Farriery – Tools – Hoof cleaner or trimmer
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-23
2001-01-23
Price, Thomas (Department: 3643)
Farriery
Tools
Hoof cleaner or trimmer
Reexamination Certificate
active
06176319
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to tools for cleaning horses' hooves, and more Particularly to a specially configured hand-held pick for forcefully removing debris from horses' hooves employing a handle/cleaning point arrangement that permits improved application of control and power to the cleaning element.
BACKGROUND
For centuries, hand held tools of various types have been used to clean accumulated debris from horses' hooves, and it is well known and commonly accepted to be a task requiring a good deal of user strength and effort. The benefits of regular cleaning of hooves of the equine species—including horses, mules, and the like—are so manifest that the task of cleaning is carried out almost daily without exception. Even so, comparatively little has changed over the years regarding tools and cleaning techniques, and the well-known handle/sharpened-tip tools remain the standard of the craft. Variously shaped cleaning points or picks have been described, and occasionally stiff-bristle brushes have been incorporated into combination-type cleaning tools. Virtually all hoof cleaning tools require a hefty amount of wrist-straining effort to pry out hard-packed material such as mud, manure, straw, ice, and other encrusted debris. While adequate results are generally achieved using the basic pick-type tools, damage to horses' hooves and users' hands is not uncommon.
Descriptions of typical prior art approaches to hand-held tools for cleaning the hooves of horses and methods of their use may be found in a number of U.S. patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,798 to Sabol discloses a typical contemporary hoof cleaning tool having a conically shaped hook and a trapezoidally shaped scraper disposed in a head end of a contoured handle. A stiff cleaning brush is affixed to the other handle end. The hook and scraper are on opposite sides of the tool head end and the hook is disposed at a 90-degree angle to the longitudinal axis of the handle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,697 to Pitchford also discloses a hand-held tool for cleaning horses' hooves, and again shows a pick member integrally formed at one end of a handle with the pick disposed at 90 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the handle. In use, the handle is manipulated back and forth with the debris being removed largely via the conventional backstroke pulling motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,337 to Sapyta discloses a recent (1966) hoof pick having a T-shaped handle that drives an elongated shank with a wedge-shaped tip. A curved hook may also be welded to the shank, and in use the wedge and hook portions are used sequentially by inverting (or flipping over) the handle in the user's hand to bring either tool surface to bear on the debris.
A very early (1896) U.S. Pat. No. 567,493 to MeCartae, discloses a multi-purpose farrier's tool, and not only includes a cleaning pick but also includes a number of auxiliary elements, some of which fold into or swing out at right angles from a handle to produce a multi-function device.
Additional teachings of various types of prior art, hand-held hoof cleaning tools are found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,935 to Thornbury et al., as well as in the 1997 Design U.S. Pat. No. D381,474 to Dalton, and the 1983 Design U.S. Pat. No. D270,104 to Jensen.
While each of these prior art cleaning picks function more or less well, they have not to date addressed the basic problem of far-from-optimum orientation of their various elements in order to mitigate the wrist-straining efforts required for their use. It is exactly this need that the present invention admirably meets with its specially configured handle/pick arm arrangement, which greatly enhances the control and power a user can apply via the tool.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved hand-held pick for cleaning the debris from the hooves of horses and others of the equine species.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a hand-held pick specially configured to allow increased leverage to be applied during either the pushing or pulling action of the user's hand and arm.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide improved relative orientation of the handle and cleaning pick elements of a hoof cleaning tool that permits its use without the necessity for major wrist bending by the user.
A yet further object of the present invention is to provide an improved hoof cleaning pick wherein the pick element itself is oriented at an angle between 15 and 35 degrees to a vertical handle axis while being held such that the user's forearm remains substantially orthogonal to the handle axis.
In a preferred embodiment, a hand-held pick tool consisting of a shaped handle and a simply bent metal pick element is specially configured such that the handle is preferably held in a substantially upright orientation during use, which causes the pick element at its lower end to be oriented at an acute angle to the handle's vertical axis. The handle is shaped to encourage proper gripping and usage, namely with the user's forearm positioned orthogonally to the handle's axis and the user's wrist in an untwisted state. In use, the lower end of the pick terminates just short of the extended longitudinal handle axis, all of which greatly improves the control of and power level that may be applied to the pick, thereby significantly improving its cleaning action.
REFERENCES:
patent: 274570 (1883-03-01), Davis
patent: 544540 (1895-08-01), Jones
patent: 1170950 (1916-02-01), Ambicky
patent: 4367798 (1983-01-01), Sabol
patent: 5168935 (1992-12-01), Thornbury et al.
patent: 5176222 (1993-01-01), Tippin
patent: 5636697 (1997-06-01), Pitchford
patent: 5960745 (1999-10-01), Boyland
Cottone James F.
Price Thomas
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