AN IMPROVED APPLIANCE OF THE NATURE OF A POULTICE, USEFUL FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES, MEDICINAL OR OTHERWISE
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Evans Cauty, of Catherine Street, Liverpool, in
the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPLIANCE
OF THE NATURE OF A POULTICE, USEFUL FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES, MEDICINAL
OR OTHERWISE."
Scaled the 1st September 1876, and dated the 7th March 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Evans Cauty at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th March 1876.
HENRY EVANS CAUTY, of Catherine Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster.
"AN IMPROVED APPLIANCE OF THE NATURE OF A POULTICE, USEFUL FOR VARIOUS
PURPOSES, MEDICINAL OR OTHERWISE."
In the application or use of poultices they are thoroughly effective only whilst
moist and hot, and have therefore to be continually replaced by fresh ones or steeped.
in hot water.
Now my Invention is designed to obviate this trouble. In carrying it out I take
a waterproof bag or other vessel, preferably of vulcanized india-rubber, which being
flexible accomodates itself to varying surfaces. To one side of this vessel I attach
some woollen felted material, sponge, or other substance capable of retaining
moisture. The vessel when required for use is filled with water nearly boiling.
The attached material is wetted and placed next the skin. It thus acts as a poultice,
and keeps hot for hours without further trouble. It can be taken off instantly
without leaving any dirt behind (so troublesome to wash off in the case of bread,
linseed, or even bran poultices.
The water with which the attached material is moistened can be medicated, if
desirable, or if cold instead of heat is desired, instead of water cooling applications
can be used with it. When done with it can be washed and dried, and the bag or
vessel emptied, and the whole hung up or packed away till again required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the Conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henry Evans Cauty in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th
September 1876.
HENRY EVANS CAUTY, of Catherine Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster.
"AN IMPROVED APPLIANCE OF THE NATURE OF A POULTICE, USEFUL FOR VARIOUS
PURPOSES, MEDICINAL OR OTHERWISE."
In the application or use of poultices they are thoroughly effective only whilst
moist and hot, and have therefore to be continually replaced with fresh ones, or
steeped in hot water.
Now my Invention is designed to obviate this trouble. It is illustrated in
Figs. 1, 2, and 3. Fig. 1 shows a longitudinal section; Fig. 2, a transverse one of
the type I usually adopt, especially for large sizes; Fig. 3 is a transverse section of
one adapted for use either on a flat or a round surface, but is rather more costly and
complicated than the other.
A is a waterproof bag, preferably of india-rubber, and vulcanized; B is a layer of
porous absorbent material, such as felted wool or felted cotton, or preferably the
woollen felt sponge of spongeo-pilene; this material is firmly attached to the bag A.
F is a tube leading from A with screw or other stopper C, and funnel D for filling
it with hot water. At E are strings or loops for tying it to the body.
When required for use the felted material is wetted with hot water, either pure
or medicated, and hot water poured into the bag through the funnel D. The stopper
being adjusted the apparatus is tied on to the part affected, the felted material being
next the skin. So long as the water remains hot the poultice continues effective.
When done with the water is emptied, the poultice washed, and the whole hung
up to dry.
As the india-rubber bag when in the form best adapted to lie on the chest could
not so conveniently be strapped to the arm or a more rounded portion of the body
I sometimes fasten two, three, or more bags side by side to the back of the spongeo-
pileno felt, as shown in Fig. 3, in which A', A1, A2, are the bags each with a separate
mouth-piece, and B the spongeo-pilenc. Separate mouth-pieces are not necessary in
every case, as flexible tubular connections could be made between each bag and the
adjoining ones, and then one mouth-piece would do for all, The shape of the
apparatus might however be almost infinitely varied without altering the principle.
When cold instead of heat is required all I have to do is to fill the bag with ice
water, snow and water, or a freezing mixture.
The advantages of this poultice over those ordinarily in use are, among others,
these,―
1st. It continues hot much longer, and is much more efficacious than ordinary
poultices.
2nd. It can be applied much easier, and renewed with much less trouble.
3rd. It is much more cleanly, and leaves the skin free from dirt of any kind, so
disagreable and difficult to remove from the surface in the case of sinapisms, linseed
poultices, et cetera.
4th. A patient can apply it him or her self, and has merely to ask for a jug of hot
water, and then retire, whereas he or she might shrink from asking for a linseed
poultice, not wishing to let others know he was ailing.
Having now described my Invention, and the best mode known to me of carrying
it into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not lay claim to the application
of hot water bags to the person as a heating application, nor yet to the use of
spongeo-pilene by itself as a poultice, but what I beleive to be new and desire to
claim under the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the combination of
the waterproof bag or bags A or A³, with an absorbent material B for the purposes

page_text: described, irrespective of the shape, for it can be of any convenient form, and also
irrespective of the materials used, which can be largely varied.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Evans Cauty, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of September, in the year of our Lord 1870.
Witness,
WALTER CAMPBELL,
Clerk to W. P. Thompson,
Patent Office,
6, Lord St.,
Liverpool.
HENRY EVANS CAUTY. (L.S.)