IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GENERATING VAPOURS FOR INHALATION AND FOR APPLYING HEAT, STEAM, OR VAPOURS TO THE HUMAN BODY, OR TO THE BODIES OF HORSES OR OTHER ANIMALS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by David Jones at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th.
October 1871.
. I
I, DAVID JONES, of Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention' for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR GENERATING VAPOURS FOR INHALATION AND FOR APPLYING HEAT,
STEAM, OR VAPOURS TO THE HUMAN BODY, OR TO THE BODIES OF HORSES OR OTHER
ANIMALS," to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention relates to improvements in the
arrangement and construction of apparatus for generating vapours for
medicinal or curative porposes, so that the same may be more advan-
tageously and conveniently employed for such purposes than heretofore.
For this purpose by preference I employ a portable boiler which may be
heated either by gas (preferably by a Bunsen burner) or by a spirit lamp
or otherwise. The boiler is provided with a safety valve; water gauge,
thermometer, and with inlet and outlet passages furnished with stop-
cocks. The fluids or medicinal matters from which vapours are to be
generated, are introduced into the boiler and the heat is raised-to the

page_text: required temperature to generate steam or vapour which is conducted by
a pipe from the upper part of the boiler to a small chamber, from the
upper part of which it is allowed to escape, so as to be conveniently
inhaled by the patient. The inhaling chamber or orifice is provided
with a pipe and stop-cock for discharging the water or condensed t
vapour. The vapours combined with atmospheric air may, if desired, be
conducted from the escape orifice to the mouth or nostrils of the patient
by a flexible or other tube, if desired.
In place of introducing the medicinal matters into the boiler a jet of
steam from the boiler may be conducted through a chamber or vessel 1
containing the medicinal matters, and thence to the escape orifice to be
inhaled by the patient as previously described. This apparatus-may be
employed for conducting and applying a continuous and regulated supply
of heated vapours (medicinal or otherwise) to any part of the body,
either into a chamber surrounding or enclosing the part affected by 1
disease or through a sponge or other suitable medium.
According to the second part of my improvements for applying heat,
steam, or vapours to the human body or to the bodies of horses or other
animals, I employ a portable boiler such as previously described, and
in order to apply heat or vapour to the human body whilst in bed or 2
in a reclining or horizontal position, I construct a hollow chamber of
tin or other suitable metal or material by preference in the form of an
arch which is placed over the patient in bed, a blanket or other covering
being placed over the hollow chamber so as to leave the head of the
patient uncovered and free to breath. The interior of this hollow 2
arched chamber is lined with network to prevent the limbs of the
patient from coming in contact with the surface of the heated chamber.
A pipe furnished with a stop-cock connects the boiler with the hollow
arched chamber into which steam is thus conducted, the water from the
condensed steam being discharged by a suitable pipe when necessary. 8
The hollow chamber is furnished with a safety valve and thermometer
so that the temperature may be regulated as desired. Hot air may be
caused to circulate through the arched chamber in place of steam, if
desired.
By these means the body of a patient may be readily subjected to a 3
dry air heat at any required temperature whilst in a recumbent position
without exertion, so as to produce a similiar effect to a Turkish bath, and
if it is desired to apply vapour (medicinal or otherwise) to the surface of

page_text: the body, then an open chamber or vessel containing medicinal or other
fluids or matters is placed or arranged underneath or within the arched
chamber, a small jet of steam being conducted through the fluid or
matters contained in the vessel so as to give off or discharge the vapours
inside the chamber enclosing the patient, as required.
By similar means heat or heated vapours may be applied to either of
the limbs or part of the body of a patient by enclosing or surrounding
the same with a hollow chamber, and applying heat or heated vapour
thereto, as previously described.
According to another part of my improvements I construct a hollow
portable chamber of similar form to an arm chair, furnished with a
movable cane or other openwork seat for the patient to sit upon. The
front and upper part of this form of hollow portable chamber is furnished
with a flexible woollen or other suitable cover which can be closed
around the neck of the patient so as to enclose the body, thus leaving the
patient free to breathe. The interior of the hollow portable chamber
may be heated by steam from a portable boiler as previously described,
or by a current of hot air being caused to circulate through it from a
stove, spirit lamp, or gas burner arranged underneath. Medicinal or
other vapours may be generated within the hollow chamber in the
manner previously described, so as to come in contact with the body of
the patient.
In like manner heat, steam, or vapour may be applied, according to
my Invention, to the bodies of horses or other animals.