A MODE OF PREVENTING IN A MATERIAL DEGREE THE EFFECTS OF MOISTURE ON THE HUMAN BODY, AND OF FACILITATING RELIEF IN INFLAMMATORY AND SPASMODIC COMPLAINTS ARISING FROM IT AND OTHER CAUSES
Year: 1795

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WILLSON, of the Parish of Saint Anns, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of October, in the thirty-fifth year of
His reign, give and grant unto me, the said James Willson, His especial
licence that I, the said James Willson, during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A MODE OF
PREVENTING IN A MATERIAL DEGREE THE EFFECTS OF MOISTURE ON THE HUMAN
BODY, AND OF FACILITATING RELIEF IN INFLAMMATORY AND SPASMODIC COMPLAINTS
ARISING FROM IT AND OTHER CAUSES;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said James Willson, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month
after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same
(relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Willsou, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and the description thereof hereunder written,
and in manner following, that is to say :-
The manner in which the objects expressed in my Patent are to be obtained
is, first, by a sock or covering to be worn over the stocking or next to the skin,
made of the gut called by butchers the bung gut, of oxen, sleep, or swine, or
the intestine of any animal, or of the exterior membrane called the parito.
noaun, of those which afford one sufficiently strong, or of any skin or substance
sufficiently close and ductile to be formed without a seam. They are first to
be cleansed by scraping and washing, and when the inside skins are to be pre-
served for use, inflated until dry, and then the air is discharged; when required,
they are to be immersed in water until they become pliant. The membrane
may be immediately used without drying, and when necessary to be preserved,
it is done by spreading on any smooth surface. The mode of forming the socks
is upon a last, consisting of five pieces, as described in the Drawing, and a
key which serves the double purpose of connecting and separating. by scrowing
into the perpendicular and oblique centre pieces alternately, which when with-
drawu, permit the others to be taken out when the sock is sufficiently dry.
The bottom of the gut makes the neatest sock. Those who from gout or any
other complaint wish to envellope the foot or limb with a greater quantity,
may make use of the entire skin as a roller, which will exclude the humidity
from the surface of the carth, and, when rendered adhesive by any proper
application from excluding the atmospheric air, may be used with effect
in the dressing of certain wounds. The socks may be covered with any
varnish that sufficiently resists heat and moisture, a solution of elastic gum,
the composition mentioned in Mr. Bellamy's Specification, for preparing
leather, or some of the ingredients and proportions in it, and Mr. Angel's
Brittannic Elastic Gum, if with consent or purchase from the Patentees, and
if not, the same ingredients or some of them, so modified (which may be done
with effect) as not to interfere with any legal right of others. This is men-
tioned from the infinite changes that have been specified in different Patents,
as it is well known to be impossible almost to suggest any which must not
approach to one or the other. The elastic gum I can prove to have used for
more than a year before I knew there was a Patent for it, and have found that
several preparations of it, oil, gluc, wax, letharge, umber, resin, and birdlime
answer the purpose. I have used with effect one quart of best Dutch linseed
oil, one ounce and half of letharge, one ounce and half of amber, one ounce
and half of gypsum, and two ounces of the inspissated juice of holly, boiled

page_text: to a proper consistency over a slow fire. (On the manner of boiling and the
quality of the oil (the first of which can only be attained by practice), chiefly
depend the fitness of the composition, and it must be varied according to the
ingredients.
The second object is effected by confining upon the surface of the body, or
cooling and diluting with atmospheric air, the vapour produced by water, or
any substance that may be combined with it, or the fume of day substances
alone, and preventing the vapour or fume from coming into contact with the
lungs. This is to be done by an apparatus either stationary or portable. The
first in a room or rooms of suitable dimension, according to the number of
baths, or in a room contiguous by means of a pipe. A boiler or steam vessel
is to be fixed, adapted in quality and size to the substance it is to receive; in
the boiler is to be inserted at the top, or in a dome, if so made, a stopcock
with two pipes, one projected in a right line, the other standing at a right
angle, and so constructed that one must be always open. The first is to com-
municate by a tubo with the lower part of a reservoir, of which the top and
bottom are to be of tin, copper, or wood, and the sides of silk, linnen, leather,
or other flexible substance, varnished with the same substance before men-
tioned, or any other which will retain the vapour. The other pipe is to connect
with a tube which will discharge into the open air through a perforation in the
wall of the chamber. In the side of that reservoir at the bottom, is to be
inserted the pipe of a pair of bellows with a conical valve and spiral spring on
the pipe, as described in the Drawing, and compressing by ascent like those of
a blacksmith. To the hole in the bellows, where the air is inhaled, is to be
attached a flexible tube made air-tight, and leading to the outside of the
chamber to introduce atmospheric air. On the top of the reservoir is to be
placed a small frame, as described in the Drawing, in which a thermometer is
to be suspended, the ball of which is to be exposed to the contents of the
reservoir by a tube of varnished silk at one end bound on it, and the other
nailed over an aperture beneath the frame. The lever of the bellows is
to be directed to this place, to which also is to be conducted the bight of a
cord, the ends of which are to be fastned to those of a bar across the key of
the stopcock, where it is to act on the principle which the rudder of a
Thames wherry is managed, whence one man can govern the cock with one
hand, and with the other give action to the bellows, his eye fixed at the same time
upon the thermometer. At the end of this reservoir, a few inches distant, is to de
placed the bathing vessel, of tin, wood, marble, or any fit substance, about two
thirds of which are to be covered, and on the other to be fixed a circular rim with
a groove upon the outside to receive a circular piece of silk, varnished as before

