Improvements in Educational Devices or Appliances.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 25th July, 1893-Accepted, 26th Aug., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Educational Devices or Appliances.
I, JOSÉ GALLEGOS, of Port of Ocós Guatemala, Central America, Telegraph
Operator, 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 :-
My invention relates to educational appliances and specially to such as are
adapted for use in teaching young people how to spell and teaching them the use
and significance of numbers. It is well known that children learn to spell long
words very quickly if the syllables of the words are presented to them successively,
and in a similar manner they learn the use and significance of numbers and how
to read numbers if the numbers are presented to them in periods or added one at a
time
The object of my invention is to produce a cheap and simple device which may
be easily carried in the pocket, and which may be applied to words or numbers
upon a book or any other surface so as to cover a portion of the words or numbers
and expose other portions so that the word or number, as the case may be, to which
the device is applied may be divided up into suitable periods and the relation of
the syllables and letters to each other and of the figures of the numbers to each
other easily taught and understood.
To these ends my invention consists in a device for teaching spelling, and
numbers which will be hereinafter described and claimed..
: 'I
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this
Specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in
all the views.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device embodying my invention, showing it
applied to a word;
Figure 2 is a similar view but with the device applied to a large number;
Figure 3 is a cross section of the appliance in position upon a card; and
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the device on the line 4-4 in Figure 3.
The device embodying my invention has an elongated rectangular frame 10
which is made small and light, so that it may be conveniently carried in the pocket,
and this frame is open on the top and is shouldered at the ends and on the back
sides, as shown at 11, in Figure 4, so as to permit a glass 12 to be inserted in the
frame and held upon the shoulders in such a way as to have its outer face flush
with the back of the frame. The top or outer portion of the frame juts inward
parallel with the plane of the glass, as shown at 13, and this construction enables
the wings 14 of a slide block 15 to be held between the upper flange 13 of the
frame and the glass, while the block 15 may slide upon the opposite flange 13.
The block 15 is adapted to be moved by the fingers and its size is such that it will
cover at least a syllable of an ordinary word. The size of the block is not very
material, however, and its size may be varied to suit the purposes to which it is
applied.
The device is used in the following way.
It is laid upon a sheet 16, on which the printed matter occurs, and if a long word
is to be spelled out by syllables or letters, the word is partially covered and the
lide block slipped from letter to letter or syllable to syllable, as the case may be. In
Figure 1, the block 15 is shown as partially covering the word "AMENDATORY"
and the block has been pushed letter by letter until the letter "E" is exposed, by
liding it a little further, the letter "N" will be exposed, and in this manner the
vord may be presented to the pupil letter by letter so that the manner of producing
or spelling the word will become fixed in the child's mind.

page_text: Figure 2 shows the application of the device to a large number, but it is used in
the same way except that if the manner of arranging the numbers to count con-
secutively is to be taught, the block is moved from left to right, and if the
arrangement of the numbers in periods is to be taught, the block is slipped from
right to left.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is,―
1. A device of the character described, comprising an open frame adapted to be
placed over printed or other matter, and provided on its upper face on opposite
sides of the opening with inwardly projecting flanges, and a sliding block provided
with wings extending beneath the flanges of the frame, and adapted to be moved
back and forth in the opening of the frame to cover one or more of the characters
showing through said opening, substantially as described.
2. A device of the character described, comprising a flat elongated frame having
a central opening adapted to be arranged over a word or number, a glass arranged
to cover the back of the frame, inwardly extending flanges on the upper side of
the frame and on opposite sides of the opening, and a slide block held in the open
portion of the frame with wings extending beneath the flanges, substantially as
described.
Deted this 95th day of Jul 1802
JOSÉ
GALLEGOS,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark.