Patent Elastic Infant Gymnasium, or Baby Jumper [opening lines of broadside].

“This new and useful American Invention…has received the universal approbation of the Press and Physicians of that Country”

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Advertising broadside for an American-invented “baby jumper” or children’s hanging exercise apparatus designed to safely entertain “…in a manner highly conducive to health, and calculated to insure the continual good humor of the child.”

The apparatus, depicted in a full-column illustration cut, is here marketed to women both as a safe way to entertain her child and as an alternative to close parental supervision or medicines and, in appropriate cases, as a relief to children with spinal disease:

To the mother who has no assistant it is invaluable, as she can at any time leave her babe alone, and be assured on her return to find it amused and perfectly safe from injury—the child remaining for hours without fatigue, or even restraint other than is necessary to keep it from mischief. It is highly recommended by our most eminent Physicians for invalid and other children, as its operation upon the system is such as in a great measure to do away with the necessity of medicine, and at the same time affords the exact quantity and degree exercise desired, as the whole depends upon the voluntary exertions of the child only. To children, of whatever age, who are so unfortunate as to be afflicted with spinal disease, its operation is in the highest degree salutary, affording a great degree of support to the body, and avoiding the infliction of pain usually incurred in the ordinary attempts at exercise. It is only to be seen, to be appreciated. [emphases in original]

A helpful section of text entitled “Explanation of the Cut” accompanies the broadside’s illustration and demonstrates that the “least compression of the chest” is employed by the “baby jumper” and that the child’s limbs remain “free and unrestrained.”

The healthful, salutary aspect of the apparatus even allows for some view of it almost as a plaything: “The cord above to be adjusted so as to bring the child’s toes in contact with the floor—when the slightest exertion will set it jumping in a most delightful manner. Infants are never known to become tired of them, and will frequently dance themselves asleep, when left alone.” What parent could resist this “Elastic Infant Gymnasium” for their little babe.

The broadside advertises the “baby jumper” for sale by H.S. Rogers & Co. of London, at “[p]rices varying from 10s. to 25s. according to the neatness and elegance of the article.”

An interesting illustrated broadside touching upon such topics as American invention, women, childhood, advertising, health, and medicine.

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