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Tuesday 28 July 2015

Horseshoe

Horseshoes of various types were used by migratory Eurasian tribes about the 2nd century BC.

Horseshoes were generally adopted on the continent of Europe as late as the tenth century and introduced into England by William the Conqueror.


Horseshoes were always nailed to the masts of ships commanded by Admiral Nelson. He believed they would bring him luck.

Henry Burden, an American engineer and businessman of Troy, New York, developed the first machine for manufacturing horseshoes on November 23, 1835. Burden's machine was capable of producing 60 horseshoes per minute, a remarkable feat compared to the traditional hand-forging method. This increased efficiency played a crucial role in supporting the growing demand for horseshoes during the era of horse-drawn transportation.

Burden's horseshoe machine was a remarkable feat of engineering, incorporating a series of dies and punches that shaped a heated iron bar into a horseshoe shape within seconds. The machine also included features that thinned the inner edge and pinched and thickened the heels, while forming the grooves and punching the nail holes. 


Burden later oversaw the production of most of the horseshoes used by the Union cavalry during the American Civil War.

The largest horseshoe collection belongs to Petru Costin of Chisinau, Moldova. It consisted of 13, 855 horseshoes as of July 4, 2021.

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