Imitation ivory and horn, tortoise effect

1. Imitation Ivory: 8 parts by weight of white shellac are dissolved in 32 w.h. ammonia, at a temperature of 35-40 ° C (shaking). After 5 hours add 40 wt.h. zinc oxide, mixing thoroughly. The ammonia is then removed by heating. The mixture is then air-dried on glass sheets and shaped. If you want to get objects painted in different tones, then colorants must be added to zinc oxide (zinc white).

Making billiard balls: 1 day soak 800 g of wood glue and 100 g of Cologne glue in 1.2 liters of water. Then it is heated in a water bath until the glue dissolves and lumps disappear, after which a mixture of 50 g of spar (in powder) and 40 g of chalk is added and 10 g of linseed oil are added while stirring.

A wooden ball of appropriate size is immersed in the mass for 5 minutes, then the adhering adhesive layer is dried, the operation is repeated 3-5 times, then left to dry for 3 months. Then they grind and immerse in a solution of lead sugar and aluminum sulphate for 1 hour, dry, grind, immerse in a formaldehyde solution for 1 hour, dry and polish.

Production of knobs, handles, etc. Dissolve in 1-1.2 l of water, 200 g of gelatin until the syrup is thick, add 500 g of kaolin, 200 g of slaked lime, 100 g of white lead. Painted and varnished.

Button making: Joiner's glue is placed in a 10-20% solution of sulfate or acetic alumina, allowed to soak, dried, pressed and processed.

2. Imitation horn: Horn shavings and sawdust are taken, softened in a solution of boric acid, arsenic, diluted in hydrochloric acid, for 6 hours. Then washed and molded at a temperature of 120 °C.

Making cuttings, handles, knobs, mouthpieces, etc.: A mixture of 25 g of table salt, 50 g of cream of tartar, 500 g of potash, 1 kg of lime and 3 liters of water is boiled for 30-40 minutes, then horn waste is added and boiled until a thick mass is obtained, poured into previously oiled wooden or clay molds. If necessary, the mass can be painted in any color when pouring.

Making buttons, beads, cufflinks, etc.: Waste horns, hooves and shavings are cleaned by boiling in a soda solution, washed, placed in a cauldron and doused with a solution of potash and lime. After 2-3 days, the mass turns into a jelly, it is heated, evaporated and pressed.

Making combs, combs, hairpins, etc.: On the plate, the horns are cut and cut out, then soaked in water for 1 hour and the teeth are filed with a small file, first on one side, then on the other. Then they grind with a woolen cloth, first with pumice, then with crushed, lime coal (rubbing along the fibers of the horn). Then it is polished with flannel, first dipped in vinegar with the addition of common salt, then rubbed with ashes, then with chalk.

3. The second way to imitate a horn and make buttons, buckles and other expensive items from it: 800 g of sodium silicate are mixed with 200 g of water and wheat flour is added until a thick slurry is formed. The mass is well mixed and left to harden, then it is put into molds by adding the desired dye. Further processing, as in the previous method.

4. Imitation under the turtle: 200 g of lead litharge, 100 g of lime are mixed with ammonia and a small amount of vinegar until a thick dough is obtained. Then horn products are covered with this mass and dried in the sun, after which they are polished.

5. Imitation of mother-of-pearl: Products from the horn are immersed for 1-2 hours in a hot 10% catechu decoction, then in a 5% solution of lead acetate. Then it is dried a little and placed for 10-15 minutes in a 2-3% solution of hydrochloric acid. It turns out a silvery-white coating with a pearly sheen.

Processing and coloring of products
ivory and horn

1. Whitening. Pre-cleaned of fat, rinsing in gasoline, then immersed in a solution of hydrogen peroxide with water (1: 1) for 18-20 hours, then washed and dried.

2. Etching. Immerse in a solution of 2-3% nitric or hydrochloric acid for 3-6 hours, then wash and dry. Then they are etched: with a solution of tin chloride or sulphate (1 g per 4 liters of water), immersing the products for 10-15 minutes, washing and drying. Then they paint.

