IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR EXERCISING THE HUMAN BODY.
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Milnes, of Gloucester, in the County of
Gloucester, Contractor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE
APPARATUS FOR EXERCISING THE HUMAN BODY.".
Sealed the 7th November 1862, and dated the 12th May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Milnes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th
May 1862.
I, JOHN MILNES, of Gloucester, in the County of Gloucester, Contractor,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR EXERCISING THE HUMAN BODY," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in an apparatus composed of a ring, hook, or loop,
to which strands of india-rubber are secured to form springs, with another
ring (or hook) at the other end, and to this I attach a swivel or other pulley,
over which I have a cord, with handles at each end, or I can pass the cord
through the ring and dispense with the pulley. Such handles are to be used
in any manner that may be considered necessary in exercising the body.
Instead of the india-rubber spring, other springs might be adopted; the
apparatus being hung upon a hook upon a wall.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Milnes, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MILNES, of Gloucester, in the County of Gloucester, Contracter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Milnes, Her special licence, that I, the said John Milnes,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Milnes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR EXERCISING THE HUMAN BODY," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Milnes, my executors, or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and inme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Milnes, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment:
This Invention consists in providing an apparatus which may be readily
packed in a small compass, and thus carried from place to place without much
difficulty, which, when to be used, can be readily secured in proper position
without the aid of expensive or troublesome appliances, and which, when
secured in position, will enable any one to exercise the human body in a
variety of ways, and to carry out a variety of gymnastic exercises; indeed,
any person having this apparatus may be said to possess a portable gym-
nasium. Moreover, the principal part of this apparatus being constructed of
elastic material, will not be liable to force or strain the muscles by jerks or
rigid resistance, as happens when the ordinary instruments, apparatus, or
appliances made of non-elastic materials are used.

page_text: details of construction thereof, which I prefer to adopt, wherein I shall refer
to the accompanying illustrative Drawings, by the words, figures, and letters
following, that is to say:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
1
The said Drawing shews the apparatus at one view. A denotes a ring or
eye intended to be hung on to a hook fixed in a wall or other convenient
position, whick hook should be well bent over as thus
to avoid.
danger of the ring working off when in use, or the ring or eye A may have a
strong string or cord passed through it, which might even be passed over a door,
and secured to the handle on the other side, when the door can be fastened, or a
knot might be made in the string or cord passed over the door before fastening.
B, an elastic spring of indian-rubber or such like material, it being composed
of a number of rounded strands of vulcanised india-rubber, secured by baving
a piece of leather placed at the end, with string or cord wound tightly around
the same, forming a binder, binding the elastic material to the said ring or eye
A, and by a similar binding to another ring C, this latter ring serving for the
purpose of attaching the parts aforesaid to the spring swivel hook D, secured
by a metal strap to the axle of the pulley E, over which the tension cord F
passes, which has handles f, f. A hook having been screwed firmly or
secured in a proper position the ring A is to be adjusted as aforesaid. The
handles ff, to be grasped one by each hand, when the cord may be pulled,
drawing out the spring, which will react, giving play to the muscles and limbs,
and a variety of exercises may be gone through, according as may be desired.
The details of the arrangements herein described are those I prefer and
deem most available, the parts being thus put together in the most secure and
compact manner, the spring-swivel hook allowing the tension cord to be readily
detached from the other part if desired; still it is obvious that various changes
might be made in such details. For instance, the tension cord might be
passed through the eye or ring C, without any swivel or pulley being used, for
a common screw-swivel hook might be used instead of the spring-swivel hook,
or it might even be possible to use hooks instead of the rings or eyes; or the
india-rubber spring described might be supplied by other elastic spring.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I do not claim any of the
constituent parts of the apparatus herein described and illustrated by the

page_text: Drawing; what I do claim being the use and adoption of tension cords, con-
nected with clastic springs, and forming, as herein-before mentioned, a portable
apparatus for exercising the human body; also the general arrangement of said
apparatus, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Milnes have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
THOMAS INALLS,
No. 3, Hanman's Terrace,
Gloucester.
JOHN MILNES. (L.S.)