IMPROVE- MENTS IN SWINGS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SWINGS."-A communication from Joseph Ellicott Holmes, of
Sealed the 31st October 1862, and dated the 7th May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 7th May 1862.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SWINGS," (communicated to me from abroad by
Joseph Ellicott Holmes, of New York, United States of America,) to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to construct a swing which can be operated
by the hands or by the feet, or by the hands and feet combined of the person
or persons seated in it. I attach ropes, straps, or bands in front of and behind
the ordinary point of suspension, their lower ends reaching and being attached
to a movable cross bar placed a few feet above the seat; a rope or strap, with
a loop or handle, to be taken hold of and pulled by the person or persons
seated in the swing, is suspended from the cross bar. I attach a foot board
beneath the seat, the front of which is connected by a rod or rope to the cross
On the person or
bar. The seat is suspended in the ordinary manner.

page_text: persons seated in the swing pulling the rope suspended from the cross bar, or
pushing the foot board with the feet, or using both hands and feet, the swing
will act or be set in motion. The cross bar is by preference made to slide on
the ordinary suspension rods or ropes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of. the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence, that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 SWINGS," (communication from
Joseph Ellicott Holmes, of New York, United States of America,)
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Archibald
Brooman, my 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to construct a swing which can be operated

page_text: by the hands or by the feet, or by the hands and feet combined, of the person
or persons seated in it. I attach ropes, straps, or bands in front of and behind
the ordinary point of suspension, their lower ends reaching and being attached
to a movable cross bar or sliding thimbles placed a few feet above the seat; a
rope or strap, with a loop or handle, to be taken hold of and pulled by the
person or persons seated in the swing, is suspended from the cross bar. I
attach a foot board beneath the seat, the front of which is connected by a rod
or rope to the cross bar. The seat is suspended in the ordinary manner. On
the person or persons seated in the swing pulling the rope suspended from the
cross bar, or pushing the foot board with the feet, or using both hands and
feet, the swing will act or be set in motion. The cross bar is by preference
made to slide on the ordinary suspension rods or ropes.
The accompanying Drawing represents this improved swing ready for use,
and in different positions; the central Figure shewing it as it appears when in
a state of rest. A is the seat of the swing, and B the foot board, which is
jointed at N to the under part of the back of the seat; the swing is suspended
by rods from a beam E; above and to the under side of this beam are secured
the eyes D, E, F; the rods G and J are suspended from the centre eye E,
and the elastic cords or rods H and I are attached to the eyes D and F; the
central suspending rod G passes through a central sliding piece K, to which
the elastic bands or rods II and I are also connected by their lower ends; a
handle cord or strap L, within reach of the person in the seat, is also sus-
pended from the slide K, which may be pulled by the hands of the person
swinging in connection with or independent of a simultaneous pressure pro-
duced by the feet on the board B through the rod NI; the back of the seat A
is supported by a rod, strap, or cord I to the central eye E. Now by putting
the swing in motion, the seat will pass along and describe a curve, indicated
by the dotted line 1, 1; and if all the parts were to preserve the same relative
position, the foot board B would describe the lower curve; but when the
swing has receded to the position shown at the right band of the Figure, a
strain will be put upon the cord or rod H, which will thereby draw up the
sliding piece K, and with it the rod M and foot board B. The same effect
will be produced when the swing advances to the position shown at the left
hand of the Figure, the only difference being that when the swing advances the
strain will be put on the other cord or band I; the effect of this action is that
at each end of vibration the front of the foot board will be elevated to a
certain extent, and will describe the sharper curve shown at the dotted lines 2.
It will be seen that this alteration in the curve is produced by the tension of
the bands, cords, or rods H and I, alternately slackening its fellow cord or

page_text: band, and it is therefore clear that if the person seated in the swing puts a
further strain, either by the hand or feet, or both, when the swing is passing
from the centre outwards, that then the force so exerted will tend to bring the
swing to a state of rest.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed; I declare that I claim the employment
in swings of cords, bands, or rods, in combination with a sliding piece, foot
board, and hand cord, substantially in manner and for the purposes bercin-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here- 1
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)