Improved Apparatus for Applying Electricity to the Body.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 4th May, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 30th Jan., 1894-Accepted, 3rd Mar., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Applying Electricity to the Body.
I, CAMILLO GIACOMO BIAGGIO RIGOLA of 5 The Avenue and 7 Victoria
Buildings, Bournemouth, in the County of Hants, Hairdresser, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to improved apparatus for applying electricity to the body
for curative or other purposes and to that form of such apparatus in which a
battery and a Ruhmkorff coil or induction coil are employed.
According to my invention instead of using the core of soft iron usually
employed for varying the intensity of the current I place a cylinder or sleeve
around the coil and arrange it to be moved by means of a knob moving along one
side of the box containing the apparatus. I also arrange the connections so that
not only the current of the secondary coil of the induction coil can be applied but
that the primary current may be used, or partly a primary and partly a secondary
current.
In order that the current may be applied for various purposes I make the
handles or terminal pieces of the conductors with insulated coverings and I provide
combs or other devices suited to the different parts of the body, to which the
current is to be applied, adapted to fit into the said handle. The said handles are
also adapted to be fitted together so that the combs or the like can be passed
simultaneously through the hair or over other parts of the body, the current then
flowing from one to the other.
When very feeble currents are required the combs or the like can be placed
in bags.
G. F. REDFERN & Co..
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Applying Electricity to the Body.
I, CAMILLO GIACOMO BIAGGIO RIGOLA, of 5, The Avenue, and 7, Victoria
Buildings, Bournemouth, in the County of Hants, Hairdresser, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement.
i..
My invention relates to improved apparatus for applying electricity to the body
for curative or other purposes and to that form of such apparatus in which a
battery and a Ruhmkorff or induction coil are employed.
::
According to my invention I place a cylinder or sleeve around the coil and
arrange it to be moved by means of a knob, moving along one side of the box
containing the apparatus, for varying the intensity of the current induced in the
induction coil. I also arrange the connections so that not only the current of the
secondary coil of the induction coil can be applied but also that a current from
the primary coil may be used or currents from the primary and secondary coils
14

page_text: In order that the current may be applied for various purposes I make the
handles or terminal pieces of the conductors with insulated coverings and I provide
combs or other devices suited to the different parts of the body to which the
current is to be applied adapted to fit into the said handles. The said handles are
also adapted to be fitted together so that the combs or the like can be passed
simultaneously through the hair or over other parts of the body, the current then
flowing from one to the other.
When very feeble currents are required the combs or the like can be placed
in bags.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-
:-
Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of my improved apparatus; and,
Figures 2 and 3 are respectively an end view and a sectional plan of the same
with the cover removed:
Figure 4 is a side view of one of the combs with its handle; and,
Figure 5 is a sectional plan of the same:
Figure 6 is a plan view of the comb and handle used in connection with the
comb and handle shewn in Figure 5:
Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating the arrangement of the electric circuits of
the battery and induction coil :
Figure 8 is a side elevation of a modified form of apparatus; and,
Figures 9 and 10 are an end view and plan of the same respectively with the
cover removed.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.
a is the box or case of the apparatus, b is the battery which may be of any
suitable construction (preferably a dry battery) c is the induction coil, and d is the
sleeve or cylinder adapted to be moved relatively with the said coil.
It will be noticed by referring to Figure 3 that the induction coil is fixed to or
forms a continuation of a non-conducting stem e so that when the said sleeve or
cylinder is moved to the left it will surround the said non-conducting stem more
or less and correspondingly more or less uncover the wire of the induction coil, the
more the said cylinder surrounds the said coil the feebler being the current
induced in the secondary of the said coil and vice versu..e is a sheath of non-
conducting material which surrounds the stem e and coil and forms a guide for
the cylinder d.
f is the usual vibrator, and f¹ is the regulating screw carried in the pillar f
The vibrator spring is connected with, say the positive pole of the battery by
the wire g and the screw f' and pillar fare connected with one end of the primary
winding (indicated by the thick line in Figure 7) of the induction coil, the other
end of which is connected to the socket terminal 2 of the three terminals 1, 2, 3,
the said socket being also connected by the wire with the negative pole of the
battery; a branch wire i connected to the pillar" also extends to the socket
terminal 1. The secondary winding of the induction coil (indicated by the thin
line in Figure 7) is at one end connected to the socket terminal 2 and at the other
end to the socket terminal 3.
In the wire is arranged a contact spring k which during the operation of the
apparatus is at its free end in contact with a metal arm or block so that the
battery circuit is completed through the primary winding of the induction coil.
The spring is held out of contact with the arm when the apparatus is
inoperative by means of a pin fixed to the cylinder d and projecting through the
casing a, its outer end being provided with a knol by means of which the
cylinder may be moved in the manner hereinbefore indicated for varying
the intensity of the current. The pin when the cylinder d is in position over the
winding of the induction coil acts against the free end of the spring k and holds
it out of contact with the arm k', but directly the cylinder is moved to the left the
spring is left free to make contact to complete the circuit.
In order to positively hold the spring k out of contact I sometimes form the slot

