Aug. 4, 1953
2,647,329 j
Filed March l2, 1951
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2,647,329
TACHISTÖSCOPIC DEVIÓE
Filed Marc-:h 12, 1951
2 Sheets-Sheet 2
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INVEN TORS
ó‘ve/z Hyman Blacó
Patented Aug. 4, 1,953
2,647,329
UNITED., STATES PATENT oFFICE
2,647,329
TACHISTOSCOPIC DEVICE
Sven Heymann Bloch and Eli Gylling, Skodsborg,
Denmark; said Bloch assignor to said Gylling
Application March 12, 1951, serial No. 215,162.
In Denmark March 14, 1950
\,
4 Claims.
(Cl. 35-35)
1
The present invention relates to a tachisto- e may be developed in the students, Whereas the
scopic device, which is a device in which a series
opposite habit of recognizing common Word pic
of small designs, such as letters forming words
tures or phrase pictures as a whole is desirable.
or phrases or small sentences can be displayed for
One object of our present invention is to pro
a predetermined short period of time, for in m vide a tachistoscopic device which is cheap, small,
stance 1/20 second, Within a predetermined dis
playing area upon which an observer may con
centrate his attention before and during the ex
posure. Such devices can be used in teaching
children and adults to read in a suitable manner
by permitting an appropriate speed of reading
easy to operate and adapted to be used by in
dividual pupils. It is a further object to pro
vide a tachistoscope the reading of lwhich takes
place under conditions similar to normal reading
conditions in that it permits the use of letters of
the size of ordinary book types printed on ordi
nary materials and illuminated in the normal
or it can be used in psychological determinations
or analyses.
manner.
Tachistoscopic devices may also be used for
amusement purposes.
A still further object is to provide an appara
tus 0f the kind described, the operation of which
The object of exposing a Whole Word or a small
series of Words simultaneously for a short time
may be an educational one, to develop suitable
habits in reading. Thus, it is desirable that a
reader recognize and identify small and com
mon words and phrases as a Whole.
This in
creases reading ability and speed of reading; the
meaning to be conveyed to the reader is as far
as possible connected to a Word picture so that
the reader does not need to build up the Word in
his mind by combining the individual letters or
syllables. In psychological determinations or an
alyses it is also in so-me cases of interest to de
termine how long an exposure, or how many re
is mechanical and thus utilizes the inclination of
the children for playing with mechanical toys.
At the same time, however, the apparatus is so
simple in its operation that it does not detract
from the interest of the operation which the
teacher desires the child to 'carry'out It does
not contain a multitude of screws, adjusting
means or accessible mechanical parts, and the
most appealing thing to do with it is to' use it as
intended.
Still another object of the invention is to pro-y
vide a tachistoscopic device in which the time of
exposure can be readily varied Within predeter
mined limits, in which the momentary display
petitions of a predetermined short exposure, of 30 of the individual Word pictures can be repeated
a given Word picture is necessary to convey the
and vin which the Word picture thatY has been
meaning of the Word to a person.
momentarily` displayed- will normally show itself
Many forms of tachistoscopic devices for co1
afterwards for a longer time to permit its posif
lective teaching are known in which the Word
tive identification.
i
picture is projected on a screen by optical means 35
A further object of the invention is to provide
or in which plates carrying the word picture
an apparatus of the- kind referred to in which the
thereon in a suitable size can be displayed to
‘change of the Word picture to be momentarily
several observers at a time for a predetermined
displayed is effected automatically in a mechan
short period.
ical way so that the pupil Will not know in
Such apparatus are relatively bulky and they 40 advance the word to be displayed. Other `objects
are often expensive and normally quite unsuit
able for individual teaching. Furthermore, they
do not duplicate the normal reading situation,
and purposes will appear from the following de
scription.
'
i
.
VWith these generalstatements of objects and
since the letters are displayed in much greater
size than the usual book types and at a greater 45 purposes of our invention we will now proceed
to describe embodiments thereof and the manner
distance, Whereas the position of the pupil dur
in which our invention is carried‘out; it will be
ing the display dilïers from the position of the
pupil when reading a book. Such tachistoscopic
understood that While We have -described what
may be considered preferred embodiments of our
devices present other disadvantages; in some cases
the display is not momentary but the text is 50 invention we do not limit ourselves to thev precise
moved opposite the reading direction across a
conditions or proportions herein' set forth -as
ñeld making its appearance on the right and
these may be >varied by those skilled in the art
disappearance on the left.
The use of such ap
paratus is objectionable since the habit of read
ing a text letter by letter or syllable by syllable
in'laccordance with the particular purposesv for
which they are intended and the y‘conditions
under >Vwhich they are to be utilized.y
'
y
.
