IMPROVEMENTS IN RESPIRATORS
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULIUS
JEFFREYS, of Clapham, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Sixth day of August, in the eighth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Julius
Jeffreys, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Julius Jeffreys, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Julius Jeffreys, my exors, admors, 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 RESPIRATORS;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Julius Jeffreys,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what 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
Julius Jeffreys, 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
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
(that is to say):

page_text: Whereas, in the month of January, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
six, I obtained a Patent for Certain Improvements in Curing or Relieving
Disorders of the Lungs, I have now to specify certain additional improvements
for the same.
These are, first, improvements upon the oral and orinasal
respirators hitherto in use, which consist in a construction of these respirators
in such a manner that each one instrument may have its power increased or
decreased by having a portion or the whole of the operative part removeable
from the mountings, so that by the addition or subtraction of plates or layers
the effect may be increased or decreased at will. Thus, instead of separate
and distinct instruments being needed for obtaining the several degrees of
climate or of power, the same layers which operate in the low power form a
portion of those acting to produce a medium, and these a portion of those
producing the high power, so that within the same materials are comprised
varieties of effect, each of which hitherto required separate instruments.
Figure 1 shews an oral respirator as now constructed, of low power.
Figure II. is a packet of one or more layers of the operating material, which
is arched to fit closely on the convex surface a, a, Figure I., and bound down
by the tie b, b, &c. The instrument is then of increased power. To give a
higher power still, either another packet, Figure III., is superadded to the
former, or a single one, Figure 1V., consisting of more layers, is substituted
for it. To produce a still further effect, two or more packets are placed
together upon the convex surface of the instrument, and secured by the tic,
and then screened by the usual shawl covering. This instrument I name the
respirator of all powers in one, and this improvement applies to both the oral
and the orinasal kinds. In the instrument Figure I., just described, it will
be seen that one portion of the operative part a, a, a, is inseperably fixed to
the mouth fittings; but I now also make the respirator as shewn in Figure 5,
which consists of a flexible metal frame, containing a large oblong space or
aperture o, o, o, and fitted on one side with pads at either end A, A, and lip-
tucks B, B, to form together the usual mouthpiece, and on the other side with
an edging c, c, c, c, of flexible material, which forms a receptacle, into which
the whole or a part of the operative packets may be placed, and then laced in
with the cord b, b, b, b, or fixed in in any other manner. Thus, all the opera-
tive part may be detached from the fittings for the purpose of cleaning,
repairing, or exchanging it. Now this arrangement, by which the operative
part of either the oral or orinasal respirator can be detached from the mouth-
piece and other fittings at will, without the employment of a stiff inflexible
frame to carry the fittings and receive the acting part, and without the latter
being given an inflexible stiffness by encasing with metal, is quite novel, and

page_text: of much importance to the comfort of the wearer.
In the new arrangement
both the acting portion, Figure IV., and the case which receives it, Figure V.,
and carries the fittings, are flexible in their entire length, so that they may be
bent to suit the form of any mouth and jaws, even when the whole is fixed
together. This combination of flexibility, both of the case and the instrument
or operative part with seperability from each other, I claim as new and impor-
tant; and, as any number of packets or layers can be employed, this is also a
respirator of all powers in one.
My next improvement is the construction of a nasal respirator, an instru-
ment adapted for the nostrils only. Though hitherto not attempted, this has
been found practicable in the following construction:-Figures VI. and VII.
are a case for the nose, of flexible material, so formed as to apply itself well
by the margin a, a, a, a, padded with velvet or leather, &c. to the upper and
outside surface of the nose, where it is supported by the nasal bones; and at
the sides it applies itself to the check, near the nose, being spread out below
so as not to touch the soft alæ of the nose, lest they should be compressed at
all, to the obstruction of the passage of air into the nostrils. This nose cap is
made as little pervious to air as possible, and its lower margin terminates in a
firm frame or edge of a semi-oval form C, C, &c., Figures VI. and VIII., but
concave behind C', VII. and VIII., to fit the middle of the upper jaw, below
the nose.
This frame is made deep enough as at C', Figure VIII., to carry
any requisite number of the metallic or other operative layers, which, when
heaped together, Figure IX., are kept a minute distance from each other
by a thickened margin round each. These layers or plates exactly fit into
the framed margin C, C, C, Figure VIII., and are kept in by the fine
cord f.f, buttoned on h, h. b, b, b, Figures VI., VII., and VIII., are ribbons
with elastic bands, which are tied round the head to give support to the
respirator. When the nasal respirator is on, a person breathes in and out
through the apertures or perforations in the operative part of the instrument,
the breath passing through the several layers successively. The nose cap so
well fits the parts to which its margin is applied as to admit no leakage of
air, and it is made expansible to fit all forms of visage. In this instrument
the power is likewise variable in any degree desired on the same principle as
in the oral of all powers above described. One or more layers of porous
woollen or other fabric may be introduced between some of the metallic layers,
having been soaked previously in a medicated solution, by the evaporation of
which an effect may be produced upon the nerves of the membrane of the
nose and throat.
Now although the above I consider. to be the best form of the nasal..

