Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10396
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Steel yard balance swing
Date
1742
Creator
Timothy Sheldrake (British) , Botanist
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (drawing): 252mm
width (drawing): 368mm
width (drawing): 368mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Front view of a medical instrument intended to correct deformities or irregularities in human bones and muscles. The device used gravity by suspending a patient (most likely a child) from the balance arms. The drawing includes details of weights and suspension tethers.
Figure from the paper “The description and uses of the steel-yard balance swing”, by Timothy Sheldrake, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 42 1742-1743, pp.20-25.With pencil annotations instructing the engraver.
The botanist Timothy Shedrake’s eldest son, also Timothy Sheldrake (1729-1800) made his living as a truss-maker but would be too young to have authored this paper.
Figure from the paper “The description and uses of the steel-yard balance swing”, by Timothy Sheldrake, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 42 1742-1743, pp.20-25.With pencil annotations instructing the engraver.
The botanist Timothy Shedrake’s eldest son, also Timothy Sheldrake (1729-1800) made his living as a truss-maker but would be too young to have authored this paper.
Associated place