Improvements in Rests or Holders for Books or the like.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Feb., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 14th Nov., 1894-Accepted, 15th Dec., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Rests or Holders for Books or the like.
I, THOMAS GEORGE HENRY MANN, of 9 Malwood Road, Balham Hill, in the
County of Surrey, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows :-
My invention relates to rests or holders for books and other similar objects, such
for example as samples of bodies or materials arranged in sheets and fastened
together in forms more or less resembling books.
The object of my invention is to obtain a rest or holder which will permit of the
book which it sustains being moved in such manner that at whatever place it may
be open the two exposed pages will always be in the same plane or approximately
So. Another object of my invention is to sustain the book by the book itself and
not merely by the binding, as in ordinary book rests. By this means the binding is
less liable to deterioration.
In carrying my invention into effect, I employ two planes or plates capable of
reciprocating parallel motion, or approximately parallel motion, and capable of
lying in the same plane, as for example when in the middle of their reciprocating
paths. These plates, hereinafter called the rest plates, are attached by any suitable
means to the ends of a rocking. lever, so that when one rest plate moves in one
direction, the other rest plate will be moved in the opposite direction. The said
rocking lever is attached, by a pin or otherwise, to, and rocks upon, the main
support or body of my invention. The said rest plates are generally placed, by
means of any convenient adjustable device. in an inclined position; and the boards
or sides of the book lie flat upon them. At the lower or front edge of each plate
may attach a block or strip; and to each of the said blocks or strips I may
attach one end of a link, which I shall hereinafter refer to as the link support.
The said link support is designed to take up the whole of the weight of that part of
the book which is applied to its rest plate, when the said rest plate is vertical, or a
share of the weight when its rest plate is in an inclined position. When the link.
supports are not employed, the weight, which they would take up if present, is then
taken up directly by the blocks or strips before mentioned. From the other ends
of the link supports extend other links, which I shall hereinafter for purposes of
distinction refer to as the front links and which connect the support links with the
retaining device hereinafter described.
I
The said retaining device may resemble any of the usual devices employed in
book or music rests for maintaining the books or pages in an open position. A
convenient form of retaining device consists of two parts, one of which I shall
hereinafter refer to as the platform and the other as the flap, the said flap being
attached by a horizontal hinge to the said platform so that it can move in a vertical
angle. By means of suitably attached springs, the said flap may press upon the
leaves of the book to retain the same in an open position.
The retaining device may be adjustably attached to the main support or body of
my invention, as, for example, by means of a slot and threaded stud arrangement
or the like, so that it may be moved forwards or backwards and then fixed in any
desired position by means of, for example, a winged nut on the said threaded stud.
For the sake of obtaining a motion more nearly approximating parallel motion,
I may use two or more parallel rocking levers instead of a single rocking lever as
will be readily understood.

page_text: In some cases I may attach the blocks or strips, hereinbefore referred to, to the
rest plate in an adjustable manner, as for example by a slot and pin contrivance,
so as to adapt my invention for books having covers or boards of varying thickness.
Dated this 14th day of February 1894.
For the Applicant,
J. G. LORRAIN, M. Inst. E.E., M. Inst. M.E.,
Norfolk House, Norfolk Street, Strand, London, W.C.,
Chartered Patent Agent.
Improvements in Rests or Holders for Books or the like.
I, THOMAS GEORGE HENRY MANN, of 9 Malwood Road, Balham Hill, in the
County of Surrey, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to rests or holders for books and other similar objects, such
for example as samples of bodies or materials arranged in sheets and fastened
together in forms more or less resembling books.
The object of my invention is to obtain a rest or holder which will permit of the
book which it sustains being moved in such manner that at whatever place it may
be open the two exposed pages will always be in the same plane or approximately so.
Another object of my invention is to sustain the book by the book itself and not
merely by the binding, as in ordinary book rests. By this means the binding is less
liable to deterioration.
In carrying my invention into effect, I employ two planes or plates capable of
reciprocating parallel motion, or approximately parallel motion, and capable of
lying in the same plane, as for example when in the middle of their reciprocating
paths. These plates, hereinafter called the rest plates, are attached by any suitable
means to the end of a rocking lever, so that when one rest plate moves in one
direction, the other rest plate will be moved in the opposite direction. The said
rocking lever is attached, by a pin or otherwise, to, and rocks upon, the main support
or body of my invention. The said rest plates are generally placed, by means of
any convenient adjustable device, in an inclined position; and the boards or sides
of the book lie flat upon them. At the lower or front edge of each plate I may
attach a block or strip (hereinafter termed the resting blocks).; and to each of the
said blocks or strips I may attach one end of a link, which I shall hereinafter refer
to as the link support. The said link support is designed to take up the whole of
the weight of that part of the book which is applied to its rest plate, when the said
rest plate is vertical, or a share of the weight when its rest plate is in an inclined
position. When the link supports are not employed, the weight, which they would
take up if present, is then taken up directly by the resting blocks before mentioned.
From the other ends of the link supports extend other links, which I shall herein-
after for purposes of distinction refer to as the front links and which connect the
support links with the retaining device hereinafter described.
The said retaining device may resemble any of the usual devices employed in
book or music rests for maintaining the books or pages in an open position. A
convenient form of retaining device consists of two parts, one of which I shall
hereinafter refer to as the platform and the other as the flap, the said flap being
attached by a horizontal hinge to the said platform so that it can move in a vertical
angular direction. By means of suitably attached springs, the said flap may press
upon the leaves of the book to retain the same in an open position.
The retaining device may be adjustably attached to the main support or body of
my invention, as, for example, by means of a slot and threaded stud arrangement