page_text: mentioned, and closely bound on the other end, folded back loose until in usc.
This vessel is to be connected with the reservoir by a stopcock with long pipe.
In the inside of the bathing vessel is to be inserted the end of another tubo
which shall communicate with the external air, and terminating with a conical
valve acting by a spiral spring, or any other which will yield to the force with
which the contents may be expelled when the vessel shall be surcharged to
produce a renovation of vapour, or from any other cause, and then resume its
place. The person then who conducts the bath, when the vapour is prepared,
proceeds to fill the reservoir, of which the size may be, for accuracy, con-
venience, and expedition, in a fixed bath; of equal size with the bathing vessel,
and by regarding the thermometer, ascertain to the must exact degree the
temperature at which the vapour may be required. That being done, the
person who is to receive the bath is to be placed in the vessel, and the silk
drawn up about his neck (but not extended), and bound on with a very elastic
woollen roller, so tight as to retain the vapour, which will not, if properly
adjusted, produce any uneasiness or injury. The silk being loose shows, by
dilating and collopsing, when the vessel is full. The cock between the reser
voir and bathing vessel being then turned, the reservoir discharges its contents
by suffering the top to sink from its own gravity or additional weight, and thereby
discharging its contents, which being done, the cock is turned to confine the
vapour. The top is suspended in a frame by a cord passing over two brass rollers,
to which a weight is attached, and on which a small pressure effects its elevation.
If necessary it might be so accurately ballanced as to rise by the injection of the
vapour and atmospheric air, or the top might be fixed and the bottom raised
by a lever, as that of the bellows. That being done, the conductor re-
commences the operation of filling the reservoir a second time, or as often as
may be necessary, and by returning to the cock which separates the bathing
vessel and reservoir, evacuates and renews the vapour at pleasure, whenoe the
morbid exhalation from the body is not only kept from coming into contact
with the lungs, but uniformly carried off by means of the valved tube before
mentioned, yielding in obedience to the collapsing reservoir. When vapour is
to be applied to a limb, cases of varnished silk, linnen, or any other flexible
substance, bound at one or both ends as may be required, which will retain it,
may be used, or of wood, tin, &c., with caps like those of the large bath. Where
the part from its situation cannot be conveniently embraced by those means,
and it is found necessary to act partially upon a very small surface of the body,
a concave circle of glass, tin, wood, or any suitable hard substance, and of any
diameter, with the edges of any convenient form, with spherical caps of
varnished silk, are to be made use of, applyed to the skin, and the vapour

page_text: conveyed to it by a flexible tube made air-tight, as those before mentioned, and
a lateral tube, with a valve communicating with the external air, to renovate the
vapour without removing the concave. When the application is to be of
considerable length the concave is to be fastned to the part by elastic rollers
attached to the most prominent part of it, and by that means accurately and
steadily compressed. When the application is to be of shorter duration, the
concave may be applied by hand, and by a momentary removal the vapour
renewed without the assistance of a lateral tube and valve, if the substance
should be only water, or something equally innoxious, as the quantity of vapour
will be so small that it would be scarcely felt in the atmosphere of a chamber
of moderate size, at least by a person whose lungs were not in a very infirm
state; but the first method is the best and most accurate. When the fume of
dry substances is to be extricated, instead of a boiler a retort, fire tube, or
chafing dish, according to the substance, is to be used, and the atmospheric air
withbeld or admitted in whatever quantity may be required, which, as well as
any other, may be ascertained if necessary by bags of varnished silk for the
purpose; or, what will be a more expeditious mode, either to collect or emit
by bellows, of which the contents bave been measured, with a valve on the
pipe, as the flexible tube communicating with the air hole of the bellows being
introduced into any other body of air or vapour. It may be drawn in and
injected with equal facility and dispatch, and a spring bolt or catch may be
imposed to act when the bellows are extended to keep them so, and prevent
any force upon the valve or possible escape. The portable bath is made upon
the same general principle, with the following difference:-The boiler need
not contain more than three or four quarts, which will suffice for any ordinary
purpose of vapour bath, and is large enough to contain the other necessary
apparatus, for which it forms a convenient case. The things required are first,
the tubes, all of which must be flexible, made of thin leather or linen varnished,
closely bound round brass spirals of a proper diameter. The cock, as described
before, with a tube, which is to fit at one end by a screw or well, ground, the former
into the boiler, the latter into a tin or copper vessel large enough to contain and
form a travelling covering for the boiler, which from its frequent exposure to the
fire requires one. This vessel for fume is immersed in one with water, if
required, but serves here as a reservoir to blend the two bodies, and transmit
them in one uniform current through a small tube to a bag of varnished silk,
sufficiently large to envellope the whole or any part of the body that may be
required. When for the entire body, it is to be bound round the neck as in the
other bath, for a limb at each end. To the side of this also, as in the former,
is to be attached a tube leading to the window, chimney, or keyhole of the

