Hand Compress for Strengthening, Developing, and Elasticizing the Hands of Musical Instrumentalists.
Year: 1899

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION,
A Hand Compress for Strengthening, Developing, and Elasticizing the
Hands of Musical Instrumentalists.
FARLEY NEWMAN, 10, Mornington Place, Regent's Park, London, Musical
Journalist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
A flattened, heart-shaped wedge, as shown in accompanying drawings, Figure 1,
A, composed of india-rubber, hollow inside, and having a groove or indentation
down its two narrower sides to enable it to be fitted closely into the space formed
when any two adjoining fingers are stretched apart; as shown in accompanying
drawings, Figure 2, B.
The purposes of the compress are (1) to strengthen and develop certain small
muscles located in the hand (metacarpus) and phalanges (fingers) which are left
untrained by ordinary practice at the keyboard and the finger board, and the
development of which is highly conducive to strength, celerity, and independence
of finger action, and also (2) to loosen and elasticize the metacarpal and
phalangeal ligaments, the normal stiffness of which constitutes one of the chief
obstacles to digital dexterity.
The compress is to be used in the following manner; that is to say, by
repeated compressions between all the pairs of fingers in succession, as well as
between the thumb and index finger of each hand, all the fingers not in action
being, meanwhile, bent closely upon the palm, as shown in Figure 1 of accom-
panying drawings. The thicker end of the compress has, further, to be com-
pressed between the ball of the thumb and the outer side of the palm to assist
in the development of the palmar muscles.
It is claimed that the muscles beneficially affected by the use of this inven-
tion are, more especially, the adductors and abductors of the fingers, the lumbri-
cales, the musculi interossei, the palmaris brevis, the flexor brevis pollicis, and
the opponens minimi digiti, as well, also, as the ligaments binding the osseous
structure of the metacarpus, and the articulations of the phalanges.
Dated thin Twenty-fourth day of January 1899.
A Hand Compress for Strengthening, Developing, anu masi
Hands of Musical Instrumentalists.
FARLEY NEWMAN, 10, Mornington Place, Regent's Park, London, Musical
Journalist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
This invention consists of a somewhat flattened, heart-shaped wedge, as shown
in the drawings left with the Provisional Specification, Figure 1, A, made of
india-rubber, either in its native condition or vulcanized, or of any similar
substance or composition in which india-rubber forms a constituent part, or of any
material of an elastic and resilient character; hollow inside, the walls being one-
eighth of an inch in thickness, and having a groove or curved indentation down
each of its two narrower sides, as shown in the diagram of a lateral section,
Figure 2, B, in the drawings left with the Provisional Specification, the purpose
of these grooves being to enable it to be fitted tightly into the space formed when
any two adjoining fingers, or thumb and finger, are stretched apart.
The compress is made by pouring the india-rubber or other substance or com-
position when in a molten condition into a mould of the shape and form indicated
in the illustrations A. in Figure 1, and B, in Figure 2, in the drawings left with
the Provisional Specification. For adaptation to the purposes of small and weak
hands, a small circular orifice is bored in the larger end of the compress when
required, so that, by the free emission of air, greater case in compression is
obtained.
The method of using the compress is by fixing it between any two adjoining
fingers, or finger and thumb, and slowly compressing it by the pressure of the
enclosing fingers, the other fingers (and thumb when not in use) being meanwhile,
doubled closely upon the palm, as shown in Figure 1, in drawings left with the
Provisional Specification.
The broader end of the compress has, further, to be compressed between. the
ball of the thumb and the outer side of the palm of the hand, to assist in the
development of the palmar muscles. The act of compression described has to be
repeated a number of times, this number being dependent upon the strength and
capabilities of the hand.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
A device consisting of a hollow flattened wedge of india rubber or other resilient
material having lateral grooves or indentations and with or without an orifice
therein, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
Dated this Twentieth day of October 1899.