3. Coloring. Products are immersed in a vessel with a liquid: for each liter of water, 1-2 teaspoons of vinegar and 0.5-1.5 g of aniline dye, for 8-12 hours, periodically removing them and controlling the degree of coloring. Upon receipt of the desired color, the products are taken out, washed with water, dried and polished.

Yellow. Products are immersed for 10-15 minutes in a solution of 100 g of zinc sulfate per 500 g of water and transferred to a solution of 100 g of potassium chromate per 500 g of water.

Yellow-brown color. Immerse for 15-20 minutes in a solution of 100 g of Chromic per 500 ml of water.

Brown color. Immerse in a solution of 100 g of ferric chloride per 1 liter of water, then in a solution of 200 g of Chromic per 2 liters of water.

Black color. Immerse in a solution of 20 g of lapis per 1 liter of water, add 50 g of liquid ammonia to it and leave for 5-6 hours, then dry until black.

Blue colour. 15 g of indigo, 100 g of sulfuric acid - this solution is carefully poured into 1 liter of boiling water. And products are immersed in it for 3-7 minutes.

Purple. A solution of 2 g of methyl violet, 3 g of tartaric acid, 1 liter of water is prepared, heated to 45-50 ° C and the products are lowered into it for 40-60 minutes.

Green color. Products are immersed for 30-40 minutes or more, depending on the density of the color, in a solution of 20 g of verdigris and 200 g of wine vinegar.

Red color. 50 g of cochineal are infused for 3-4 days in 3 liters of distilled water, filtered, 5 g of alum are added, heated and the products are immersed in it for 30-40 minutes.

Grey colour. Obtained by adding 30-40% water to solutions for black color.

Silver color. Make a solution of 10 g of lapis for 2 liters of water and 150 g of ammonia and immerse the products in it and hold until they turn yellow, then put them in distilled water and put them in the light until they turn black, then take them out and rub with a leather cloth until silvery colors.

Gilding. Immerse in a 2-3% solution of copper chloride, then rub with mousse (leaf) gold or cover with golden ocher.

4. Protection of products from breaking and cracking: A mixture of 20 g of nitric acid, 20 g of vinegar, 200 g of vodka is prepared and products are placed in it for 2 hours. Dried and dipped for 10 minutes in a mixture of vinegar and vodka (1:1).

A simple way to make bas-reliefs, small sculptures that do not differ in appearance from ivory products

Forms for the manufacture of bas-reliefs and sculptures, as a rule, are made of plaster. However, gypsum is a very fragile material, moreover, it is difficult to fashion a complex shape from it. Therefore, it is better to replace gypsum with casting material, which includes the following substances (in%): Gelatin or carpentry glue - 30-50; Glycerin - 30-35; Tooth powder - 1-5; Water - 10-15.

Gelatin or wood glue is poured with warm water and left for 1-2 hours, then heated in a water bath to 80 ° C and glycerin is added with stirring. Then the mixture is boiled for 2-6 hours until a homogeneous mass is obtained, stirring from time to time. The temperature must be constant. Then tooth powder is added and the mixture is well mixed. Cooled to room temperature, the casting material acquires elasticity and resilience.

If the elastic form is kept for an hour in a formalin solution, then it will not soften when heated, although it will retain elasticity. In this form, it is possible to repeatedly obtain plaster castings, as well as castings from a composition that imitates ivory. This composition includes the following substances (in%): Wood glue - 40-45; Barium sulfate - 2-5; Chalk (tooth powder) - 1.5-2; Drying oil - 5-7; Water - 45-55.

The glue is soaked in water, heated in a water bath until the lumps completely disappear. Powdered fillers are introduced into a homogeneous adhesive solution, mixing it, after which drying oil is added (it can be replaced with linseed or sunflower oil). The resulting mass is poured into a mold, and after hardening, it is removed and kept for an hour in a 5% solution of potassium alum, a 5% solution of acetic acid, aluminum, or in a formalin solution. After that, the casting is dried and polished. In appearance, it does not differ from ivory products (see picture).

Rice. 1. Sculpture-souvenir "Progress".

© "Encyclopedia of Technologies and Methods" Patlakh V.V. 1993-2007

Here are some ways to simulate Ivory.

One of the old methods of obtaining artificial ivory is the following.

