APPARATUS TO ENABLE PERSONS DISABLED IN THE HAND BY WRITER'S CRAMP, AMPUTATION, OR OTHER CAUSES, TO WRITE, DRAW, OR DO OTHER ACTS
Year: 1885

page_text: I, WILLIAM MACGILL, B.A., of Albert House Victoria St, Fraserburgh in the
County of Aberdeen,, Head-master of Fraserburgh Academy do hereby declare
the nature of my invention for APPARATUS TO ENABLE PERSONS DISABLED IN THE
HAND BY WRITER'S CRAMP, AMPUTATION, OR OTHER CAUSES, TO WRITE, DRAW,
OR DO OTHER ACTS to be as follows:-
It consists essentially of (1) a light rigid bar or rod of suitable shape and
material (2) means of attachment, by strapping lacing, clasping or other mode
but combined with screws or other regulators so as to be very firm yet very finely
adjustable in respect of tightness, to hold the bar or rod fixed along the fore-arm,
or along the upper arm (3) carried by the bar or rod at the lower- or wrist-end
is a universal-jointed holder suited for the pen or other instrument and having at
each joint screws or other means to clamp or fix it and hold the pen or other
instrument firmly in any required direction or position.
Dated this Countranth

page_text: Apparatus to Enable Persons Disabled in the Hand by Writer's
Cramp, Amputation; or other Cause, to Write, Draw, or do
other Acts.
1
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I WILLIAM MACGILL, of Albert House, Victoria St., Fraserburgh in the County
of Aberdeen, Schoolmaster do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
APPARATUS TO ENABLE PERSONS DISABLED IN THE HAND; TO WRITE OR DO OTHER
ACTS and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The apparatus consists of three main parts:
Part 1 is a light rigid bar ten inches or less in length according to length of
arm and degree of steadiness required, greater length, giving greater, steadiness.
This I make by taking a strip of thin metal, such as hard brass, of the required
length and about one-&-a quarter or one-&-a half inches 'broad, rounding the
corners, and curving it transversely till its transverse section is an arc of a circle
about one quarter of an inch in depth. This, gives it rigidity and fits it to the
curve of the arm. Instead of metal a piece of like size & curve, but somewhat
thicker may be cut or made from bamboo, wood; vulcanite, or other suitable light
material. At one end of the bar-the end which is to be at the wrist-there is.
soldered, screwed, rivetted, or otherwise firmly joined to it a short tube, about one
inch long and about one-quarter-inch internal diameter. It is on the under,jor.
convex side of the bar and ends flush, or nearly so,.,with the end of the bar.
A clamping screw with ring head or milled head works through the side of this
short tube. Alternatively, instead of, the short. tube there may be a short round
stem or pin firmly fixed, by soldering, screwing, trivetting or otherwise, at the
end of the bar, on its convex side, and projecting about an inch beyond. It may
in most cases incline slightly downward and have a diameter of about three-eighths
of an inch. For the attachment of part 2 (next to be described) a metal or
vulcanite bar may have sewing-holes pierced at short intervals round the edges;
with a wood or bamboo bar, screws, glue, or other suitable means may be used.
Part 2 is a means of keeping part 1 steadily yet without discomfort applied
along the fore-arm. A piece of leather, or other flexible or textile material, of
suitable kind and strength is shaped into a truncated sector of a circle of such
form and size as to form, when fitted on the arm, a tight sleeve. This sector is of
the same length as part 1 and is attached to it-preferably to its outer or convex
side in the ways described above. Preferably the bar may be parallel to and
about three quarters of an inch from the left side of the sector (supposing it laid
before one with the concave side of the bar up, and the wrist-end remote) Thus
when the bar lies along the ulna and the flap or sleeve is brought over the arın
the junction is along the flat inner side of the arm. This junction is furnished
with fastenings so as to admit of the whole being readily put on and off, and its
tightness adjusted The fastenings may be of any suitable kind, as, Hook-and-eye,

