AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE TEACHING OF LANGUAGES, ARITHMETIC, AND OTHER SCIENCES (SUCH AS CHEMISTRY And ANATOMY), IN WHICH DIAGRAMS OR PICTORIAL ILLUSTRATIONS ARE REQUIRED
Year: 1872

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PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Cochrane at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd April 1872.
I, ALEXANDER COCHRANE, of Gracechurch Street, in the Oity of
London, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE TEACHING
OF LANGUAGES, ARITHMETIC, AND OTHER SCIENCES (SUCH AS CHEMISTRY And
ANATOMY), IN WHICH DIAGRAMS OR PICTORIAL ILLUSTRATIONS ARE REQUIRED," to
be as follows:
•
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the teaching or learning
of languages, arithmetic, and other sciences (such as chemistry and
anatomy), in which diagrams or pictorial illustrations are required. To
this end, supposing it be desired to impart instruction for acquiring a
modern language, I employ a frame provided with a number of grooves
in which are placed letters and words printed or marked on pieces of
cardboard, wood, or other suitable substance. Suppose it be intended to
translate and parse a French sentence the latter will bo "composed" of

page_text: the separate letters or words, and "set up" in one or more of the grooves
of the frame, thus forming one or more lines. A literal translation is
"set up" in another groove immediately under the French sentence,
the English equivalent for every French word being placed beneath the
latter. The frame may then be placed before the class so that the u
lesson may be constantly under the eye of the pupils. The teacher will
then proceed to explain the lesson and to impart such instruction as
may be requisite, and in order that the pupils may know what word
or particular part of the sentence the instructor is referring to, the frame
or apparatus is provided with moveable indexes or pointers which are 1
capable of being moved by the instructor along the lines of the sentence
as the lesson is proceeding.
A convenient mode of arranging and operating these pointers is to
suspend them by a cord from a slide which is capable of being drawn
by means of cords along a horizontal rail or bar attached to the upper 1
end of the frame. If it be desired to give a parsing lesson the latter
is first written out by the instructor, it may then be "set up" in the .
frame by one of the senior pupils. The frame may then be erected in
full view of the whole class, who can then write it down as the instructor
proceeds. Sums in arithmetic may be set up and lectured upon by the 2
instructor in a similar manner.
Instruction in music may be imparted in the same way, the musical
piece (to form the lesson) having been first "set up" on the exhibiting
frame, the main feature of the system either in teaching music, trans-
lating or parsing sentonces, being not only that the lesson is constantly 2
before the pupils but that by means of the pointers or indexes the
particular part of the lesson under discussion is always indicated,
Instruction in the science of chemistry so far as regards the know-
ledge of the symbols, and the changes made in bodies by their chemical
decomposition or varying affinities, may be greatly facilitated by the use 3
of the apparatus,
The system is also applicable for imparting instruction in anatomy
and comparative physiology, for which purpose diagrams may be pre-
pared and divided into squares or hexagons which may be placed con-
tiguous to each other to show the perfect external form, and other g
arrangements of squares or hexagons will show the system of nerves,

page_text: muscles, blood vessels, and bones, and the different series may
posed so as to indicate how the form is built up.
bo super-
By means of the above described mode of and apparatus for imparting
instruction in various sciences a number of costly diagrams may be
dispensed with.