According to this method, 8 wt. hours of bleached white shellac are dissolved in 32 wt. hours of ammonia (sp. in. 0.995, which corresponds to 14% content of ammonia gas). The dissolution of shellac is carried out at a temperature of 35 to 40 ° with constant shaking in a closed vessel. After 5 hours, the solution is usually ready and is a syrup-like liquid. When shellac is completely dissolved, 40 wt. including zinc oxide (zinc white). The mixture must be well mixed to obtain a completely homogeneous mass. Mixing for a more perfect softening can also be done in a paint grinder.

Next, you need to remove ammonia from the mixture, which has already served its purpose. This is done by heating the mass. The mixture is then dried in air on glass sheets. After drying, the mass can be molded. To obtain a product of higher quality, the dried mass is ground into powder in a completely dry mill and the crushed mass is pressed. The pressure in the molds is usually maintained at about 160 kg per 1 cm2, at a temperature of 125-128°. If you want to get objects painted in different tones, then dyes are added either to zinc white, or when grinding the dry mass.

When melting borax with the addition of a solution of potash, aniline dye and lithopone, a mass can be obtained, which with zinc white gives a product that imitates ivory. The composition of the mixture is as follows:

• Boers 40 wt. hours;
• Potash 20 wt. hours;
• Lithopone 75 wt. hours;
• Zinc white 18 wt. hours;
• Asbestos 12 wt. h

Lithopone is a mineral paint, which in its composition is a mixture of zinc sulfide with barium sulfide salt.

Depending on the desired shade, add the appropriate amount of coloring matter.

Raw materials for obtaining this mass in another way are glue, alabaster and cellulose. For casting, metal molds are mainly used, since they convey details in more detail than molds made from other materials. Various decorations, inlays for furniture, covers for albums, etc. are made from this mass. In appearance, the mass is completely similar to natural ivory.

The preparation method is as follows: prepare the following solutions beforehand:

Adhesive solution

100 g of good quality light glue is allowed to swell in 1 liter of clean well water, dissolved with low heat and filtered through a cloth.

Cellulose blend

50 g of well-bleached pulp (wood pulp - cellulose board - paper pulp) is kneaded with 3.5 liters of water until a homogeneous fibrous porridge is obtained.

alum solution

Dissolve 50 g of alum in 1 liter of hot water. The solution must be lukewarm, as if it is cooled too much, alum crystals may precipitate.

In a large pottery, 75% of the adhesive solution and 200 g of the cellulose mixture are mixed with the addition of 200 g of clean well water. To the resulting mixture is added 250 g of the purest possible, previously sifted through a sieve of alabaster gypsum. The mixture is thoroughly mixed until the gypsum is completely quenched and a homogeneous mixture is obtained. Then 200 g of alum solution is poured and again everything is well mixed.

The mass obtained in this way is poured into open molds, previously lightly lubricated with some kind of oil. In order for the mass to be evenly distributed, and there were no air bubbles, the mold must be shaken, after which it is left alone until the mass begins to thicken. At this moment, a piece of linen cloth is placed on the mold, and then a wooden or metal plate is placed on the cloth of the appropriate size. This plate serves as a lid for the mold. Next, they are pressed under pressure. The pressure-separated water drains fairly clean. The addition of alum gives the mass the ability to quickly harden and, moreover, holds back the adhesive in the mass so that only pure water flows down during slow timely pressing. After pressing, the mold is left to stand for at least 15 minutes, after which the molded object is knocked out with a wooden mallet.

The molded objects are placed for a short time in hot water to wash off the grease that has stuck to the oiled molds. Then the molded objects are dried in drying ovens and finally placed in a hot solution composed of different parts of wax and stearin. Objects soaked through with this solution are cooled and brushed with a soft brush with gypsum powder until a sufficient ivory sheen is obtained. To give ivory a more yellow hue, glue, alum and cellulose are taken in slightly different proportions.

This imitation has the hardness and brilliance of celluloid, favorably differing from the latter in its incombustibility. It is prepared in the following way.

