IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF TRUSSES AND BANDAGES FOR HERNIA, AND OF HYPOGASTRIC GIRDLES OR BELTS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Adrien Ferdinand Benjamin Falgas, of 51, Rue
de Malte, Paris, in the Empire of France, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF TRUSSES AND BANDAGES FOR HERNIA, AND
OF HYPOGASTRIC GIRDLES OR BELTS."
Sealed the 24th January 1862, and dated the 9th August 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Adrien Ferdinand Benjamin
Falgas at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th August 1861.
I, ADRIEN FERDINAND BENJAMIN FALGAS, of 51, Rue de Malte, Paris, in
the Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF TRUSSES AND BANDAGES FOR HERNIA,
AND OF HYPOGASTRIC GIRDLES OR BELTS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to construct trusses, hernial bandages, and
hypogastric girdles with means whereby the wearer may adjust the pad or
cushion as he (or she) finds suitable.

page_text: For this purpose the pad or cushion is arranged with a rotula or ball-and-
socket adjustment, that is to say, the pad or cushion is on a stem or shank,
with a spherical or rounded head fitted in a socket cup, or spherical or
rounded recess (rotula or ball-and-socket fashion), whereby the wearer can
readily place the pad at the desired inclination or position, and it is there
retained by a screw.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Adrien Ferdinand Benjamin Falgas in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ADRIEN
FERDINAND BENJAMIN FALGAS, of 51, Rue de Malte, Paris, in the Empire-of-
France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs-and-successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Adrien Ferdinand Benjamin Falgas, Her special licence that I, the said Adrien
Ferdinand Benjamin Falgas, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Adrien Ferdinand Benjamin Falgas, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF TRUSSES AND
BANDAGES FOR HERNIA, AND OF HYPOGASTRIC GIRDLES OR BELTS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Adrien Ferdinand Ben-
jamin Falgas, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly describe and ascertain the nature of 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Adrien Ferdinand Benjamin Falgas, 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

page_text: and by the following statement thereof, reference being bad to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say:-
My Invention relates to trusses and bandages for hernia, and is likewise
applicable to hypogastric girdles or belts worn by women in various cases of
displacement of the womb.
The object of my Invention is to afford means whereby the wearer may
place or adjust the pad or cushion of the truss, bandage, girdle, or belt at any
suitable inclination or position at which he or she finds the most comfort, ease,.
or relief, and after having adjusted it to such desired position may there retain
it. For this purpose I employ an arrangement or apparatus herein-after
described, constituting a ball-and-socket adjustment or arrangement, in which
a ball or a spherical or rounded knob or head fits in a socket, cup, or rounded.
recess (rotula or ball-and-socket fashion) and which is so combined with the
pad or cushion of the truss, bandage, girdle, or belt, that the wearer can readily
place or adjust such pad or cushion at the desired inclination or position
and retain it there by a screw as herein-after explained.
I call my apparatus or arrangement the "volviform" apparatus (thereby
implying that I turn and tighten), and it is constructed as follows:-An
essential portion of my "volviform" apparatus is a rod, shank, arm, or strip,
having at one end a ball or round knob, and slotted longitudinally to receive
screws whereby it is connected to the spring bandage or girdle, so that the
latter may be lengthened or shortened round the person as required. Another
essential portion of the volviform apparatus is a cup or socket which, receives
the ball. This socket is on an arm which also carries the arrangements.
which act on or move the ball to retain the socket in the desired position.
On this arm is also a concave plate, preferably of iron or thin steel, which,
when covered or padded with wool, silk, leather, or other suitable soft sub-
stance, constitutes the "pad," which being thus attached to the socket can be
inclined in various directions by the wearer, and be thereby accommodated to
such position as may best suit his ease and comfort.
Various arrangements may be employed for retaining the ball in its position
in the socket; some of these are exemplified in the accompanying Drawings.
The Drawing is on the scale of the most convenient actual size.. In all the
Figures the same letters indicate like parts.
Figure 1 is a section, Figure 1bi, top view, and Figure 1ter, end view of the
socket B. L is an arm preferably composed of malleable or cast iron or
steel, on which is placed the pad or cushion, not shewn in these three Figures,

