IMPROVEMENTS IN SURGICAL TRUSSES TO PREVENT THE DESCENT OF HERNIE THRO' THE INTERNAL AS WELL AS THE EXTERNAL RING
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, the said
FRANCIS L'ESTRANGE, of Thirty-nine, Dawson Street, in the City of Dublin,
Surgeon, one of the Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-first day of December, in the seventh year of Her reign, did
give and grant unto me, the said Francis L'Estrange, my exors, admors, and
assigns, Her special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Francis L'Estrange, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others,
as I, the said Francis L'Estrange, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and not others, from time to time and at all times hereafter
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SURGICAL TRUSSES TO PREVENT
THE DESCENT OF HERNIE THRO' THE INTERNAL AS WELL AS THE EXTERNAL RING;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that I, the said
Francis L'Estrange, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Francis L'Estrange, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, and particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawing hereunto annexed and to the figures and letters marked
thereon:-
It consists of an instrument that can be worn night and day, and that will
keep up a permanent pressure on the internal ring, inguinal canal, and superior
angle of the external ring without making any pressure on the spermatic cord,
as it passes over the pubic bone, and thereby preventing any disease of the
testicle from that cause. This instrument is divided into three parts:-first, the
steel covered spring; second, the steel neck; and, third, the elastic pad or
rupture head. A, the curved spring is covered with strong leather; its concave
surface is lined and padded; it has two extremities, B and C; on B there is a
button attached for the cross strap in C, which is uncovered and polished;
there are four holes through which two screws pass, and which allows of the
lengthening and shortening of the truss, as may be necessary; D, the neck,
which is of a flat triangular form, has at its apex a clasp, into which C passes
and slides backwards and forwards, and by means of No. 3 and No. 2 screws
is held in the position wished for. In the base of D is a slide hole through
which No. 1 screw passes into the pad or rupture head and admits of a semi-
circular motion, so as to move the extremity of the pad upwards or downwards,
as may be required; E, the elastic pad or rupture head which is of an
irregular oval form; its internal structure is of two oval metallic plates, united
at one extremity by a hinge, which hinge is so constructed that it will not
allow of the plates being separated beyond a certain distance; these plates are
kept asunder by Number 3, the metallic spring which is rivitted on the upper
plate and presses against the under. This spring is shaped as shown in the
Drawing. In the other end of this spring there is a metal roller to enable it
to move freely on the under plate. In the upper plate there are two screw
holes, Number 1 and Number 2, for the screws Number 1 and Number 2.
The upper surface of the pad or rupture head is covered with strong leather,
and the under is padded and covered with chamois leather, as are also its sides.
The femoral truss is on the same construction, except with the additions of a
spiral spring of metal in the neck of the truss to admit of the bending of the
thigh on the abdomen, and on the bulging extremity of the pad there is added
a small additional pad, about the size of a pistol ball.
The double inguinal trusses are on the same principle with the single
inguinal truss.

page_text: The parts and effects of this instrument, which I claim as invented by me,
are the curve in the body spring A, as bent to clear the sacrum and throw the
power of the pad or rupture head on the internal ring. I also claim the pad
or rupture head E, and the neck, and the means by which it may be lengthened
or shortened.
In the truss for fermoral herniæ, in addition to this, I claim the spiral
spring in the neck of the truss, which allows of the free motion of the
thigh on the abdomen. This instrument differing from all others hitherto in
use, shape, and the permanency of its pressure, which does not operate on the
spermatic cord as it passes over the pubis, but by which we are enabled to
concentrate the force of the springs on the internal ring, inguinal canal, and
superior angle of the external ring, and thereby prevent the escape of herniæ
in that direction.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis L'Estrange, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, One thousand eight hun-
dead and fanter fou
FRANCIS L'ESTRANGE (L.S.)
June,
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day
in the year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid Francis L'Estrange came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.