IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF VAPOUR AND STEAM BATHS, AND MODE OF OPERATING THEREWITH FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Williams at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
October 1871.
I, JAMES WILLIAMS, of The Mount, Malvern, in the County of Wor-
cester, a Doctor of Medicine, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF
VAPOUR AND STEAM BATHS, AND MODE OF OPERATING THEREWITH FOR MEDICAL
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The features of novelty of this Invention consist, 1st, in making the
bath chamber sufficiently large to enclose the whole person.
2nd. Making the reclining seat as a double inclined plane, to
enable the patient to recline the body, instead of keeping it erect as
heretofore.
3rd. Lining the bath chamber with metal for the better radiation of
heat.
the hoth chamber

page_text: 5th. The use of superheated and medicated steam, either separately
or combined.
6th. The use of electro-magnetic or gulvanic currents in the bath,
whilst the person therein is under the influence of the superheated
and medicated steam.
I construct my improved bath chamber and bath in the following
manner: The outer case or shell of the chamber I form of wood, and
the sides and roof thereof I line with sheet metal. I also adapt a venti-
lator to the top of the roof and sides of the chamber. The floor of the
bath chamber I form perforated or with interstices, and between the said
floor and the bottom of the outer case of the chamber I arrange
a tortuous perforated pipe, through which I pass superheated steam
from a suitable steam generator and superheater. Upon the aforesaid
perforated floor I adapt a reclining perforated seat made as a double
incline, witli a screw adjustment for raising the back and head of the
person to any desired elevation. I also adapt a vessel beneath the
said reclining seat, near the foot thereof, and place in the said vessel
herbs or drugs of any approved and suitable description, and enclose
the said herbs or drugs by a perforated lid or cover. I then
introduce and mix steam with the said herbs or drugs, and by these
means am enabled to medicate the steam. I further propose in ope-
rating with the above bath to apply electro-magnetic or galvanic
currents to the spine or other parts of the person by conducting wires
and plates suitably arranged and connected. In connection with the
foregoing arrangements I employ a flexible pipe and rose for directing
a current of hot and cold water to the person in the bath. I also adapt
a thermometer to the bath chamber to ascertain and regulate the
temperature within. By the above arrangements to avoid the objections
to the common vapour bath. For instance, the common vapour bath
is not sufficiently complete in its construction, as it does not enclose
the whole person, the head is excluded, and consequently the lungs
and the whole breathing surface are not acted upon by the vapour.
The Turkish bath and the Russian vapour chamber are the only
baths which secure this great desideratum, viz., the application of heat
to the pulmonary mucous membrane, but the absence of moisture and ;
the high temperature at which the Turkish bath is given, from one
hundred and forty to one hundred and eighty degrees, are in many
cases objectionable and unnecessary. The improved vapour bath

page_text: which I have constructed encloses the whole body, secures uniform
perspiration at a temperature varying from one hundred and five to
one hundred and fifteen degrees, produces neither languor, headache,
nor feverish symptoms which often result from the common Turkish
bath.
Another objection to the Turkish bath is the consumption of time,
it requires nearly two hours to take one of those baths with safety,
whereas by my improved bath from fifteen to twenty minutes is quite
sufficient. I also consider the reclining posture best, which the ordinary
vapour bath does not admit of, and I generally find this position secures
tranquility in the heart's action.
Another result I secure is to pass the hot vapour by means of a
curved pipe through the fire, thus superheating the vapour and making
it nearly transparent. In some cases a judicious medication wonderfully
increases the efficacy of the vapour, as sulphur, camphor, herbs, &c.
In this form these substances are the reverse of unpleasant, and are
highly beneficial. The power of the vapour bath is increased by the
addition of aromatic substances, for example, sulphur or chlorine, which
are amongst the most powerful auxiliaries in the cure of chronic
rheumatism, and in glandular and other obstructions, liver complaints,
and enlargement of the spleen; and they have extraordinary efficacy,
along with proper internal remedies, in the removal of leprous, scorbutic,
and various cutaneous disorders.