page_text: and which arm may be in a piece with the socket B, as in these Figures and
in Figure 9, or it may be in two parts, as in Figure 8.
a,
Figure 2 is a front view, and Figure 2bis, top view of an arm or shank
(composed of steel or malleable iron) which carries the ball or knob A. This
arm a is slotted at e, e, to adjust the truss as to length.
Figure 3 is a section, and Figure 3bis, side view of a nut J which receives
the binding screw V, and is itself screwed under the arm L, and so retains
the pad holder P, which is thus compressed between the nut J and the
arm L.
Figure 4 is a front view of the screw V, which passes loosely through an
orifice in the arm L, and is screwed into the nut J:
Figure 5 is a front view of a bar or rod H; its end I, which is cone shaped
and recessed, takes into the socket B, and bears against the ball A. To render
its pressure more effective, the inside of the recess I may be corrugated with
small asperities, which dig into the ball A. The other end m of the arm H
takes into the nut.J, and is bevilled_so_that the bevilled end of the screw V
may press against this bevilled end m, and so cause the rod H to slide along
and press against the ball A.
Figure 6 is a front view of the plate P, but its shape and size may be varied
as required.
Figure 7 is a front view, and Figure 7, top view of the hernial bandage
fitted-up-with-its-volviform-apparatus,-indicated-by-the-letters-A, B,-L,-a,-V, P.,
and herein-before described. R, R, is the bandage or spring of the truss,
which may consist of a spring clothed with leather as is usual; P, P', is the pad
or cushion, which may consist of padded leather, stuffed silk, or other usual
substance, and is fastened to the plate P by tacking. p, p. The arm a is
attached to the spring R by screws and nuts s, s, the screws traversing the
slot e, e, whereby the truss may be lengthened or shortened as desired.
In this modification the pad P, P' and the whole apparatus is retained in
the desired position by tightening the screw V, thereby causing the bar H to
slide along and to bear against the ball A. But other arrangements may be
adopted for tightening or retaining the ball and pad in position.
Figure 8 shews one of such arrangements. d is a screw inserted in a nut D
attached to the arm L. The screw d is also held in a collar f firmly fixed to
the arm L, in which collar this screw is free to be turned round and moved
longitudinally. The screw d has at one end a small toothed wheel or
pinion c, into which gears another toothed wheel c', on the axis of which is a'
knob or ring, by means of which the wheels c, c', and hence, the screw d may

page_text: be turned so as to tighten or loosen the ball A according to the direction in
which the screw is caused to turn. In this arrangement the socket is in two
parts b, b, screwed together, cach part being recessed hemispherically so as to
constitute the socket, the arm L is in a piece with the portion b.
Figure 9 represents a more simple arrangement, in which a screws screws
into the thickness of the socket B. The head of this screw v consists of a
large knob, or it may be a flat ring M, which, when the screw is tightened up,
is folded down against the socket. The end of the screw is either hollow or
pointed. If the latter a few blows may be given to the ball A with a punch to
form notches or dents therein, into which the point of the screw takes, and so
keeps the socket firm against the ball.
Figure 10 represents a hypogastric belt or girdle with the Invention applied.
This is a girdle with two bandages or springs R, R', and a pad P¹, fixed on a
steel or other plate P. To the springs R, R', are attached the two volviform
or ball-and-socket apparatuses A, a, B, L, V, similar to those before described.
The balls A, A, are attached to the bandage R, R', by nuts and screws s, s.
The pad P, P, may be adjusted as before described to the required inclination
and retained there by tightening the screws V, V. Hypogastric girdles may
also be constructed with a single volviform apparatus.
The parts of the apparatus may have coatings of gold, silver, zinc, or tin
deposited on them by electrotype to prevent them from being injured by
perspiration.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that I claim,—
First, the arrangement and combination of parts constituting my
"volvi-
form" apparatus herein-before described, whereby the wearer of the truss,
bandage for hernia, or hypogastric girdle or belt, to which the same may be
applied, may adjust the position of the pad or cushion thereof as he or she may
find most convenient or suitable.
Second, the arrangement herein-before described of slotted shank or arm
carrying the ball or rounded knob, and attached to the spring or bandage by
screws and nuts, the slot allowing the truss, bandage, girdle, or belt, to be
lengthened or shortened at pleasure.
Third, the arrangement herein-before described of the box, socket, or recess
intended for receiving the ball, and constructed in a single piece or in two
pieces combined with the arm carrying the pad or cushion, and the arrange-
ments for retaining the ball and socket in the position to which they may have
been adjusted, all as set forth.

page_text: arrangement and combination of parts of which the same consists, by means
whereof the socket and ball are held firmly together in any desired position of
adjustment.
In witness whereof, I, the said Adrien Ferdinand Benjamin Falgas,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of February, in
the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
BRESSON,
Ingénieur Civil, à Paris,
Rue de Malte, 51.
FALGAS. L.S.)