page_text: chamber; when to the former it should terminate with a conical screw, which
shall have way made for it by a gimblet, should none other appear. The only
difference between the baths in effect is, that in the portable bath, the bellows
are wrought by hands, or one if necessary, from an inward clevating spring,
and that the diluted vapour is forced without interruption through an open
tube upon
the body, without waiting for the preparation of a quantity equal to
fill the whole bath. The bag where the vapours is to be received may be round
at bottom, or might terminate in a cone about three feet in length, to
let the greater volume approach the body at once, which, even without
an intermediate vessel, would materially prevent exposure to the partial
streams of air and vapour which I have found effectual with care. The
dilating and collopsing of the silk will tell when the bag is full, or other
wise, at which time the cock is to be turned, and the vapour is carried off as
in the other bath, and the bellows cease until it is found necessary to
renovate. By these micans the effect of the vapour is equal to that produced
by the stationary bath, save only that of the preparation of the vapour in a
large volume, which, where space cannot be conveniently found, may be there
also dispensed with, as by a very moderate degree of experience or attention
a smaller reservoir will suffice, and even the immediate introduction of tho
vapour and air separately into the bath, and the dilution being therein per-
formed, could not, without great mismanagement, produce any inconvenience,
and the person bathed might in either cases command both streams himself
by two cocks, as in a common warm water bath. In either of these cases the
thermometer is to be suspended by a ribbond about the neck of the person
bathing, and the ball exposed to the vapour by a tubo of silk, as before
described, by which means it is visible to the patient or operator. In an
apparatus where the vapour is to be blended in the bath, the lever of the
bollows is to be moved by the foot of the conductor pressing on a stirrup
attached to the end of it, by which means he has a hand disengaged for each
cock. The same convenience may be had in using the portable bellows by the
motion of the arm, and being fastened as those of bagpipes. By either of the
baths the menus proposed for the recovery of drowned persons by the Humane
Society may, it is ardently hoped, be materially augmented, and in those, as well
as several other cases, the evanescent scintillations of life successfully excited.
The third method is, by augmenting the effects of ether, by continuing the
application of it to any part of the body, without the loss of evaporation which
attends other methods. That is to be effected by the means of a very flat
concave, as described in the Drawings, with two uecks in the circumferenco

page_text: opposite to each other. Into each of these are to be accurately fitted, by
grinding, the necks of two flat phials of equal contents with the concave. In
these are to be inserted transversely two plugs perforated as that a stopcock,
which, being turned, open or close the passages. The upper phial being filled
with æther, or any other volatile or stimulating fluid, and the edges of the
concave being brought into close contact with the skin, either by band or
by clastic bandages, the plug is turned to suffer the æther to descend into the
concave, where it is confined upon the skin until the other is turned to admit
it into the lower phial, where it is kept for use at another time, with very little
waste unless from accident. In the bottom of the upper phial is to be inserted
small stopper to admit air when the other is descending. It may be right
to observe, that when the fume of dry substances should require to be cooled,
I have also passed it thro' a coiled 'tube immersed in a pail' of cold' water; and
to save some part of the time in changing of water when it became heated, I
have used a syphon, which carries off the hot, and is supported by three legs,
which are, as the tubes of the syphon, connected by screws to render it the
more portable. In stationary baths a cock in the vessel that contains the tube,
and one in a large elevated reservoir, answers the purpose.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
No. 1 a, the boiler; b, the dome; c, the tube leading to the reservoir;
d, another tube communicating with the atmospheric air by a perforation in
the wall of the chamber; e, a stopcock with two pipes, one of which connects
with that tube, the other projecting to the bottom of the reservoir f; 9,9, frame
and bellows compressing by ascent; h, a flexible tube attached to the air hole
of the bellows, and leading, as the other, to the atmosphere; i, the conductor
of the bath, with the lever of the bellows in one hand, and the bight of the
cord in the other that governs the cock looking on the thermometer k, sus-
pended by the frame 1; m, the top of the reservoir, suspended by the frame
cords, &c., n, n, n; o, the tube and cock which admits the prepared vapour
into the bathing vessel p; q, a tube with a conical valve which carries off the
vapour when the bath is surcharged for the purpose of renovation; r, the silk
bound round the rim of the bathing vessel; s, the receiver of a conical valve;
t, the conical valve; u, the spiral spring which supports it; w, the cock
with two pipes; x, a concave glass for topical application, with the tube to
5 receive the vapour, and one valved to carry it off from a lateral apperture;
1, 1, two flat phials to contain æther; 2, the flat concave; 3, the transverse
stock plug in the neck of the upper phial; the lower phial is described
detached.

page_text: 2d Drawing. a, the last connected; b, the key; c, the oblique centro
piece; d, the sides; e, the perpendicular centre picco; f, the heel.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Willson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of November, One thousand
seven hundred and ninety-five.