Improvements relating to Electrical Belts, chiefly designed for Medical Purposes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 19th May, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 15th July, 1891-Accepted, 26th Sept., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Electrical Belts, chiefly designed for
Medical Purposes.
I, CORNELIUS BENNETT HARNESS, of 52 Oxford Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Consulting Medical Electrician do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows :-
My invention relates to electrical belts chiefly intended for medical purposes, and
more particularly to electrical belts of the kind or class described in the Speci-
fication of former Letters Patent granted to me No. 4881 dated October 13 1883.
In the said former Specification I have described an electrical belt adapted, for
generating a weak continuous current, but no provision is made in the belt itself for
generating intermittent currents. My present improvement has for its object the
provision of means whereby the wearer of the belt may at any time, when he
desires cause an intermittent current to pass through the belt in addition to the
continuous current.
For this purpose I secure to or mount in the said belt in a suitable manner and
in a convenient position a battery, preferably a dry battery, of suitable construction
and an induction coil and I connect the said coil in circuit with the ordinary contact
plates of the belt. The said contact plates are connected together in groups, and
one or more of the said groups is or are arranged to form one terminal of the
circuit while the remaining group or groups forms or form the other terminál.
I provide a push piece or its equivalent suitably placed in the belt for making
contact of the battery terminals, by operating which contact maker the battery
may be set in operation and the intermittent current obtained. I prefer to so
construct the push piece or contact maker that when depressed to make contact, it
remains depressed so as to maintain the battery in action, and I provide a separate
push piece or its equivalent for raising the contact maker and thus breaking the
main or battery circuit when required.
Dated this 19th day of May 1891
CORNELIUS BENNETT HARNESS.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Electrical Belts, chiefly designed for
Medical Purposes.
1, CORNELIUS BENNETT HARNESS, of 52 Oxford Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Consulting Medical Electrician, 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:-
My invention relates to electrical belts; and is chiefly designed to increase the
efficiency and utility of electrical belts of the kind or class described in thé
Specification of the following former Letters Patent granted to me, viz. -
No. 4881 dated 13th October 1883, and No. 19,744 dated 3rd December 1890.
In the said former Specification No. 4881, I have described an electrical belt
which is provided with discs or plates designed to make contact with the body of.
the wearer, and to serve as generators of weak continuous currents, and which is
made with suitable pockets for containing a battery whereby a continuous current ..

page_text: of greater strength may be caused to flow through or around the body of the
wearer of the belt.
Now the main object of my present invention is to provide for facilitating the
application, for medical curative purposes, of Faradaic electric currents or inter-
mittent currents such as are produced through the medium of an induction-coil
And my said invention affords the means whereby such Faradaic or intermittent
currents may be applied in addition to the weak continuous currents generated by
the aforesaid contact plates.
For this purpose, I provide the belt with a suitable battery and with an induction-
coil which is connected in any convenient manner with the poles of the said battery
and with the aforesaid contact plates or electrodes, a convenient push-piece, con-
nector or switch being provided for closing and interrupting the circuit. The
apparatus comprising the battery and induction-coil is permanently attached to the
belt, and is either arranged in a suitable pocket in the said belt, or enclosed in a
box which can be conveniently placed in the pocket of the wearer of the belt or
otherwise carried upon his person.
My present invention, moreover, comprises an improved push-piece or connector
whereby the wearer of the belt can very readily put the intermittent current
generator into action, and can leave it in operation for any desired length of time
and then disconnect it from the contact plates or electrodes.
In the accompanying drawing I have shown how my said invention may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice.
Figure is a view of the inner surface of one form of my improved belt, a
portion of the said belt being folded to show a switch or connector hereinafter
described.
. Figure 2 is a similar view of another form or modification of my improved helt,
provided with a push-piece or connector of peculiar construction as hereinafter
described.
-
Figure 3 is a front elevation, drawn to an enlarged scale, showing the battery
and induction-coil detached, the sliding cover therefor being partially withdrawn.
Figure 4 is a face view of my improved push-piece or connector, the cover being
removed, and
Figure 5 is a central section of the said push-piece or connector on the line,,
Figure 4.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawing.
a is the body of the belt; b, b' are the contact-plates or electrodes, which are
connected by wires or conductors c, c¹.
I
d is the battery; e is.the induction-coil which has a soft iron core wound with a
single coil. is the vibrating tongue or circuit-breaker. These parts are attached
to a metal plate y provided with a sliding cover g' which forms, with the said plate,
a box in which the said parts are enclosed. This box is inserted in a suitable
pocket in the belt . The plate is connected with one of the poles or clements
of the battery, and is also connected, by a wire or conductor h, with one set of the
plates, The said plate g is, morcover, connected with the tongue f, and,
through the contact piece j, with the coil e, which is also connected, by the wire or
conductor, with the other set of the plates, 1, and, by the wire or conductor 2,
to one of the contacts of the switch or connector. The other pole or element of
the battery is connected, by a wire or conductor, with the other contact piece of
the said switch or connector. I prefer to make the plates of copper and the
plates b₁ of zinc, so that the said plates will generate a feeble continuous current.
They may, however, if desired, be all made of copper or other metal and be used
simply as electrodes for the intermittent current of higher potential.
The said contact plates are arranged in groups, and, in the belt shown in
Figure 1, the plates of each group are connected one to another in scries, and
one of the said plates is connected to one end of the induction-coil. Moreover the
copper plates are arranged to come in contact with one side of the wearer's body
and the zinc plates with the other side thereof. The said contact plates may,

