AN IMPROVED TRUSS FOR INGUINAL HERNIA
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
RUSSELL DARTNELL, of Chatham, in the County of Kent, Staff Surgeon to
Her Majesty's Forces, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of February,
in the tenth year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said George
Russell Dartnell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said George
Russell Dartnell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said George Russell Dartnell, my executors, administrators, 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, Her Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED TRUSS FOR INGUINAL HERNIA;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso requiring that I, the said
George Russell Dartnell, shall particularly describe and ascertain the. nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and

page_text: immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Russell Dartnell, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by this present Instrument in writing, reference being
had to the Drawing in the margin of these Presents, and in which said
Drawing similar parts are marked and referred to by similar letters or figures
(that is to say) :-
My said Invention consists of a short steel spring a, two pads B and C attached
to the spring at either end, and a leather strap d. The spring a is strong,
varies in length from sixteen to eighteen inches, is japanned to prevent rust,
and covered with a sheath of leather; it is also curved downwards at its ante-
rior extremity, so as to bring the pressure of the pad C upon the internal
inguinal ring and inguinal canal. The back pad B is formed of strong leather
lined with chamois or soft buckskin, and has on its outer face two bridles by
'which it is attached to the spring, and which bridles are so made as to admit
of this pad being moved and reddily adjusted to its proper position on the
back. This pad is of an oblong or oval shape, and about two and a half
'inches in length by one and a half in breadth. The anterior or rupture pad
C is solid, formed of hard wood and polished, and is of an oval conical shape
-rounded on the inner face. The ordinary size and shape are those given in
'the Drawing, Figure 3; but this pad may be made larger or smaller to suit
the particular case, and may, if preferred, be covered with a cap of chamois
leather. It is fixed to the anterior extremity of the spring by two screws.
The strap d, which is of soft buckskin, and is continuous with the sheath of
the spring, serves to keep the instrument in its place, and is passed round the
opposite hip, and looped to a button screw on the anterior pad. The main
principle of action of this truss consists in the pressure of the anterior or
rupture pad on the internal ring and inguinal canal; but I do not claim that
as any part of my Invention.
My improvement consists in this, that the above principle is carried into
effect by a more simple and less expensive mode than hitherto adopted, by
reason of the small size and conical shape of the anterior or rupture pad, and
the manner in which it is fixed to the spring without any secondary spring,
socket joint or other means of self-adjustment. There is also an improve-
ment in this, that the anterior or rupture pad is made of hard wood, solid,
polished, and non-absorbent of perspiration. There is also an improvement
in the bend of the anterior extremity of the spring, which is shorter and

page_text: curved more directly downwards than the springs of ordinary trusses; and a
further improvement in the material, shape, and ready adjustment of the back
pad, and in the general simplicity, lightness, and durability of the whole
instrument. The double truss is nothing more than the union of a right and
left sided instrument, the posterior extremities of the springs sliding one over
the other within the leather sheath, the flat pad being placed in the centre,
and a strap and buckle attached to the sheath in such a way as to admit of
the springs separating or closing on one another, thus adding to or diminishing
the length of the instrument. .
In witness whereof, I, the said George Russell Dartnell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.
Chatham.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of April, in the
tenth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said George
Russell Dartnell came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument afore-
said was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth
year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.