Metal-sound-pipe for Medical Purposes.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, .9th July. 1896-Accepted, 15th Aug., 1896
Metal-sound-pipe for Medical Purposes.
1, FRANZ KUHN of Giessen, in the Empire of Germany, Physician, 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:-
The metal-tube which is the object of the present invention and which is
represented in the accompanying drawing, is distinguished from other instruments,
used hitherto for similar purposes, by the following facts:-
(1.) The present sound-pipe owing to its peculiar principle, meets all require-
ments for which, till now, special instruments have been employed made of
different substances and on entirely different principles, whereas this one is more
durable, simpler and more modern. It takes the place of any kind of bougie and
may be substituted for those pipes which are made of silk tissue impregnated with
resin, or of hard or soft gum and such like.
(2.) By the principle of this invention, the use of such instruments, will become
more general and may be more widely applied, as new questions relating to medicine
can be thereby solved and new fields can be opened to scientific investigation.
Compared with the pipe, at present employed in medicine for various purposes,
the advantages of my metallic tube are:-
(1.) It possesses very great flexibility, making it preferable to any other, even to
those of india-rubber; at the same time its Hexibility may be changed at the
desired moment, even after introduction into the body, by the help of apparatuses
introduced into the sound-pipe.
Thus, for the first time, the safety conferred by the use of the softest pipe is
combined with the precision of the most rigid instruments and this double
advantage is obtained in the same pipe at any moment, during or after intro-
duction.
(2.) The new pipe affords an adjustable mobility hitherto unobtainable as well
as an optional impressionability in curves and in the direction given to the
instrument at any part of its progress, this also being accomplished by mechanical
means.
(3.) The metallic-tube or sound-pipe does not break and does not bend at an
acute angle as do all instruments used for similar purposes; its interior is always
open and accessible. Moreover it lasts a long time.
(4.) The interior walls of the hollow tube are smooth and slippery because they
are of metal. The friction being thus rendered very slight, even in case of
curvature, all kinds of instruments may be introduced, for the most various
purposes, into the inside of the sound-pipe and for a considerable extent, which is
not the case with the flexible pipe now in use. In case of necessity, instruments
may, without danger, be introduced beyond the pipe.
(5.) The spiral sound-pipe permits the transmission, from one of its extremities
to the other, of different forces without changing its shape and position and
independently of bends and flexions, which is an advantage offered by no other
Bound-pipe.
(6.) The tube is capable of rotation on its own axis, whatever may be its position
and its shape, a great advantage hitherto unobtainable, especially in operating
This rotation can be effected at
upon delicate organs and in many other cases.
great distances, thus enabling internal organs, far removed, to be reached, such,
for instance, as the pylorus and the small intestines.

page_text: (7.) The tube enables an examination to be made of the internal organs (the
stomach and intestines) which has never been possible hitherto, namely a combined
examination or inspection, that is to say its multiple transmission of force allows
the doctor to introduce, so to speak, a finger into the depths of these organs;
naturally, accessory appliances are required for this purpose.
(8.) The tube offers improved facilities for injecting into or withdrawing from
the body, water or gases, and also, for the first time, a simultaneous combination
can be effected for the transmission of air and: water along with instrumental
manipulations, which must prove very useful in diagonising.
(9.) The tube is capable of being sterilised in all cases according to modern
principles; only a certain number of bougies or sound-pipes at present in use, can
be so treated and that very imperfectly.
(10.) The pipe is the only one that permits the Rontgen rays to be utilized in
exploring the human. abdomen, seeing that the course of the intestine may be
recognized by the course. of the spiral tube photographed..
The metal-tube or pipe is.composed of metal wire or metal strips in narrow spiral
turns, of varied transverse. section and, of different. thickness. To make the walls
air and water-tight and to facilitate the sliding, india-rubber threads may be
inserted between the turns or they may be covered with india-rubber.
the
The handling of the tube is of course the same as in using the instruments at
present employed for similar purposes. A characteristic peculiarity, of the new is
power of rotating on its own axis, which rotation is communicated by hand
at the moment of its introduction, without regard to shape or curves. It will be
readily: understood that the introduction of: the new sound-tube into certain organs
will be effected: under technical conditions of a special nature and perhaps. with
special accessory: instruments and the latest discoveries of science according to the
different method of employment. All the cavities or. canals, whether physiological
or artificial, of the body, can be probed, especially theidigestive canal.
The metallic-tube which is the object of the present invention, is represented in
the accompanying drawing, in simple and compound varieties. In the longitudinal
sections of the tube shewn in Figs. 1, 2 & 3 (a) is a wire wound in. spiral form;
(b) a flat.bar rolled spirally and (c) a grooved sheet-metal strip twisted; (d) is the
metallic-tube .covering, and. (e). a second. case introduced to guide or prolong, the
outer. spiral..
In the metallic-tube shewn in Fig. 4 there is a thinner extension introduced
and so, arranged. as to. lengthen the tube or guide it, in cases where the larger
(exterior) one would, encounter, an obstacle. inside. the body, or would. touch an
ailing part in its passage, or.to.influence the tube with regard to. its position,.its
direction, its rigidity or its curvature.
In Fig. 5 for the guiding of the tube in.case. it would be necessary to introduce
it further than the extremity. of, the stomach. (1) as for example through the
pylorus () to the digestive canal ("); it is provided. with a guide or rod (f) as a
distant part.
For the simultaneous rinsing, with water or otherwise, of the place reached by
the tube there. is shewn at Fig. 6 a bifurcation (g) with bifurcation-tube (h). (i) is
a port. or opening placed at the closed lower extremity. Figs. 64 and 6 are
variations in one end of the metal-tube with port.or opening.,
The bifurcation (9) specially serves, for the simultaneous operation of, water-
rinsing and mechanical manipulation, Fig. 7 represents the tube for the rectification
of an intestinal stoppage. Fig. 8 represents the.metallic tube serving as a simple
bougie.
Fig. 9 shews the way in which a foreign body in the stomach or the intestines,
or lodged in the passage of a wound, may be.seized. and withdrawn with. the help
of the instrument, used for this purpose.
Fig. 94 represents the adaptation of a ball (m).which is inflated and directed by
means of an interior metal tube.
Fig. 10 represents the tube in the form of a catheter.

page_text: Fig. 11 is a metallic-tube used for fistules, the passages of wound or of bullets,.
and terminating in a point.
After having introduced the smooth tube into a wound opening, a mucuous
membrane or any other canal, a mechanical enlargement of the tube may be
effected (see Fig. 12) by the introduction of an apparatus which can be extended
from the outside and on withdrawing the tube, in its altered shape, all the foreign
bodies in the way of the enlargement will be drawn out with it.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed. I declare that what 1
claim is :-
(1.) A flexible metallic-tube for medical purposes made in spiral windings,.
turning on its own longitudinal axis for medical probing of all organs in a living
human body or for analogous purposes.
(2.) In a metallic tube, as described in Claim 1, the introduction, for guiding or
for other purposes, of spiral bars or spiral tubes inside the metallic-tube."
(3.) In a metallic-tube, according to Claim 1, with a view of directing same,.
or for any other purpose, the introduction or the application of a tube or of a
metallic wire, or of a wire with or without a seizing or other instrument.
(4.) In a metallic-tube as specified in Claim 1, the application of a cover or case
made of india-rubber, gutta-percha, or any other substance, the whole as described.
and for the purpose specified.
Dated
1000
ROBERT E. PHILLIPS, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E., M.I. Mech. E.,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent,
70, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Associate Agent.