IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRICAL BATH APPARATUS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRICAL BATH APPARATUS." A communication from
abroad by Basile Barda, of Vienna, Austria, Doctor of Medicine.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th March 1881.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRICAL BATH
APPARATUS." [A communication from abroad by Basile Barda, of Vienna,
Austria, Doctor of Medicine.]
This Invention relates to an improved electrical bath apparatus suitable for
public bathing establishments, or other hydrotherapeutic institutions and for
private houses. This apparatus is adapted to be used, either for ordinary bathing
or for the application of electrical baths, that is to say, when it is desired to use
the bath as an ordinary one, it will only be necessary to interrupt the current
provided by any suitable generator of electricity, such as a battery or an electric
machine.
The construction of my bath apparatus and its application for electrifying various
parts of the body, and the devices for localizing the electric current in the part of
the body in which it is required, are represented in the accompanying Drawing, in
which,―
Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation.
Figure 2, a plan.
Figure 3, a transverse section; and
Figure 4, a front elevation of my said Invention.
Andantina

page_text: the electric current. The two lower terminals a, a, are connected with the
generator (battery or machine) by a wire f'. The five upper terminals are
connected either directly or in pairs with the two lower terminals by means of one
or several wires f. Each of these terminals is connected by a conducting wire
hidden in the upper edge of the reservoir with carbon poles encased in the inner
sides of the bath; these poles correspond with the principal parts of the body that
may have to be electrified. The terminal a placed at the centre corresponds by
the wire f¹ with a float f, which permits the whole body to be electrified at will;
and by the wire fs it is connected with the pole p¹ against which the feet of the
person in the bath may be placed.
The terminal a² corresponds to the head-pole p³ by means of the wire f*. The
terminal a³ communicates by the wire f" with the pole p³ placed below the first,
and corresponding to the back of the bather. The side in which these two poles
are placed may be inclined, as shewn in Figure 1. The two poles p* and p³ at the
right and the left hand correspond with the arms, and are connected with the
terminals a, a, by the wires fo, ƒ7.
It will be readily understood that I may place in the interior of the bath any
number of poles and conducting wires as may be desired, and that I may place
within reach of the bather a commutator, whereby he is enabled to interrupt the
current at will.
The conducting wires are covered with insulating material of any kind, such as
india rubber or the like.

page_text: The conducting wires are covered with suitable insulating material, such as
india-rubber, or the like.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that the form and dimensions and the material of which the parts of the said
improved apparatus are constructed may be varied in many ways without departing
from the principal of this Invention, and I claim,-
First. The combination with a bath or reservoir R constructed of wood or other
material which is a non-conductor of electricity, of electric terminals connected
with a generator of electricity, as and for the purpose specified.
Second. The combination with the bath or reservoir of the terminals connected
with a generator of electricity, and with the carbon-poles and float f by means of
wires, as above set forth and for the purpose specified.
Third. The combination with the bath or reservoir of the carbon-poles placed in
any suitable position for the purpose of my Invention, as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
WM PORT LAKE 101