Suiter Swantz IP takes a look back at past inventions and inventors with our Patent Of The Day.
On this day in 1905, Arthur B. Griffin was granted U.S. Patent No. 783,831 for a TRICK HOUSE.
The object of this invention is to provide a means of amusement, recreation, and instruction.
The operation of this invention is based, of the unconscious adaptation of the muscular movements of the body to the physical conditions under which one believes one’s self to be acting.
In carrying this invention into effect the house is constructed having having outer walls which are perpendicular or at right angles with the place of the horizon in the usual manner. Within these outer walls a room or rooms, the floors of which are sloping – i.e., form an angle with the plane of the horizon. The ceilings of such room or rooms are parallel with the floor. The walls of the room or rooms are at right angles to the floor, and the rooms are preferably provided with natural accessories – such as supporting-posts, window-frames, and such other articles as maybe desired – which are also at right angles with the floor. Entrance to and exit from the room is effected by means of a passage or passages within the outer walls of the house and doors so arranged that no view can be had from the inner room of objects exterior thereto nor of the interior of the room from without. For this purpose also the room is lighted by day by means of a skylight placed in the ceiling instead of by windows in the walls, so that there is no opportunity to compare the position of the room with external objects. The result of this construction is that to a person entering the room the floor appears to be level and the walls perpendicular, as in an ordinary room. Consequently the movements of a person walking in the room are based on the assumption of this condition, with the amusing and puzzling result that when a person attempts to walk from one part of the room to another he will invariably find himself without apparent cause arriving at a different point from that aimed at or compelled to exert a considerable sidewise or turning effort to enable him to reach the desired point.
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