Improvements in sterilising apparatus and containers, particularly adapted for treating and containing dressings, instruments and the like, employed for surgical and medical purposes / [James Ernest Arnold].

  • Arnold, James Ernest.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Improvements in sterilising apparatus and containers, particularly adapted for treating and containing dressings, instruments and the like, employed for surgical and medical purposes / [James Ernest Arnold]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/10
    N° 12,488 A«D» 1904 Date of Application, 2nd June, 1904 Complete Specification Left, 27th Feb„ 1905-Accepted, 2nd June, 1905 PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. Improvements in Sterilising1 Apparatus and Containers, particularly adapted for Treating and Containing Dressings, Instruments and the like, Employed for Surgical and Medical Purposes. We, James Ernest Arnold, of the Firm of Arnold & Sons, of 31, West Smithfield, in the City and. County of London, Instrument Makers, and William Bruce Clarke IAMB Oxon: F.R.C.S of 51 Harley Street in the County of London do hereby declare the nature of this invention to he as follows: — r' ’ In sterilising dressings, instruments, and the like employed for surgical and medical purposes, it is usual to place the dressings or other articles (here¬ after termed dressings) in a container or kettle, which is provided with a lid and which container is formed with apertures, so that upon being placed in a steriliser or closed chamber, the dressing contained in the kettle is subjected 10 to the action of steam. The steriliser is then opened and the apertures in the kettle are immediately closed by suitable devices provided for the purpose, and when removed the contents of the kettles are ready for use. Such devices, however, present some disadvantages in practice, as for instance, the kettles so constructed are practically open to the air the moment the 15 steaming chamber of the steriliser is opened, and even supposing that the aper¬ tures in the kettle can be perfectly closed as soon as possible (which closure is not in fact by any means perfect) then there is a space of time between the opening of the sterilising chamber and the closure of the kettle apertures in which a certain amount of air, which may carry germs, has access to the 20 interior of the kettle. Similarly in regard to the steriliser, faults also exist as they are usually constructed, particularly in that they cannot be taken to pieces with reasonable ease, and in fact the taking-to pieces of sterilisers as ordinarily constructed for such purposes, is impracticable. The object therefore of this invention, is to 25 so construct the kettles that they do not require closing and in fact are already closed at the time the sterilising chamber is opened, and to so construct the steriliser that it can be readily taken to pieces for cleaning or repairs without entailing a considerable amount of work and consequent expense. According to this invention therefore we construct the kettles of a body casing 30 in the form of a right prism, which may be square or circular in cross section, and near one end of such casing we fix a perforated diaphragm, providing near the other end an internal annular flange or beading to support another remov¬ able perforated diaphragm. There is further provided two removable covers, which fit into or onto the ends of the casing, and these covers are also perforated 35 and provided with devices of any preferred construction, such as bayonet slots and pins by which they may be secured in position when applied to the said ends of the casing. By these means each end of such a casing has as it were a double perforated cover, and the inter-spaces between the outer covers and the diaphiagms aie 40 filled with cotton wool or other suitable material, while the interior of the casing between the diaphragms serves as the space in which the dressings or other°materials or articles are placed which are to be sterilised. [Price 8c/.]