Improvements in Apparatus for Illustrating the Anatomy of the Human Body.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Feb., 1889
Specification Accepted, 6th Apr., 1989
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Illustrating the Anatomy of the
Human Body.
I, ELIAS SMITH, of Peoria, in the County of Peoria, State of Illinois, United
States of America; Physician, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ANATOMICAL APPARATUS," and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This invention relates to improvements in anatomical apparatus for illustrating the
anatomy of the human body, and by its convenient and portable construction it is
adapted for the use of lecturers and school-teachers, as well as for private families.
Apparatus heretofore designed for the above purposes have been open to many
objections. In the case of what is known as the "French manikin," the apparatus
consists of a cast of plaster or other material molded or cast in the form of a huma
being and having the various parts of the body represented by detachable portions.
This so-called " French manikin" is not only expensive and too heavy to be con-
veniently carried about, but the number of detachable parts in the manikin is neces-
sarily limited, and consequently one apparatus fails to disclose the full anatomy of the
body. Again, by reason of the relative arrangement in the body of certain muscles,
organs, or other parts, it is almost impossible to illustrate said parts and their relative
positions correctly, because some of the parts overlap others, some muscles are forked,
and to illustrate correctly by plaster or cast forms any one muscle or part necessarily
prevents the illustration of the overlapped and adjacent parts in the same cast. It is
obvious, also, that the making of a cast to represent a great number of thin and
overlapping or intertwined muscles or other parts-as, for instance, the muscles of the
arm-must necessarily render the structure so complicated and expensive as to prevent
its successful introduction and use. It has been proposed heretofore to employ charts
to illustrate the anatomy of the human body; but such charts require a large number
of separate sheets, and cannot show relative positions of parts of the body. In those
charts having the sheets or pages hinged to the main portion, so as to fold thereon
as the leaves of a book, it is found that only approximate correctness of position of
the relative muscles and parts can be obtained, and also that these folding leaves are

page_text: more or less in the way of the lecturer when using the chart before an audience, and
also that the number of parts is necessarily limited to those parts of the body capable
of illustration which may be attached by hinged connection to the base without
interfering with the other hinged parts.
The object of my invention is to provide a cheap and portable apparatus which will
embrace a maximum number of illustrations in compact form, showing the contour
of each part, as well as the part itself, and which will obviate the objections found in
other apparatus referred to. To this end an apparatus embodying my invention
comprises a thin non-flexible background or frame cut or formed in the configuration
of the human body, which frame is preferably arranged in sections for more convenient
handling, said frame having hooks or hooked pins secured thereon to sustain a
plurality of flat plates, together with a plurality of thin plates of paper, pasteboard, or
other material, each plate representing some part, organ or muscle of the body, and
each plate having the configuration of the part pictured upon it.
The invention embraces, in addition to the construction above named, certain details
of construction herein shown, described and pointed out in the appended claims.
I have illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawings, but have not
illustrated the same in detail, except as to one portion of the human body-namely,
the leg, believing that a more extensive drawing is not necessary to complete exempli-
fication and understanding of the invention.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved apparatus, and Fig. 2 is a front
elevation of the same with some of the parts removed. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal
sectional view taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 1, showing the pin-hook employed to secure
the plates to the back or frame. Fig. 1 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of
Fig. 2, illustrating the manner of uniting together the sections of the back or frame.
Figs. 5, 67, 8, 9 and 10 are plan views of that portion of the apparatus illustrating
the leg of a human being in different stages of dissection, Fig. 5 showing but one
muscle as having been removed, while in Fig. 10 nothing but the bones of the leg
remain.