Dissolve 200 g of casein and 50 g of ammonia in 400 g of water (also use a solution of albumin in 400 g of water). To the solution is added a mixture of:

Quicklime 240 g

Acetic aluminum salt 150 g

Alum 50 g

Calcium sulphate salt 1200 g

Oil (drying) 100 g (oil should be added to the mixture last)

For dark objects, tannin from 75 to 100 g is taken instead of acetic aluminum salt. These compositions should be mixed well to form a uniform paste, which is rolled and thus plates of the desired thickness are obtained. These plates are either dried and stamped in metal molds that are preheated, or they are pounded into a very fine powder, which is then poured into molds and subjected to strong compression.

When the items are made, they are immersed in a bath consisting of:

• Water 100 wt. hours;
• White glue 6 wt. hours;
• Phosphoric acid 10 wt. h.

Then they are dried, polished and varnished with shellac.

Imitation glue paste ivory

billiard balls. Soak during the day 80 wt. hours of carpentry (bone) glue and 10 wt. hours of Cologne glue in 120 wt. hours of water. Then heated in a water bath until the glue dissolves and lumps disappear, after which a mixture of 5 wt. hours of powdered heavy spar and 4 wt. h. chalk. Mix thoroughly and add 1 wt. hours of boiled linseed oil.

Preparation of billiard balls from this mass is as follows. A wooden ball of appropriate size is immersed in the mass for a while, then the adhesive layer adhering to the ball is dried, then again immersed in the mass, dried, etc., until the ball is 1/5 larger than it should be in the future. Next, the ball is left to dry for at least 3 months, then it is turned and immersed for an hour in a solution of aluminum acetate salt. A solution of acetic aluminum salt can be obtained by mixing solutions of acetic lead salt (lead sugar) and a solution of aluminum sulphide salt (aluminum sulphate). In this case, a precipitate of lead sulphide salt precipitates. The filtered solution will be the aluminum acetate solution. After immersion in the solution, the ball is dried again. Then it is sanded again and left for 1 hour in a formaldehyde solution, then dried again and finally polished, as is practiced with real ivory.

Real bone carving is a very expensive art form that takes a long time to learn. Therefore, you can often see all kinds of imitations of bone carving. Today I want to show two of my simulation options, which I came up with recently:

Wood putty;

Silicone molds, a vial for pasta, a rag or napkins and a good mood!

modeling gel "TAIR" or paste Sonnet.

Getting started with this panel, I already had little experience in creating an imitation of smooth and embossed bone carving. Therefore, I decided to try to imitate the third type of thread - through. I reviewed a lot of images, read about this direction and realized that a through thread can be used not only as an independent “wall”, it can also be leaned against the base.

Having chosen the silicone mold I liked according to the openwork pattern, I filled it with Sonnet paste and left it overnight. It is not necessary to fill in Sonnet, you can use modeling gel or TAIR diluent paste. Before that, I have already cast openwork lace from Tair modeling gel many times, I really like the durable and flexible result. The resulting castings can be cut, painted, varnished, wound on any even a round surface. Such materials must be poured and left in a silicone mold for several hours.

So, we have two castings, the production of which took a day. Let's get to work.

The first step is to sand the workpiece, especially at the ends.

Next, let's make a frame of harnesses. We tear off a small piece of clay, knead it and put it in mold. Cut off the excess with a sharp wallpaper knife. There is no need to wait for the clay in the mold to dry. Carefully take out and immediately glue the mold obtained from their clay onto the PVA glue. Slightly and gently press the flagella to the workpiece with your fingers. After a while they will stick and we will leave them to dry. Clay dries for a long time. It is not necessary to dry it with a hair dryer, it can crack.

In order not to waste time, we apply openwork to the workpiece, make marks on the upper arch and cut off the excess with scissors. We try on, if everything suits, we lubricate the workpiece with glue and glue openwork castings. You don't need to do anything to fix them.

I wanted this panel to be some kind of architectural element, so I looked at my castings and found a molded mascaron mold that was once ready for testing. It was a test casting from the Sonnet paste, the result of which I was not satisfied with. The cast form dried for a very long time (2-3 days), shrunk and the face of the mascaron itself was damaged. Therefore, I no longer use this paste for deep castings, it is only suitable for shallow forms. But since, according to my idea, the panel was made in the architectural style, it was this not the most successful casting that came in handy for me. It already had a trace of time on it.

