IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SECURING OR RETAINING IN PLACE INSTRUMENTS EMPLOYED FOR URINARY OR OTHER DISORDERS.
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Clayton Mewburn at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th December 1878. A communi-
cation from abroad by Doctor Gaetano Tesorone, of Naples, Italy.
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS
FOR SECURING OR RETAINING IN PLACE INSTRUMENTS EMPLOYED FOR URINARY OR
OTHER DISORDERS. [A communication from abroad by Doctor Gaetano Tesorone, of
Naples, Italy.]
The means hitherto employed for retaining in place the instruments employed or
worn by persons having uninary or other disorders, more particulary disorders
which have their seat in the perineal region or pelvis are very imperfect. These
instruments from want of proper support are liable to get displaced, and often they
cannot be retained in place. Now the present Invention consists of an apparatus
in the form of a sort of frame, as hereinafter described, which can be applied to
various instruments; for example, it will retain securely in place the catheters used
by persons who have incontinence of urine; it will retain any dressing appliance in
the perineal region; it will hold a pessary in its position, or a pad or plug used
by females for hemorrhage or the like; it will retain in place a portable urinal either
for male or female use. The Invention will be found of great convenience both for
the patient and the surgeon; it allows the patient to walk freely or to lie down,
and does not incommode him during sleep.
The frame or apparatus is composed of an iron or copper wire about 1/10th of an
inch thick covered with a suitable material, by preference vulcanized caoutchouc.
This wire is bent into the form of a U, the limbs of this U being shaped so as to
have a concavity corresponding with the convexity of the pelvis; at the upper part
the ends of the wire are each formed into an eye through which is passed a band
or strap, which may be lined for persons of tender skin. It is preferred to make
this band or strap as well as the other bands or straps hereinafter mentioned, of
caoutchouc. This band or strap is passed round the body and serves to fasten the
U piece around the pelvis, for which purpose the ends of the band are furnished
with buttons and button holes, or other like devices. At the lower part of the U
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page_text: piece where its two limbs join, two sub-pelvian straps are fitted to it which com-
plete the fastening of the apparatus by being carried back, and then to the front
part of the iliac bone, and attached by buttons or otherwise to the first band or
strap herein before described.
The foregoing is the arrangement of the frame or apparatus; as already mentioned
it can be applied to various instruments; by way of example, I will describe its
application to instruments used by persons who have incontinence of urine.
To the two limbs of the U shaped piece are attached four inclined caoutchouc
strips or pieces, which at their front end meet in a ring through which the catheter
is passed, and in which it is immovable. Another strip or band is passed round the
four inclined strips about the middle of their length. A conical plug for closing
the mouth of the catheter is attached by a string to one of the limbs of the U
piece.
When the frame is employed to hold a portable urinal, the latter is fixed to all
the lower edge and limbs of the U piece.