APPARATUS FOR WRITING IN THE DARK.
In this ingenious contrivance, A is a frame of wood, into the back and front of which are inserted two thin boards, the front one, B, reaching about half the height of the frame, and the back one being movable, by sliding in grooves, for better fixing the paper to be written on, C, to a roller at top, with a handle and ratchet working into a spring.
To use the apparatus, the paper is to be fixed on the roller, and a strip of lead, or other weight, suspended from the bottom of the paper, to keep it smooth: then, by resting the right hand on the edge of the board B, and turning, with the left hand, the ratchet, the distance of the lines may be regulated by the number of clicks caused by the spring on the ratchet. D, is a foot to support the apparatus, which, however, should be light enough to be held in the hand as a slate.