Great Moments in Parenting

 

The following article is from the online Daily Mail and is worthy of a reprint.  Read it at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2178140/Baby-taking-room-Try-solution-1930s--window-CAGE-hanging-air-infant-crawl-in.html

 

Baby taking up too much room? Try this solution from the 1930s... a window CAGE hanging in the air for your infant to crawl in

By Anthony Bond

24 July 2012 

They were designed in a more innocent age and with the best of intentions. 

But it's difficult to see these baby cages getting past the eye of officious council chiefs today. And it's perhaps for the best. 

These incredible pictures taken in the 1930s show babies suspended high up in flats from their parents' window.

Shocking: These astonishing baby cages were invented in America in 1922. This picture taken in 1934 shows a wire cage which East Poplar borough council in London proposed to fix to the outside of their buildings 

Sitting in open mesh cages, the youngsters were completely exposed to the elements outside. 

Incredibly, the then East Poplar borough council in London proposed to fix the cages to the outside of some of their buildings so that babies could benefit from fresh air and sunshine. 

The cages were also distributed to members of the Chelsea Baby Club who lived in high buildings and had no gardens. 

The idea behind the cages was patented in America in 1922 as a means to help parents living in cities who didn't have much space.

 Bizarre: A nanny is pictured supervising a baby suspended in a wire cage attached to the outside of a flat window in Chelsea, 1937. The benefits were said to include fresh air for the child, room to play with toys and another place for children to sleep

Odd: It's difficult to see these baby cages getting past the eye of officious council chiefs today, and perhaps that is for the best

The benefits were said to be fresh air for the child, room to play with toys and another place for children to sleep.

The patent was filed in 1922 by Emma Read, from Washington, and was granted the following year.

According to The Northern Star, the description of the patent, said: 'It is well known that a great many difficulties rise in raising, and properly housing babies and small children in crowded cities, that is to say from the health viewpoint.

'With these facts in view, it is the purpose of this invention to provide an article of manufacture for babies and young children, to be suspended upon the exterior of a building adjacent an open window, wherein the baby or young child may be placed.'

The cages in the patent were also designed with a slanted, overlapping roof which was said to protect babies from snow or rain.