CERTAIN NEW IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A TRUSS, TO BE WORN IN CASE OF RUPTURE, BY MEANS OF WHICH THE PAD OR BOLSTER OF THE TRUSS WILL ALWAYS KEEP IT'S PLACE, NOTWITHSTANDING ANY MOTION OF THE BODY OR LIMBS OF THE WEARER
Year: 1803

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
CLARK, of No. 5, Fitzroy Place, Fitzroy Square, in the Parish of Saint Pancras,
in the County of Middlesex, Instrument Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of March, in
the forty-third year of His said Majesty's reign, did give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial licence
that I, my executors, administrators, and assigns, deputy or deputies, servants
or agents, or such others as I, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His Dominion
of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of "CERTAIN NEW
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A TRUSS, TO BE WORN IN CASE OF RUPTURE,
BY MEANS OF WHICH THE PAD OR BOLSTER OF THE TRUSS WILL ALWAYS KEEP IT'S
PLACE, NOTWITHSTANDING ANY MOTION OF THE BODY OR LIMBS OF THE WEARER;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said
Robert Clark, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same be enrolled
n His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next
fter the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,
nd all liberties and advantages thereby granted, should cease, determine, and

page_text: be void, as in and by the said Letters Patent, relation being thereunto had,
may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Clark, do hereby declare that the said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained by the
Drawing or Plan, and description thereof, with the references thereto herein-
after contained.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
second day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and three.
The Invention and improvements for which the Patent is claimed are three,
videlicet :-
First, the circular motion, of which the plate B is capable on it's centre, and
which allows the pad, with it's adjustments, to be placed immediately to it's
required bearing.
Second, the sliding motion allowed to the pad, by which means the pad
remains firmly held to the required part, independent of the irregular motions
of the body.
Third, the application of the lever to the instrument, and which, with a
screw adjustment, produces a pressure on the pad, which can be increased
or diminishe at pleasure.
DESCRIPTION OF THE TRUSS, IT'S SEVERAL PARTS, THEIR ARRANGEMENT AND USES.
The body spring A, with the buckle and roller at one end of it, and a strap at
the other to attach the instrument to the body with, is as in common with other
trusses. B, Fig. 1, is a geometrical representation of a circular plate, which
is fixed on the body spring of the truss with a screw and collet (d, Fig. 2). On
this plate are fixed two bars, edgewise, and parrallel to each other (a, a, Fig. 1),
to either end of which the rest of the apparatus may occasionally be fixed. (b,b,)
are circular slits or apertures made near the circumference of the plate, and
which allows it the motion described in the first part of the claim; the screws
(c, c,) with their collets being fixed to the body spring. B, Fig. 2, is a profile
of the same Plate, shewing the manner in which it is fixed to the body spring,
and the profile or side view of the bars (a, a). C, Fig. 1, represents a frame,
having the half of a double joint at one of it's extremities (e), and that of a
single joint at the other (f). The end (e) of this frame may occasionally be
applied to either end of the bars (a, a,) of the plate B. C, Fig. 2, is a profile
view of the same plate. D, Fig. 1, represents an apparatus, with rollers, to
prevent friction, which is attached to and slides on the frame C on one side,

page_text: and on the other carries the pad; (m, m,) are the rollers, and (n) the piece
through which the screw passes, by which it is attached to frame C. D, Fig. 2,
is a longitudinal section of the same piece, shewing in (m, m,) the position of
the rollers; in (n and o) the screw, with the nut and collet which attaches
it to B, and in (p) a small left-handed and flat-headed screw, which, being
screwed into the end of the screw (n), prevents it from unscrewing itself; (r)
represents the screw on the under side of the piece D, and on which the pad is
fixed. Fig. 3 is a profile view of the piece D. E, Fig. 1, is a steel spring,
the end (s) of which is fixed to the extremity (✓) of the frame C, and having
at it's upper end a roller (t) to prevent friction. E, Fig. 2, is a profile view of
the piece E. F is a lever, having an adjusting screw a through one of its
extremities, and is fixed to the extremity (e) of the frame C, the screw
which fixes it then becoming it's fulcrum. G, Fig. 1, represents the front of
the pad, and Fig. 2 a section of it, shewing at (w) the female screw by which
it is attached to the screw (r) of the piece D. These several pieces fixed
together after this method and order, form an apparatus which is represented
in perspective, with the addition of the strap, buckle, &c., in the Drawing
annexed to this Specification, and in which the several parts are respectively
marked with the same letters which are already used to distinguish them
separately.
The means by which those effects of the instrument are produced, which are
herein claimed as original, may in this Figure be clearly observed.
When the apparatus is attached to the body by the strap and buckle, on
screwing the button x of the lever, that end of it through which the screw
passes will be drawn up, and of consequence the other will be depressed;
its depression will operate on the spring E, which, being connected with the
frame C, &c., to which the pad is screwed, communicates a pressure to the
pad, which is evidently to be regulated by the motion of the adjusting screw (a).
Z is a screw inserted near the end (f) of the piece C, and which being
elevated increases the action of the spring, and vice versa.
The irregular
motions of the body do not affect the stability of the pad in this truss, on
account of the sliding motion it has in the piece C, as thus :-The pad is
attached to the apparatus at the under side or back of the piece C, by means
of a screw and collet, and which, in order to assist the motion required between
the pad and the apparatus, is provided with rollers to prevent friction, as
represented in the first and second figures of D. The pad, together with D,
in most cases preserves it's stability with respect to the body, and allows the
piece C, and the rest of the apparatus to move along its screw, &c. But there
are some cases in which it is necessary to the convenience of the wearer that

page_text: the apparatus, as far down as and including the piece C, do remain at rest
with respect to the body, and the pad, together with D, receive a motion from
the body, and move up or down the piece C, and which is accomplished by this
application of the piece D.
Lastly, the pad may be set immediately to it's required bearing by the
motion of which the plate B is capable on it's centre within the limits of the
groove (b, b.) on the screws (c. c).
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-second day of
April, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Robert Clark came before
our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty-second day of April, in the year above written.