CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUSSES COMMONLY MADE USE OF AS TRUSSES OR BANDAGES FOR RUPTURES AND VARIOUS OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1806

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RAWLINSON'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
RAWLINSON, of Derby, in the County of Derby, Gentleman, do send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the First day of August, in the forty-sixth year of His reign, did
give and grant unto me, the said James Rawlinson, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said James Rawlinson, my exors, admors, and assigns, during the term
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
also in all His Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUSSES COMMONLY MADE USE OF AS TRUSSES OR BANDAGES
FOR RUPTURES AND VARIOUS OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said James Rawlinson, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
one calendar month next and immediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation thereunto being had, may
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Rawlinson, do hereby declare that my said Invention, and the manner

page_text: in which the same is to be carried into effect and practico, are described in
manner and form following, that is to say:―
Instead of metallic springs heretofore used I do make use of the caoutchouc
commonly called indian rubber, to be cut, cast, moulded, or formed into such
sizes, forms, and of such strengths as the nature of the caso may require, that
is to say, for children the said springs are required to be thiner and weaker
than for adults and obstinate cases, and to be placed on the hips, pad, or any
other part of the truss, according as the case may require, by tying, binding,
and sewing, &c., or fastening.in. any convenient way, the said caoutchouc
springs to pieces of leather or any other fitting or proper material of such
forms and strength as the nature of the case may require. The pad or part
which covers the ruptured part, or place where the rupture is disposed to
protrude, I make of caoutchouc, leather, wood, iron or steel, or any other
fitting material of such form as the case may require, over or to which I affix
a spring of caoutchouc of a form and strength proper for the case, that is,
the said spring to be stronger or weaker according to the abstinary of
the case and the resistance required. The thigh strap or straps have
also springs of caoutchouc affixed to them near to their fastening with
the part of the truss that surrounds the body, or at the pad, as the case may
require; for double trusses, or cases where both sides are ruptured, the strength
of the respective caoutchouc springs must be regulated according to the
resistance required. I also cover all the said springs with a loose covering or
caso of oil'd silk or some other proper nonconducting substance, to keep the
heat of the body from relaxing or injuring tho said springs, but so as not to
impede their operation. And I do also cover the whole of the truss or apparatus
with leather or other soft material, as is usually done, to render the wear, &c.
more casy and agreeable. In very obstinate and dangerous cases I add braces
or cross straps to fasten by buttons, hooks, or other convenient fastenings, at
the hips or other convenient place, to the upper part of the truss that surrounds
the body, and to the pad or pads, and which passes over the shoulders in the
manner of common braces, and to which cross straps I affix springs of
caoutchouc, one near the end of each strap, and which said springs are fixed
to their respective straps in the manner as before described, and to have cases
or covers of a nonconducting substance over them, as before directed; or I
apply the common elastic braces now in usc. Those braces are intended, with
the thigh straps, to prevent the pad from moving from its proper place, and
may or may not be used. And I do also describe my suspensory bandages as
follows:-
I cause the addition of springs cut, cast, moulded, or formed from the
caoutchouc or indian rubber into such sizes, forms, and of such strength

page_text: as the nature of the cases may require, that is to say, if the said suspensory
bandages are required for great exertions, such as hunting, playing at tennis,
rackets, or any other violent exercise, the said springs I cause to be stronger
and in longer lengths than for the more moderate purposes of suspensory
bandages for hydrocele or swelled testicles, &c. &c. The said springs I do
affix by tying, binding, sewing, or confining in other proper and convenient
way to the bandages and straps of linen, leather, silk, or other fitting and
proper material, at the hips or other proper place, as the case may require, and
the springs of the thigh straps are also affixed in the manner as before
described, near the ends of the said straps, where they are suspended to the
bandage that surrounds the body; and these springs of caoutchouc I first unite,
as before described, to a piece of leather, or any other fitting or proper
material at each end; and I have oilet holes worked, or tapes fixed, or buttons,
hooks and eyes, &c., which have their corresponding fastenings at the other
ends of the bandages and straps, for the purposes of easily separating the said
springs from the other parts of the bandages in order to the more convenient
washing of the said bandages.
And lastly, I do cause the said springs to be covered with oil'd silk or some
other fit nonconducting substance, in order to prevent the heat of the body
from relaxing or injuring the said springs.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Rawlinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and six.
JAS RAWLINSON. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of August,
in the year of our Lord 1806, the aforesaid James Rawlinson came beforo
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and six.