Administering Electric Shocks and Currents.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1887
Complete Specification. Left, 1st Aug., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 1st Oct., 1888
Administering Electric Shocks and Currents.
We JOHN DOUGLAS, of 26 Streatfield Street, Burdett Road, Engineer and
Electrician, and HENRY ABBOTT of 66 Fairfield Road, Electrician, both of Bow in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows
The object of our invention is the production of machines for administering electricity
to persons by, or when so desired without, the introduction of a coin into the machine,
and in some cases the movement of the mechanism brings to view or produces the
change of advertisements or other placards or notices arranged on or in the box or
case for that purpose.
According to our invention we provide a box or case which is preferably divided
vertically by a partition; on one side of this partition and preferably at the back
thereof we place a tray to carry the battery, this tray is suspended by cords passing
over pulleys on the upper part of the partition and extending on the other side round
a pulley to a crossbar fixed to two parallel and telescopic tubes, the outer ends of such
tubes forming handles outside the case. The cores of the tubes are secured at one
end to the partition and the sliding portion carries the cross bar before referred to.
The pulling out of the parallel tubes over their cores, carries the cross bar with them,
and at the same time the cords lift the tray containing the battery; the weight of the
battery takes the handles back to their normal position when they are released. The
crossbar carries a bracket to which the core of a magnet or coil is fixed so that as the
handles are drawn out the current is intensified or increased.
The crossbar also carries a contact piece which may be made in the form of a bell
crank lever, the lower arm being counterweighted and the upper arm provided with a
head of metal on one side and ebonite or other suitable non-conductor on the other.
Above the contact piece and hinged to the partition is a metal arm kept or held off, or
at proper distances from the contact piece by a pin or other suitable means in the side
of the box opposite the partition. To this arm one pole of the battery is connected.

page_text: The other pole is connected to a plate on crossbar in connection with one of the
parallel tubes. The hinged arm is cranked down for a portion of its length so that as
the handles are drawn out the metal portion of the head of the contact pieces comes
against the cranked down portion of the arm and contact is made and so continued so
long as the handles are pulled outwardly but as soon as they are released the contact
lever rocks on its axis lifting the hinged arm and so bringing the non-conducting side
in contact with the arm.
The coin is inserted through a shoot which conveys it to a platform which according
to one arrangement may be free to slide in guides, the latter being supported by con-
necting rods from balance levers fulcrummed on the box, the opposite ends of said
levers in their normal position entering notches in the parallel tubes or handles and so
prevent same from being pulled out until the ends of the said levers are removed from
the notches the falling of a coin of proper weight on to the platform depresses same
and through the connecting rods raise the levers from the notches. The handles can
then be pulled out and the electricity administered. When the handles are pulled out
the coin which is resting endwise in a small slot on the platform is struck by a plunger
and immediately the handles are released it falls through to any suitable receptacle.
The plunger is operated by a spiral spring fixed to the plunger itself at one end to an
arm from the crossbar at the other end so that on the outward motion of the handles
the plunger is advanced and strikes the coin off the platform and the inward motion of
the handles causes the plunger to be drawn back to its normal position and clear of the
shoot month; or this releasing of the coin may be produced in any other suitable
manner, for example the coin may be caused to fall on a platform having a hinged
bottom the bottom of which is operated or acted on by an armature fixed at one end
to the crossbar and hinged thereto and at the other end provided with a fork or other
suitable projection to engage with hinged bottom when the handles are drawn out
thus causing the bottom to tip off the coin; other arrangements may be adopted for
accomplishing this purpose although we have found the arrangements described to
answer well.
An indicating dial is provided for showing the degree of intensity of the current
administered and operated by the withdrawal of the handles.
When coins are not used and shocks or currents of electricity are administered free
the locking levers may be dispensed with-in this case remuneration is obtained by
payment for the advertisements which are displayed on or in the case in which the
mechanism is contained.
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page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Producing and
Administering Electric Shocks and Currents.
We, JOHN DOUGLAS, of 26 Streatfield Street, Burdett Road, Engineer and
Electrician, and HENRY ABBOTT, of 66. Fairfield Road, Electrician, both in Bow, in
the county of Middlesex, 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 :-
Our invention relates generally to machines or apparatus for administering
electricity for curative purposes, and especially to such machines as are adapted to he
rendered operative upon the insertion of a coin, token or the like through a suitable
slit or aperture.
The chief object of our invention is to provide an improved machine of this kind,
and to this end it comprises the improvements hereinafter described.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 is an elevation of apparatus constructed according to our invention, the
front portion of the outer case being removed to show the interior mechanism.
Figure 2 is a plan of the same with the upper part removed; and,
Figure 3 is a vertical section on the line, of Figure 1.
a is the box or case of the apparatus and is the dial on which the approximato
strength of the electric current received by the person using the apparatus is indicated
by the pointer or index c. d, d are the handles of the apparatus, which are connected
together at their inner ends by a cross-bar d' divided by insulating material &. The
handles d, d are arranged so as to slide telescopically upon tubes e, e fixed to a
partition a', behind which is arranged a battery of galvanic cells.
Within the tubes e, e are arranged springs e', e, each of which is attached at one end to
one of the handles d and at the other end to a hook e bearing on a washer behind the
partition a¹. The springs el, e serve to retract or draw back the handles d, d after
having been drawn out by the person using the apparatus., are rings of india-
rubber to receive the impact of the handles if suddenly released after being drawn
out.
The upper and under surfaces respectively of the right and left hand handles d
and their tubes e are provided with notches ³, with which engage the ends of a
balanced lever g for the purpose of locking the said handles, or preventing them being
pulled out until a coin or the like is inserted in the machine as hereinafter described.
Attached near one end of the bar is a platform or money bucket for receiving
the coin or the like inserted in the apparatus, the bucket gl being counterbalanced by
a weight arranged near the other end of the bar I.
a
The money bucket gl has pivotted or hinged thereto, at its lower part at g³,
plate g which forms the bottom of the said bucket and is provided with an opening *
which will allow any coin of a size less than the coin required to be used to pass
through without operating the apparatus. The plate y is provided with an upward

