Percussion Apparatus for Medical Practitioners.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Dec., 1896-Accepted, 23rd Jan., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Percussion Apparatus for Medical Practitioners.
I, JOHANN BAUMHOLZ, Doctor and Medical Practitioner, from Kiew in the
Russian Empire, residing at the present time at No. 17 Karlstrasse in Berlin in
Germany do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
eame is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by.
the following statement:-
My invention is a percussion apparatus for medical practitioners in which there
is a constant connection between the percussion hammer and the pleximeter, a spring
being so attached to one or both of the said main parts of the apparatus as to drav
or press them towards each other, to force the hammer against the pleximeter with.
unchangeable euergy during the whole examination of the exploring physician, anl
to make it independent of any individual method and of the force of the medical
practitioner.
Therefore the sound produced by the pleximeter of my apparatus, when struck
by the percussion hammer, is an entirely reliable evidence of the nature and quality
or state of internal parts of the body of the patient under examination; moreover,
the hammer, in.beating the pleximeter, is always directed to the same point of the
latter, whereas hitherto the skill of the examining phys cian in constantly beating
with the same force and in hitting the pleximeter nearly in the same place in
striking it, was decisive for the reliability of the examination.
Moreover, the circumstance that the percussion hammer constantly arrives at the
same point of the pleximeter, has as its result that the latter may be taken so small
that it can be applied to very small places of the body as, for instance, such as are
between two ribs, where the pleximeter used till now could not be placed, as it was
necessary that its breadth should be from 25 to 30 mm. (more than an inch) to.
make the hammer swung by the hand reach it with safety. Consequently my
apparatus affords a means of ascertaining the linear limits of the internal parts of
the body to be explored.
The drawing, which is annexed that the preceding description may be more
easily understood, shows a lateral view of a percussion apparatus of the aforesaid
kind.
In this drawing A designates a pleximeter of auy form in general use having
two legs rising upward and being inserted into shoes e and f, on side-legs of which;
and ', the examining physician, whilst managing the pleximeter, can place bis
fingers, so that in future the possibility of a diminution of the intensity of the
sounds of the pleximeter in touching the patient's body with fingers, is excluded.
To one of the aforesaid shoes is joined a frame E keeping and supporting the
axis of oscillation of the hammer B B¹ B; the head of the latter may be
constructed in a manner generally used hitberto, and its handle as a two-armed
lever of any shape, though it may be desirable to choose this shape so as to allow
the fore lever-arm B' to vibrate like a spring, giving it, for instance, a U-shaped
form, as shown in the drawing, while the other lever-arm may receive any form
affording easiness of management.
This management, however, is to consist exclusively in the act of pressing down
and afterwards loosening the lever-arm B"; it is preferable to give the frame E
a leg-arm D extending beneath the hammer-arm B", so that it can be seized
together with the latter by the practitioner's hand.

page_text: My apparatus may be completed by screwing into the leg-arm D a little
adjusting-screw d, limiting the space within which the hammer-arm B" is to be
moved downward, and by inserting between the arm D and the hammer-arm B
any pressing spring c for the purpose of forcing these two parts away from each
other. But instead of employing the latter arrangement, with the same result the
fore-lever-arm B of the hammer-handle may be connected with the frame E by
means of a drag-spring drawing the one towards the other.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim, is:
1. A percussion apparatus for medical practitioners consisting in an attachment
of an oscillating percussion hammer to the pleximeter in combination with a spring
drawing the hammer, when moved and let loose again, toward the pleximeter with
constant energy, which is independent on the dexterity and individual method of
the percussing physician, so that all explorers must arrive at the same results of
examination.
2. The aforesaid percussion apparatus in combination with an adjusting or
regulating screw limiting the angle of oscillation of the percussion-hammer, as
described.
3. The aforesaid percussion apparatus having side-legs at the holder or shoes of
the pleximeter or at the latter itself, supporting the fingers managing it during the
examination by percussion, as and for the purpose described.
Dated this 3rd day of December 1896.
JOHANN BAUMHOLZ,
By his Agent, F. H. Haase.