IMPROVEMENTS IN GYMNASTIC APPARATUS PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO INDOOR EXERCISE
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hanlon, George Hanlon, Thomas Hanlon,
and Alfred Hanlon, all of Palsgrave Place, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GYMNASTIC APPARATUS
PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO INDOOR EXERCISE."
Sealed the 32rd May 1864, and dated the 13th January 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hanlon, George
Hanlon, Thomas Hanlon, and Alfred Hanlon, at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 13th January
1864.
We, WILLIAM HANLON, GEORGE HANLON, THOMAS HANLON, and ALFRED
HANLON, all of Palsgrave Place, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GYMNASTIC APPARATUS PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO INDOOR EXERCISE," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in gymnastic apparatus, the

page_text: objects being to include in one apparatus all the ordinary appliances used for
this exercise instead of distributing them in different places as at present,
and also to make the said apparatus portable and adaptable for use in private
dwellings.
We propose to construct a square or oblong square wooden frame or
foundation, at or near the centres of two opposite sides of which two uprights
are inserted and fixed, connected at top by a cross bar or rail serving to
support an iron or wooden ladder ascending from one upright towards the
middle of the cross bar, to which it is attached by means of a projecting arm,
the ladder continues in a horizontal position to a second arm and then
lescends to the opposite standard. A series of holes or apertures are made
in both uprights for the purpose of inserting and holding various appliances
such as hollow or open handles or pegs, and straight handles for the hands
to grasp and sustain the body in various positions. At a short distance above
the foundation the uprights support by means of apertures therein or by
brackets affixed thereto, two horizontal sliding bars the heads or extremities
of which are provided with bosses through which two vertical adjustable stems
are set, supporting a horizontal hand rail extending completely across the
apparatus on the opposite side of the ladder. This rail may therefore be
elevated or lowered, and also brought nearer to or further from the uprights
by adjusting and fixing by screws or pegs the horizontal and vertical
moveable bars. A corresponding hand rail is supported by stems rising
and falling in hollow standards at the two front corners of the foundation:
The apparatus may be easily taken to pieces and folded together, and the top
horizontal bar will also serve to sustain a trapeze, or hoops, or rings, or other
gymnastic appliances. The four corners of the foundation are provided with
castors or wheels, the stems of which are cut with screw threads to enable
them to be lowered for the purpose of moving the apparatus, but, when in
position by raising the castors the apparatus rests firmly on the floor. A
pulling machine may be attached to the standards consisting of handles and
cords, passing over pulleys and. under vertical wedges whose narrow ends are
uppermost, and thence over pulleys to the bottoms of the wedges... The upper
and hind part of the wedges act upon horizontal sliding wedges, which raise
a knife or V edged support controlled by a weighted lever of the third order.
This lever is divided into spaces along which the weight is shifted in order to
indicate the strength of the. person exercising. Light "dummy" dumb bells
consisting of wooden handles, may be attached to the ropes, which must be

page_text: passed under pulleys secured to the floor, in which case the weight of the
dumb bell is of no moment, everything depending on the amount of the
pressure caused by the weighted lever.
-
We propose to employ Indian clubs made hollow, and containing a screw
rod passing through their centre on which a weight (made in the form of
a screw nut) may be placed and turned so as to bring such weight nearer to
or further from the handle of the club. By this arrangement the leverage
may be increased or diminished, and consequently the power of the operator
in using them, and this without changing the actual weight of the clubs, a
"hand-over-hand" rope may be suspended from the cross beam or arch of the
apparatus. A high horizontal bar may be applied transversely in the apparatus,
supported by two standards. Rings may be attached to the trapeze cords in
lieu of the hand rail for other exercise. The framework may be padded and
covered with leather or other suitable material, and a pad may be placed on
the floor within the frame to prevent injury from a fall. The frame of the
apparatus may be made of three fixed sides, the fourth or front being furnished
with slide rods or lengthening bars which take into the two hollow grooved or
channelled ends of the frame, and are to be actuated by means of screws,
racks, or other suitable gearing in order to extend or widen the frame or close
up the same, on this moveable front the hand rail is elevated as before
described. Two uprights at the other side or corners of the frame support
two cross bars attached to the central standards, on these bars the ladder is
fixed ascending to an iron or wooden arch attached to the top of the
central standards, the arch also supports with the ladder a trapeze, the cords
of which pass through pulleys or rings on the arch and standards,
and are tightened by means of hinged clamps and screws, or by self-acting
clips.
Other means of adjusting and fixing the apparatus than by screws may be
applied, the object of the Invention being so to combine various gymnastic
apparatus as to form a self-supporting moveable drawing room, school, or field
gymnasium, being entirely independent of and free from all or any fixtures
to be attached or affixed as supporters to the floor, partitions, ceiling, or
ground.
.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Hanlon, George Hanlon, Thomas Hanlon, and
Alfred Hanlon in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
HANLON, GEORGE HANLON, THOMAS HANLON, and ALFRED HANLON, all of
Palsgrave Place, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said William Hanlon, George Hanlon, Thomas Hanlon, and
Alfred Hanlon, Her special licence that we, the said William Hanlon, George
Hanlon, Thomas Hanlon, and Alfred Hanlon, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Hanlon, George Hanlon,
Thomas Hanlon, and Alfred Hanlon, our 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 GYMNASTIC APPARATUS PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO INDOOR
EXERCISE,' upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William
Hanlon, George Hanlon, Thomas Hanlon, and Alfred Hanlon, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
*
"
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Hanlon, George Hanlon,
Thomas Hanlon, and Alfred Hanlon, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our Invention relates to certain improvements in gymnastic apparatus, our
objects being to include in one apparatus all the ordinary appliances used for
this exercise, instead of distributing them in different places, as at present;

