Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-28
MAKING ARTIFICIAL LIMBS.
So Perfected That They Have the APP.
pearance of the Real.

\
pearance of the Real.
| From the Chicago Chronicle.
They are making artificial limbs so cIev-
! erly these days that the people who wear
| them forget they ever suffered the triang
embarrassment of losing a leg or two or
even arm. They put In such flexible
| joints and sucn charming rubber feet that
the wearers of these improved legs dance
gayIy al balls and cotilons without raising
question rs 10 the makeup of their limbs.
/ There is a man in downtown office wear
ing an artificial leg and foot-his own hay
/ ing been amputated four inches below the
kree-whO jumps six feet forward in n
sprighuy manner just to show what he can
DO when the subject of wooden legs is men
toned He can pick up Compound man
in his arms and hold HIM easily and dance a
Jig with his rubber foot and willow limb.
He would just as soon have an artificial
leg and foot as not There is one advan-
tage ne says. He never has rheumatism,
ard he never suffers with corns or chill
blains. He can quit poker game at any
stage without being accused of having cold
feet" He is as happy as grig. though
Just why grtg should be happy is one OF
the things 10 fellow can find out
The making of artificial limbs said one
of the makers, as he stood with piece Of
with critical eye, lis an art. Every Tom,
Dick and Harry who hangs out a shingle
cannot make artificial limbs properly. II
they did some of us would go out of bust
ness. You see, they go at the business in a
laundering way and Try to turn out legs as
cheaply as possible and the result is they
turn out bad ones. Everything lies in the
! fitting Of the stump. The making Of the
leg itself is almost secondary to its fitting
in such way that it will not bother the
man who wears it. The making Of bad legs
| is what keeps the business of Us who make
good legs going. Here the limhnaker
paused q moment TO see whether that shot
| had found target.
There are plenty Of limbs demanded
ne went on, owing TO accidents and ampu-
tati4ES for one reason and another, DuI II
all the legs made and sold were tit 10 wear
permanently the business would be pretty
slack. The fact is that twO-Jhirds Of the
false limbs turned out by some houses are
unsatisfactory, and their purchasers come
here and throw them aWay when they get
new ones. See"-and he opened the door Of
a closet and showed d score Of artificial
legs Of all makes. patents and weights.
| They were all secondhand, but some of
them had evidently been worn but a short
time.
Feel the weight OF that he said hand
ing out a ponderous thing OF leather ana
wood ana metal. 1t fell to the tloor with
clank Ike hat Of bushel of coal.
What d. you think OF a man trying TO
in here I'll show you the ightest artificial
limb ever made
He led The way to an inner room, where
in a cabinet were half dozen new limbs,
! all Of the queer pink which is supposed TO
resemble flesh tints. But they certainly
were light. limb which was intended 70
be strapped around the hip for an aInputa-
ton above the knee was as light as a bas-
ket Of chips. 1t was made Of willow, pared
very thin, covered with rawhide and then
painted with waterproof enamel. The foot
was OF rubber, firm but flexible. and the
knee
metal joints can work.
That Is the leg that l got that certificate
for" said the limb maker, pointing to 4
framed certificate from the worlds fair,
which set forth that the artificial limbs
made by this manufacturer were the real
thing.
Very few of the oId-fashioned wooden
stumps are made now" he went on. "Of
course, some people who are too poor TO
get an artificial limb make them them
selves They take a couple of pieces of
wood and chop them out some way to sup
port their weight. good leg, one of the
kind | showed You in there. is worth about
500. Of course this price keeps many peo-
pie from getting them, but they are worth
il. They must be fitted with a care and
skill which come only from experience, and
II Is worth money to get the right thing the
first time. There has been great advance
in the making of artificial limbs In the last
decade. One improvement has followed
another, until now it is almost impossible
to detect the presence of a tirst-cass arti-
fetal limb. They are making feet of rubber
and of aluminium and of wood. but / think
the rubber feet are the only perfect ones
made. They bend and give to the steps Of
a man walking, which aluminium does not.
"A funny thing about false legs" went
on the builder of underpinnng rs the
prevalence of the term cork leg Now as
a matter of fact, there is no such thing
a cork leg, and there never was. Cork
would not do for a leg-it would crumble
away. 1t was never used for the purpose,
and l cannot imagine how that expression
originated, but right along you hear people
talking about somebody with cork leg
The legs are made of willow, because IL is
light and very strong. We get it In blocks
as you see, and make every leg to order.
1t must be much more carefully fitted and
measured than a pair of shoes or a suit of
clothes. for the least thing out of the way
will irritate the stump. Again. we often
have to deal with bad amputa tions-Where
the surgical work was not properly done
and that makes lots of trouble.
"A false leg will last from eight to fifteen
years. depending upon the character of the
work done by the man who wears it. If he
has to give it hard service. of course 1t will
wear out sooner, like anything else Here
is photograph of a boy you see, with
both legs amputated below the knee Here
he is standing up with pair of false legs
That boy is a telegraph operator in
Kansas, and he plays base ball as well as
the best of them.