Improvements in and relating to Trusses.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 12th May, 1894
Complete Specification Left, 12th Feb., 1895-Accepted, 16th Mar., 1895
[Partly communicated from abroad by LESLIE M: WINN, M.D., of Passaic,
New Jersey, United States.]
Improvements in and relating to Trusses.
I, MARK KNOWLES, of 1 Elm Court, Temple, in the City of London,
Barrister at Law, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to a truss or support worn upon the person. for the relief
and cure of hernia; and its object is to provide a changeable and adjustable device
adapted to serve the said purpose, and which will be entirely under the control of
the wearer, and either flexible, or rigid, at his will.
The device consists of a frame, or body band of metal or other suitable substance
having sufficient strength and spring. The band may be entirely circular. or semi-
circular, flat, or tubular in, transverse section, or a combination thereof; and the
exterior surface is preferably grooved or fluted longitudinally. The band is
preferably covered in great part with leather (as is usual with ordinary trusses) or
with some substance or composition such as hard rubber, ivorine, celluloid, or the
like. The pads employed are fixed upon the band by special clamping plates, so
adapted that they not only form, a clamping devico, but also a socket to receive
the ball headed end of a pin which is connected to the pad.. The clamping plates
are connected together at one end upon a pin or fulcrum, (in nut cracker fashion),
and at the other by an adjusting screw, to tighten the plates upon the band or
frame. Sometimes an intermediate plate is used, but when longitudinally fluted or
corrugated bands. are used the plate or plates are correspondingly formed to
coincide, and this is also the case to adapt them to the transverse section of any
particular kind of band employed.
The pad is made of wood, rubber, vulcanite, celluloid, or other suitable material;
and either solid or hollow. In the latter case, they are intended for use as air or
water filled pads, and may be covered with some material such as silk or chamois
leather, or left bare. Attached to the pad in any suitable way is the ball headed
pin aforesaid, so adapted as to give a slight rocking motion in any direction, and
adapt itself to the movement of the wearer. Inside the pad I sometimes insert
one or more compound spiral springs to act against the pad end of the ball headed..
pin aforesaid so as to give a practically uniform but slightly yielding pressure.
against the pin, and prevent undue motion of the latter..
Dated this 19th day of May 1804

page_text: Improvements in and relating to Trusses.
I, MARK KNOWLES, of 1 Elm Court, Temple, in the City of London,
Barrister at Law, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to a truss or support worn upon the person for the relief
and cure of hernia; and its object is to provide a changeable and adjustable device
adapted to serve the said purpose, which will be entirely under the control of the
wearer, and either flexible or rigid at his will.
In the further description of these improvements, reference is made to the
accompanying drawings in which Fig. 2 represents a general view of one form of
truss, and the remaining figures various details referred to hereinafter.
c!
The truss itself, as shown in Fig. 2, consists principally of an elastic frame or
band a of metal, celluloid, or other suitable substance having sufficient strength and
spring and shaped to enclose the body in the well known manner. The band, at
the required portion of its circumference a¹ is adapted to receive one or more pads b
attached thereto in the manner described hereinafter, which pads are made
adjustable along the said portion a' of the band a, as indicated by the pad shown
on the right hand side of Fig. 2. In this view the side portions a¹ a¹ are shown as
of flat metal with a longitudinal slot therein, but may be circular, semi-circular,
tubular or of other transverse section, as indicated on an enlarged scale in
Figs. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16; and its exterior surface is sometimes grooved or
fluted longitudinally as indicated in Figs. 1, 15 and 16; or combinations of two
kinds of sections as shown in Fig. 1, where the portion a' is flat in section with a
slot therein, while the part a³ is of the section shown in Figs. 15 or 16; while the
corresponding portions shown in Fig. 2 are both flat in cross section as shown in
Fig. 13. The pad b, shown in Fig. 2, is also shown in section in Fig. 3, and it is
secured to the part al of the band a by a screw e passing through the slot in a¹, aul
engaging with a nut let into the interior of the pad b, as shown in the section. A
small swivelling ring e passes through the rounded head of the screw c, and enables
the wearer to tighten or loosen the screw when the pad b is adjusted along the slot
in a', and the ring can be turned flatways after the pad is secured in position, so
that it does not inconvenience the wearer. Fig. 4' represents in section, and Fig. 6
in plan, another method of fixing a pad upon the band a by a clamping device, in
which one end of the clamping plates d, d, is held upon a pin or fulcrum d (in nut
cracker fashion) and the other by an adjusting screw e having a T head, (shown in
side elevation in Fig. 5), the tightening nut being provided in this case with a
swivelling ring e' as shown, similar to that shown in Fig. 3, and for the same
purpose. A. ball headed pine is adapted to work in the inner clamping plate dat
its outer end, and is let into the interior of the pad b where by means of a projecting
screwed head it takes a bearing upon a rubber or spring cushion (not shown) within
the cavity of the pad. By this means the pad bis capable of a slight swivelling
motion within a limited space so as to adapt itself to the movements of the wearer
while retaining its position upon the hernia. The clamping plates d, d, are adjustable
along the band, as before described, and can be secured thereou at any required
position; and the plan Fig. 9 and elevation Fig. 10 show clamping plates d d
similar in principle to those in Fig. 4, but without the ball and socket-arrangement,
and adapted for bands having the section Figs. 15 or 16.
In Fig. 8 the clamping plates d d are shown screwed together as when fixed upon
a band having a semi-circular transverse section as in Fig. 14. The inner clamping
plate is formed with a pin passing through an intermediate plate g covering a

page_text: recess in the pad b. Within this recess a coiled spring acts between the inter-
mediate plate gand the bottom of the cavity and is so arranged as to give a limited
pivotal motion, (as in Fig. 4), whereby the pad adjusts itself to movements of the
wearer, as already described."
Figs. 17 and 18 are elevations, and Figs. 19, 20, 21, and 22 are sections of various
forms of pads adapted for use to suit special cases. Fig. 7 represents a circular
shaped hollow pad, in which a part of the band is covered with leather.
The pads are made of wood, rubber, vulcanite, celluloid or other suitable
material; and they are made both solid and hollow. In the latter case they are
filled with fluid, and may be covered with silk, chamois leather, or otherwise as
required; and it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the special means
shown for giving a slightly yielding or rocking motion in any direction to the pad,
to provide for movements of the wearer.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is ;-
1. An improved truss for the cure or relief of hernia having a pad capable of
adjustment as to position and provided with means for securely holding the said pad
in the required position and adapting it to movements of the wearer, substantially.
as and for the purpose herein described.
2. In a truss, the combination of a pad shaped to suit the requirements of the
case with a clamping device adapted to secure the said pad at any required position
upon the band and to admit of adjustment thereon by the wearer, substantially as
and for the purpose herein shown and described.
3. In a truss, the combination of a pad shaped to suit the requirements of the
case with a swivelling device whereby the pad is capable of a limited pivotal
motion to conform to the movements of the wearer while retaining its position upon
the hernia, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.
4. In a truss, the combination of a pad shaped to suit the requirements of the
case with an adjustable clamping device and a swivelling device, substantially as
and for the purpose herein described.
5. In a truss, a band a shaped to enclose the body and having a portion thereof a'
or a of a shape or cross section adapted to receive and securely hold in position
the adjustable clamping device of a pad, substantially as and for the purpose herein
described and illustrated with reference to Figs. 1, 2, 14, 15 and 16.
6. A pad adapted for use upon a truss and having in combination therewith an
adjustable clamping device and a swivelling device of limited movement, substantially
as and for the purpose herein described and illustrated with reference to Figs. 3, 4,
6 and 8.
Dated this 12th day of February 1895.
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