Patent GB-898397-A (GB)
Abstract: 898,397. Anthropometrical apparatus. OLALAINTY, E. Oct. 19, 1959, No. 35243/59. Class 81 (2). Apparatus for testing ability to trace a track with a stylus comprises a sinuous track 3 comprising a number of segments of differing shape types, a stylus 4, means sensing contact with the track boundaries and means for separately counting the number of contacts occurring in each type of segment. Each segment is defined between conducting strips 11-16 which are insulated from strips defining adjacent segments and which form the boundary of the track. The conducting strips defining all the segments of a particular type e.g. downstrokes, upstrokes, top curves, bottom curves, " restrictional " and "impulsional," are connected to a common counting device. In use, the subject under test draws the stylus along the track, the stylus and the conducting strips being so connected that if the stylus contacts a boundary of one of the segments, an electrical circuit is made and the contact is registered by the counter appropriate to the type of segment being traced. Each of the counting devices, which may be six in number, comprises a winding 117, 120 (Fig. 7) mounted above a recording strip moving at a constant speed. When a winding is energized by contact with an appropriate segment, an associated recording pen 129, 132 makes a peak on the recording strip. For indicating the pressure with which the stylus is applied to the tract, the track is mounted on a resiliently supported plate which forms a capacitance with a parallel fixed plate, the capacitance being in the grid circuit of a pentode. The applied pressure is indicated by a galvanometer associated with the output of the pentode. The finger pressure applied to the stylus may be indicated similarly, a capacitance which is varied by finger pressure being formed between an outer sleeve 28 (Fig. 6) on the stylus and a fixed inner sleeve 27. The windings 140, 141 of the pressure indicating galvanometers are mounted over the reverse face F<SP>1</SP> of the recording strip, pens 144, 145 associated with each winding indicating application pressure and finger pressure respectively. Alternatively, the track is mounted on one end of a balance beam 200 (Fig. 10), the other end of which carries a series of spaced projecting contacts 203-206 each of which is inclined by a different amount. As application pressure on the track varies, contact is made with a resistance bar 207 by different contacts thus varying the effective resistance of the bar which is disposed in series with a galvanometer winding 140. A similar arrangement for indicating application or finger pressure may be disposed in the stylus which contains a multi-pronged contact 223 (Fig. 12) which is displaced by application or finger pressure to contact one or more of a series of contacts 224 of differing lengths, each contact being associated with a resistance 226 in series with a galvanometer. The multipronged contact 223 is either displaced directly by the point of the stylus for indicating application pressure or is connected with a tapered member 220 which is displaced by radially resilient arms 217 which are moved inwardly in response to finger pressure applied to keys 216 in the stylus handle. The apparatus may be used in association with similar devices comprising tracks of zig-zag or linear formation, or in the form of written letters or numbers and embodying switches which close if the track is traced in a direction which is opposite to the normal.