But after trying it on the workpiece, I realized that it was too small and lost, so I took another mod with the image of a bas-relief and made a mold out of it with clay, which I glued onto the workpiece with glue, and laid and glued a mascaron on top of it. By the same principle, I made and glued a garland of clay.

Now all the finished elements need to be dried properly, about 8 hours

We cover the entire product from all sides with the paint "Acrylic-Hobby De Luxe" Ivory. Dry, again apply two or three layers of varnish.

When all the elements are dry, we proceed to create the effect of a carved bone. To do this, dilute brown paint with water and begin to fill in all the recesses. Do not forget to also coat the entire surface to give the desired shade. Carefully remove excess with a cloth or napkin. After thorough drying, we close everything with a finishing semi-gloss varnish, dry it and admire the finished result!

If you want the end result to be completely new, carefully watch the details on the casts and castings. I wanted the mascaron, garland, and rope frame to look old-fashioned, beaten by life, as they are protruding architectural elements. Therefore, I did not need much accuracy for this work. And, relatively speaking, the damaged nose went into a plus, not a minus. But for a perfectly new work, it is still necessary to monitor the quality of the cast or casting and it is advisable to put one layer, no more, of glossy varnish on the most voluminous elements.

I hope you liked my version of imitation of through bone carving and you can try it in your work without any problems!

Since ancient times, ivory has been valued as a material for the manufacture of all kinds of artistic products. However, this material is expensive and rare, so attempts to make artificial ivory have also been made for a long time. At the same time, they tried to give the resulting material not only the appearance of ivory, but also to provide it with the appropriate mechanical properties. To do this, it was necessary to repeat its structure with a certain degree of approximation. Here we will not touch on the structure of teeth (and elephant tusks are overdeveloped teeth), we will only say that teeth are a kind of composite material, some components of which give it hardness, while others perceive tensile and compressive loads. They strive to give the same structure to home-made ivory.

Of course, where high mechanical qualities of the substitute material are not required, it is enough to keep its external similarity with the natural original, which makes it possible to simplify the technology of its manufacture. So, choosing one or another method of obtaining a material imitating ivory, they usually proceed from the expected conditions of its operation. Note that in all the cases considered below, we are talking about imitation of unpainted ivory - white or slightly yellowish. If there is a desire to have a colored "bone", it is not difficult to implement it by adding a dye of the appropriate nature to the still liquid ornamental mass (aniline dyes are suitable for almost all of these compositions).

And now let's move on to specific practical recommendations that allow you to make "ivory" at home. I will add that all the recipes below were used to fake ivory about a century ago, when the production of plastics was just beginning to develop.

Recipe number 1. One part of white shellac (a natural resin of animal origin produced by insects - packworms) is dissolved in four parts of a 14% aqueous solution of ammonia with continuous stirring in a tightly closed vessel (here you will need a mechanical stirrer "however, you can do without it, providing mixing the components by simply shaking the vessel). The temperature inside the vessel is maintained in the range of 35...40°C. The dissolution process takes about 5 hours. By the end of this period, a syrupy solution is formed, to which five parts of dry zinc white are added. The mixture is thoroughly mixed and ground until a completely homogeneous mass is obtained. The latter is slightly warmed up until the smell of ammonia disappears completely, and then dried in air, having survived on a glass plate. The dried (but not dry) mass is molded.

You can do otherwise - dry the mixture thoroughly, grind it into powder and press products from the powder (at a pressure of 16 atm and a temperature of 125 ... 130 ° C). The quality of products in this case will be higher, but it is not so easy to provide the desired pressing mode at home. I also note that the composition of the components here and below is given in parts (by weight).

Recipe number 2. Prepare a mixture of 20 parts borax, 10 parts potash, 38 parts lithopone (a mineral paint based on zinc sulfide and barium sulfate), and 6 parts asbestos. Fuse all the components, add 9 parts of dry zinc white to the melt and, keeping the mass liquid, mix until smooth, then pour into molds previously lubricated with oil from the inside.

