An improved electric therapeutic apparatus.

  • Wilkinson, Percy John
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An improved electric therapeutic apparatus. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Date of Application, 4th Mar., 1899 Complete Specification Left, 4th Dec., 1899 —Accepted, 6th Jan,, 1900 PIUJVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. An Improved Electric Therapeutic Apparatus. AVe, Percy John Wilkinson, of the West Kirby Hydropathic Company, West Kirby, in the County of Chester, Medical Practitioner, and Charles Philh* Lowndes Titherley, of Oa, Stanley Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as 5 follows: — This invention relates to a therapeutic apparatus by means of which the part of the body affected, say the foot or arm, may be subjected for some time to the continuous and uniform influence of radiant heat and light electrically produced. We provide a casing of aluminium or other suitable metal, which tor con- 10 venience we will term the bath, the shape of which is made to suit the part of the body to which it is intended to be applied, which we will assume, tor con¬ venience of description, to be the toot. The bath is fitted with a number of electrical radiators each of which consists of a glass tube from which the air has been exhausted, and in which is fitted a ] 5 filament of metal or carbon adapted to be heated to incandescence by the passage ot a current of electricity which enters and leaves the filament bv suitable terminals. A number of the radiators are grouped together and are surrounded by an outer glass tube from which the air may also be exhausted, and the terminals are so 20 arranged that the current may be passed through the individual tubes either in series or in parallel. A number ot such grouj)s are carried so as to lie inside the bath and are so disposed that when the foot is inserted in the bath it is surrounded by the radiators, the tubes of the latter being, if necessary, so shaped as to follow the 25 configuration of the foot. A suitable regulator is })rovided by means of which the temperature is maintained within the prescribed limits. In some cases the walls of the bath, (the inner surfaces of which are polished so as to absorb as little light and heat as possible) are so shaped that, with the aid of reflectors, the light and heat may be focused on any particular part of the 30 foot. AVe find that in the case of sprains, gout, and the like, if the part affected is subjected to the continuous influence ot the light and heat thus generated and radiated relief is afforded, and the process of healing considerably helped. The apparatus is, as stated, modified to suit the configuration of the part of 35 the body to which it is intended to be applied, and in some cases the radiators may be used without the outer glass tube. Hated this 8rd day of Alarch 1899. SLOAN & LLOVI) 11 ARNES, Chartered Patent Agents, d4, Castle Street, Liverpool. [^Price