AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR TEACHING THE ART OF SWIMMING
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lambert Cowell, of Adelphi, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR
TEACHING THE ART OF SWIMMING."
Sealed the 4th December 1857, and dated the 20th June 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lambert Cowell at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th June 1857.
I, LAMBERT COWELL, of Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE
FOR TEACHING THE ART OF SWIMMING," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists in a novel mechanical arrangement for giving
simultaneous movements to the arms and legs of persons in teaching them to
perform the correct actions necessary in swimming..
I provide a covered or padded board of sufficient size to support the trunk
or body of the learner, and have it mounted on one or more pillars or legs,
made adjustable to any desired angle, and from the two corners of one end
proceed jointed boards or arm rests, the joints corresponding in situation to
the shoulder and elbow joints; and to the two lower corners of the board are
also attached jointed boards or leg rests, corresponding in their length and
The correct movements of the jointed rests
are given by a simple arrangement of spur
joints to the limbs of the pupil.
or supports for the arms and legs
and bevel gear for the arms, and rotating screws for the motions of the legs,
which may be further aided by suitable levers and springs.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of, the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Lambert Cowell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LAMBERT
COWELL, of Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent: Majesty Queen Victoria, by-Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me," the said
Lambert Cowell, Her special licence that I, the said Lambert Cowell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Lambert
Cowell, 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 "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR
TEACHING THE ART OF SWIMMING," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Lambert Cowell, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly 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 I, the said Lambert Cowell, do hereby declare. the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My said Invention consists in a novel mechanical arrangement of apparatus
or machine for giving the peculiar simultaneous movements of the limbs of
persons in teaching them to perform the correct actions necessary in swimming,
whether used in or out of the water, for communicating instruction.
And for the better understanding of my said Invention, I will now proceed
to detail the particulars thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and the letters marked thereon.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a side vertical elevation, partly in section, of one mode of
constructing the aunaratus or machine of my Invention.

page_text: A is the principal support, and-A¹, the horizontal axis; B, the cradle or
body board or rest; C, arms; and D, section of cam-formed rings attached:;
E, á vertical axis, with 'F, a square tube, and G, a bar'sliding therein, retained
on D by the pulleys a, a, shown in section; b, a sectional view of band wheel,
and c, radial adjustable pin; H, leg guide bars; I, a support, adjustable at I';
J, the driving wheel, adjustable vertically by the slot I"; d, d, two guide
pulleys, the band e, e, passing over each, and crossing between and going
round the two wheels b; K, a cranked axle; f, an adjustable pin, carrying
the tube Land the rods M, secured therein at 9; N, attachments for the
feet; O, a clamp; P, connecting rods, attached at h to the ends of the levers
H, moving on the joint i, which is capable of adjustment vertically and laterally.;.
and Q are the wrist holders..
In respect to this particular mode of arrangement, I would observe that I
surmount a frame or support with a horizontal axis, constructed so as to allow
of varying the inclination of the body, placed on hollowed body board, on
which to rest the abdomen and chest, and to the front of which are attached
two arms, carrying two cam-formed rings, whose shape is the course of the
wrists and direction of the proper sweep of the arms in swimming, near the
centre whereof is a vertical axis passing through a tube, which carries a
flattened tube, within which works' a bar, having at one end guide pulleys to
restrain that end in the course prescribed by the rings, and carrying above
them the supports on which the wrists rest. On the lower ends of these
vertical axes are horizontal band wheels (one on each), having underneath
adjustable radially set pins carrying two levers, whose office is to direct the
course of the legs. Below on a suitable support, capable of adjusting, is a
band wheel, of diameter equal to those under the cam rings, and driving
them by a band passing over two guide pulleys and crossing between the two
horizontal band wheels. The lower driving wheel has a cranked axle, one
side of which has a driving handle capable of adjusting radially; the other side
of the axis has the band wheel and a pin in a plane vertically to it, also capable
of radial adjustment. Turning on this pin is another piu placed vertically,
and a similar vertical pin turns loose on the attached end of the driving
handle axle: On these vertical pins the ends of two-square tubes turn, and
within the tubes slide for adjustment the ends of two rods; at the opposite
ends of which rods are two attachments for the feet, and between them and
the square tube, adjustable to about the length from the instep to the knee of
the pupil. At O are two clamps on the rods, on whose horizontal pins are
two vertical rods reaching up to the lower ends of the hip levers, for regulating
the course of the legs by means of the before-named band wheels; and the

page_text: axes of these levers are situated near the lower end of the cradle or body
support.
It will thus be seen, that in the general arrangement of machines made
.according to my said Invention, of which I have described in detail one mode
of construction, I provide a covered or padded board or cradle, of sufficient
size and strength to sustain the trunk or body of the learner, and have it
supported on one or more pillars or legs, which may be made adjustable as
desired; and from the two corners of one end of the body board proceed
jointed boards, arm rests, or similar arrangements, the joints of which corre-
spond in situation to the shoulder and elbow joints; and to the two lower
corners of the body rest are also attached jointed rests, corresponding in their
length and joints to the limbs of the pupil. The correct movements of the
jointed rests or or supports for guiding the arms or legs, may be given by
simple arrangements of levers and tappets. The motion for the arms is also
.capable of being obtained by means of suitable pinions and toothed segments,
or attached by band, chain, and the requisite cams.
Having thus particularly described one mode of carrying my said Invention
into practice, and the general construction of the same, I desire it to be
understood, that as my said apparatus or machine is capable of being con-
siderably modified without affecting the principle of my said Invention, that I
do not limit myself to the precise form of the apparatus or machine, or the
mechanical arrangements for giving the several motions, so long as the general
result of any modification thereof produces substantially the same effects; and
I do declare that what I claim as my Invention is, namely, the novel con-
struction of, an apparatus or machine for teaching the correct motions of the
limbs requisite in the performance of swimming, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lambert Cowell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
T1057