IMPROVEMENts in the ConstrUCTION of Surgical Instruments KNOWN AS 'SPECULA.”
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Blackbee, of Dalston, in the County of'
Middlesex, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENts in the ConstrUCTION
of Surgical Instruments KNOWN AS 'SPECULA.” ”
of Surgical Instruments known as 'Specula,'
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Blackbee at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th June 1870.
I, ROBERT BLACKBEE, of Dalston, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
"" to be as
THE CONSTRUCTION OF SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS KNOWN AS 'SPECULA,'
follows:-
い
This Invention consists of a skeleton speculum formed of German
silver wire in such a manner that when introduced into the vagina by its
own resiliency it affords an uninterrupted view of the whole of the parts
to be examined. The following is an example of the construction of
the specula above referred to:-I shape a certain length of hard drawn
German silver wire in such a manner as to form a skeleton speculum
consisting of two pairs of blades, namely, the one pair lateral, and the

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Blackbee in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BLACKBEE, of Dalston, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Robert Blackbee, Her special licence, that I, the
said Robert Blackbee, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or sucli
others as I, the said Robert Blackbee, 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 make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ircland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS KNOWN AS SPECULA," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Blackbee, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and scals, 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 Robert Blackbce, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say:
This Invention consists of a skeleton speculum formed of German
silver wire in such a manner that when introduced into the vagina by
its own resiliency it affords an uninterrupted view of the whole of the
parts to be examined. The following is an example of the construction
of the specula above referred to:-I shape a certain length of hard drawn
German silver wire in such a manner as to form a skeleton speculum
consisting of two pairs of blades, namely, the one pair lateral, and the
other pair, one of which is superior and the other inferior, which two

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents an elevation of one form of construction of my
improved "speculum," as it would appear when out of use and distended;
Figure 2 an elevation of the speculum as it would appear when ready
for use and collapsed at its point or inner end; Figures 3 and 4 ropresent
similar views of another form of construction of my improved speculum,
shewing another mechanical contrivance for collapsing and expanding
the inner end of the speculum; Figure 5 represents the aforesaid
collapsing and expanding mechanism detached from the speculum. At
each of the above-mentioned Figures I employ similar letters of
reference to denote corresponding parts at each of such said Figures
respectively.
A, A, marks a piece of hard drawn white metal wire thickly plated
or coated with silver, the parts at B being also gilt or coated with gold.
At Figure 2, C marks a ring of wood or other suitable material, which
when placed over the speculum keeps it collapsed to facilitate its
introduction into the patient, the said ring being drawn outwards during
the insertion of the speculum, thus allowing it to expand gradually until
it has been inserted sufficiently far, after which the aforesaid ring is
altogether removed.
The mechanism represented at Figures 4 and 5 for collapsing and
expanding the speculum is constructed and operates in the following
manner:-
At Figure 5, D marks a piece of plated wire, one end of which is
formed with a ring E to serve as a handle; the opposite end has a
ball of metal & fixed thereto, and coated with gold. H is a plate of metal
fixed on D with four holes made therein, through which pass the plated
wires a, b, c, d; the lower ends of these wires are fixed in a plate of
metal I, at the centre of which there is a hole through which the wire D
can pass freely.
The upper ends of the wires a, b, c, d, are formed hooked, as shewn,
and these hooked parts are intended to take into rings e fixed to each
blade of the speculum, so that upon inserting each hook into its respec-
tive hole and holding the plate H by the thumb of the hand and with
the fingers forcing the ball G outwards, the plate H as it slides over
the wires a, b, c, d, will collapse the inner ends of the blades as at
Figure 4, and hold them therein during the insertion of the speculum

page_text: into the patient, after which and when inserted sufficiently far, the
operator by the ring E pulls the ball back, at the same time placing his
thumb underneath the plate I until the hooked parts of the wires
a, b, c, d, become disengaged from the holes in the blades, when the
mechanism can be entirely removed from the speculum.
By these means the blades of the speculum are allowed to expand
gradually so as not to give a sudden shock to the patient.
3 33
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of
my said Invention for "Improvements in the Construction of Surgical
Instruments known as Specula,' together with the best means I am
acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect, I would
remark in conclusion that I hereby declare my Invention to consist in
and I claim constructing a speculum of a resilient skeleton shape, as
above described and represented by the Drawing and the mode of
operation above stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Blackbee, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
ROBERT BLACKBEE. (L.S.)