IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL EYES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Boissonneau, of Paris, in the Empire of
France, Ocularist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL
EYES."
Sealed the 27th April 1866, and dated the 1st November 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Boissonneau at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st November 1865.
I, AUGUSTE BOISSONNEAU, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Ocularist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ARTIFICIAL EYES," to be as follows:-
Dividing the artificial eye into two halves a and b, as shewn in the
accompanying Drawing. The first half will be herein-after styled temporal,
and the second nasal or caruncular.
Heretofore an artificial eye prepared for the right side
of the head could not be used for the left side, and vice
versa; its upper internal section, styled unguinal, from
the bone near which it fits, was hollowed out, for the
double purpose of favoring the upward motions of the
apparatus and of preventing a pressure always painful
upon the unguinal bone. Again-the lower internal sec-

page_text: tion has never been hollowed or modified in any way with the view of
adjusting the nasal part of the artificial eye to the inner space (caruncular
region) to which it corresponds.
This Invention consists in forming artificial eyes with the hollow c in the
lower internal section. The proportions of this hollow cannot be fixed on!
account of the variety of proportions of soft organic parts to which the
artificial eye has to be fitted. Whatever be the proportions of this hollow
they are comprised in my Invention, whether they impart to the second half
(caruncular section) a form more or less extended or shortened, more or less
pointed or obtuse, more or less broad at the extremity d.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Auguste Boissonneau in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
BOISSONNEAU, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Ocularist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Auguste Boissonneau, Her special licence that I, the said Auguste
Boissonneau, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Auguste Boissonneau, 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 makė, 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 ARTIFICIAL EYES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Auguste Boissonneau, 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 performed, 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 Auguste Boissonneau, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
Dividing the artificial eye into two halves a and b, as shewn in the
accompanying Drawing. The first half will be herein-after styled temporal,
and the second nasal or caruncular.
Heretofore an artificial eye prepared for the right side
of the head could not be used for the left side, and vice
versâ; its upper internal section, styled unguinal, from
the bone near which it fits, was hollowed out for the
double purpose of favoring the upward motions of the
apparatus and of preventing a pressure, always painful,
upon the unguinal bone. Again the lower internal
a
section has never been hollowed or modified in any way with the view of
adjusting the nasal part of the artificial eye to the inner space (caruncular
region) to which it corresponds.
This Invention consists in forming artificial eyes with the hollow c in the
lower internal section. The proportions of this hollow cannot be fixed, on
account of the variety of proportions of soft organic parts to which the
artificial eye has to be fitted. Whatever be the proportions of this hollow
they are comprised in my Invention, whether they impart to the second half
(caruncular section) a form more or less extended or shortened, more or less
pointed or obtuse, more or less broad at the extremity d.
By means of my Invention the upper and lower parts of the artificial eye
being symmetrical are made applicable to either the right or the left side,
whereby more complete harmony is established between the circumference of
the prosthetic part and the organic sinuosities. There is thus more complete
mobility, more exact fitting, and suppression of all mechanical action upon the
organ.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Boissonneau, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six.