page_text: Hole-and-button strap-and-buckle, Lacing, or; preferably, the adjustable screw-
fastening, forming the subject of my application for Patent No 3938 dated
20th March 1886. Where preferable, as for example where the apparatus has to
be worn outside a coat-sleeve, and weight is not a consideration of importance, the
bar may be beld to the arm by one or two or three thin metal strips or plates
rivetted or hinged to it, and clasping the arm, bracelet-fashion, and secured by any
of the usual bracelet fastenings or, preferably, by the adjustable screw-fastening
above referred to.
Part 3 is the instrument-holder which is carried by a cylindrical pin or stem,
preferably of brass, about two inches long; fitting neatly, yet so as to turn or slide,
in the short tube at end of part 1. Thus the entire instrument-holder can be slid
out or in, or can be rotated in the axis of the cylindrical stem, and can be firmly
clamped and held, in any position thus gained, by tightening on it the screw
working through the side of the short tube. Alternatively, the entire instrument-
holder may be carried by a short hollow-stem or tube fitting neatly on the short
fixed stem or pin at the end of part 1, described as alternative for the fixed tube.
This hollow-stem has a milled-headed or ring-headed screw, working through its
side, at the open end, so as to press on the fixed stem or pin inside and fix the
entire holder in any position gained by sliding or rotating on it.
This sliding and rotating stem, (or in the alternative case, tube) ends in a nearly
cubic head or piece about half-inch each dimension, which has a smooth cylindrical
perforation, about one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch in diameter, at right angles
to the axis of the said rotating stem (or tube).
Through the same cubic head or piece, at right angles to the same axis & also at
right angles to the above perforation and meeting it at the middle, there is drilled
a hollow (or female-) screw in which there works a milled-headed clamping
screw. Into the smooth cylindrical perforation there fits neatly a stem or trunnion
from three-quarters of an inch to inch-&-a-half long able to slide or rotate in the
said perforation and held fixed in any position thus gained, by means of the
clainping screw last mentioned. This stem or trunnion carries, rigidly fixed, at
right angles across its end, a tube about one inch long and of internal diameter
sufficient to admit the pen or pencil or handle of instrument to be used Through
the side of this last-mentioned tube there works a milled-headed screw, which can
clamp the pen or handle inside and fix it in any position gained by sliding or
rotating it in the tube.
For lightness, this last-mentioned tube may be a split tube of thin steel or other
material having sufficient spring to grip the pen or instrument and hold it tightly
enough without the aid of a screw. And, generally, where lightness is of special
consequence any or all of the parts above described may be of wood, vulcanite, or
other suitable material lighter than metal and screws may be dispensed with by
making the moving or rotating parts fit so exactly that the friction of the material
is sufficient to keep them fixed in any position given them.
In
For use in writing, still greater lightness is attained by the following modifi-
cation: A short stem of wood or other suitable light material fits exactly,
& turns, in the short tube fixed to part 1. This stem ends in two flat jaws
forming a slot, into which fits tightly, yet so as to turn, a flat plate of same
material, ending in a short round pin or stem, on which there fits in the ordinary
way an ordinary steel barrel-pen or pen-holder, or tube for a pencil. A metal pin
or axle passes at right angles through the jaws of the slot and the enclosed plate
so as to constitute them a binge-joint, having a play of at least 60° each way."
order to keep the tightness of this joint regulated, the axle has at one end a flat
head and at the other a screw on which there works a nut. By turning this nut
the joint is pressed together so that it may be just stiff enough to remain at any
desired angle while writing. In either form of apparatus, by, the combination of
the three rotating and three sliding movements above described, any possible
position & direction of the pen or other, instrument may be gained, &, by the screws
(or friction) such position can be firmly fixed.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention & in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
I
(1.) The combination, for such purposes & uses as denoted in the title, of a rigid
bar, with means to keep it applied along the fore-arm, and a universal-jointed
holder to keep a pen or other instrument fixed with sufficient firmness in any
desired direction or position-all substantially as described.
this 20th day of March 1886.
WILLIAM MACGILL, B.A. (Lond.)