"Apparatus for electrotherapeutic treatment."

  • Tscherkassoff, Nicolai
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: "Apparatus for electrotherapeutic treatment.". Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    N° 13,542 Date of Application} 9th Junet 1909—Accepted, 5th May, 1910 r » COMPLETE SPECIFICATION. Apparatus for Electrotherapeufcic Treatment. I, Nicolai Tscherkassoff, of Ssadowaja-Ssamotetsclmaja 254, Moscow, Russia, Physician, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement-— 6 This invention relates to apparatus for therapeutic treatment by means of electrical discharges. In carrying the invention into effect efficiently insulated electrodes are con¬ nected directly to the induction machine and adapted to apply the treatment to the whole or any part of the patients body. These electrodes are adapted as 10 regards form, size, etc., to the purpose in view in each case, and are embedded in a layer of insulating material of greater or less thickness so that, instead of the strong induction spark, a rain of emanations is produced and distributed over the wrhole of the effective electrode surface which is felt by the patient as a warm wind or in some cases only as a slight tingling of the skin. 15 TJie accompanying diagrammatic drawings illustrate by way of example several forms of the improved apparatus. In the simplest form, shown in Figure 1 the electrode consists of a metal plate 1 covered with insulating material 2, and connected to the one pole of an induction machine by a wire 3 passing through the handle 4 which may be made of “ ebonite wood ”. The in- 20 sulating material 2 is provided with a mount in the form of a cover 5 of glass which may be enclosed in a casing G of wood preferably paraffined. In using the apparatus the electrode is pressed against or approached to the body of the patient with the front side of glass or wood when the wooden casing is used, whereby the induction current is caused to enter the body in the form of 25 a bundle of scarcely felt discharges. It has been found that the use of the wooden casing impregnated with paraffin or the like has the effect of rendering the discharges less felt. The reason of this may perhaps be that the layer of wood increases the number of the sparks and the uniformity of their distribution over the entire surface of the electrode. 30 Figure 2 illustrates an electrode suitable for treating small portions of the body or portions of the body that are not readily accessible. A wire net or the like may be used instead of the metal plate 1 shown in Figure 1, or of the metal ball shown in Figure 2. The effect may be increased by using two electrodes of the kind described con- 35 nected to each pole. When it is required to treat an extensive part of the body, or the entire body, with discharges in the manner above described, suitably shaped electrodes of larger size are employed. An example of this arrangement is shown in Figure 3 in which the electrodes a for the chest, and the electrodes h for the back of the 40 patient are connected to the positive (+) pole, and the electrode c for the feet of the patient are connected to the negative ( - ) pole of the induction machine. The electrodes of large sire may be manufactured for instance in the following manner: — The insulating material 2 (for example a mixture of rosin and pitch) which 45 has been melted or rendered liquid by heat is poured into a shallow wocden box c (Figure 3) having a removable lid G, so as to fill it to a suitable height. [Price %d,~\