Specification of Samuel Little Hardy : apparatus for applying chloroform vapour, &c.

  • Hardy, Samuel L. (Samuel Little), 1815-1868.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of Samuel Little Hardy : apparatus for applying chloroform vapour, &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Specification. A.D. 1854.—N° 444. 3 Hardy s Improved Apparatus for Applying Chloroform Vapour, <fyc. seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven¬ tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent. NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Little Hardy, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per¬ formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):— My Invention of “An Improved Apparatus for Applying Chloroform Vapour or other similar Vapour in certain Cases,” has for its object the more con¬ tinuous and concentrated application of chloroform or other vapours to any particular part or portion of the human frame which it may be desirable to render anaesthetic or insensible to pain, or to affect in any other manner by the local application of such vapours. And this object is accomplished by means of a pair of bellows, which I prefer to be constructed partly of vulcanized india-rubber, combined with chambers containing sponge or other substance charged with chloroform, con¬ nected therewith in such a manner as to be capable ot transmitting to the part requiring to be affected or treated a blast of air impregnated with a supply of vapour from each chamber. One of these chambers is screwed or otherwise fastened beneath or external to the ordinary inward opening valve of the bellows, and the bottom of this chamber is only closed by a perforated plate or wire gauze, the interstices of which admit atmospheric air through the said chamber into the bellows when the latter is opened, the air in its passage through this first chamber having become charged with vapour from the sponge contained therein. Within the bellows and near the second sponge chamber herein-after mentioned, is a valve which opens when the bellows is depressed or closed, and shuts when the bellows is raised or opened; thus allowing the draft charged with vapour to proceed and escape only in one direction, viz., towards the discharge pipe or tube, between the body of the bellows and the discharge pipe, and at such distance as not to interfere with the free action of the valve. A second chamber containing sponge charged with chloroform is placed. The draft proceeding through this receives a second supply of vapour, and is then expelled from this second chamber and directed by a suitable pipe on to the part which it is desired to affect; or it may be collected in a chamber with an elastic casing’ attached to the pipe, and allowed to issue therefrom in a continuous stream with an intensity proportioned to the elastic force exerted by an elastic band embracing the chamber. Various