,
5
llftlof the lupper end of the slot 9, isf'equal to the ‘
Thus, another Word whichfh'as not heen dis;
¿distance f between the upper end of the' dia
vplayedin advance will be‘exposed during the up
phragm plate I9 and the edge 22. When the pin
‘I2 is moved downwards guided by the slot 9 it
:takes thel diaphragm plate with it thus display
ward movement lof the diaphragm plate. ~
`>-diaphragm’plate above the diaphragm'aperture
will -close the display aperture. When the
If it is desired to show momentarily the same
-word picture twice the pin is inserted lin the
lower end of the pin I0 and moved upwardly un.
til it engages the edge 25 after which another
exposure is made. The diaphragm plate has
points 26 and 2'I on it which will show just' be
fore the exposure takes place in order to mark
pin 4I2 `ceir'ies'into the oblique part I0 of the slot
the observation point and warn the observer that
the _engaging point between the point o'f the pinI
an exposurefwill take place.`
-ingfor a certain `time the part of the picture
Ífslieet placed behind ' the display aperture 5.
vWhen continuing the movement the part Aof the
and the edge 22' will move towardsv the end‘of
'
In the embodiment shown in Figs. »1B-'16 the
'casing Ia hasaïñat, square shape and its front
said edge and the said part I0 ofthe slot ends
where the pin- has> passed along the wholel length Y15 plate 2 and rear plate 4 are interconnected by
foi =said edge 22„ whereupon the diaphragm plate
I9 is released and’moves upwards under the> in
hinges 269.
'?luence of the elastic string I6. During its travel
surrounded by a striping if so desired as in the
'the diaphragm aperture 20 passes' the display
preceding embodiment. 'I‘he picture sheet 230
has circular-shape and the pictures to be dis
placed are placed radially as shown in Fig. 16.
The diaphragm plate I9û has sector shape- and
is pivoted upon a pin 210 placed centrally in the
"aperture 5 and a short exposition of the part of
fthe picture sheet ' 23 occurs.
"" The picture sheet 23 shown in Fig. 10 is a
Y'strip o_fjcardboard or other suitable materiall of
‘a widthl corresponding to the interior width of
'the' casing I, so that it is guided therein when
‘inserted‘from the upper end. It is capable in
this position of a longitudinalmovement in its
The front or screen plate 2 has a
display aperture- 5U vdefined by an edge 60 and
screen plate 2 in a projecting box portion 280
in which it is surrounded by a helical spring
290 Ithe two ends of which are connected to
the screen plate or box and the diaphragm'plate
’own plane‘parallel to the vscreen plate 2 and ad
respectively.
'jacent'to the same.-- The picture sheet 23 is pro
Although the movements of the ‘diaphragm
plate and the picture sheet could easily beac
complished by means Aresembling .the means
vided with slots 24 at right angles to the longi- -
*tudinal edge thereof. The length of these slots
-corresponds to the length of the lateral movement
of -the'point of the pin I2 when guided by the
-obliq-ue-Tpart lil of the slot 9--Iß. The distance
between the slots corresponds to the distance be
tween the lower edge 25 'of the shield plate 8
iand lower end of the slot I9 in a longitudinal
direction. The shield'plate 8 prevents the point
:of thefpin I 2 from engaging the slots during most
of its travel along the slot 9 but when the edge `
A25 of the shield plate has been passed by the pin
-the point thereof will engage a slot 24 and move
,
.
>
used for this purpose in the embodiment de
scribed in connection with Figs. 1-12, in which
case the angular slot 9, I0 must be replaced by a
slot the main part 0f which is a part of a circle
and the slots in the picture sheet corresponding
to the slot 24 must be placed radially and the edge
220 of the diaphragm plate must be radial, an
other set of moving members are preferred
which will be described in the `following. There
is a pin placed centrally in the rear plate ‘l upon
which is placed a two armed lever 30, 3| the
arms of which at Vtheir extreme ends carry
the picture sheet longitudinally for the distance
corresponding to the distance between two slots.
ratchet levers 32 and 33 respectively. Moreover,
The distance between the word pictures or other
upon the same pin there is placed a ratchet wheel
pictures to bev displayed momentarily corresponds
34 the central part of which forms a support
for the picture sheet 230 and has for this pur
pose a driving pin 35 tov engagea hole 36 in the
picture sheet. The ratchet lever 32 is adapted
to engage the ratchet wheel 34 and is acted upon
>to the -distance between the slots 24. Figs. 11 and
12 show‘an extension to be inserted upon or actu
ated to the `lower end of the casing I- to guide
vthe' picture sheet.
The working of the embodiment of the ap- l
paratus will be explained as follows.
After adjusting the elastic string and insert
'ing a picture sheet 23 in the casing I, the pin I2
vis inserted- into the slot 9 and carried downwards'.
