AN IMPROVED MENSTRUAL RECEIVER OR TRUSS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lemuel Dow Owen, of 192, Tottenham Court
Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED MENSTRUAL RECEIVER OR TRUSS."-A communication from
abroad by Herman W. Ladd, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States
of America.
Sealed the 13th October 1859, and dated the 17th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lemuel Dow Owen
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th May 1859.
I, LEMUEL Dow OWEN, of 192, Tottenham Court Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MENSTRUAL RECEIVER OR TRUSS," being a communication to me
from abroad by Herman W. Ladd, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States
of America, to be as follows:-
Two air-tight crescent-shaped hollow vessels made of vulcanized caoutchouc
or other air-tight flexible material, so as when inflated with air to form elastic
cushions flexible in all directions, which are joined together by a siphon or
connecting piece, which is made of flexible waterproof material, and extends
from the outer surface or edge of one to the outer edge of the other, and
forms an elongated space or receptacle between the two capable of holding a
spong, or some other proper absorbent. The two crescent-shaped vessels are
connected at one end by a pipe or conduit so as to allow a free passage of air
from one to the other. On the opposite ends of the crescents is a filling hole
or passage provided with a valve, in connection with which is used au inflating

page_text: tube which answers the purpose of filling the crescents with air and closing.
the valve, and can be disengaged when not in use.
The said menstrual receiver is to be worn by females during the periods of
menstruation for the purpose of intercepting the uterine flowage or discharge,
and is supported in its proper place by two or more elastic straps attached to
the corners or ends passing upwards, and attached to one passing round the
body of the wearer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Lemuel Dow Owen in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEMUEL
Dow OWEN, of 192, Tottenham Court Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Lemuel Dow Owen, Her special licence that I, the said Lemuel
Dow Owen, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Lemuel Dow Owen, 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 Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MENSTRUAL RECEIVER OR TRUSS," a communication from
abroad by Herman W. Ladd, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Lemuel
Dow Owen, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Lemuel Dow Owen, 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

page_text: following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereto annexed,
that is to say:-
Figure 1 is a top view of said improved menstrual receiver or truss;
Figure 2, a side elevation; Figure 3, an inside view; Figure 4, a transverse
section, and Figure 5, a longitudinal section of it; Figure 6 is a longitudinal
section of its fitting valve and pipe; Figure 7 is a transverse section of the
valve and its seat.
The nature of the said Invention consists of two air-tight hollow crescents,
shewn at A, B, made of vulcanized caoutchouc, or some other air-tight
flexable waterproof material, so constructed that they can be filled or inflated.
with air. These two air-tight crescent-shaped cushions are conjoined by a
syphon or connection piece C, which is also made of waterproof flexable
material, and extends from the outer surface or edge of one to that of the
other, and so as to make an elongated cup-shaped space D between the two
crescents capable of holding a sponge, or some other proper absorbent.
At or near the two contiguous ends of the crescents or vessels A, B, they
open into one another by a pipe or conduit a, so arranged as to allow a free
passage of air from one to the other, and at the opposite end of one of the
crescents or vessels is a filling hole or passage b, Figure 4, provided with a
valve c; the filling hole 6 is made through the seat of the valve c, such seat
being at the bottom of a metallic valve socket f, and which has a female
screw g, Figure 6, formed in it, and is cemented in the hollow crescent B,
Figure 4. A cap-shaped valve c, as shewn in section, Figures 6 and 7, screws
into socket f, and is furnished with one or more lateral air passages i, i, leading
through its sides, below the screw, and where its diameter is less than the
screw.
This cap-shaped valve is made to receive the filling tube or key k, which
should fit into it, so as to be capable, when turned around axialy, of causing
the valve to turn in the socket. By means of this key tube, which may be
detached from the valve when not in use, the crescents or air-tight cushions
may be inflated with air, which, when the valve is screwed down on its seat,
will remain sustained in the crescents or cushions. By raising the valve off
its seat and compressing the instrument, the air will be expelled from it, so as
to enable it to be folded up or packed away in a very small space.
In wearing the instrument, a female places it between the thighs, so as to
cover the labia of the vagina, and confines it in place by two or more elastic
straps l, m, extended from its corners or ends upward on the back and front
parts of the body to a belt fastened around the body above the hips.
By being constructed of waterproof materials, the deposit made in the

page_text: instrument when in use, can easily be removed by washing with water or
other liquid, and the sponge contained in it can be taken out and rinsed or
cleansed as often as may be found necessary. The advantages of this instru-
ment can only be appreciated by the sex for whom it is intended. The soft
air crescents or cushions are flexable in all directions, and therefore cause a
perfect fit of the instrument to the body of the wearer, whether she be in a
standing, stooping, setting, or reclining position.
I am aware various devices, somewhat analogous, have been long known and
used, but this Invention differs from any heretofore in use in many important
particulars. The air-tight cushions extend the whole length of the instrument,
leaving a cavity between the two, such cavity being intended to hold, a long
piece of sponge. The crescents are united by a waterproof septum, extending
from one to the other, as shewn at c, Figure 4, such crescents when inflated
or filled with air being flexable in all directions, and act not only as elastic
springs to hold the sponge in place, but cause the instrument to fit with perfect
ease against the body of the wearer.
Having thus fully described and ascertained the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe that I do not confine or restrict myself to the precise
details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or refer to,
as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from the
principles or main features of the Invention; but what I consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is an improved manufacture of
menstrual receiver, as made of air-tight waterproof crescent-shaped vessels
united by a waterproof septum, and arranged together with the septum, and
provided with means of supplying them with air, and discharging it therefrom
in the manner and for the purposes herein-before substantially described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lemuel Dow Owen, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
LEMUEL DOW OWEN. (L.S.)