IMPROVEMENTS IN GYMNASTICAL APPARATUS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Leonore Liétout, of Paris, France, Doctor of
Medicine, and Joseph Brigitte Roisin, of No. 56, Rue de Sablonville, at
Neuilly, near Paris, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GYMNASTICAL APPARATUS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Leonore Liétout
and Joseph Brigitte Roisin at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents with their Petition, on the 26th January 1863.
We, ALFRED LEONORE LIÉTOUT, of Paris, France, Doctor of Medicine, and
JOSEPH BRIGITTE ROISIN, of No. 56, Rue de Sablonville, at Neuilly, near
Paris, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GYMNASTICAL APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
These improvements relate to an apparatus presenting the necessary
requirements to allow of exerting the principal muscles and moveable articu-
lations of the human body. The same consists of a solid rectangular frame.
with fixed panel, which frame may be either firmly secured to the floor in the
vertical position, or rest on legs in the horizontal one. In this frame a
moveable panel, to which a moveable arm or other chair may be fixed, is.
allowed to glide up and down or forward and backward in suitable grooves
or slip-boards, the panel being kept in equilibrium by means of counterweights,
or springs, handles being inserted in the fixed panel for allowing the person.

page_text: sitting on the chair to cause his body and the chair either to ascend or to
descend, and perform other gymnastical operations, counteracted by helical or
other springs or other elastic bodies, and thus give proper exertion to the
principal muscles and moveable articulations of his body either in the vertical
or in the horizontal position, whilst rope or other ladders or other gymnastical
implements are attached to the standards of the frame, and even an apparatus
arranged in a manner similar to the keyboard of a piano, but in which the
keys are counteracted by springs, is made use for exerting the muscles and
articulations of the fingers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Leonore Liétout and Joseph Brigitte Roisin in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th July 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALFRED
LEONORE LIETOUT, of Paris, France, Doctor of Medicine, and JOSEPH BRIGITTE
ROISIN, of No. 56, Rue de Sablonville, Neuilly, Paris, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Alfred Leonore Liétout and Joseph Brigitte Roisin, Her special licence that
we, the said Alfred Leonore Liétout and Joseph Brigitte Roisin, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Alfred Leonore Liétout
and Joseph Brigitte Roisin, 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 GYMNASTICAL APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Alfred Leonore Liétout and Joseph Brigitte Roisin,
our exécutors 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Alfred Leonore Liétout and Joseph
Brigitte Roisin, 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:-
These improvements relate to an apparatus presenting in a comparatively
small compass the necessary requirements for allowing to exert the principal
muscles and moveable articulations of the human body. The apparatus is
arranged in such manner so as to allow of being easily put up in a room or be
removed from one place to another, whilst the same may at pleasure be taken
to pieces and again erected when required. The apparatus consists chiefly of
a solid rectangular frame, which may be at pleasure either firmly secured to
the floor in the vertical position or rest on legs in the horizontal one. In this
frame a moveable panel, to which a moveable arm or other chair may be fixed,
is allowed to glide up and down or forward and backward in suitable grooves
or slots, the panel being kept in equilibrium by means of a counterweight or
spring, handles being inserted in a fixed panel for allowing the person sitting
on the chair to cause his body and the chair either to ascend or to descend and
perform other gymnastical motions, counteracted by suitable springs or other
elastic bodies, and thus give proper exertion to the principal muscles and move-
able articulations of the body either in the horizontal or in the vertical position,
whilst rope or other ladders or other gymnastical implements are applied to
the standards or uprights of the frame, and even a small apparatus be added
for exerting the muscles of the fingers and the hand, which apparatus is
arranged in a manner similar to a piano keyboard, but with its keys counter-
acted by suitable springs.
In order to make the Invention more easily understood, we will here give a
full description of the same, referring thereby to the annexed Drawings, in the
various Figures of which the same letters of reference relate to corresponding
parts.
The apparatus is arranged in such manner as to allow children as well as
grown up people to make use of the same for gymnastical purposes.
After having described the various parts of which the apparatus is formed,
we will also indicate several gymnastical exercises which may be performed by
means of the same.
Fig. 1 represents a front, and Fig. 2 a side view of the apparatus, which
consists chiefly of two standards or uprights a, a', the lower end. of which. rests
on the floor and the other against the ceiling, if made use of in a room;
b, b¹, are two cross bars at top and bottom, resting against the wall c. .A
panel d (see Fig. 1) towards the top of the apparatus fills up the space

