefor moves the smaller diameter attached screw shaft 96 with it to one side of screw hole 89 air space 97 and therefore too, also slides the screw head 90 with self-lubricating washer ICC to one side of screw head housing 104 compressing keeper tubing 103 to the right and left sides of screw head housing walls 104 at the right and left arced sides of horseshoe and therefor the weight of the horse on its hoofs outward flexed walls keeps the horseshoe unit always in a proper stable positional arrangement on any said hoof the horse may be standing on or walking and running on because each screw attached to the flexed wall of a hoof, while said hoof remains standing on a surface, has moved outward at a different radial segment angle plane at each installed site at said right and left arcs of the horseshoe and also of the right and left arcs of the hoof wall However if said raised horseshoed hoof did not have automatic self centering means to the hoof of the horse and the horse brushes a shod hoof against anything on the way up the hoof's horseshoe could be slightly moved on the hoof and therefor no longer centered on it for the next step downward, but this cannot happen because all resiliently flexible keeper tubing 103 wrapped at each bead 90 of the horseshoe screw would be compressed by movement of said screw head 90 to any direction off center of screw hole 89 and therefor all said resiliently compressed tubing 103 would thereafter rebound against said screw heads 90 which ganged action always moves said screw shanks 96 back to center of said screw holes 89. The horseshoe main body 86 screw holes 89 will be of one sufficient diameter size universally large enough to allow safe free full flexing of any size or kind of hoof to any degree or magnitude of hoof wall flexing made possible by employment of said resiliently flexible screw head keeper tubing 103 aforesaid centering means disclosed for centering screw shanks 96 within screw holes 89 air spaces of one common maximum size screw hole 89 for many different sizes of horseshoes.
The main body 86 of the horseshoe is preferable made of Ultrahigh-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene which resists abrasion, is tear resistant and has vibration dampening and heat absorption resistant properties and is easily molded and/or machined. The rollers, as at 73 may have flat rolling surfaces, as in
The horseshoe writ is attached to a hoof with self-tapping horseshoe screws and threaded holes thereby formed in the hoof wail of a horse can be used over again a number of times when exchanging the basic identical horseshoe main body 86
The horseshoe's rollers 73 all have a horizontal axis of rolling rotation which lay at a different radial axial plane from any other said roller because the horseshoe structure does not define a perfect circle nor neither does the hoof wall of a horse, therefor each roller's horizontal axis of rotation must be placed differently into the horseshoe to have the potential to roll around the vertical single axis of a hoof with all said rollers said horizontal axis in their radial segments pointing to said single vertical axis of potential rotation of a horse's hoof necessary to allow each said roller to potentially roll along its own individual coaxial annular path of least resistance around said hoofs vertical axis.
Each roller 73 has two flat constant tight angled vertical plane sides as shown in
In other words, because each roller's axis of rotation is aligned to the single axis of potential rotation of each of the hone's hoofs the horseshoe rollers can roll with and follow the annular rotational turning movement of the horse's hoof about said hoofs single vertical axis while resisting linear directions of rolling or slippage movement of a hoof along the surface of a pathway, while with said rotational movement of a horses hoofs said horseshoe rollers will ride up and roll over small obstacles on a pathway that an ordinary conventional horseshoe may snag upon.
No two Horses are exactly alike—and not even the hoofs of the same horse have their vertical axis all respectively located at the same exact point of rotation of a hoof The point of the vertical axis of a hoof is substantially located generally for all horse hoofs at the forward point of cartilage space where inside a hoof the Navicular bone (distal sesamoid) meets the Coffin bone (Distal Phalanx). And this said axial point of actual rotation is different for each and every hoof accordingly to the fine physical structuring of a particular horse—d a particular hoof. Although the said differences of hoof axis is not great it is important for the general well being of a horse shod with horseshoes of this invention for rollers of said horseshoe to be able to find and point to the location of each hoof axis of rotation to enable a horse to rotate its hoofs as easily as possible as wild horses can with their bare hoofs romping on the plains and desert surfaces of natural mother earth.
Therefor a particular feature of said horseshoes is that all rollers 73 of
To assure long life of this horseshoe said rollers also automatically adjust themselves for wear of their bearing surfaces to maintain tight roller seals against invasion of significant amounts of dirt and grit particles into interior spaces of the horseshoe.
All bearing surface parts of the horseshoe, including roller keeper seal flaps 79 are self-lubricating from the internal-lubricant of the material of which parts with bearing surfaces are made of and therefore are maintenance free with said lubricant remaining within the physical bounds of the bearing surface of the material of a part which said internal-lubricant is a bound component of.
Rollers 73,
In
In addition to the above said movement of rollers 73 within roller boxes 74 said rollers also move Anther into the horseshoe main body 86 to absorb the shock of applied force of some of the weight and/or strength of a horse impacting said horseshoe rollers with each down-step against a pathway's surface causing said rollers therefor in turn to force roller box 74 overhead to press against resiliently compressible spring 75 telescopically compressing the coil of said spring that is in a positional arrangement between the exterior surface of roller box overhead roofed roller box compartment 76 overhead surface which said movements of parts and compression of said spring thereby absorbs some of the shock of said rollers—said pathway surface.