page_text: and also to make the said apparatus portable and adaptable for use in private
dwellings.
In order to explain our said Invention as completely as possible, we now
proceed to describe the best means we are acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of
illustrative Drawings, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference
marked thereon respectively, as follows:-
'
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the apparatus with its various appliances;
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a back elevation of the
peg pole and rack pole; Figs. 4 and 5 are side and end views of a self-acting
clip or wedge hereafter described; Figs. 6 and 7 are side and plan views of
horizontal hand hooks. Similar letters of reference denote corresponding parts
in so far as such parts appear or can be seen at each of the Figures respec-
tively.
:
We construct a square or oblong square wooden frame or foundation a, a,
at or near the centres of two opposite sides, of which two uprights or pillars b, b,
are inserted and fixed, and are connected at top by a cross bar or rail c.
Behind this bar or rail are wooden or iron ladders d, d, set at an incline, as
shewn in Fig. 1, and connected at top by another ladder d¹ in a horizontal
position. A corresponding bar c¹ to that already described is also supported
on uprights b', 6', and both are to be used as what are known in the profession
as "parallel bars." These bars are capable of being easily removed when the
apparatus is required for other exercise, as the bar c¹ merely drops on to pins
or studs in the top of the upright or pillar, and the bar c is supported on
similar pins inserted in the moveable sliding arms e, e. This arrangement
permits the distance between the bars to be regulated as desired by drawing
out the, arms from their sockets in the uprights towards the bar c', and vice
versâ, and bolding the arms in position by pins, as shewn.
an adjustable horizontal bar which slides up and down two
the bar is fixed at the desired elevation by means of pins
various distances as shewn. These uprights are strengthened by upper and
lower tie rods r, r, which are to be disengaged from the apparatus when using
the hand rails or parallel bars c and c', but when the horizontal bar f is
required for exercise the parallel bars are to be removed.
the horizontal bar is a trapeze bar h, suspended from the horizontal ladder by
means of ropes i passing through rings k, and secured to the inclined ladders
by self-acting clips 1, as shewn enlarged at Figs. 4 and 5. The clip consists
At Fig. 1, ff, is
upright rods g, g.,
entering holes at
In connection with

page_text: of a grooved wedge in conjunction with an external ring attached to a plate
and secured to the ladder by screws as shewn at Fig. 1. The rope is passed
around the larger end of the wedge and in the groove, and it will be obvious
that the, tension on the rope created by the weight of a person on the trapeze,
will tend to draw the wedge further into the ring, and consequently tighten
the grip of the wedge upon the rope, a loose ring is attached to the head of
the wedge or clip for the purpose of maintaining the connection of the wedge
and rope. In lieu of the trapeze bar, rings m, m, are to be attached when
desired to the ropes, from which the person exercising may suspend himself
by grasping them with his hands. A rack and peg pole n is inserted in the
floor a of the apparatus; and secured at the top by a hook or other fastening
to the back of the horizontal ladder d¹; p, p, represent the racks or staves for
the lands to grasp; o, o, Fig. 2, represent the pegs to be inserted in apertures
at the back of the peg pole shewn at Fig. 3, they are for "hand-over-hand'
exercise, the lower peg being withdrawn by one hand and re-inserted above
the other, whereby the body may be drawn up the pole; 7, 9, represent hand
hooks, by means of which, when grasped by both bands, the body may be
suspended from the pole in a horizontal position. Enlarged views of the
handles are shewn at Figs. 6 and 7, where it will be seen that the hooked
portions are merely to be passed under the staves of the rack, the circular or
ring portion resting against the front of the rack pole. Thus it is evident
'that the hand hooks may be adjusted at the requisite elevations on the pole
according to the height of the person exercising. The entire apparatus is
strengthened by oblique tie rods s, s, as shewn, each being capable of detach-
ment to suit various descriptions of exercise. The floor of the apparatus is
divided in two or more portions which may be connected by sliding
joints or binges, as desired, in order to reduce it to a small compass
for portability and transit, and the whole is mounted on castors in order to
facilitate its removal from one part of a room to another. The apparatus is
entirely self-supporting and can be placed in any apartment without fear of
injury to flooring, wainscoting, or ceiling. Being upon castors," a child can
move one with facility. The various portions of the apparatus are to be of
wood, iron, and brass, so as to combine lightness with strength.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we would remark that we do not confine
ourselves to any particular dimension of apparatus, nor to the precise details
and configuration of parts herein expressed and shewn, as the same may be

page_text: varied or modified without in any way departing from the principles of the
Invention; but what we claim as our Invention, and desire to be secured to
us by the herein in part recited Letters Patent are, the general arrangement
and combination of parts substantially as specified and shewn herein, and
constituting an improved gymnastic apparatus, specially applicable to in-door
exercise.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Hanlon, George Hanlon,
Thomas Hanlon, and Alfred Hanlon, have hereunto set our hands and
scals, this Third day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.