Patent Number: 054460751
Section: claims

1. Apparatus for providing manipulative physical therapy to a patient, comprising: a first mass of putty including a reaction product of a polysiloxane and either a boron- or a tin-containing compound and having a first color, and further including an unreacted, uncured second polydiorganosiloxane gum; and  at least one additional mass of putty including (a) a reaction product of polysiloxane and either a boron- or tin-containing compound, (b) an unreacted, uncured polydiorganosiloxane gum, or (c) mixtures of (a) and (b), said additional mass having a second color distinct from the first color, the additional mass adaptable to be manually combined by the patient with the first mass to form a combined mass having a uniform color which is a result of blending the first color and the second colors.  100 parts by weight of a chain-extended polysiloxane reaction product formed by reacting a polysiloxane having a viscosity of 50,000 to 100,000 centistokes with a reactant containing oxygen and either boron or tin;  10 to 50 parts by weight of an unreacted, uncured second polysiloxane gum having a Williams' plasticity in the range of 120 to 140 mm;  0.2 to 2.0 parts of an internal lubricant; and  5 to 45 parts by weight of a particulate filler material.  supplying to a patient a first malleable mass of putty comprising (a) a chain-extending reaction product of polydiorganosiloxane and a compound containing boron or tin, and (b) an unreacted, uncured second polydiorganosiloxane gum, said first mass having a first color;  supplying to the patient a second malleable mass of putty having a second color different from the first color, the second malleable mass being blendable into the first mass;  directing the patient to combine the first mass with the second mass to form a combined mass having a uniform color which is a result of blending the first color with the second color, the uniform color of the combined mass indicating that the patient has manipulated the combined mass by a predetermined amount.  after a uniform color has been achieved in the combined mass, supplying to the patient a third malleable mass having a third color which is different from the uniform color of the combined mass;  directing the patient to manually combine the third mass with the combined mass to form a second combined mass having a second uniform color which is a result of blending the third color with the uniform color, the achievement of the second uniform color of the second combined mass indicating that the patient has again manipulated the combined mass by a predetermined amount.  for a predetermined number of iterations, performing the following steps:  after a uniform color has again been achieved in the combined mass, supplying to the patient a further malleable mass having a color different from the uniform color; and  directing the patient to manually combine the further malleable mass with the combined mass until a uniform color is again achieved. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the additional mass is significantly smaller and more highly colored than the first mass. 3. The apparatus of claim 1, and further comprising a plurality of additional masses having colors distinct from the first color, at least some of the colors of the additional masses being distinct from each other, a first additional mass adaptable to be combined with said first mass to form a combined mass, remaining additional masses adapted to be successively manually added to the combined mass, respective uniform colors being achieved after the complete blending of each additional mass with the combined mass. 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said first mass comprises: 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said chain-extended siloxane reaction product is selected from the group consisting of borosiloxane and stannosiloxane. 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said reactant is dibutyldiacetoxytin. 7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said reactant is trimethyl boroxine. 8. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said particulate material is precipitated silica. 9. A method of manipulative therapy, comprising the steps of: 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second malleable mass is significantly smaller and has a more concentrated color than the first malleable mass. 11. The method of claim 9, and further comprising the step of inspecting the combined mass for streaks, the presence of streaks indicating that the combined mass has been manipulated by less than a predetermined amount. 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the first malleable mass is a putty including borosiloxane. 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the second malleable mass is a putty including a polymer constituent selected from the group consisting of borosiloxane, a polydiorganosiloxane gum and mixtures thereof. 14. The method of claim 9, and further comprising the steps of: 15. The method of claim 14, and further comprising: