AN IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING SEA SICKNESS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hortense Anastasie Bordin, of Paris, in the Empire
of France, Widow, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MEANS AND
APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING SEA SICKNESS."
Sealed the 10th March 1868, and dated the 14th September 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hortense Anastasie Bordin
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition, on the
14th September 1867.
I, HORTENSE ANASTASIE BORDIN, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Widow,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MEANS
AND APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING SEA SICKNESS," to be as follows:-'.
Having found by experience that sea. sickness is entirely prevented. or
ceased as soon as the light is fully prohibited from acting on the retina of the
eyes, my Invention consists in applying this discovery for the prevention or for
the cure of sea sickness, for which purpose I make use of a flexible bandage
or apparatus to go round the upper part of the face, and so adapted that when

page_text: pressed with the fingers shall exclude the light from the eyes. In it are
formed opposite and over the eyes two protuberances which allow to the eyes
their free movement. They can be fixed by an elastic band or any other
convenient fastening.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hortense Anastasie Bordin in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th March 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HORTENSE
ANASTASIE BORDIN, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Widow, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Hortense Anastasie Bordin, Her special licence, that I, the said
Hortense Anastasie Bordin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Hortense Anastasie Bordin, my executors, administrators,
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 "AN IMPROVED MEANS' AND APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING SEA
SICKNESS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hortense
Anastasie Bordin, 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 Hortense Anastasie Bordin, do hereby
declare the nature. of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly 'described and ascertained in "and-by the
following statement:
Having found by experience that sea sickness is entirely prevented or

page_text: cured as soon as the light is fully prohibited from acting on the retina of
the eyes, my Invention consists in applying this discovery for the prevention
or for the cure of sea sickness, for which purpose I make use of a flexible
bandage or apparatus to go round the upper part of the human face,
and so adapted that when suitably pressed by the fingers or kept. tight by
any other suitable means the light shall be excluded from the eyes, whilst
in order to prevent the apparatus from pressing on these latter or injuring
them two protuberances are formed in the apparatus opposite and over
the eyes, so as to allow to these latter their free movement.
The appa-
ratus can be fixed to the head by an elastic band or any other convenient
fastening.
In the annexed. Drawing Fig. 1 represents a perspective view of the
apparatus in natural size; Fig. 2 shows on a smaller scale the apparatus
fixed to the human face.
A is a piece of leather, stout tissue, or other suitable opaque flexible
material of such shape and size as to admit of being applied exactly over the
upper part of the face and rest on the nose N by means of the curve a; just
opposite the eyes are provided two concave protuberances B, B, serving as
guards for the eyes, and for preventing the apparatus from injuring these
latter or pressing on them. C is an elastic band fixed to the ends b, b, of the
apparatus, and by means of which this latter is to be kept in position over the
face, whilst in order entirely to exclude the light from reaching the retina of
the eyes the apparatus is provided all round with a stuffed brim or elastic
pad d.
It will be evident that a great many modifications or variations may be made
in the shape of the apparatus, the material of which it is to be made, and the
means for keeping it fixed over the face so as to prevent it from injuring the
eyes and fully prohibit the light from acting on these latter, and thus afford a
preventive or cure for sea sickness.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be put into effect, I
wish to add here that I do not intend to restrict myself to the precise details
of the above-described apparatus, as a great many variations may be made
therein without deviating from the principles according to which the apparatus
is constructed and operates; but what I consider to be novel and original, and
consequently claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent consists in preventing or curing sea sickness by
the application to the face of an apparatus or flexible band constructed for the

page_text: purpose of and entirely prohibiting the light from acting on the retina of
the eyes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hortense Anastasie Bordin, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
A. G. BRADE.
H. A. BORDIN. (L.S.)