Restraining chair. Engraving of a mental patient strapped into a restraining chair which prevents movement. The patient has a device on his head to restrict that part of his body. The chair has a bucket attached to the underside to catch the patient's excreta. Image of the tranquilizing chair" of 1811 which was designed by American doctor Benjamin Rush (1745-1813). An influential physician, Rush tried to establish humane conditions for the treatment of the insane and is known as the "father of American psychiatry". However, he also believed that insanity could be cured by bleeding and purging the patient."