page_text: extension against which an arm go bears when the handles are drawn out, thereby
tilting the plate and releasing the coin contained in the money bucket as herein-
after described. The army is pivotted at g' to the cross bar d. and is provided with
a spring g to allow it to resume its normal position after operating upon the
extension of the plate g of the money bucket g'.
Pivotted at to the cross har d' is a contact piece in the form of a bell-crank
lever; which contact piece. when the handles d are drawn out, comes into contact
with an inclined contact surface i, thereby completing the electric circuit so as to
impart an electric current to the person who has pulled out the said handles.
In order to break the circuit directly the handles are moved in, instead of when
the handles have been moved back to their normal position, we provide the following
mechanism, that is to say, the pivot his provided with a spring friction plate which
bears against a dise ³ formed on the contact piece . By this arrangement, when
the handles are drawn out as just described, the contact piece h, by bearing upon
the contact piece i, is caused to turn on its pivot hand move its disc against
the friction plate h². If, the handles be allowed now to move in, the friction
plate will hold the contact piece and prevent it from falling back onto the
contact surface thereby breaking the circuit. We provide the contact piece
with an extension, which, when the handles reach the end of their inward
movement, comes against an adjustable screw-stop 5 fixed to the partition a¹ and
causes the said contact piece to resume its norimal position ready for the next
operation, a stop being provided to prevent the contact piece making
contact with the contact surface i.
j is a counter of ordinary construction fixed inside the case a to indicate the
number of times the machine is operated and consequently the number of coins
received by the same.
Projecting from the side of the index is an arm for operating one of the
pointers this arm has a pin which is caused to bear by a spring upon
the end of a lever pivotted at and normally resting on a stop. On this pivot
is a spring trigger k, the lower end of which is forced forward by a pin on the
left hand handled when the handles are pulled out, thereby causing the upper end
of the said trigger to engage a pin on the boss of the lever so as to lift the said
lever together with the arm, thereby operating the index. At the same time as
the handles are pulled out the pin will pass under the trigger k, and when the
handles are moved in the said pin will operate the trigger in the reverse direction,
in a well known manner, without operating the index.
I is an induction coil, the core of which is attached to the under side of the cross
bard and m is a vibrating contact breaker arranged in the primary circuit of the
coil l.
The pointer e of the dial is provided with a pinion e' worked by a toothed rack
operated by means of a cord or chain from the cross bar d¹, the said cord passing
under a pulley n. The pointer e is also provided with a coil spring c to return it to
its normal or zero position when the handles d are moved inwards.
o is the money slit and the money shoot leading to the money bucket gl; and
is a shoot for conducting the coin, when discharged from the said bucket, into a
receptacle underneath the apparatus.
,, are the wires connecting the battery with the primary circuit of the
induction coil, and t, t¹ the wires connecting the secondary circuit of the said coil
with the handles.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows, that is to say :-
If a coin of the required denomination be inserted into the money slit o it will pass
through the shoot to the money bucket g', thereby moving the barg into the
position shown by the dotted lines in figure 1 so as to disengage it from the notches d³
in the handles d'and tubes e. If now the handles d be grasped and drawn out the
contact piece will come into contact with the contact surface i thereby completing
the battery circuit through the wire s, the contact piece 1, the contact surface i and
the wire to the primary of the coil, thence through the wire, s (in which the

page_text: contact breaker mis included) back to the battery. At the same time a secondary
current is induced in the coil 1, which current flows through the wire t to one part
of the cross-bar and the connected handle, thence through the body of the person
holding the handle to the other handle and thence through the other part of the
cross-bar and the wire t¹ back to the coil. By continuing the outward movement of
the handles the curved bar g will come against the extension g' on the plate of
the money bucket and cause it to move so as to release the coin, which will pass
through the shoot q to the receptacle r. At the same time the intensity of the shock
will be indicated on the dial band the index j will be caused to register the fact of
the apparatus having been operated.
The backward movement of the handles by the persons using the apparatus
instantaneously breaks the current as hereinbefore described, by reason of the
contact piece moving out of contact with the contact surface i.
Although in the foregoing Specification we have described our machine as adapted
to be rendered operative upon the insertion of a coin, token or the like, it is to be
understood that the coin operated mechanism may be dispensed with, so that an
electric current can be obtained at will without payment. In this case we
advantageously combine with the apparatus mechanism by means of which an
advertisement or advertisements will be displayed when the handles are drawn out.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we claim is :-
1. In a machine for administering electricity for curative and other purposes, the
employment of tubular handles which are attached to a cross-bar arranged to slide
telescopically upon fixed tubes or guides, substantially in the manner described.
2. In a machine adapted to administer an electric current upon the insertion of a
coin, token, or the like and having two handles, both of which are movable, the
employment of a balanced lever adapted to normally lock both handles and to release
the same simultaneously upon the insertion of a coin or the like, substantially as
described.
3. The manufacture and use of the improved machine consisting of the parts
constructed and combined, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to
the accompanying drawing, and operating as, and for the purposes, set forth.
nonst 1998
1998
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Agents for the Applicants.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Agents for the Applicants.