IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ENABLING THE BLIND AND PERSONS OF WEAK OR DEFECTIVE SIGHT TO WRITE, AND FOR FACILITATING WRITING IN AN UNSTEADY LIGHT
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William N. Thursfield, of Shrewsbury, for the.
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ENABLING THE BLIND AND
PERSONS OF WEAK OR DEFECTIVE SIGHT TO WRITE, AND FOR FACILITATING
WRITING IN AN UNSTEADY LIGHT."
Sealed the 15th June 1875, and dated the 17th December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William N. Thursfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th December 1874.
I, WILLIAM N. THURSFIELD, of Shrewsbury, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
ENABLING THE BLIND AND PERSONS OF WEAK OR DEFECTIVE SIGHT TO WRITE,
AND FOR FACILITATING WRITING IN AN UNSTEADY LIGHT," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists of an apparatus by the use of which blind
persons who have learned to write and persons of weak or defective

page_text: sight and invalids may write with facility, and by the help of which
persons travelling by rail or by steamboat, or in places where there is
little or no light, may write with ease and rapidity.
The apparatus consists of a species of small portable desk or frame
made sloping as an ordinary writing desk or case. Along the parallel
edges or sides of this desk or frame holes are punched or made, and
the lower edges or sides thereof are grooved the whole length. Across
the desk or frame is placed a rest or guide consisting of a piece of wood
about an inch in width, under which are studs or knobs which fit or
take into the holes before named, and the ends project over the upper
part of the desk or frame and slide easily in the grooves in the lower
sides.
The top and bottom of the desk are fitted with hinged flaps for
holding the paper to be written on, and in the middle of the desk a
recess is made for the reception of paper.
The rest or guide may be adjusted and kept in position by means of
india-rubber or other elastic bands, which may be passed over the desk
from end to end.
The mode of using the apparatus is as follows:-The hinged flaps are
opened and paper inscrted in the recess, the flaps are then closed,
whereby the paper is secured in a proper position for being written on.
The user then adjusts the rest or guide if it be not at the top of the
desk (an operation which may be readily done in the dark or by the
blind by the sense of feeling only) by raising it from the lower holes,
and causing the studs to enter the holes at the top. He then takes his
style, pencil, or pen in his right hand and places his hand on the guide
or rest in such manner that the fourth and fifth fingers rest thereon in
the most natural and convenient position for writing. He commences
to write as usual from the left to the right, passes his hand along the
rest or guide until he finds by a check that he has come to the end of the
line at the right, he then simply raises the rest or guide slightly from
its position and causes the studs to enter the holes next lower down,
and so on from line to line, and by this means he writes in straight lines
with regular intervals of space between them, and without looking at
the writing can write with ease and speed. When one sheet or pago
has been written on this is removed and another substituted from
below.

page_text: Carbonized or other prepared paper may be used, as is now employed
for what is called manifold writing, or the ordinary writing paper may
be used, and the instrument may be either a style, pen, or pencil, but
preference is given to the use of prepared paper with a style.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William N. Thursfield in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM.
N. THURSFIELD, of Shrewsbury, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her licirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said William N. Thursfield, Her
special license, that I, the said William N. Thursfield, executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
N. Thursfield; 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ENABLING THE BLIND AND
PERSONS OF WEAK OR DEFECTIVE SIGHT TO WRITE, AND FOR FACILITATING
WRITING IN AN UNSTEADY LIGHT," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William N. Thursfield, executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, 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 I, the said William N. Thursfield, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
My Invention consists of an apparatus by the use of which blind
persons who have learned to write and persons of weak or defective
sight and invalids may write with facility, and by the help of which
persons travelling by rail or by steamboat, or in places where there is
little or no light may write with ease and rapidity.
The apparatus consists of a frame or desk having a rack on either side
with spring clips holding the paper, and across this frame or desk a
guide fitted with cogs takes into the rack, and by means of springs the
guide is made to lift and travel up and down the frame.
The mode of using the apparatus is as follows:-The operator opens
the hinged flaps and inserts the paper. The user then adjusts the rest
or guide if it be not at the top of the desk (an operation which may be
readily done in the dark or by the blind by the sense of feeling) by
raising it from the lower holes and causing the spring to enter the rack.
He then takes his style, bpencil, or pen in his right hand and places his
hand on the guide or rest in such manner that the fourth and fifth
fingers rest thereon in the most natural, and convenient position for
writing. He commences to write as usaal from the left to the right,
passes his hand along the rest or guide until he finds by a check that he
has come to the end of the line at the right, he then simply raises tho
rest or guide slightly from its position and causes the cogs to take into
the rack lower down, and so on from line to line, and by this means he
writes in straight lines with regular intervals of space between them a
and without looking at the writing can write with ease and speed.
When one sheet or page has been written on this is removed and
another substituted from below.
Carbonized or other prepared paper may be used, as is now employed
for what is called manifold writing, or the ordinary writing paper may a
be used, and the instrument may be either a style, pen, or pencil, but
preference is given to the use of prepared paper with a style.
In constructing the apparatus I make a small projection on the left
wing of the guide, on to which the point of the style is to be placed
when the writer commences to use the apparatus, for when this is done at
the commencement of cach line, the parallelism of the lines will be
ensured. The annexed Drawings show my Invention.

page_text: The guide may be constructed in two forms, one with springs at the
back, and another in which springs are dispensed with and in lieu
thereof the guide is made in two parts with the wings distinct from the
body of the guide, but hinged to them; and then, all that is necessary,
to lift up the guide on the hinges, when it will without difficulty slide
to the top of the frame. By means of this apparatus any one may
write with equal facility in light or darkness. Literary men who are
often compelled to write in an unsteady light will find it useful, and in
cases of incipient cataract or other opthalmic discans, when rest for the
eye is required, the apparatus will be found serviceable.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and how the
same is to be carried into effect, I desire it to be understood, that what I
claim and desire to secure by the herein-before recited Letters Patent is,
the apparatus herein-before described having a guide for the hand to
rest on for facility writing in the dark or in an unsteady light,
and for enabling the blind to write, substantially in the manner herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William N. Thursfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.