Specification of Alexander Prince : litters.

  • Prince, Alexander.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of Alexander Prince : litters. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    2 Provisional Specification. Prince's Improvements in Soldiers' Litters, 8fc. thus enabling the patient to sit or lie with the hip and knee joints duly and naturally bent, instead of being stretched out at full length hori¬ zontally as is the case in all other contrivances for such purposes. The litter consists of a hoard or plane to receive the back, another as a seat and for the thighs, and a third for the legs. The back is fixed at 5 right angles with the seat, and the leg board again forms a right angle therewith. The seat and back, however, are so connected that the latter may shut down flat upon the former. The board for the lower limbs is connected with the seat in such manner as to be capable of being moved upwards to lie in the same plane with the latter and form one surface 10 with it, but in the opposite direction or downwards it is only capable of being brought into right angles with the seat. When extended in the same plane the seat and leg board are together as long as the back, so that when the back is shut down upon them the top of the same coincides with the bottom of the leg board. The litter rests on a thick 15 bar fixed under the seat at its junction with the back by means of two pins, which like trunnions of a gun play in sockets made in two rests, forming a bed for the whole ; the litter therefore rests in this bed, and by means of the pins may be inclined to any angle required, and thus will form a chair, couch, or litter. 20 To fix the apparatus at the required angle, two moveable vertical bars are fixed to the back of the litter bed, one on each side, and con¬ nected to the back board. At each side and near each end of the bed a ring is fixed, above which four others are fastened, two on each side of the couch itself, one immediately over that at the back of the bed and 25 the other over that in front. These upper rings are fastened to the sides of the back and seat so that by aid of a rope or strap passed through the rings in the bed and then through those in the frame or boards of the litter the apparatus can be fixed and adjusted as well as with the side vertical bars. And in this case the latter can be employed to stretch out 30 and maintain the position of the boards. The upper rings are used for the purposes of transport, and the apparatus can be slung as a hammock by passing ropes through all the rings. In the centre of the back part of the seat is an oval aperture closed by a trap or valve opening down- % wards and so constructed as to be opened and closed at pleasure by the 35 person occupying the seat. At the lower end of the leg board are two ring bolts for the extension of the lower limbs if required, and at the back part of the leg board a drawer is constructed for bandages and other