_Head-rests._--The difficulty I have experienced in getting my children
to sit for their portraits in a steady position, with the ordinary
head-rests, has led me to design one which I think may serve others as
well as myself; and I therefore will describe it as well as I can
without diagrams, for the benefit of the readers of "N. & Q." It is
fixed to the ordinary shifting upright piece of wood which in the
ordinary rest carries the semicircular brass against which the head
rests. It is simply a large oval ring of brass, about an inch and a half
broad, and sloping inwards, which of the following size I find fits the
back of the head of all persons from young children upwards:--five
inches in the highest part in front, and about four inches at the back.
It must be lined with velvet, or thin vulcanised India rubber, which is
much better, repelling grease, and fitting quite close to the ring. This
is carried forward by a piece of semicircular brass, like the usual
rest, and fixes with a screw as usual. About half the height of the ring
is a steel clip at each side, like those on spectacles, but much
stronger, about half an inch broad, which moving on a screw or rivet,
after the sitter's head is placed in the ring, are drawn down, so as to
clip the head just above the ears. A diagram would explain the whole,
which has, at any rate, simplicity in its favour. I find it admirable.
Ladies' hair passing through the ring does not prevent steadiness, and
with children the steel clips are perfect. I shall be happy to send a
rough diagram to any one, manufacturers or amateurs.