page_text: respirator, it may be given others.
I claim, therefore, any instrument
adapted to the nostrils only, composed of any material, but especially of
metal, the action or object of which is to modify, or temper, or medicate
the air inhaled through the nostrils.
My next improvement is the construction of a respirator which I name the
hand respirator, and which is also of an entirely new form. This instrument is
not necessarily attached or suspended in any way to the face, though it may
be, but is chiefly intended to be held in the hand.
Figures X., XI., and XII. are a "hand respirator," of what I consider the
best form, though it may be given other shapes, and be constructed differently.
Figure XIII. A, and B, are two packets of the operative material, each
comprizing several layers or plates kept a small distance apart by intervening
threads, or in any other suitable manner. These packets meet each other at
the bottom O, Figures XIII. and XII., but diverge, leaving a wedge-shape
space between them e, e, Figure XIII., which at top e' is about half an inch
wide, and there ends in a mouthpiece m, m, &c., Figures X., XI., and XII.
This, when applied to the mouth, conveys the breath obliquely down into the
wedge-shape cavity. The breath there divides itself into two currents, the one
passing out backwards through the packet A, and the other forwards through
the front packet B. So, likewise, the entering air is formed of two currents
flowing through the front and the back packets, which meet in the wedge-shape
space e, e, and then pass on to the mouth.
Figure X. is a front view of the hand respirator; Figure XI. is a back view,
or of that side next the mouth. The body of the instrument itself may be held
in the hand or supported by a handle, which may be moveable or may occa-
sionally be suspended to the collar of the dress, or in any other manner. Now,
though I consider this the best form for a hand respirator, it may be given
various other forms, as that of a cylinder, or cone, &c., and the operative part
may be made of other material, but it ought, in part at least if not wholly, to
consist of metal. I therefore claim the exclusive right to any instrument of any
material of this nature, namely, having a mouthpiece or tube communicating
with the mouth and leading to an acting portion which does not lie in front
of the mouth, but is dependent below the mouth, whether supported by the
hand or not, though more especially when it is supported by the hand of the
wearer.
My last improvement consists in the employment, as occasion requires,
of forms of metal work for the operative parts of respirators different from the
soldered wires hitherto used. One of these is a fabric of the nature of wire
gauze, but so made as to have the warp and the woof at unequal distances from

page_text: each other, the wires or threads of the one being further apart than those of
the other. The object of this is that there may be few horizontal bars to
check the descent of the moisture condensed from the breath; the interstices
in this wove or platted fabric are of an elongated form from above downwards,
but of minute lateral dimension. For some forms of respirators I also employ
fine wire gauze of an ordinary character, and thin plates of perforated silver,
gold, or platinum, or other metal; also plates of copper or other readily
oxydizable metal, which, after perforation, has been coated by the electro-
metallurgic or other process with silver, gold, or other precious metal, so that
the edges of the orifices become coated with the precious metal, as well as the
general surface; and I also propose the employment both of plates of the
wired frames I have hitherto used, and of wove or platted wire fabric or
gauze, which after manufacture into such frame, or fabric, or gauze, have been
coated by such or any other processes with precious metal.
None of the above-named manufactures having been employed as yet, or
proposed for the operative parts of respirators, I claim the sole right to the
use of them, and I define a respirator to be an instrument to be adapted to
the mouth or nostrils (as now proposed), or to both passages, for favoring
respiration, by tempering or modifying the air respired, by giving to it warmth
and moisture derived from the exhaled breath, whereby disorders of the lungs
are prevented, relieved, or cured.
In witness whereof, I, the said Julius Jeffreys, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.