Improved Automatic Grip or Fastening for Accouchement and other Belts and Bandages, serving also as a Splint.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Apr., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 5th Jan., 1893 -Accepted, 25th Feb., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Automatic Grip or Fastening for Accouchement and other
Belts and Bandages, serving also as a Splint.
SARAH CATHERINE BLANCHE HUNTER 5 Brandon Villas, Charlotte Street,
South, Bristol, no calling, wife of Samuel Thomas Hunter of same address do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
The appliance can be made of metal or other suitable substances and in any of
the various shapes and sizes desirable for its special purposes.
It is fitted with a row of adjusted teeth on either or both sides of a slot, so as to
form a single or double action grip whichever may be preferred for the special
purpose for which it is selected. By drawing the end or ends of the material used,
up through the slot they pass over the back of the teeth without obstruction, but
the bandage or material cannot retract because of the action of the said teeth,
which catch in the material by a backward strain, so that the fastening forms an
automatic grip. The said appliance is more particularly designed for, and adapted
to, getting a desirable strain and firm hold upon accouchement and other wide
bandages when in use but its use is not limited to these special purposes.
It may form an admirable splint or support for a sprain or fracture allowing at
the same time a wider bandage to be used with the facility and neatness of
manipulation that a narrow one would.
It also allows an uneven strain if desired to be retained-such as, the lower
portion of a bandage or material to be held tightly while a less strain is kept at
the upper end-or vice versa―at the same time keeping the material it holds smooth
and free from wrinkles.
1 1902
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Automatic Grip or Fastening for Accouchement and other
Belts and Bandages, serving also as a Splint.
I, SARAH CATHERINE BLANCHE HUNTER, of 5, Brandon Villas, Charlotte
Street, Bristol, no occupation, 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:-
My invention relates to a new or improved grip or fastening for belts and
bandages, and to splints for surgical purposes by the use of which the belts or
bandages may be readily and instantly fastened, or released when required.
With most of the appliances now in use for fastening accouchement and other
belts or bandages, the latter have to be wound several times round the body or
limb to obtain the desired support, but by the use of my improved grip-fastener,
the belt or bandage need only be wound once round the limb and the strain made
over the desired parts, and as the belt is tightened in any one place, the grip will
retain it in that position, and if after a time, the strain on any particular part
should become too great, the belt may be loosened in that part without loosening
the whole.
My improved grip consists of a plate of metal or other suitable material, in which
is a slot or slots, having a row of teeth on one or both sides of the slot or slots; it is
preferably made of steel, to give sufficient strength and rigidity combined with
lightness, if however, the principal part or body of the grip be made of wood or
composition, it will be convenient to make the plates containing the teeth of steel,
and to insert them in the wood or composition.

page_text: The construction of my grips and splints will be readily understood from the
accompanying sheet of drawings; as will be seen from the illustrations, the grips
are made primarily for accouchement and bandaging purposes, the details of one
being given very fully; the splints are drawn merely in outline, as the tooth
fastenings in these are practically identical with those on the grip.
Fig. 1 is a general view of a grip made for accouchement belts or bandages.
Fig. 2 is an elevation, and
Fig. 3 a plan of the same, showing a stud at each end, in which a spring cover is
inserted;
Fig. 4 is a cross section of the grip on a considerably enlarged scale, to show
details of construction, and
Fig. 5 is a spring to cover the rows of teeth and to protect any uncovered
portions of the same from coming into contact with the bed or other clothing
when in use ;'
Fig. 6 is a general view of a curved splint with a serrated slot to hold the
bandage when tightened ;
Figs. 7, 8, and 9 are splints with one, two, and three slots respectively, having
the serrated edges as shown;
Fig. 10 shows a couple of splints laid end to end when required to be used as
extension splints, with sockets to receive the feet of a screwing arrangement, with
right hand and left hand screws, as shewn in detail in Fig. 11, which can be
used to prevent the contraction to which fractured limbs are subject while being
united.
The accouchement grips being so fully illustrated by the drawings, little
further description will be necessary; the upper or principal plate is preferably
made of hard steel, and the under plate or plates on which the teeth are formed,
are made of soft steel, and these welded together, make a solid plate which is not
liable to bend or buckle; in use, the belt is put once round the body of the patient
and the ends put through the slot of the grip and tightened as required, the teeth
retaining the belt in the position to which it is drawn; when the tension in any
one part becomes too great, the belt is released from the teeth at that part without
loosening the whole width of the belt or bandage.
The splints can be made with one, two, or three slots as shown, according to the
requirements of the fractured or sprained limb, if the outer edges are required to
support the limb, the three slots will be most convenient, as then the bandage is
passed through the outer slots from the outside and then through the central slot
and strained over the teeth as described for the accouchement belt.
As before mentioned, the grips or splints may be made of any suitable material
or combination of materials, and of any shape or size that may be required, those
shown in the drawings representing some of the most useful, and ordinary shapes.
The grip-fastener may also be made for use with belts of any width as an
ordinary dress ornament or fastener, and may be made in any design to suit the
fancy of the wearer.
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 :-
The construction and use of grips or fasteners for belts and bandages which
serve also as splints or supports for the body and limbs, the said grips having
automatic fastenings to retain the belts and bandages at any tension to which they
may be drawn, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth and described,
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.