AN ANATOMICAL SELF-REGULATING TRUSS
Year: 1815

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LINGFORD, of Woburn Place, Russell Square, in the Parish of Saint George,
Bloomsbury, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in and by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the First day of June last, for Himself, His heirs, and successors,
did give and grant unto me, the said John Lingford, is especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Lingford, my exors,
adñiors, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my
or their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said
John Lingford, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter, during the term
of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "AN ANATOMICAL SELF-REGULATING TRUSS;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John
Lingford, 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 inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and

page_text: immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Lingford, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by the Plans
or Drawings in the margin of these Presents, and the following description
(that is to say):-
My improved truss is constructed upon a new principle; its object being
to afford ease, and security to persons afflicted with herniary complaints, under
any exertion or position of the body, whether walking, riding, standing, sitting,
or lying. This truss may be regulated or adjusted by the wearer, so as to apply
with the utmost accuracy to the part afflicted, an indispensible requisite to the
safety of ruptured persons, and its effect will be to produce a radical cure of
the disorder. Hernia or rupture may be considered as caused by a too sudden
and violent action of the abdominal muscles upon the intestines or bowels,
whereby a portion of them are forced through one or both of the abdominal
rings, being the natural appertures through which the spermatic vessels pass
and descend into the scrotum. The consequence of this accident is, that these
openings become considerably distended and enlarged much beyond their
natural size, and will ever after, on the slightest exertion of the body, admit
the free egress of the bowels; an effect which, unless it be immediately coun-
teracted by an effectual reclosure of the injured part under the pressure of an
appropriate truss, put the life of the sufferer in eminent danger. Hernia does
'not always occur exactly in the same part; instead of breaking through the rings,
the rupture, in cases of natural defect or weakness, will sometimes be through
the facia of the abdominal muscles itself; in other instances it will be through
the upper rings without affecting the lower rings. And again, on the con-
trary, it will at times take place in the lower rings but not in the upper; and
frequently the bowels will penetrate both the upper and lower rings. Under
such variety and incertitude of the affliction, in order to accommodate the
injured part in every action and attitude of the body, so as not only to secure
effectually the bowels and prevent their protrution, but also to preserve
the ruptured part in as fixed and quiescent a state as possible, since
otherwise the natural strength and action can never be restored, it becomes
indispensably requisite to have a truss which will admit a motion either back-
ward or forward, or higher or lower, as the patient's situation may require.
. And upon this principle it is that the present improved truss is constructed,
and may with ease and security be worn by the sufferer night and day. It
keeps constant and even resistance against the part affected, without which

page_text: resistance, in the case of hernia, even the act of sneezing, laughing, or most
trifling exertion, in fine, anything which puts into action the abdominal muscles,
retard the recovery of the patient, if not augment his malady. The principle
and construction of this truss will be clearly understood by the Drawing in the
margin hereof, and the following description (that is to say) :-
Figure 1 is a three-quarter or other length circular steel spring, made to
pass nearly round the body, and to fit close but easy thereto. To the end of this
spring is attached a piece which I call the head of the truss (A), made of steel,
brass, or any other suitable material, moveable upon a pivot or joint at (a), and
intended to carry the pad (B), which pad containing a piece of horn or other
hard substance is attached to the head by means of a screw (6) passing through
the long apperture of the head into the horn, and may be adjusted higher or
lower by sliding the screw upwards or downwards, as represented by the
dotted lines in Fig. 2; the same letters referring to the same parts respectively
in each Figure. In order to enable an adjustment to be performed sideways,
the head A is moved upon the pivot or joint a, as seen by the dotted line Fig. 3;
and when the pad is thus adjusted to the affected part of the body, the
screw (c), which passes through a piece of steel or other metal (C) rivetted to
the end of the spring, and coming beyond the joint, admits of adjustment by
the wearer to any part within a circuit of some inches. The Drawing repre-
sents what is called a left-hand truss, but it is obvious the same principle is
applicable to trusses for either side.
In witness whereof, I have set my hand and seal, the Thirty-first day