page_text: through which the pin 7 slides in the casing with an undercut notch P, as shewn
in Figure 1, into which notch the pin can be moved and held in the manner
indicated in Figure 2.
: m, m are two socket terminals by which an outside battery may be connected
with the primary of the induction coil in case the battery b contained in the
casing a should be exhausted or otherwise rendered inoperative.
n, n¹ are combs by means of which the current can be applied to the body.
Each comb is adapted to fit into a handle o provided with a non-conducting
covering o' and in practice I advantageously form one handle with holes p,p into
which pius 9, 9 (of non-conducting material) ou the handle of the other comb can
enter in order that the two combs may be placed together side by side and drawn
over the head or body simultaneously.
The conductor r connected with each comb is provided with a connecting plug s
adapted to fit the socket terminals 1, 2, 3.
The method of obtaining currents of various degrees of strength is as
follows:
--
Assume a mild current is required, the plugs * of the comb-conductors r, r
are then inserted into the socket terminals 1 and 2, the result of which is that the
current which is induced in the primary wire, when owing to the vibration of the
spring the said primary wire is cut off from the battery, flows through the branch
wire to the terminal 1, thence through the combs when applied to the person of
the patient and thence back to the coil through the terminal 2.
If a somewhat stronger current is required the plugs of the comb-conductors r, r
are iuserted in the socket terminals 2 and 3, the result of which is that the ordinary
current induced in the secondary coil j passes through the combs.
If a still stronger current is required I place the plugs in the socket terminals 1
and 3, whereby the primary and secondary coils are connected in series, the current
flowing from the primary to the terminal 2, thence through the secondary coil j
(in which an independent current has been produced) to the terminal 3, thence to
the combs, thence to the terminal 1 and thence through the branch wire i back to
the primary coil h.
It is to be understood that the intensity of each of the three degrees of current
above described may be augmented by moving the cylinder a more or less over the
steme of the induction coil.
A modified form of apparatus shewn in Figures 8, 9 and 10 is much simpler than
that herein before described but in this modification the intensity of the current
cannot be varied except by the movement of the cylinder d in a well known
manner. In this case the combs n, n' are inserted into sockets directly connected
with the secondary coil so that only the simple current induced in such coil can be
applied. In using this apparatus the box a which contains the induction coil and
also the battery 6 serves for the handle for the combs but, if desired, the combs
may be provided with conducting wires r, provided with plugs adapted to be
inserted in the sockets which receive the combs.
Instead of using combs n, n' as hereiubefore described it will be obvious
that handles which may be grasped by the hand or other devices of a shape
suitable to the part of the body to which the electricity is to be applied may be
advantageously arranged.
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. In an apparatus for applying electricity to the body the arrangement of the
electric circuits substantially in the manner described by reference to Figure 7,
whereby either the current induced in the primary coil or the current induced in
the secondary coil may be applied independently or whereby the currents induced
in the primary and secondary coils may be applied simultaneously and in series
substantially as described.

page_text: .2., The,manufacture and use of the improved 'apparatus: for applying electricitys
to, the body, substantially as described and illustrated in Figures 1 to 7 of the
accompanying drawings.
3. The modified construction of apparatus substantially as described by reference
to Figures 8 to 10 of the accompanying drawings..
Dated the 30th day of January 1894.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.