Recipe number 3. Finely chopped white paper is boiled in water for several hours, rubbed, strained and, spreading out in a thin layer, dried in air under stretched gauze. It turns out a light fluffy paper mass. By kneading it in water, a homogeneous, not very thick, fibrous porridge is prepared.

At the same time, two solutions are prepared, and for one of them, 100 g of light grade carpentry glue are dissolved in a pit of hot water, after which the solution is filtered through a cloth, and for the other, 50 g of potassium alum are dissolved in a liter of water. Next, in a large bowl, mix 8 parts of paper porridge, 3 parts of a warm adhesive solution and 8 parts of also warm water. 10 parts of pure alabaster without lumps are also poured here and the mixture is stirred until it becomes completely homogeneous. After that, 8 parts of a warm solution of alum are added and everything is mixed again.

After lubricating the metal molds with oil, the resulting mass is poured into them and allowed to thicken. Then the molds are covered with a cloth and their contents are pressed. The wrung out water flows freely through the fabric, while the rest of the pressed material is retained in the mould.

After 20 ... 25 minutes after the end of pressing, they take a mallet, knock out the castings from the molds and quickly wash them in hot water from oil. Then the products are dried and dipped in a heated colorless mastic for rubbing the floors so that the surface of the material is well saturated with this composition. This treatment is followed by drying. When the "bone" dries, take a soft brush or woolen cloth and polish the surface of the material with gypsum powder until it acquires a characteristic sheen.

The ornamental mass obtained by this method is very similar in appearance to a layered bone, but is only suitable for making various kinds of jewelry and inlays.

Recipe number 4. Perhaps one of the highest quality materials imitating ivory is neoleukorite. It is easy to grind on a lathe, mill, drill, saw. The combination of the availability of raw materials and the great resemblance of the resulting material to ivory makes this recipe the most attractive of all the recipes that are given in this article.

Mix 100 parts of phenol, 185 parts of 40% formalin, 75 parts of 40% sodium hydroxide solution and 38 parts of 50% lactic acid. Place the mixture in a glass flask or other vessel that is resistant to acids and alkalis, and place the mixture in a water bath. Close the vessel with a stopper with a reflux condenser installed in it (if you need to condense the vapors and return them to the reaction zone, reflux condensers are used - with an upward flow of water; when distillation or distillation is carried out, direct "descending" refrigerators are used). The installation diagram is shown in fig. 1. The mixture is heated for 3 hours at a temperature of 60...70°C.

The mass formed during the cooking process is dehydrated under vacuum, continuing to heat it in a water bath. The vacuum is obtained using a water-jet vacuum pump (Fig. 2). An hour and a half after the start of dehydration, 38 parts of 50% lactic acid are added to the vessel, after which the vacuum pump is again connected to it.

When the contents of the vessel become viscous and large bubbles appear on its surface, the mixture is poured into molds without cooling, and they are placed in a vessel with pure mineral oil. This vessel is placed in an electrically heated sand bath and the mixture is heated for three days, gradually bringing the temperature from 75°C to 100°C.

By the end of the specified period, the hardened mass is easily separated from the walls of the molds (the resulting product can be machined).

Recipe number 5. Dissolve 4 parts of gelatin in 20 parts of warm water, add 4 parts of slaked lime, 10 parts of kaolin and 2 parts of dry white lead to the solution, mix everything thoroughly. The resulting mass is poured into metal molds and pressed. Castings taken out of molds are dried and varnished.

Recipe number 6. The crushed dry wood glue of light grades of vsy-

soldered in a vessel with a solution of aluminum sulfate or acetate (one part salt to four parts water) and left to swell. The swollen glue is dried and pressed. The resulting mass is cut and turned like a bone.

Magazine "Do it yourself" №3-04g.

Physicians from Imperial College London claim that they have managed to produce a bone material that is most similar in composition to real bones and has a minimal chance of rejection. New artificial bone materials actually consist of three chemical compounds at once, which simulate the work of real bone tissue cells.

Doctors and specialists in prosthetics around the world are now developing new materials that could serve as a complete replacement for bone tissue in the human body.

