AN IMPROVED MECHANICAL TOY
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED MECHANICAL TOY." -A communication from abroad by
William Alonzo Paul La Grove, of the City, County, and State of
'New York, United States of America.
Scaled the 17th March 1874, and dated the 23rd January 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 23rd January 1874.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lanc, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MECHANICAL Tox," to be as
follows:—

page_text: The figure is fixed on the upper end of an upright slender steel wire
rising through the platform on which the figure dances, and fitted to
work in guides beneath said platform. To this rod an up-and-down
motion is imparted by a crank through the medium of a connecting rod,
the said crank being fixed on a spindle actuated by a train of clockwork
mechanism contained in a box beneath the platform, or the spindle may
be driven by hand. In either case a suitable regulating fly is provided
to equalize the motion of the mechanism. The wire on which the figure
is mounted being very slender and flexible allows considerablo play for
the movements of the figure in every direction, whilst imparting to it
the necessary up-and-down motion to imitate a dancer.
The wire is preferably fitted into a socket on a vertical rod or tube
fitted to work up and down in guides, to which the connecting rod or
link is jointed by a pin or stud; or the rod may be jointed direct to tho
wire, the pin or stud being in that case fixed on the wire itself. The
joint between the connecting rod and stud is loosely fitted, so that the
swinging of the link or connecting rod and the action of the crank
thereupon will tend to give a rotary movement to the figure.
The figure may be of any desired character, the limbs being jointed
very loosely by means of wire loops or links, so as to swing and move in
the dancing operation, and the feet of the figure are made with bevelled
or inclined surfaces instead of flat soles and heels, to assist in imparting
the required movements to the limbs.
More than one figure may be operated simultaneously, cach fixed on a
wire or rod as above described, and the several wires be attached to a
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER 80
MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Acent sond creating

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special
licence that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander
Melville Clark, 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 MECHANICAL TOY," a communication to me from abroad
by William Alonzo Paul La Grove, of the City, County, and State of
New York, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, 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 Alexander Melville Clark, 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 following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
:—
This Invention relates to an improved mechanical toy, consisting of a
jointed figure which is made to dance in an animated and grotesque
manner by the improved means hereafter set forth.
The figure is fixed or poised on the upper end of an upright slender
steel wire, to which motion is imparted by a crank to dance the figure
up and down, and communicate grotesque movements to the jointed
limbs. This action is increased by the wire being flexible and springy,
and there is also a slight rotary movement by the connecting rod from
the crank tending to turn the wire as the said connecting rod swings
from one side to the other.
In order that my Invention may be more readily understood I have
illustrated it in the accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 1 represents

page_text: and connecting rod.
And Figure 3 shows how several figures may be operated from one
crank.
The base a is a box of suitable size and shape, within which is con-
tained a spring 6 and train of gearing to the regulating fly wheel c and
crank e, which is fixed on a shaft forming part of said train, as shown.
The spring might however be dispensed with, and the mechanism be
operated by hand. f is a tubular rod mounted to work up and down in
guides g, and receiving the vertical movement from the crank e by a
link or connecting rod h jointed to a pin i on f. This tube f is a socket
to receive a slender spring steel rod or wire k passing up through a hole
in the top of the box α, and upon the upper end of which the figure is
carried, as shown. The wire k and the figure are together danced up
and down by the movement of the crank e, and as the joint between the
link and socket f is loosely fitted the swinging of the link and the
action of the crank will tend to give a rotary movement to the socket f
and wire k and consequently to the figure, which is free to turn round,
as the wire k fits easily in the socket f.
In Figure 2 the socket f is dispensed with, the link h being jointed
directly to a stud on the wire k which works in the guides g. In this
case the figure must be fitted loosely on the wire to admit of its turning
round. I however prefer the arrangement first described, as it admits of
the wire being dismounted when not in use.
The figure may be of any desired character, the limbs being jointed
very loosely by means of wire staples or links, as shown, so as to swing
and move freely in the dancing operation, and the feet are preferably
made with bevelled surfaces instead of flat soles and heels to assist in
imparting the required movements to the limbs.
More than one figure may be operated simultaneously from one crank,
as shown in Figure 3, by substituting for the socket fa rod of the same
length, and fixing on the top of the said rod a cross heat m, at whose
extremities wires k are fixed, said wires passing up through holes in the
lid, and having figures poised on them as before described.

page_text: Having described the nature of the Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would observe that I aware that toy dancers
have already been contrived in which the figure is suspended by the
head or back from a horizontal or bent wire, but from this my method of
supporting and actuating the figure is quite distinct; what I thereforo
claim as my Invention is,―
1st. One or more jointed dancing figures, each poised or mounted on
the upper end of a vertical flexible wire, to which reciprocating motion
is imparted from a crank, all as herein shown and described.
2ndly. The arrangement shown in Figure 1, in which the wire k is
received in a socket f, working in guides and operated as set forth. !
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.