page_text: however, be arranged in any other convenient manner, either in series, or in parallel,
or in series parallel.
k, Figure 1, is a switch or connector whereby the battery and induction-coil may
be put into and out of action. This switch cousists simply of two metal segments
mounted on a block or piece of ebonite or other suitable insulating material and
connected with the wires or conductors, and a lever or arm pivoted to the said
block and adapted to electrically connect the said segments.
In the belt shown in Figure 2, the copper and zinc plates b, are arranged
alternately, the plates b, b on one side of the belt forming a single group and those
on the other side being arranged in two groups.
When contact is established by means of the switch or connector k, the battery-
circuit is completed through the wires h³, h, the coil e, the contact j, the tongue f
and the plate, and the core of the induction-coil being magnetized, attracts the
tongue and breaks the contact with the screw j; the current induced in the coil e
then flows through the wires 42, 43, the plate and the wire h, through the body of
the wearer and then through the wire . The tongue being then released,
completes the battery-circuit again, and so on.
It is evident that I can, if desired, use an induction-coil having both primary
and secondary coils, the primary being connected in any convenient manner
with the poles of the battery and the secondary with the contact plates or
electrodes b, .
To provide for facilitating local treatment, I sometimes make the belt with flaps
or covering-pieces whereby one or more of the groups of plates b, may be covered
and put out of action, as described in the Specification of former Letters Patent
granted to me and dated 27th August 1890, No. 13,491.
stem n.
My improved push-piece or connector, shown more clearly in Figures 4 and 5,
comprises contact pieces 1, attached to a circular piece or disc m.of insulating
material, as in the ordinary push-pieces heretofore used. The movable contact-
piece is, however, so constructed and arranged that, when moved into contact with
the piece, it will be held in contact therewith until released by another operation.
For this purpose, I find it advantageous to provide the contact-piece with a rod or
A push-rod p is fitted in a radial hole in the disc m, and is acted upon by
a spring p. This rod has formed in it a hole through which the stem n extends, so
that the said spring presses the rod forcibly against the said stem. When the
contact-piece is pressed against the contact-piece by means of the push-knob
the friction produced between the rod 7 and the stem by the spring p¹, prevents
the return movement of the said stem and contact-piece l. The battery and
induction-coil are, therefore, kept in operation until the rod p is pushed in and the
stem thus released. The contact-piece then springs away from the contact-
piece, thereby interrupting the circuit, and the push-rod p is returned to its
original position by the spring p².
Any other suitable switch or connector may be provided for putting the battery
and induction-coil in and out of action.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I wish it understood that I do
not claim a belt provided with means for the production and use of Faradaic or
induced currents which does not include or comprise such means as part of its
permanent organization or structure, but I claim :-
First. An electric belt in which provision is made for the generation and applica-
tion of Faradaic or induced currents through the medium of an induction-coil
permanently attached to the said belt so that it can be used as, and for the purpose,
hereinbefore described.
Second. The improved push-piece or connector provided with a catch or similar
device whereby the contact, when established, will be maintained until the said
catch or the like is disengaged, substantially as herein before described and for the
purpose specified.

page_text: Third. The improved electric belt provided with the battery and induction-coil
and with the switch, push-piece or connector, all constructed and arranged sub-
stantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawing and operating
as, and for the purposes, above specified.
Dated this 15th day of July 1891.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant