IMPROVED PNEUMATIC APPARATUS FOR TREATING CERTAIN DISEASES OF THE LUNGS AND HEART
Year: 1873

page_text: „ETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVED PNEUMATIC APPARATUS
FOR TREATING CERTAIN DISEASES OF THE LUNGS AND HEART."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Professor Louis Waldenburg, of Berlin, in
the Kingdom of Prussia.
ealed the 29th May 1874, and dated the 17th December 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th December 1873.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED PNEUMATIC
APPARATUS FOR TREATING CERTAIN DISEASES OF THE LUNGS AND HEART," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a facile means of obtaining
compressed and attenuated air for breathing into or for taking into the

page_text: lungs with the view of strengthening the lungs or of acting upon the
right or left ventricle of the heart.
The apparatus in some respects resembles a miniature gasometer, that
is to say, it consists of a stationary cylinder open at top, within which
slides telescopically an inverted cylinder of somewhat smaller dimensions.
The inner cylinder is supported by weighted cords which pass over
pulleys carried by standards which are attached to the outer cylinder.
This cylinder is graduated, and by the side of the graduations is placed
an open glass tube which communicates with the bottom of the cylinder.
This is for the purpose of shewing the level at which water supplied to
the cylinder stands. A tap is also provided for running off the water.
The inner cylinder is likewise graduated, but from the top downwards,
and on the top of this cylinder is a mercury gauge communicating with
the interior thereof for the purpose of shewing the degree of attenuation
or compression, as the case may be, of the air contained therein. Con-
nected also with this vessel is a flexible pipe fitted at its extremity with
a cup-shaped piece for receiving the face of the patient intended to be
treated by the apparatus. An elastic padding surrounds the lip of this
cup to permit of its being fitted air-tight to the face of the patient. A
T way
cock is applied to the flexible pipe for the purpose of bringing
the mouth of the patient into communication with the interior of the
suspended cylinder or of the external atmosphere, as may be required.
In using this apparatus the outer cylinder is first filled with water
to about the height of 80 centimeters. Weights are then hung to
the suspending cords of the inner cylinder, and the T way cock being
closed the inner cylinder will be drawn up, and will thereby attenuate
the air therein to an extent corresponding to the weight applied to the
suspending cords.
If compressed air is required the inner cylinder is raised while the
Tway cock is open, and in proportion as the raised vessel is weighted
so will the air contained therein be compressed. The apparatus will
therefore allow of the employment of air compressed or rarefied to a
certain definite or ascertained degree.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th June 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVED PNEUMATIC APPARATUS FOR TREATING CERTAIN DISEASES OF
THE LUNGS AND HEART," being a communication to me from abroad by
Professor Louis Waldenburg, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
say) :-
to
The object of this Invention is to provide a facile means of obtaining
either comnvassed. or attenuated sin
32
may be reanimed fon hunathing

page_text: into or for taking up into the lungs with the view of strengthening the
lungs or of acting upon the right or left venticle of the heart.
The apparatus in some respects resembles a miniature gasometer, that
is to say, it consists of a stationary cylinder open at top, within which
slides telescopically an inverted cylinder of somewhat smaller
dimensions. The inner cylinder is supported by weighted cords which
pass over pulleys carried by standards attached to the outer cylinder.
This cylinder is graduated, and by the side of the gradations is placed an
open glass tube which communicates with the bottom of the cylinder.
This is for the purpose of shewing the level at which water supplied to
the cylinder stands. The inner cylinder is likewise graduated, and it is
fitted at top with a mercury gauge for showing the degree of attenuation
or compression (as the case may be) of the air contained in the cylinder.
Connected also with this vessel is a flexible pipe terminating in a cup-
shaped piece for fitting air-tight to the face of the patient. A T way
cock is applied to the flexible pipe for the purpose of bringing the mouth
of the patient into communication with the interior of the suspended
cylinder or of the external atmosphere, as may be required.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shows in perspective elevation
the improved pneumatic apparatus; Fig. 2 is a sectional plan taken
about the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a front view on an enlarged scale of the cup-shaped termi-
nation of the flexible pipe; and Figures 4 and 5 shew the same in cross
section as attached to a tap with which the flexible pipe is fitted.
a, a, Fig. 1, is a cylindrical-shaped vessel open at top, say one metre
in height and thirty centimetres in diameter, in which works the
cylinder b, b, open at bottom, but closed at top, and of the same height
as the cylinder a, but somewhat less, say twenty-seven centimetres in
diameter. These vessels are made by preference of sheet zinc lacquered
on their outside surfaces.
On the upper portion of the outer periphery of the cylinder a are
three sockets c, c, c, equidistant from each other and provided to receive
three iron rods d, d, d, which project about one metre above the upper
rim of the cylinder a. These rods are connected together at their upper
part by means of a clampling ring e, e, and carry each at their upper
extremity a wooden roller f, f. Over these rollers run cords 9, 9, I,
which are fastened at their inner ends to the cover of the cylinder b,

