Improvements in Apparatus for Administering Chloroform.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Sept., 1889-Accepted, 2nd Nov., 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Administering Chloroform.
I, CURT SCHIMMELBUSCH, of the Royal Hospital, Ziegelstrasse, Berlin, in the
Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire, Assistant Medical Practitioner, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention and the manner in which the same is
to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Up to the present time. the usual Chloroform masks have consisted of a wire frame,
over which there was stretched a material pervious to the air. The repeated use of
one and the same covering for several patients is in view of cleanliness, and contagion
of disease, undesirable. Washing, and the long continued use with Chloroform, in
consequence of the shrinking of the material, diminish its perviousness to the air,
which is a serious matter, since the patient with safety to his life may only inhale
chloroform mixed with air, through the mask. To supply for every separate case a
new specially made covering, is very expensive and the medical man is therefore in
the difficulty of either disregarding the question of expense, or considering the risks
of the repeated use to which I have just referred.
:
The present invention purposes in the first place, to effect the renewal of the
covering material, cheaply, simply, and with expedition. It accomplishes this by not
requiring a specially made covering, but admits of the drawing over the material
pervious to the air, without any previous preparation. This is done by placing the
material on the wire frame work, and by fixing it down at the edges or rim, by means
of an overlapping loop or clamp, and then cutting off with a pair of scissors the
superfluous material., A great advantage of this invention is, that any kind of
material whatever, not specially prepared, can be used, which admits of the passage of
the air, to cover the mask.
In the annexed drawing,
Figure 1 is a plan of the mask according to this invention.
Figure 2 is a side view of the mask with the clamp raised.
The mask consists of an oval grooved ring, A, adapted to the shape of the face,
and made of metal, and is supplied at the one side with a hinge B. and on the other
side with a convenient handle C. At the inner side of the ring A, there are two
bent wires a and bent in the axes of the oval. Attached to the grooved ring A and
hinged at B there is a suitable loop or clamp D, which is fastened with a clasp
arrangement on the opposite side to the binge.
The mode of proceeding, when using the said mask, is to turn up the loop or
clamp D, to lay the pervious material over the wires a and b, and by shutting down
the loop or clamp towards the grooves of the ring A, so as to fix it. The material
overlapping the ring is then cut off with a pair of scissors.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A mask for administering Chloroform, consisting of a grooved ring, curved on
the inner side, and provided with wires arching from one side to the other, onto which
a material, admitting the passage of air, is laid, and held by means of a loop, or
clamp.
2. A mask for administering Chloroform such as described and shown in the
drawing hereto annexed.
Dated this Twentieth day of September 1889.