page_text: or the like, so that it may be moved forwards or backwards and then fixed in any
desired position by means of, for example, a winged nut on the said threaded stud.
For the sake of obtaining a motion more nearly approximating parallel motion,
I may use two or more parallel rocking levers instead of a single rocking lever as
will be readily understood.
Having now described the nature of my invention in general terms, and so as to
define its scope, I shall proceed to describe one form thereof, the said form giving
good results in practice. For the purpose of making the description of the said
form more readily intelligible I have appended hereto two sheets of drawings in
which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts.
In the said drawings,
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a book rest or holder constructed under my
invention, the same being adjusted so that the rest plates are vertical.
Figure 2 is a plan of the same, the rest plates in this case also being vertical.
Figure 3 is a side elevation the rest plates being shown in the same plane.
- Figure 4 is an end elevation the two rest plates being shown in different planes
and the parts occupying the same relative positions as they do in Figures 1 and 2.
The
In these figures A A¹ are the two rest plates. In the case illustrated I show the
rocking lever as consisting of two parallel levers B B' this being the construction
which I prefer for the purpose of obtaining approximately parallel motion.
rest plates are attached to the rocking levers by the attaching blocks C C¹ in such
manner, as, for example, by means of pins projecting from the rocking levers into
sockets in the attaching blocks, as to allow of free turning when the rest plates are
moved backwards or forwards. bare pins upon which the rocking levers B B¹
turn and by means of which the latter are attached to the upper part D of the main
support. E is a pin with a milled nut p' working stiffly through the pillar F and
the part D, and by means of which the book rest may be inclined at any desired
angle. The said pillar may be of any convenient form attached to a broad base;
but any other desired form of stand or support may be employed in accordance with
my invention. In practice I find that a pillar projecting upright from an ordinary
base (a device resembling a microscope stand for example) gives good results.
G G¹ are the resting blocks and H H' are the link supports. J J' are the front
links which connect the link supports with the retaining device. The said retaining
device consists in this case of two parts, K being the platform and L the flap, the
two said parts being connected together as hereinbefore described, and so that L
may move angularly towards and away from the rest plates, and so that said flap
may, when bent towards the rest plates, press upon the leaves of the book by means
of the well known form of spring M. N is the lower part of the main support and
is slotted at n, so that the platform K may be moved forwards or backwards, and
attached in any suitable position to N by means of the threaded stud P and binding
nut p.
The action of my invention is as follows. Let us assume that the main support
is tilted to the position shown in Figure 3, and that a book is now placed upon the
rest plates and opened at the first page. It will be seen that the chief part of the
weight of the book is now sustained by the rest plate A' which will accordingly be
depressed whilst the rest plate A is raised in position. But the exposed pages of
the book will be flat and equally distant from the eye of the reader, who is assumed
to be squarely opposite the book rest. As now the reader progresses, and turns
over page after page, rest plate A is depressed and rest plate A raised (by means
of transfer of weight from A' to A) until, when the last page is reached, the parts
will be in the relative positions shown in Figure 4.
When the book is open at the middle the two rest plates will be in the same
plane; and the parts will be in the relative positions shown in Figure 3.
The link supports should preferably be of a thickness corresponding with or
slightly exceeding the amount by which the boards of an ordinary book project
beyond the edges of the page. I find that this projection is practically constant for
books of most sizes and may be taken at three sixteenths of an inch. It is usually

page_text: advantageous to support the books by the leaves themselves, and not by the boards;
but when desired the books may be supported by the boards, and the link supports
as well as the front supports may be omitted.
In some cases I may attach the resting blocks to the rest plates in an adjustable
manner, as for example by a slot and pin (with binding nut) contrivance, so as to
adapt my invention for books having covers or boards of varying thickness.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. In a rest or holder for books or the like the employment of two movable rest
plates substantially as set forth.
2. In a rest or holder for books or the like, the combination of two rest plates,
a rocking lever or levers and means for attaching the same to the rest plates,
substantially as set forth.
3. In a rest or holder for books or the like, the combination of two rest plates,
a rocking lever or levers, means for attaching the same to the rest plates and resting
blocks substantially as set forth.
4. In a rest or holder for books or the like, the combination of two rest plates,
a rocking lever or levers, means for attaching the same to the rest plates, resting
blocks, and a retaining device or devices, substantially as set forth.
5. In a rest or holder for books or the like, the combination of two rest plates,
a rocking lever or levers, means for attaching the same to the rest plates, resting
blocks, a retaining device or devices and link supports, substantially as set forth.
6. In a rest or holder for books and the like, the combination of two rest plates,
a rocking lever or levers, means for attaching the same to the rest plates, resting
blocks, link supports, front links and a retaining device or devices, substantially as
set forth.
7. The arrangement and combination of parts substantially as set forth with
reference to Figures 1 to 4 inclusive.
Dated this 14th day of November 1894.