page_text: and are provided at their outer free ends with hooks h, h, for hanging
on weights i, i. The cylinder a has at its lower part a tap k for letting
off water. It has also at its lower rim an opening 1, in which a glass
tube m is cemented. This tube runs up the whole length of the
cylinder, and on it can be read the height of the water contained
therein.
At the side of the glass tube on the outer cylinder is a scale of
centimétres. The cylinder 6 has also a scale of centimetres beginning
from above. In its cover are two openings, the one n communicates
through a flexible tube o with a cup-shaped piece p; in the other q a
mercury gauge " with millimetre divisions is adjusted air-tight. This
gauge is provided on its inner side with a metal protecting piece s, s.
The cylinder b is fitted at its opposite sides with V shaped ribs t, t, (see
also Fig. 2) which work in vertical grooves u, u, on the inner periphery
of the cylinder a. This arrangement is intended to steady the vertical
motions of the inner cylinder. The metal cup p (see Fig. 3) is pro-
vided with a covering of rubber on its edges, and it thus forms a mask
to fit the face of the patient.
Masks in any desired number and size may be provided with the
apparatus to suit varying circumstances. v is a tube shaped to fit
air-tight on the end of a tap w, to the other end of which the flexiblé
pipe o is adjusted. The plug of this tap is bored out in - form (see
Figures 4 and 5), so that according to the position of the same a com-
munication between the mask and the inner cylinder (Fig. 4) or
between the mask and the outer atmosphere (Fig. 5) through the
opening will take place.
The manner of working the improved pneumatic apparatus is as
follows: The cylinder a is first filled with water to a height of about
twenty centimetres from the top. If weights i are now hung on the
hooks the cylinder 6 will if the tap w is closed be drawn up to a certain
height and the air in the same will be attenuated to a certain degree,
which can be ascertained with exactitude. The pressure of one atmo-
sphere on the cylinder 6 may be reckoned as one thousand one hundred
and eighty-three pounds exactly. If the friction is taken into account
the pressure of one atmosphere on the inner cylinder may be set down at
about one thousand two hundred pounds. If for example thirty pounds
be applied the weight of the cylinder b, which is about ten pounds, must

page_text: be deducted and a working power of only twenty pounds is the result,
20
which corresponds with an air rarefaction of =
1
1200 60
of an atmo-
sphere. The mercury gauge » shows that this computation is perfectly
correct as an air rarefaction of about twelve millimetres quicksilver will
be indicated. In this manner it is possible to attain any desired degree
of air rarefaction. If the tap w be now opened air from the outer
atmosphere is drawn in and the cylinder continues to rise until either
the tap is closed or the cylinder itself risés out of the water.
In order that the cylinder 6 may not be forcibly jerked out of position
stops y, y, are screwed to the rods, say at a height of sixty-six centi-
metres. If after the cylinder is drawn up to the highest limit the
weights are taken off the hooks the cylinder will sink down from its own
weight of ten pounds and the air in the cylinder will be compressed to
the extent of
atmospheric pressure. If now more weight
=
10
1
1200 120
be placed on the cylinder, for example ten pounds, the result will be an
1
air compression of twenty pounds, = atmospheric pressure. The
60
mercury gauge again shews exactly the degree of compression, which
corresponds with the theoretical calculation. If the tap w be opened
whilst the air is compressed the cylinder will sink down, the degree of
compression however will remain always the same, and the compressed
air will stream under an equable pressure out of the mask. The
apparatus therefore provides for the employment of both compressed and
rarefied air of a certain definite and ascertainable degree.
With reference to the curative use of the Invention it may be
remarked that the apparatus serves especially for the medical treatment
of lung and heart diseases, and to this end it can be employed in various
ways.

page_text: chests as well as in other diseases in which the lungs are not sufficiently
expanded. The method (d) on the contrary is efficacious when the
lungs are too much expanded, as for instance in what is called emphysem.
The method (a) is also efficacious in affections of the left lobe of the
heart, namely, in stenose or insufficiency in the beating of the same,
whilst the method (c) may be used in similar affections of the right lobe
of the heart.
heart, namely, in stenose or insufficiency in the beating of the same,
whilst the method (c) may be used in similar affections of the right lobe
of the heart.
The method (6) may be employed in many cases where the hearing is
affected.
In a medical journal (Berlin Clinical Weekly Journal) for One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-three, Nos. 39, 40, 46, and 47, this subject
will be found to have been treated thoroughly and scientifically by the
Inventor.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved
Pneumatic Apparatus for Treating certain Diseases of the Lungs and
Heart," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect I wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,
the means above described for providing either compressed or attenuated
air, as may be desired, for the use of patients suffering from diseases of
the lungs or heart.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.