'When the edge 25 has been passed it engages the
‘picture sheet and eventually a slot therein and
by a spring, not shown, surrounding its pin which
is fastened in the arm 30. The ratchet lever
32 has a -tail which` engages a guiding cam 3'I
fixed to the rear` plate- and having such a shape
that it will not allow the ratchet lever 32 to
engage the ratchet wheel until the tail of the
ratchet lever has passed a, non-circular part of
the guideconnecting the two circular parts con
stituting the remainder of the guide and having
'in combination with the lower end of the slot l60 different radii. The interconnecting part is so
placed that the engagement will take place at a
' IB.4 y The diaphragm plate I9 is released when the
:carries the lpicture sheet 23 down to a position
defined by one of the slots v24 in' the picture sheet
~pin “I2 reaches the end `of the slot I0 and moves
'upwardly at the speed deñned by the condition
A'ofthe elastic stringr I6. It thereby exposes the
:field corresponding to the picture sheet and nor
mally the picture sheet will be so designed that
'some short words Vare exactly centered in the
display'aperture 5 lduring the exposure. When
`this procedure is -repeated the user will vhave the
Vopportunity during the downward movement of
'the diaphragm plate of reading and studying the
`wordpicture that has just been momentarily dis
placed; vAt the lower positionr ofthe diaphragm
:duringthe-displacement of the picture sheet.'î 75
`suitable distance before the ratchet lever 33 has
been‘released, the remaining part of the move
-ment of the lever serving to carry the picture
sheet forward to display another word. rI’he
ratchet lever 33 is placed on a pin 33a of the arm
3l and is acted upon by a spring, not shown,
v-to'bring it in contact with the outer edge of the
diaphragm> plate |90. VThis edge has in it a recess
followed'by a projection 2| 0 with an edgev220.
The pivot pin 33a of the ratchet 33 penetrates
through a Sion 9u in the front plate 2. The
>ratchet leve'r‘33-like the ratchet lever 32 has' a
tail adapted to engage a Din. 40 ñxed in the rear
plate 4. When the' lever isturned clockwise in
9
2,647,329
ture adjacent and Iparallel to the screen :plate
and guided during its movement in a path which
carries the pictures successively through the pro
jection of the displaying aperture and means
for stepwise advancing the sheet.
4. A tachistoscopic device comprising a screen
plate having a displaying aperture adapted to
display an area of a picture carrying surface of
10
is parallel to the direction of movement of di
aphragm plate and the upper part of which is
positioned opposite the edge of the projection
of the diaphragm plate when the same is in its
final position and the lower part of which is
oblique and ends at the end of the said edge
in the position which it occupies when the di
aphragm plate is in its starting position and
which the balance is covered by said screen plate,
the width of the slot being so as to allow the
said area being adapted to contain a series of 10 pin to project through it, means for enclosing a
letters in book letter size forming at least one
picture sheet having at least one picture surface
word, a diaphragm plate displaceable relative
containing a number of pictures and for main
to the screen plate, means for guiding the dis
taining said sheet movably in its defined surface
placement of the diaphragm‘plate in a defined
a part of which is positioned behind the dis
path in its own surface adjacent to and parallel 15 playing aperture and another part being posi
to the screen plate, edges in the diaphragm plate
tioned behind the slot in the screen plate both
circumferating an exposition aperture positioned
parts being adjacent and parallel to the screen
within the area of the diaphragm plate covered
plate and a shield plate positioned behind the
during the movement of the same in its defined
upper part of the slot in front of the picture sheet
path by the projection of the displaying aper 20 and ending at a distance from the lower end of
ture upon the diaphragm plate and being smaller
the oblique part of the slot corresponding to the
than the said area by at least twice the area
distance between the individual pictures on the
of the displaying aperture and having in the
picture sheet and slots in the picture sheet
direction of its movement a larger dimension
adapted to be engaged with the point of the pin
than the dimension of the displaying aperture 25 below the shield plate, said shield plate leaving
in the same direction, a projection on said di
the displaying area free.
aphragm plate having an edge perpendicular to
the direction of the movement, resilient means
adapted to move the diaphragm plate from a
starting position in which the projection of the 30
displaying aperture is on one side of the eXposi~
tion aperture to a ñnal position in Which said
projection is on the other side of said aperture,
a pin for moving said diaphragm plate by en
SVEN HEYMANN BLOCH.
ELI GYLLING.
References Cited in the ?ìle of this patent
UNITED STATES PATENTS
Number
Name
_
Date
gaging the point of it with the said edge, edges
2,110,344
Taylor ____________ __ Mar. 8, 1938
in the screen plate circumferating a slet, the
longitudinal direction of the main part of which
2,252,726
Peck ____________ __ Aug. 19, 1941
2,535,243
Taylor _i. ________ __ Dec. 26, 1950