AN IMPROVED PADDING FOR SURGICAL SPLINTS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Robert Straton, of Wilton, in the County of
Wilts, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PADDING FOR SURGICAL
SPLINTS."
Sealed the 20th January 1880, and dated the 26th July 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Robert Straton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th July 1879.
CHARLES ROBERT STRATON, of Wilton, in the County of Wilts.
PADDING FOR SURGICAL SPLINTS."
"AN IMPROVED
Wool or hair is felted into layers of suitable thickness and hardness which may
be shaped to fit any splint so as to pad it during the application. These pads may
or may not be impregnated with therapeutic substances possessing antiseptic or
other properties; they are speedily and readily adapted to all splints, possess much
greater elasticity than existing pads, and when once adjusted do not become lumpy
or displaced.

page_text: '
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Robert Straton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
January 1880.
CHARLES ROBERT STRATON, of Wilton, in the County of Wilts. "AN IMPROVED
PADDING FOR SURGICAL SPLINTS."
Wool or hair is felted into layers of suitable thickness and hardness which may
be shaped to fit any splint so as to pad it during its application. These pads may
or may not be impregnated with therapeutic substances possessing antiseptic or
other properties; they are speedily and readily adapted to all splints, possess much
greater elasticity than existing pads, and when once adjusted do not become lumpy
or displaced.
Having thus briefly described my said Invention, and the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I will now proceed to describe the same more particularly, that
is to say:
Wool or hair, or a mixture of them, is well washed and carded in a carding
machine; it is then felted in a felting press into sheets of such thickness and
hardness as may be required for padding splints of different forms, three pounds of
wool felted felted to a square yard one inch thick being a useful general substance;
but more or less may be used according to the character of the pads required. These
.pads may be impregnated with antiseptic or other therapeutic substances, and may
be varnished with gutta percha or any other waterproof solution to prevent their
becoming impregnated with discharges from wounds. They may be shaped to fit
splints of iron, wood, cane, poroplastic felt, or other splints, or are supported when
applied by coatings of plaster of Paris, starch, or silicate solutions.
The Invention consists in the novel application of softly pressed felt as surgical
pads, and these pads have the advantage of being speedily and easily adapted to all
splints, of possessing great elasticity, and when once adjusted they do not slip or
become lumpy.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, and the manner of carrying the
'same into effect, what I claim and desire to secure by the said Letters Patent is the
application of wool or hair felted into layers of suitable thickness and hardness as
surgical pads, and so shaped as to fit any splint, substantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Robert Straton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.