An Apparatus or Device for Facilitating the Teaching or Acquisition of the Art of Writing.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date cranncu
being date of first Foreign Application (in 27th July, 1892
Switzerland),
Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 20th Feb., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 20th Feb., 1893-Accepted, 8th Apr., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Apparatus or Device for Facilitating the Teaching or Acquisition
of the Art of Writing.
I, HEINRICH SCHIESS, of Basle, in the Republic of Switzerland, 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 an apparatus, intended to be used in schools, for the
purpose of accustoming the pupils to a proper position of the hand, and therefore
of the pen, when writing.
Every teacher whose duty it is to give instruction in writing is aware of the
great difficulties given rise to by the improper holding of the pen. A chief cause of
this improper holding of the pen, indeed it may be said the only cause of it, is the
incorrect position taken by the hand. The larger proportion of writing pupils
tend to lay the whole of the side of the hand, from the wrist to the point of
the little finger, upon the desk when writing. They are thereby compelled to hold
the pen stiffly and as the result of this their handwriting is stiff and inelegant
since the upstrokes are deficient in delicacy, and the downstrokes are wanting in
graduation. With such a false position of the pen it is impossible to write a
correct and cursive hand, the writing can only be a more or less illegible scrawl.
For this reason teachers of writing devote their whole attention to securing a
correct method of holding the pen, and strenuously contend against the usual
position of the hand.
The object of my invention is to secure the proper position of the pen with less
difficulty, and in a proportionately shorter time than hitherto, and for this purpose
I make use of an apparatus consisting of a casing forming half a truncated cone,
which is intended to act as a saddle for the last two fingers, the little finger and the
ring finger, so that these latter are compelled to bend and to support themselves
upon their points. The apparatus fills up the whole of the hollow space which is
formed in the hand when the latter is held in the proper position. That it may be
attached to the hand it is provided above with a metallic ring, which can be so
secured to a spring contained in the casing that when the apparatus is not in use it
only projects to the extent of one half through two holes made in a longitudinal
direction, whilst the other half of the spring secured to the cover of the casing is
withdrawn into the latter.
When the apparatus is in use, the little finger is passed through the ring in such
a way that the ring finger comes to lie close to it and upon the upper portion of
the apparatus. The attachment of the ring to a spring has the advantage that
when the fingers are inserted the spring is only drawn out of the casing to an
extent corresponding to the thickness of the fingers so that the apparatus can be

page_text: apparatus or correspondingly larger size can be manufactured.
In the accompanying drawing,-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus for securing correct holding of
the pen:
Figure 2 is a plan :
Figure 3 is a front elevation; and,
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the same:
Figure 5 is a view illustrating the method of using my apparatus.
The casing A lies flat upon the writing desk, it is curved, and increases in height
and width from right to left. This casing forms half a coue. A metal ring B
projects half through the openings C, C in the casing and is attached to the
spring D below, which in its turn is secured to the inside of the cover of the casing,
and so acts upon the ring that the latter is withdrawn into the casing when the
apparatus is not in use, and when the latter is in use is only able to issue as far as
is required by the thickness of the fingers so that the apparatus is held firmly in
the hollow of the hand. The portion E of the casing, intervening between the
openings C, C is intended to prevent the ring from being entirely withdrawn from
the casing, in which case the spring would be drawn out of shape.
In using the apparatus the pupil inserts the little finger through the ring B
which is drawn along it as far as the root, and the ring finger is then laid upon the
highest part of the apparatus in the direction a, b. These two fingers are closely
applied to the apparatus, so that their two points lie in the direction b, c upon it.
The advantages of the apparatus in securing a proper method of holding the pen
are very great. After a very short time, even in a fortnight, if rightly managed,
the apparatus ensures the proper position, without its being necessary for the
teacher to contend against the difficulties which, if he desired to achieve success,
he would be obliged to remove by unmerciful strictness. The proper position of
the hand will certainly ensure correct holding of the pen, which alone can render
possible a beautiful, correct, and cursive handwriting. The stiff and scratchy
traits of the writing vanish. After the pupils have been accustomed for a fortnight
to employ the proper position of the hand, that is to say, the correct holding of
the pen, they continue to do so even when the apparatus is dispensed with. The
use of the apparatus presents no difficulty, does not inflict the least pain upon the
hand, and yields results so much the better inasmuch as the pupils gladly make use
of it.
Wherever this apparatus is made use of, the pupils, as regards the method of
holding the pen and the cursive and beautiful character of their writing, will leave
school properly educated, and in case they take up a commercial career, will not
be compelled to prepare themselves for it by a course of special instruction in
writing. The apparatus may of course be made of sheet metal, papier-maché,
wood, or any other suitable material, and the ring, instead of being attached to the
spring, be secured directly to the casing.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
1. An apparatus or device for facilitating the teaching or acquisition of the art
of writing or of a proper method of holding the pen, consisting of an oblique casing
forming half a cone, provided with a ring upon the cover, for the purpose of
causing pupils to acquire a proper position of the hand, that is to say, the proper
method of holding the pen which is the necessary consequence, substantially as
herein before described.
2. In apparatus such as is claimed in Claim 1, a spring D secured to the
casing A and attached to a ring B which projects through two openings C, C in
the casing, substantially as set forth.

page_text: 3. The improved apparatus or device for facilitating the teaching or acquisition
of the art of writing hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawing.
Dated this 20th day of Februar 1802
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.