An Improvement in Surgical Wound Hooks or Retractors.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Sept., 1893-Accepted, 21st Oct., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Surgical Wound Hooks or Retractors.
We, ARTHUR WILLIAM Down and HUBERT VINCENT DOWN both of Nos. 5
and 7 St. Thomas's Street Borough in the County of London trading together in
partnership as Surgical Instrument Manufacturers under the style or Firm of
Down "Bros." 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 :-
The invention is a self acting instrument constructed for the purpose of holding
wounds open during a surgical operation and consists of a slightly curved body of
flat steel or other suitable metal, terminating at one end in a so-called blade as for
example one or more blunt or sharp hooks, a bent piece of metal, or any other
form of blade intended to grasp the open flesh of the wound (and which blade is
bereinafter called the retracting blade) and at the other end in a new appliance
constructed to obtain a hold on the patients body (and thus obviate the necessity
of an assistant or, at least, of a hand to grasp the handle usually fitted to this end
of such instruments for the purposes of traction to keep the wound open). Our
new appliance lastly mentioned may consist of a hook, a series of hooks, a forceps
or any other mechanical contrivance connected in such a way with the retracting
blade, as to form in one instrument a blade for insertion into the wound (as firstly
described) and an appliance to fix or attach to the body of the patient to form an
automatic retractor capable of keeping the wound open during the operation
without requiring the use of a hand of the operator or an assistant but obtaining
its own hold on the body of the patient. On the centre of the convex or upper
side of the said curved body of steel is fixed transversely a flat hand piece
coarsely fluted by means of which the instrument may be securely held between
the finger and thumb of the operator while arranging it in position. When so
so arranged the instrument will automatically hold the wound open in the position
as fixed.
In the accompanying drawing is shewn an illustration of one of the varieties
of this retractor: the blunt hooks A. A forming the retracting blade above
mentioned. B. a single sharp pointed hook being one instance of our new method
of fixing the instrument into the skin when drawn back and C the fluted hand
piece.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
The novel method of constructing a surgical wound hook or retractor to act
automatically that is to say to hold itself in position by means of hooks forceps or
other device to be fixed into or attached to the body of the patient in lieu of a
handle to be grasped by the hand of the operator or an assistant as now used.
Dated this 15th day of September 1893.
ated this 15th day of September 1893.
For the Applicants,
A. MOZLEY STARK,
153, Fenchurch Street, London, E.C., Solicitor.