Also, when said force of weight and/or strength of said horse is relieved from a horseshoe roller box spring 75 the said spring expands and pushes said roller box outwards to rest against resiliently flexible seal layer 77 which seals off vent grooves 12 and 13 (below) and also pushes roller outward more tightly against roller keeper seal flaps 77A and which expansive force of said spring seal off vent grooves 12 and 13, and keep flexibly resilient roller flaps 77A against rollers 73 which provides quiet operation of a horseshoe by dampening sound vibration and keeping said movable parts from rattling around within said horseshoe with stepping motions of a horse.
These said workings of the horseshoe also work to provide a ventilator system feature of the horseshoe when as aforementioned said roller box 74 moves more deeply into roller box compartment 37, therefor stale air and/or fluid rapped inside of horseshoe between said roller box 74 roof and interior walls of roller box compartment 87 are fated to flow out of horseshoe along roller box exterior wall vent groove 13 engaged to now opened roller box compartment interior wall vent groove 12 along which said air flow continues its journey out of horseshoe between roller 73 and roller seal flaps 77A and also out between Y-slits at corners of said roller boxes 74. And when the horse raises its shod hoof off of a surface and pressure is relieved off of a horseshoe and therefor off of horseshoe rollers 73, the said roller 73 and roller box 74 then mow outward from roller box compartment 87 and therefor die said roller box sucks some air back through vent grooves 12 and 13 and into air space being created between said roller box 74 and roller box compartment 37 as said roller box 74 continues to move outward until the bottom perimeter of said roller box 74 engages and is pressed against seal layer 77 by expansive force of spring 75 which action then blocks the outer opening of engaged vent grooves 12 and 13. And when the boasts shod hoof is again pressured against a surface said roller 73 again forces said roller box to move again more deeply into roller box compartment 87 and away from seal layer 77 which action unblocks outer opening of vent grooves 12 and 13 . . . and so it goes, keeping the horseshoes ventilated and cooled with each stepping action of the horses legs.
Each roller 73 is provided with a die-stamped resiliently flexible and preferably internally lubricated said roller keeper seal flaps 77A that are integrally connected to seal layer 77
The concave rolling surface of roller 73 shown in
When the main bearing surfaces of a roller 73 and/or roller box 74 and perhaps also roller keeper seal flaps 77A become worn and require replacement they are all easily expeditiously removed and then replaced hi and on the main body 86 of the horseshoe. First, if the said flaps 77A also require replacement Said flaps as mentioned, are an integral part of the one piece of flexible material layer 77 which covers most of the bottom surface of the horseshoe's main body 36 as does the bottom plate 94, cover most of the bottom surface of flexible material layer 77, both of which are removed by first backing out but not removing all bottom plate screws 14. All said screws 14 are screwed through keyhole type screw holes in bottom plate with one side of said keyholes larger than the heads of screws 14 therefor by simply having bottom plate 94 turned face downward and tapped to cause said plate 94 to gravitate downward against screw heads of screws 14 and said plate 94 then moved to one side to large hole side of said screw keyholes and said plate 94 then removed from horseshoe past heads of said screws 14. Then said flexible layer 77 is simply removed by peeling it off of said screw heads. All assemblies of a horseshoe roller?) roller box 74 and roller box spring 75 of the horseshoe main body 86 are now made accessible to be lifted out or dumped out of the horseshoe. If the horseshoe is still attached to the hoof of a horse a small sheet of five eights inch thick plywood can be placed under the horses hoof before disassembly of said horseshoe, and with said horseshoe disassembled with bottom coverings off with a hoof held up the said hoof is then allowed to drop onto said plywood to dump all movable parts from the main body 86 of the horseshoe onto said plywood sheet and inspected, which parts are the roller 73. roller box 74 and conical spring 75. Said spring's smallest bottom helical loop is either screwed or forced fitted into recessed spring hole 92 of roller box overhead 80 for attachment to said roller box 74 for expedient removal with removal of said roller box. And for simple and expedient replacement of all hard said movable parts of horseshoe main body 86 still attached to the hoof of a horse may be used having the same perimeter profile as the profile of the horseshoe with openings through the said jig of a form complemental in shape, size and spacing orientation of the horseshoe main bodies 86 roller box compartments 87 positional arrangements, as at 87
The said assembly of the horseshoe of this invention is approximately of the—manner of which the manual assembly of new horseshoe units may be conducted.
The said horseshoe may be supplied requiring assembly as disclosed above, or may come already almost completely assembled as illustrated at left side of drawing
The horseshoe of this invention may be installed onto a horse in any manner deemed practical such as aching to conventional horseshoes already shod to a horse temporarily or reconsidered as permanent installations. Said horseshoe of this invention may be attached to a horse via straps, or glued onto a hoof or attached to a horses boots and even ached to a hoof as a horseshoe of this said invention in more than one piece such as one separate piece for each side of a hoof which would be another means to allow natural flexing of the hoof wall when the horse is in motion; or complemental horseshoe fork end pieces of the flexible frog regions of a hoof separate from a contiguous third piece of said horseshoe that is attached to the forward sides and toe of said hoof or by any means of attachment that makes use of the inventiveness of the horseshoe's features including safety, agility and refurbished long life features of the horseshoe being within the scope of the invention.
In compliance with the statutory requirements, the invention in various embodiments has been described in language more or less specific as to structural features and methods to enable one of skill in this art to practice the invention it is to be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the specific features and methods shown and described since the means and construction herein disclosed comprise preferred forms of putting the invention into effect The invention is therefor chimed in any of its forms or embodiments within the legitimate and valid scope of the appended claims, appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalence. Horseshoe features including safety and agility, and including efficient simplified refurbishing prolonged long life features of the horseshoe being within the scope of this invention.