AN IMPROVED MEANS OP GIVING EXPANSION TO THE CHEST
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HARWOOD, of Great Portland Street, in the County of. Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting:
.
.
WHEREAS Her present; most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West
minster, the Seventh day of October, in the fifth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and, grant unto me, the said John
Harwood, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege, and, authority, that I, the said John Harwood, my exors,
admors, and, assigns, and such others as I, the said John Harwood,, my
exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter. during the term of years, therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England; Her Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED MEANS OP GIVING EXPANSION TO THE
CHEST;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
John Harwood, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months, next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in

page_text: and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in pursuance of the said proviso, I, the said
John Harwood, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully set forth and
described in the following Specification thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
Whereas it is necessary to the due expansion of the chest (on which the
healthful action of the entire body depends) that the shoulders should habi-
tually have a backward and downward position or inclination, and such
position or inclination of the shoulders contributes essentially to the perfection
of the shape and figure of the body, and to an erect and graceful carriage.
Now the nature of my said means of giving expansion to the chest consists in
providing the shoulders with certain artificial aids or supports, calculated not
only to induce them to assume the proper retracted and depressed position or
inclination, but to sustain them in that position or inclination without painful
or inconvenient pressure or impeding the free action of the muscles of the
arms, shoulders, and back, and the Drawing hereunto annexed represents a
set of the said artificial aids or supports when connected together by suitable
bands and belts as applied to the body. A, A, are two shoulder pieces com-
posed of thin plates of metal, wood, horn, whalebone, or other solid and
suitable material, curved so as to fit easily and without inconvenient pressure
upon the shoulders, the anterior portions a, a, placed in front, arching from the
back over the shoulders or upper part of the arms, and the posterior b, b, being
widened in order to prevent a broad surface of support for the shoulder blades
over and upon which they are placed, the whole being covered with leather or
other soft material or materials. Or instead of the shoulder pieces being made
entirely of one continuous surface of metal or other solid material, with a
covering as aforesaid, they may consist of a framework only of metal or other
solid material, and be filled in with suitable soft materials. The metal or
other solid material used in forming the shoulder pieces may be of one breadth
and thickness throughout, or of varying breadths and thicknesses, and when
the framework is of metal or other solid material, it may be of any convenient
form, as round, flattened, oval, &c. And instead of such framework being
filled in wholly with soft materials, it may be partly filled in with plates of
metal or other solid substance, secured in any suitable way to the framework;
the shoulder pieces may also be wholly or chiefly composed of strong leather,
or any other like strong substance. The portions of the shoulder pieces a, a,
and b, b, may be also varied in size and form, or modified in. make so as to

page_text: suit any peculiarities of structure in individuals. As, for example, they may
be made longer or shorter, or made perfectly flat, or have any degree of con-
vexity given to them. They may also, in addition to the coverings recommended,
be padded throughout with leather or other soft material, or at any particular
part or parts where desirable. B, B, are elastic bands which are attached to
the posterior ends of the shoulder pieces A, A, and these bands crossing each
other at D, are secured to a waistband or belt E, of any suitable width, each
being so secured at the side of the body opposite to that of the shoulder pieces
to which it is attached. The waistband. E may be fastened in front or at the
back with hooks, clasps, or by any other suitable means, and may be further
secured by loops, supplementary bands, buttons, hooks, or other convenient
means, to the trowsers, drawers, or other lower garments, or to the stays. F, F,
are elastic bands which are attached to the parts a, a, of the shoulder pieces,
and passing downwards are secured to the belt E, or lower garments or stays.
The bands B, B, and F, F, may be adjusted to any length to suit the wearer,
and the waistband E is made also adjustable to any girth by sewing, hooking,
or any other suitable means. G, G, are small extra bands which hang loose
from the outer margin of the shoulder pieces, in order to enable the wearer to
readjust the latter casily should they happen to be displaced by any unusal
movement of the arms. The effect of these various arrangements is to impart
at once great support to the trunk and a right bearing and action to all the
bones and muscles of and connected with the upper extremities, and so to pre-
vent, diminish, or remove without inconvenience that stooping and protrusion
of the shoulders of which weakness in these muscles or distortion of the body is
the usual cause. Again, the pieces A, A, being entirely separate or disunited,
or only slightly connected together by the back bands at the point (D) where
they cross each other, each shoulder piece admits of the natural play of the
shoulder which it sustains independently of the other, while at the same time
the oblique direction given to the back bands from the right shoulder to the
left side of the body, and from the left shoulder to the right side of the body,
opposes sufficient resistance to any shifting of the points of support, and affords
adequate support to each shoulder for the purposes aforesaid. Farther, there
are no straps or bands of any kind passed under the arms to the detriment of
these parts, all pressure on which is injurious, and thereby a great defect
common to most other contrivances for the retraction of the shoulders is
wholly avoided.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as new is
the micans of giving expansion to the chest by artificial aids or supports of the