An Improved Apparatus for the Inhalation of Compressed Medicated Air.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Nov., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Sept., 1893-Accepted, 7th Oct., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Apparatus for the Inhalation of Compressed
Medicated Air.
I, JOHN JOSEPH HARTNETT 6, Grosvenor Street W. Surgeon do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
-
A collapsible cylinder or box so constructed that it can be drawn out like a
concertina and shut up by a spring or by external pressure.
On the top of the cylinder or box is fitted a medicating chamber through which
the air rushes in when the apparatus is extended. This chamber contains hygro-
scopic substances to dry the air and volatile preparations with which the air can be
impregnated, and is fitted on the top with a valve which admits the air, but prevents
its escape when the apparatus is being shut up.
A tube terminating at one end with a facepiece and valve, which allows the
escape of the air when the apparatus is compressed (but which does not admit air
when it is extended) communicates with the interior of the box or cylinder and so
admits of compressed medicated air being inhaled from the apparatus.
This combination of collapsing cylinder or box, with medicating chamber and
valve for admitting air together with tube or pipe terminating in facepiece and
communicating with the interior of the cylinder and provided with valve which
allows the air to escape I claim as my true and original invention.
Dated this 2nd day of November 1892.
JOHN J. HARTNETT.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Apparatus for the Inhalation of Compressed
Medicated Air.
I, JOHN JOSEPH HARTNETT, of 6 Grosvenor Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Surgeon, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
mauner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to improved apparatus for the inhalation of compressed
medicated air.
The object of my said invention is to construct improved apparatus of a simple
character, for impregnating air with an antiseptic or other volatile medicament,
and for delivering the impregnated air, under pressure, to the patient. The said
apparatus also dries the air delivered to the patient.
The said improved apparatus, by delivering the medicated air under pressure,
eaves the patient the fatigue of sucking or drawing it through the inhaler. This is
a most important characteristic of the invention, and one which renders it
particularly advantageous for use in the treatment of throat and lung diseases,
wherein the continuous use of an inhaler is very desirable, unless the device be of a
construction such as those hitherto commonly employed, which are in most
instances either fatiguing to the patient or more or less inefficient.
In order that my said invention may be clearly understood I will now proceed to
describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates, in
vertical central section, one form of my said improved apparatus.
A is a base-plate, which can readily be temporarily fixed to a support such as the
table B, by means of a clamp C.

page_text: D is a top plate, provided with a handle E by which it may be raised and
lowered relatively to the base plate A.
F is a metal frame forming part of the handle E and provided with tubular
extensions F at opposite sides of the top plate D, which pass through and are
firmly secured in the said top plate.
Rods A are secured at opposite sides of the base-plate A; they extend up
therefrom, into the tubular extensions F¹ which they guide in the rise and fall of
the top plate, so that the latter, in its movement, is maintained parallel to the
base-plate.
G is a bellows, like the bellows of a concertina, secured at its upper and lower
ends to the aforesaid top and base plates, respectively. H is a covering of textile
material, also attached to the top and bottom plates; it encircles the bellows and
keeps dust and dirt therefrom.
I is a chamber secured in the top plate. I¹ is a removable cover for the said
chamber, centrally perforated at 12. J J are discs of gauze or other suitable
material, supported in the chamber I upon a disc K, having three legs K¹ which
rest upon the bottom of the chamber. L is a piece of sponge or other absorbent
material placed between the discs J, and saturated with the medicament with
which the air is to be impregnated. The said chamber may also contain hygro-
scopic material to dry the air, which, as hereinafter described, is drawn there-
through. Or the material with which the air is to be impregnated can be one
which, in itself, possesses hygroscopic properties. M is an inlet channel affording
communication between the chamber I and the interior of the bellows G. N is an
automatic non-return valve placed in the channel M and so arranged as to permit
air to pass through the said channel into, but not out from, the bellows G.
O is another non-return valve placed near the lower end of an outlet pipe P,
which is secured in the top plate D. The said valve operates automatically to
allow air to pass out from, but not into, the bellows. Qis a flexible tube, attached
at one end to the pipe P, and provided, at the other end, with a face-piece Q1 to
cover the mouth of the patient. Instead of the tube and face-piece any other
suitable attachment may be connected to the pipe P.
The said non-return valves may be of any suitable character; in the present
instance they are constituted by discs placed in suitable chambers at the ends of
the tubes which form part of the passages aforesaid. The said discs operate in the
usual and well-known manner, that is to say, they are automatically thrown by the
air against the ends of the tubes to close the same, immediately upon the occurrence
of any movement in the wrong direction, of the air in the passages.
To use the said apparatus the patient holds the face-piece Q' over the mouth,
with one hand, and, uses the other hand to raise and lower the top plate A by
means of the handle E, and thus works the bellows G.
The bellows is first expanded, to draw air through the orifice I, into the
chamber I, and through the medicated or medicated and hygroscopic material L,
into the interior of the bellows. During this operation of charging the bellows, the
passage of air into the apparatus through the outlet pipe P is automatically
prevented by the valve O. Next, the bellows is compressed, to force through the
pipe P and tube Q, at a suitable pressure, the air impregnated in the preceding
operation. The tube Q delivers the air to the face-piece, whence the patient draws
it by easy and ordinary inhalation, without the least fatigue of the respiratory
organs. The valve O opens automatically. to permit of the expulsion of the
air under pressure; and during the said expulsion the pressure of the air in the
bellows keeps the inlet valve N closed.
For the bellows aforesaid, I may substitute any suitable equivalent, such, for
instance, as a cylinder and piston, or a flexible sack or bag, or any suitable
pumping device.
Moreover I may dispense with the valve in the outlet passage, for I can, in
certain cases, allow a highly-impregnated charge of air, drawn through the

page_text: impregnating device, to mix with unimpregnated air drawn in at the orifice through
which the whole charge is ultimately to be expelled.
I may so construct my said improved apparatus that the expansion of the
bellows is effected by means of springs or weights.
Further, I may so arrange the said apparatus that it can be worked by foot-
power, or by suitable motor mechanism.
Also, it is obvious that I can place a chamber, such as I, in the outlet passage of
the apparatus so that the air is treated as aforesaid for medical purposes, on its way
out of the bellows, instead of on its way thereinto.
As a further alternative I dispense with separate inlet and outlet passages, and
employ for the inlet and outlet of air one channel only in which the chamber for
medicated and hygroscopic material is situated.
In this instance non-return valves are not required.
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. The combination with a bellows or pump, of a chamber containing medicated
material, or both medicated and hygroscopic material, and means whereby the
bellows or pump is caused to pass air through the said material and to discharge
such air under pressure, substantially as hereinbefore described, for the purposes
specified.
2. The combination with a bellows or pump, of a chamber containing medicated
material, or both medicated and hygroscopic material, an inlet channel affording
communication between the chamber and the bellows or pump and having a
non-return valve therein, and an outlet channel having a non-return valve therein,
substantially as hereinbefore described for the purposes specified
3. The improved apparatus, constructed and operating substantially as herein-
before described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, for the purposes
specified.
Dated this 2nd day of September 1893
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.