AN IMPROVEMENT IN TOURNIQUETS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Frederick Lee, of New Bridge Street, in
the City of London, Solicitor, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN TOURNIQUETS."-A communication from abroad by Thomas Scott
T
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Frederick Lee at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th February 1862.
I, GEORGE FREDERICK LEE, of New Bridge Street, in the City of London,
Solicitor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN TOURNIQUETS," that has been communicated to me from abroad by
Thomas Scott Lambert, of New York, in the United States of America, to be
as follows:-
In the ordinary tourniquet the ligature that is employed passes round
and compresses the whole surface of the limb, stopping the circulation in
all the vessels so compressed.
Now this improvement consists in the use of an arterial or compression
pad, connected by a non-elastic band with an adjustable counteracting pad,
in such manner that the flow of blood in any particular artery may be stopped

page_text: without interrupting the flow of blood in the veins. The required pressure
is applied and regulated by means of an elastic band attached to the end of the
former (non-elastic) one, wound round upon itself and securely fastened.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Frederick Lee in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th August 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FREDERICK LEE, of New Bridge Street, in the City of London, Solicitor, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Frederick Lee, Her special licence that I, the said George
Frederick Lee, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said George Frederick Lee, 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 terin 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 "AN IM-
PROVEMENT IN TOURNIQUETS," a communication to me from abroad by Thomas
Scott Lambert, of New York, in the United States of America, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said George Frederick Lee, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 George Frederick Lee, 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 :-
In the ordinary tourniquet, the ligature that is employed passes round and
compresses the whole surface of the limb, stopping the circulation in all the
vessels so compressed.

page_text: Now this improvement consists in the use of an arterial or compression pad,
connected by a non-elastic band with an adjustable counteracting pad in such
manner that the flow of blood in any particular artery may be stopped, without
interrupting the flow of blood in the veins. The required pressure is applied
and regulated by means of an elastic band attached to the end of the former
(non-elastic) one wound round upon itself and securely fastened.
And in order that the same may be more fully understood, reference is had
to the annexed Drawing and to the following description thereof:-
A, P, represents the arterial or compression pad, made of metal slightly
concave on its lower surface, and correspondingly convex above, properly
strengthened to prevent springing. In some cases it may be advantageous to
have its lower surface convex for the use of a skilful surgeon, or he may apply
an additional compress below the concave surface. Near the ends of the upper
surface, two wings W, W, are hinged, one of them being made smaller than
the other for convenience of package. These wings are so arranged as to
throw up their outer ends about an inch above the level of the lower surface,
and strong enough to keep their form under more than the ordinary pressure ;
c, k, represent checks or teeth on the upper side of the wings, to prevent the com-
pressing bands from slipping; C, P, represents a counteracting pad, like the
arterial or compression pad, only that it is somewhat larger, and is furnished
with two loops 1, 1, near the ends of the upper surfaces; N, E, B, represents a
non-elastic band of webbing, about an inch wide and half a yard long, one end
of which is attached to the shorter wing of the compression pad, from which
it extends over the smaller wing of the larger pad, under its loop, across the
pad, under the other loop and over the larger wing, and is joined on to
E, B, which is an elastic band about an inch wide and a yard long. It
should be sufficiently elastic to stretch about twice its length, and sustain a
force of three pounds, without stretching to its utmost when single. The
ordinary mode of using this tourniquet is to place the arterial pad A, P, over
the main artery of the limb to be operated upon, bring the concave surface
of the counteracting pad C, P, against the opposite side of the limb, then pass
the bands through the large wing of the compression pad, and draw it tightly
to hold the pads in place, then turn the band directly back, so as to carry it
over itself and the wings of both pads, the elastic part being stretched, so that
each turn around the wings will increase the pressure until the flow of blood
in the artery is stopped, when the free end of the band should be passed
under a tense turn of it, and thus held securely. When this tourniquet
is used in case of amputation of a limb, the band is not to be carried over

page_text: the wings but through them, and in the treatment of aneurism by compression
the same plan may be adopted if thought preferable.
What I claim as the Invention communicated to me as herein-before
stated is the construction of a simple, cheap, and efficacious field or army
tourniquet, by the combination of elastic and non-elastic bands with a compres-
sion and counteracting pad, substantially as herein-before described and shown
in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Frederick Lee, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
W. BADDELEY,
Patent Agent,
Islington.
GEORGE FREDERICK LEE. (L.S.)