However, to date, scientists have created only bone-like materials, which have not yet been transplanted instead of real bones, albeit broken ones. The main problem of such pseudo-bone materials is that the body does not recognize them as "native" bone tissues and does not take root to them. As a result, large-scale rejection processes can begin in the body of a patient with transplanted bones, which, in the worst case scenario, can even lead to a massive failure in the immune system and death of the patient.

Brain prostheses.

Brain prostheses are a very difficult, but doable task. Already today, it is possible to introduce a special chip into the human brain, which will be responsible for short-term memory and spatial sensations. Such a chip will become an indispensable element for individuals suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. Brain prostheses are still being tested, but research results show that humanity has every chance of replacing parts of the brain in the future.

artificial hands.

Artificial hands in the 19th century were divided into "working hands" and "cosmetic hands", or luxury items.

For a bricklayer or laborer, they were limited to imposing on the forearm or shoulder a bandage made of a leather sleeve with fittings, to which a tool corresponding to the worker's profession was attached - pliers, a ring, a hook, etc.

Cosmetic artificial hands, depending on occupation, lifestyle, degree of education and other conditions, were more or less complex. The artificial hand could be in the form of a natural one, wearing an elegant kid glove, capable of producing fine work; write and even shuffle cards (like the famous hand of General Davydov).

If the amputation did not reach the elbow joint, then with the help of an artificial arm it was possible to return the function of the upper limb; but if the upper arm was amputated, then the work of the hand was possible only through the medium of voluminous, very complex and demanding apparatuses.

In addition to the latter, the artificial upper limbs consisted of two leather or metal sleeves for the upper arm and forearm, which were movably hinged above the elbow joint by means of metal splints. The hand was made of light wood and either fixed to the forearm or movable. There were springs in the joints of each finger; intestinal strings go from the ends of the fingers, which were connected behind the wrist joint and continued in the form of two stronger laces, and one, having passed along the rollers through the elbow joint, was attached to the spring on the upper shoulder, while the other, also moving on the block, freely ended with an eye. If you want to keep your fingers clenched with an extended shoulder, then this eyelet is hung on a button on the upper shoulder. With voluntary flexion of the elbow joint, the fingers closed in this apparatus and completely closed if the shoulder was bent at a right angle.

For orders of artificial hands, it was enough to indicate the measures of the length and volume of the stump, as well as the healthy hand, and explain the technique of the purpose that they should serve.

Prostheses for hands should have all the necessary properties, for example, the function of closing and opening the hand, holding and releasing anything from the hands, and the prosthesis should have a look that replicates the lost limb as closely as possible. There are active and passive prosthetic hands.

Passive ones only copy the appearance of the hand, while active ones, which are divided into bioelectric and mechanical ones, perform much more functions. The mechanical hand replicates a real hand quite accurately, so that any amputee can relax among people, and can also pick up an object and release it. The bandage, which is attached to the shoulder girdle, sets the brush in motion.

The bioelectric prosthesis works thanks to electrodes that read the current generated by the muscles during contraction, the signal is transmitted to the microprocessor and the prosthesis moves.

Artificial legs.

For a person with physical damage to the lower extremities, of course, high-quality leg prostheses are important.

It is on the level of amputation of the limb that the correct choice of the prosthesis will depend, which will replace and even be able to restore many of the functions that were characteristic of the limb.

There are prostheses for people both young and old, as well as for children, athletes, and those who, despite amputation, lead an equally active life. A high-class prosthesis consists of a foot system, knee joints, adapters made of high-class material and increased strength. Usually, when choosing a prosthesis, the closest attention is paid to the future physical activity of the patient and to the weight of his body.

With the help of a high-quality prosthesis, a person will be able to live as before, with little or no inconvenience, and even carry out repairs in the house, purchase roofing materials and do other types of strength work.

Most often, all individual parts of the prosthesis are made from the most durable materials, for example, titanium or alloy steel.

If a person weighs up to 75 kg, then lighter prostheses from other alloys are selected for him. There are small modules specially designed for children from 2 to 12 years old. For many people with amputations, the emergence of prosthetic and orthopedic companies that make custom-made prostheses for arms and legs, make corsets, insoles, and orthopedic devices has become a real salvation.