IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR APPLYING LIQUIDS TO THE THROAT AND AIR PASSAGES FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Alonzo Tompson, of 18, Cecil Street, Strand,
in the County of Middlesex, and Weston Green, Thames Ditton, in the
County of Surrey, Surgeon and Apothecary, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR APPLYING LIQUIDS TO THE THROAT AND
AIR PASSAGES FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES."
Sealed the 28th June 1859, and dated the 28th April 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Alonzo Tompson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th April 1859.
I, WILLIAM ALONZO TOMPSON, of 18, Cecil Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, and Weston Green, Thames Ditton, in the County of Surrey,
Surgeon and Apothecary, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR APPLYING LIQUIDS TO THE THROAT AND AIR
PASSAGES FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for applying
liquids to the throat and air passages for medical purposes. With this object
1 employ a flexible or other gas holder or vessel containing air under pressure;
and I connect this gas holder or vessel with a pipe, by means of which a jet of
air can be directed on to the interior of the throat of the patient. Before the
air passes to the throat I cause it to become saturated with a. mist of the
liquid (usually a solution of nitrate of silver) which. I desire to apply. This

page_text: is effected by causing the air from the gasometer to pass into a small egg-
shaped vessel of glass containing a few drams of the solution; the air is caused
to enter near the upper part of the vessel on one side and to issue from the,
top of the vessel to the escape tube or jet by which it is applied. The vessel
which holds the solution, also contains a piece of glass rod having a number
of capillary passages formed from end to end of it, and one end of this rod rests
in the liquid, while the other rises above it. The air in entering impinges on
the surface of the liquid and forces it through the passages in the rod; it is
thus brought within the range of the current of air, and is carried by it through
the escape tube or jet; at the end of this tube there is a covering of very
fine gauze of silver wire, through which the solution can escape to the throat
only in an extremely divided state. The connection between this tube and
the solution vessel is formed by a vulcanized india-rubber tube.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Alonzo Tompson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ALONZO TOMPSON, of 18, Cecil Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, and
Weston Green, Thames Ditton, in the County of Surrey, Surgeon and
Apothecary, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Alonzo Tompson, Her special licence that I, the said William
Alonzo Tompson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Alonzo Tompson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR APPLYING LIQUIDS TO THE THROAT
AND AIR PASSAGES FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Alonzo Tompson, my executors or administra-
tors, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of

page_text: the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Alonzo Tompson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:―
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for applying
liquids to the throat and air passages for medical purposes. With this object
I employ a flexible or other gas holder or vessel containing air under pressure;
and I connect this gas holder or vessel with a pipe by means of which a jet of
air can be directed on to the interior of the throat of the patient. Before the
air passes to the throat I cause it to become saturated with a mist of the
liquid (usually a solution of nitrate of silver) which I desire to apply. This is
effected by causing the air from the gasometer to pass into a small egg-shaped
vessel of glass containing a few drams of the solution; the air is caused to enter
near the upper part of the vessel on one side and to issue from the top of the
vessel to the escape tube or jet by which it is applied. The vessel which holds
the solution also contains a piece of glass rod, having a number of capillary
passages formed from end to end of it, and one end of this rod rests in the
liquid while the other rises above it. The air in entering impinges or presses
on the surface of the liquid, and forces it through the passages in the rod; it
is thus brought within the range of the current of air, and is carried by it
through the escape tube or jet; at the end of this tube there is a covering of
very fine gauze of silver wire, through which the solution can escape to the
throat only in an extremely divided state. The connection between this tube
and the solution vessel is formed by a vulcanized india-rubber tube.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING,
which represents partly in section an apparatus arranged suitably for
carrying out my Invention. a is a flexible pipe leading to a gas holder,
bellows, or other vessel, by pressure on which air may be caused to flow from
the gas holder or vessel to the apparatus. The flexible pipe a, which is, by
preference, of vulcanized india-rubber, is connected to the branch 6 of the
glass vessel c, in which is contained the liquid which it is desired should be
applied to the interior surfaces of the throat; & is a glass rod through which

page_text: there are several fine tubular passages; this rod is kept upright in the vessel c
by means of metal springs e, or in any convenient manner; or the liquid may
be divided into numerous small streams by other forms of apparatus, and
materials other than glass may be used for such purpose. At the upper part
of the neck of the egg-shaped vessel c a cover f is fixed which may be con-
veniently done by a short piece of vulcanized india-rubber tube g, as shewn in
the Drawing. Through the cover f a short tube h is screwed, so that its end
may come more or less near to the upper end of the rod d; and i is a screw
cap which screws on the cover f to make it air-tight and retain the tube h in
a fixed position; j is a tube, the outer end of which is introduced into the
fauces or throat. Near the outer end of the tube j is applied a disc or partition
of very fine wire gauze; the other end of the tubej is attached to the tube h
by a short flexible tube of vulcanized india-rubber. By this apparatus the
liquid in the vessel c will be pressed on by the air passing into the vessel
through the pipe a; and such liquid will be forced through the fine tubular
passages in the rod d, and the liquid together with air will be caused to pass
through the tube j, and be projected against the inner surfaces of the throat, the
liquid being carried by numerous small streams of air.. The pressure of the
air acting to propel the fluid through the passages in the rod d will be regulated
by the end of the tube h being brought nearer to or further from the end of
the rod d.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Alonzo Tompson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.