As illustrated in the drawings, the letter A indicates the back or frame cut or
shaped to the configuration of the human body. This frame is preferably made of
wood about one half an inch in thickness, as shown, but other material-such as a
heavy pasteboard sheet metal, or the like,-may be used. For convenience in
handling and packing into boxes for transportation from place to place I make the
frame A in several parts or pieces, B C being the arms, and D E the legs. The head
I preferably make integral with the trunk as shown. These parts are secured
together at their adjacent edges by means of one or more pins, a, one end of each pin
being secured in one of the parts and the other end of said pin being adapted for
insertion into a hole in the adjacent part, as more clearly illustrated in Fig. 4. The
whole frame when together is poised upon a pedestal or tripoi, F, which is provided
at its top with a vertical hole f. One of the parts DE (in this case the part E) is
provided with a pin, e, adapted to fit into the hole fand turn therein. The part É is
provided with a shoulder at e', which rests upon the top of the tripod F when the
pin e is inserted within the hole f. The apparatus may thus be supported in an
upright position, as shown, and be turned to face in any direction while the lecturer
is demonstrating.
Upon the face of the frame or base A is a representation of the human skeleton, as
illustrated in Figs. 2 and 10. This representation may be painted directly upon the
frame, or may be painted, engraved or otherwise pictured upon paper, cloth or si nilar
material and said material glued or otherwise secured to said frame.
Secured to the frame, as illustrated in Fig. 3, are the small hooks or pins c. These
pins are placed upon the frame wherever desired, and at convenient points, as shown.
The various muscles, organs, or parts intended to be illustrated or described are
pictured upon separate pieces of pasteboard, thin paper, or the like, and are made to
conform as nearly as possible to the contour of such part or organ. Each of said
plates is provided near each end with a slot or opening d, whereby the said plate may
be secured upon the frame by means of said pins, c, as illustrated. One pin sometimes

page_text: retains the ends of several plates, as shown by the part D of the drawings, wherein
the upper ends of muscles 1, 2 and 3 are so secured.
The part D in Fig. 1 illustrates the muscles of the right leg, the skin having been
removed. Fig. illustrates the muscle 1 as having been removed. In Fig. 6
muscle 2, in Fig. 7 muscle 3, in Fig. 8 muscle 4, in Fig. 9 muscle 5, and in Fig. 10
muscle 6 have been removed, respectively. It will thus be seen that the various
parts, organs, or muscles of the body may be correctly and faithfully represented both
as to color and form, as well as in relative position, and at the same time may be
easily detached one by one to show the underlying parts.
It will be obvious, furthermore, that by making a number of separate plates to
represent the parts and by attaching said plates to the base one over another, as
described, the relative location and arrangement of any number of parts of the body
may be clearly shown without the interference of one part with another either as
regards their relative position or as regards their means of attachment to the base ;
also, different plates may be employed to represent the same organ, either in section
or in different stages of disease. The rounded feature or appearance of the body or
part may be obtained by coloring or shading the plates. In practice I prefer to
make a large number of these paper plates of thin paper with a linen backing so that
a large number of plates may be placed one upon the other without materially adding
to the thickness or weight of the apparatus.
An apparatus for anatomical demonstration, consisting of a flat rigid base or frame
having the outline of the human form, together with the pieces or plates severally
representing muscles, organs, or other parts of the body and movably attached to the
said base or frame, I consider to be novel, and such apparatus is herein broadly
claimed, without restriction to the particular means for attaching the plates to the
base herein illustrated. Other novel features illustrated and above described are also
made the subjects of claims herein.
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. An anatomical apparatus consisting of a flat non-flexible base or frame having
the outline of the human body and a plurality of thin plates having the form of the
various organs, muscles, and parts of the human body, said plates being movably
attached upon said base.
2. An anatomical apparatus consisting of a flat non-flexible base or frame a
plurality of thin plates having the form of the muscles, organs, or parts of the body,
and pins or hooks inserted in the base or frame for removably securing said
plates in position upon said base or frame.
3. An anatomical apparatus consisting of a base or backing having the outline
of the human body, and provided with a plurality of plates and with a pivot at
its lower end, in combination with a tripod or equivalent support having
a socket
or hole to receive said pivot, whereby said apparatus is sustained in an upright
position and is made capable of rotation on said tripod.
4. A base or backing for anatomical apparatus, consisting of a flat non-flexible
base having the outline of the human body, and divided into parts, and means,
substantially as described, for removably uniting said parts, so that the same may be
separated for convenience in packing.
T
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicant.