IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR INSTRUMENTS FOR THE RE- LIEF AND CURE OF PROCIDENCIA AND PROLAPSUS UTIRE
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
ELAM, of Huddersfield, in the County of York, Surgical Instrument Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twentieth day of September, in the fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alfred Elam, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Alfred Elam, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Elam, my exors, adññors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR INSTRUMENTS FOR THE RE-
LIEF AND CURE OF PROCIDENCIA AND PROLAPSUS UTIRE; in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Alfred Elam, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled 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, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alfred Elam, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and the figures and letters marked thereon (that
is to say)-
My Invention relates to a mode of applying springs to the straps which are
connected with the pads used in instruments for the relief and cure of
procidencia and prolapsus utire. And in order that the Invention may be most
fully understood, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto annexed, in
the various Figures of which the same letters indicate similar parts.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents the apparatus or instrument complete, having my
improvements applied thereto. Figure 2 shews a side view and plan of a
pad, and parts of the straps attached thereto; and Figure 3 shews one of
the straps which support the pad separately, the outer covering being
removed in order to shew the application of the spring according to my
improvements.
The object of instruments or apparatus of this description is to support the
nterus within the vagina by an easy and agreeable pressure upon the vagina
afforded by elastic springs, which, when applied according to the directions
herein given, produce a permanent, immovable, and invariable pressure in all
positions of the body upon the perenium, and, if desired, also on the abdomen,
thereby keeping the uterus within the vagina, and stimulating the relaxity of
the vagina to contract.
A, A, are two shoulder straps attached to the back part of the waist belt
at C, and at the front part of the same there are button holes to button on
to the front part of the belt at B, B; the shoulder straps are made of cotton or
other suitable fabric or material. C, the waist belt, which is made with or
without metal springs, as is well understood, and covered with leather, flannel,
or other fabric or material. F is a strap attached to the waist belt C, with
boles to button on to the fore part of the belt at E. G is a coiling spring
made of metal (steel being preferred), and has a strap attached to the upper

page_text: end of it, with button holes to button to the back part of the belt C; also a
strap attached to the other end of the spring G, continued under the pad K to
the end of the strap J, with button holes to button on to the front spring H.
The spring G is covered with either leather, cotton, or other suitable material,
the one end near the pad K. being made fast, while the other end is left open
to allow the spring to extend when applied. K is an oval-shaped pad, made
of cork, sponge, horse hair, flannel, or other suitable material as heretofore,
cither with or without a spring on the inside. H is a coiling eliptical spring,
which has a strap attached to the upper end of it, with holes to button on to
the waist belt at E; this strap is made of leather, cotton, or other suitable
material, and at the lower part of the spring is attached a strap, and at the
end of the strap a buckle by which the strap J is fastened to the strap at the
lower part of the spring H. The spring H is covered with leather, cotton, or
other suitable material, and the upper end of this cover is left open to allow
the spring to extend and return, while the lower part is sewed fast.
To apply the apparatus, let the waist belt C, D, be opened out and fitted round
the waist, C being at the back, and the strap F brought round and buttoned in
front upon the knob or button at E; then the shoulder straps A, A, being
crossed behind, are to be brought over the shoulders and buttoned to the waist
belt at B, B. The strap J, which is affixed to the pad K, is to be brought
forward between the thighs and buckled to the front strap H, sufficiently
tight to afford a comfortable pressure and support upon the perenium. Tho
pressure of the pad K may be regulated by raising or lowering the straps at
the knobs or buttons C and E. The dotted lines at * shew an abdominal
pad, made of metal, covered with silk, cotton, or other suitable material,
attached by buttons or sewed to the outside cover of the front spring H, by
which means pressure is also obtained to the abdomen.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details here shewn and described; but what I claim is,
the mode of applying the springs G, H, to the straps, by which the pad used
is sustained as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Elam, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of March, in
the year of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid Alfred Elam came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, 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.
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-two.