page_text: between the two uprights a, a', whereas a moveable panel e fills up the
remainder of this space. This latter panel, represented in the Drawing in the
vertical position, may also, be situated horizontally. In the uprights a, a¹, are
provided grooves or slots for sliding pieces or tongues 9, g', to move up and
down in, or the said tongues may work between fixed angle irons; the
tongues g, g', carry an arm chair h, connected thereto in such manner as to
allow. of being removed at pleasure; the seat, back, feet, footboard, and arms
of which chair are provided with joints or hinges for folding up the chair if
required. The person exercising himself sits down in the arm chair and puts
his feet in a sort of sandals, the position of which may be varied so as to
have the feet pointing more or less outward or inward, up or down, or in any
other suitable manner; for this purpose also soles of various thicknesses may
be put underneath the sandals. The person further takes hold with his hands
of a rope j; passing over guide pulleys k, k', turning in any required direction,
and is thus allowed by the sole strength of the muscles of his arms to lift his
body with the chair, the weight of this latter being suitably equilibrated by
the counterweight 1. The pulley k is fixed to a crutch m, jointed between the
panel d for allowing the same to be folded up against this latter. For per-
forming gymnastical exercises while in the upright position the person
exercising himself stands on the footboards n, n', also provided with sandals
arranged and for the same purpose as above mentioned; these boards n, n³,
move up and down in slots o, and are connected to suitable springs p, by
preference spiral ones, though the various springs made use of in the apparatus
may be replaced by suitable springs of india-rubber; the exerciser keeps in
his hands the handles 9, 9', and acts by pressing on the footboards, the springs
of which are to offer sufficient resistance; the footboards are supported by
brackets r. For exercising the shoulders two handles 8, s¹, situated below those
q, q'; allow to stretch and draw with the arms from s to q', and from q to s'; the
handles s, q, and those s¹, q', are connected to two springs t, t¹. Towards the
upper end of the uprights a, a', two revolving arms v, v³, are supported in the
horizontal position by the moveable brackets u, u; the arm is provided
with a rope ladder and a wooden ladder y; this latter made in two parts,
held together when required by sockets z, z¹, and bayonnet joints, whereas the
arm v¹ has also a rope ladder and a mast applied thereto; these various parts
are put together in such manner as to allow of taking the whole apparatus to
pieces, and putting the same up again when required.
Fig. 3 shows the back of the panel e provided with the above-mentioned
springs; in Fig. 2 the upright a has a bench (1) fixed thereto, provided with
a sliding piece or tongue (2), and a sandal to put the foot in, and cause the

page_text: same to move along the bench, thereby having to overcome the resistance of
a variable weight (3) connected to the tongue (2) by the rope (4); the
inclination of the bench (1) may be regulated at pleasure by means of the
moveable foot (5).
Fig. 4 shows a sectional view of a panel e, which may be placed in a
position parallel to the floor, and rest on four feet (6), as shown in this Fig. ;
this change in position is obtained by unrolling the rope (7) from the wind-
lass (8), the end of this rope being fixed to a hook (9) situated towards the
upper end of the panel 6; when unrolling the rope from the windlass the
lower part of the panel only requires to be pushed forward. The person who
wishes to exercise himself raises the back (10), kept in position by means of a
leg (11), taking in the nicks of the rack (12). The back (10) is formed of
several parts, hinged together for allowing to suit the size of the person
exercising himself, who, sitting on the panel e, places one of his feet in the
sandal n, and performs a drawing motion, to be counteracted by the rope (18)
and spring (14). In the Drawing the ropes are indicated by blue lines; if,
on the contrary, it be wished to act by depression the rope is detached, and
the action takes place on the springs p; it is also possible in this position to
exercise the foot by the effect of the joint (15) of the sandals n, in which case
the resistance only of a flat coiled spring (16) is to be overcome.
sandals may be made moveable on a pin for allowing the feet to take any
required position.
The
For exerting the muscles of the fingers and hands a small apparatus,
represented in Fig. 5, is fixed against the wall or placed on a table; Fig. 6
shows the same apparatus seen from underneath. A is a small board turning
in B, on which part the wrist is to be laid; C are spiral or other springs for
carrying back the board A; the end of the fingers are placed in the thimbles
D for exercising the same in pressing against the springs E; F are other
thimbles for drawing on the said springs instead of pushing, which is done by
bending the first phalanx of the fingers in these thimbles. Fig. 7 shows a
small board G, provided with centrifugal slots I, serving as guides for the
thimbles H for the top of the fingers to enter in, and by pushing have the
same spread out in the direction of the slots I, whereas the thimbles H are
carried back by means of springs situated underneath the board G.
Fig. 8 represents another small apparatus for exercising the muscles of the
fingers; the same somewhat resembles a piano keyboard, the fingers pressing
on the keys J (turning in K), and have to overcome the resistance offered by
a spring L, which resistance may be varied at pleasure by having the upper end
of the said springs hooked in one or the other of the nicks, provided for this

page_text: purpose in the keys J, which may be done by means of a string r¹ attached to
the hook, and protruding at the upper part of the apparatus. M is a ring.
for the first phalanx of the finger to be inserted in, and act by drawing on the
spring N; O is another ring fixed to a pin passing through the key J, in
which ring O is put the end of the finger for this latter to rise the spring p².
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be put into operation,
we declare that we do not claim as our Invention the various parts of which
the above-described apparatuses are formed; but what we consider to be novel.
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the general arrangement and manner.
of acting of the above described apparatuses for gymnastical purposes.
In witness whereof, we, the said Alfred Leonore Liétout and Joseph
Brigitte Roisin, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twentieth
day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-three.
Witness,
DREYFOUS,
Engènir.
A. L. LIETOUT. (L.S.)
J. B. ROISIN.
(L.S.)