US543086A - Registering-armor for boxers - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

J. DONOVAN. REGISTERING A'RMOR FOR BOXBRS. No. 543,086. I Patented July 23, 1895.

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UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

JosEPH DONOVAN, or onioAeo, ILLINOIS.

REGlSTERlNG-ARMOR FOR BOXERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 543,086, dated J uly 23,1895. Application filed December 19, 139 4:- $erial No. 532,297. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH DONOVAN, of Chicago, Cook county, Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Registering-Armor for Boxers, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, economical, and efficient protection for boxers by covering the different assailable parts of the body located above what is termed the belt, below which there is no hitting done, and incombination therewith a suitable automatic registering and bell-sounding device to record the number of times each or all such protected points have been struck,

. the bell sounding in unison with each tally scored.

The invention consists of the features and combinations hereinafter described and claimed.

In thedrawings, Figure 1 shows my improvements attached to the body of an athlete, and Fig. 2 a diagrammatic view of the mechanism for recording, registering, and ringing up the hits. I

It is well known that sparring or boxing is one of the most health-giving exercises in the whole range of athletics, developing endurance, stability of physique, a quickness of eyesight and action, and tending to bring out in its finest and quickest form every muscle of the body. Unfortunately, however, with all these good qualities there is a roughness and a brutality with it, whicl1 has thrown it almost entirely outside the pale of legitimate athletics, and to eliminate these rough and objectionable features entirely to those practicing boxing by padding over all the vulnerable points above the belt and providing each and all of these points with a registering device, so that all blows shall be rung up and registered automatically, thus reducing boxing to asimple test of quickness and endurance, and nothing more, is the principal object of my invention. f

In constructing my improvement I provide a jacket A, which is attached to the body above the belt and which has pneumatic or padded cushions attached to it over the different vulnerable points, as follows: 1 represents the cushion over what is termed the mark or 'pit of the stomach; 2, the cushion just below or over the heart; 3, the cushion or pad over the short ribs of the left side, and 4 the cushion or pad over the ribs of the right side.

I further provide headgear or jacket B, in which the different vulnerable parts of the head are protected, in the following manner: 5, the cushion or pad over the left jaw; 6, the cushion or pad over the right jaw; 7, the cushion or pad over the chin, and 8 the cushion or pad over the nose. These cushions or pads have been designated numerically in accordance with the difficulty of reaching them in boxing, the nose pad orcushion standing at one extreme as the most easily reached and thepad or cushion over the pit of the stomach or mark being at the other extreme as the most difficult of reach. In order to record or register the number of times each or all of these parts have been struck by an opponent, I prefer to provide each of these cushions with electrical contact-points (see diagrammatic view, hereinafter explained) and attach to the back of the athlete a registering device, hell, or both, of any usual form of construction, which are electrically connected with each one of these contact-points, so that as the contact-pieces are brought together by a blow a circuit is completed and one point on the register recorded or the bell sounded.

Describing the diagrammatic view shown in Fig. 2, 0 represents the indicating-register and D the bell, both of which may be attached to the back of the athlete. a represents thecushion or contact-point over the mark. h represents the contact-point over the heart; 0, the contact-point over the left short ribs; d, the contact-point. over the right ribs; e, the contact-point over the left jaw; f, "the contactpoint over the right jaw; g, the contact-points over the chin; h, the contact-point over the nose, and 'i a dry battery.

Describing the apparatus in use, when, for instance, the contact-points over the mark a is struck, the electric circuit is closed and current flows from the battery through wire is to contact-points a, through wires Z, m, and n to the bell and indicating-register and back indicating-register.

The advantages of my improvement are that it renders one of the healthiest and most fascinating athletic exercises absolutely safe, doing away completely with roughing, bloodletting, brutality, knockdowns, and knockouts, and reducing boxing and the manly art of self-defense to a science, in which rapidity of arm and leg work, endurance, and quick conception are the only factors. Further, that each and all of the times the boxing-competitors strike each other over the vulnerable points are recorded in any desired manner, so that at the end of a bout or contest they can be easily read, minimizing any unfairness in the decisions, and preventing disputes as to who the actual winner is or Whether there has been an even contest or draw.

\Vhile I ha e described my invention with more or less minuteness as to details and as being embodied in the precise forms, I do not desire to be limited thereto unduly any more than is pointed out in the claims. On the contrary, I contemplate all proper changes in form, construction, and arrangement and omission of parts and the substitution of equivalents as circumstances may suggest or necessity render expedient.

I claim- 1. In an armor for boxers, the combination of a jacket or jackets, having a cushion or cushions located over the vulnerable parts of a wearer in use, and means for indicating the number of times each or allot such cushions have been struck, substantially as described.

2. In an armor for boxers, the combination of a jacket or jackets having a plurality of cushions located over the several vulnerable parts of a wearer when in use, electric contact points at each of said vulnerable parts, an indicating register, a bell, and an electric circuit embracing such contact points, indicating register, bell, and a source of electric energy, to register the number of times each and all of such parts have been struck, substantially as described.

3. In an armor for boxers, the combination of a body jacket or harness, and aheadjacket or hood, having a plurality of cushions located over the several vulnerable parts of a wearer when in use, and means forindicating the number of times each and all of such parts have been struck, substantially as described.

4. In an armor for boxers, the combination of a body and head jacket provided with a plurality of cushions located over the several vulnerable parts of a wearer when in use, electric contact pieces at each of such vulnerable parts, an indicating register or registers, a bell, and an electric circuit or circuits embracing such contact pieces, indicating register or registers, bell, and a source of electrical energy, to register and ring up the nu mber of times each or all of such parts have been struck, substantially as described.

JOSEPH DONOVAN.

Witnesses:

THOMAS F. SHERIDAN, THOMAS E. McGnncoR.

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