CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RESPIRATORS
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BROWN ROOFF, of Stanhope Street, Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex,
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of September, in the twelfth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Brown Rooff, Her especial license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said William Brown Rooff, my exors,
aduiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Brown Rooff, my
exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and, at all times 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RESPIRATORS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Brown Rooff,
by an instrument in writing, under my hand and seal, particularly, to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, 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
William Brown Rooff, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say)
--
My Invention of improvements in the construction of respirators has for
its object the supply of pure warm air to the lungs of consumptive and
asthmatic patients, or other persons requiring the same. This object I effect
by providing separate and distinct channels for the passage of the pure and
the expired air to and from the mouth of the patient, such channels being
provided with valves which will effectually prevent the expired and inspired
air from mixing, and the expired air from being again in part taken into the
lungs, as is the case when the respirators now generally in use are worn. By
my improved construction of respirator I avail myself of the heat of the
expired air to warm the pure air as it passes through the instrument to the
mouth of the patient, and am thus enabled to present pure atmospheric air
to the respiratory organs of the patient at such a temperature as will remove
all cause of irritation thereto.
In the accompanying Drawing my improved construction of respirator is
shewn in several views, the silk band or other covering by which it is attached
to the patient being removed, the better to shew the instrument.
Fig. 1 is a front view of the respirator, which is made of a crescent shape
in plan, in order to fit closely over the mouth; Fig. 2 is a view of the side
which fits against the mouth; and Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken through
the middle of the respirator.
The instrument consists of a crescent or other suitably shaped metal case a,
the front of which is pierced with holes b, b, (see Fig. 1), for the admission
of pure air. The back of this case (see Figs. 2 and 3), is provided with a
valve box c, through which the air from the atmosphere passes to the mouth
to be inspired. The cover of this valve box is perforated, as shewn, and the
valve or valves is or are made so as to open outwards towards the mouth of
the patient. Within the case a are two horizontal partitions d, d, shewn
best at Fig. 4, which is a sectional elevation of the respirator, the front of the
case a being removed. These partitions d, d*, are intended to receive the
ends of a series of vertical metal tubes e, e, which are set at equal distances
apart, as shewn in the horizontal sectional view at Fig. 5 (taken in the line
1, 2, of Fig. 2), and fill up the space between the partitions d, d*, so as to
allow of but narrow channels for the passage of the pure air between and

page_text: around them as it passes from the entrance openings b to the valve box c, to
be breathed by the patient. In the inner face of the case a, between the top
thereof and the partition d, a series of openings f are made (see Fig. 4),
for the purpose of allowing the vitiated or expired air to pass off to the
atmosphere. This vitiated air on entering the chamber formed by the top
of the case a and the horizontal partition d, passes down the tubes e, and
enters another chamber formed by the partition d*, and a third partition g
which has openings in it, as shewn in the sectional plan view, Fig. 6, and is
provided with valves to close those openings, as represented by Fig..7, which
is a sectional view looking upwards, taken in the line 3 4 of Fig. 4.
The expired air passes out at these valves and through the grating which
forms the bottom of the case a into the atmosphere, and while thus passing
out the conducting tubes e, e, are heated thereby. As the patient commences
a fresh inflation of his lungs, pure air is drawn into the respirator through the
openings b, and coming in contact with the heated tubes e, e, in its passage
to the valve box c, its temperature is raised to a degree suitable for inhalation.
Thus at every expiration the vitiated air is carried off by a channel distinct
from that which conducts the pure air to the mouth, and at every inspiration
a supply of air uncontaminated with the vitiated air from the lungs is drawn
into the instrument and warmed before it reaches the lips of the patient. To
prevent air from reaching the mouth of the patient otherwise than through
the proper channels, a padding h, h (Figs. 2 and 3), is provided, which fits
close around the mouth, and thus effectually prevents the access of air other-
wise than through the instrument in the way desired. I would remark, that
bandages resembling neck cloths may be attached to the instruments as usual
with respirators, but care should be taken that the part of the respirator is not
so thickly covered with such bandage as to impede the ready passage of the
air through, the openings b. The metal I prefer for making these instruments
is silver, as it is not readily affected by the moisture of the breath; but other
metals or alloys of metals plated with silver may also be employed with
advantage.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do mean or intend
to confine myself to the precise construction or arrangement of parts herein
shewn and described, as they may doubtless be varied without departing from
the nature and object of my Invention. But that which I consider to be new
and therefore wish to claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, constructing respirators in such
a manner that the vitiated or expired air may be conducted off in a separate

page_text: channel from the in-coming air to be inspired, and thus through the medium
of its metallic channel be made to heat the pure air on its passage to the
respiratory organs of the patient, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Brown Rooff, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.