New or Improved Manufacture of Material suitable for Surgical Bandages.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Oct., 1891-Accepted, 5th Dec., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Manufacture of Material suitable for Surgical
Bandages.
I, Dr. GOTTLIEB CHRISTIAN WILHELM BREIGER of Osterode a/H Germany,
Surgeon, 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:―
This invention has reference to a new or improved manufacture of material
consisting of plaster of Paris and wadding suitable for use as a surgical bandage.
By means of wadding-carding appliances, layers about 25 grammes in weight
are prepared from chemically pure hygroscopic wadding, for example cotton wool
suitable for bandaging purposes, and these layers are placed singly upon sheets of
paper of suitable size in order to obtain the very delicate layers of cotton wool in
the desired form.
One of the layers thus supported placed in a shaking-machine and is therein
impregnated with a suitable quantity (to be determined by experience) of the best
pulverized plaster of Paris such as is ordinarily used for bandaging purposes and
which is supplied from a box provided with a sieve-like bottom.
The box is for each operation supplied only with as much powdered plaster of
Paris, as is requisite for treating a single layer of cotton wool.
A fresh layer of cotton wool is then carefully laid upon the layer that has just
been impregnated, in such a manner that the two layers are in contact with each
other, the sheet of paper upon which the second layer was previously supported
being removed. The second layer is then impregnated with powdered plaster of
Paris in the same manner as the first layer, these operations being repeated until
the desired thickness of the bandage material is nearly obtained. A layer of
cotton wool which has previously been rendered non-hygroscopic by treatment
with suitable substances such as with a mixture of glue, potatoe-flour and water
and which treated layer is herein called a protective layer is then placed on the
top of the impregnated layers of cotton wool, and after removal of the bottom
sheet of paper, a similarly prepared protective layer is placed underneath. These
protective layers have for object to protect the treated layers of cotton wool from
the action of the moisture in the atmosphere, and also to prevent the escape of
the plaster of Paris in the form of dust. Instead of using wadding consisting of
hygroscopic cotton wool as hereinabove mentioned, there can be employed any
other suitable raw material such as waste from wool carding, or a mixture of
cotton wool and wool, in which case a similar but less valuable product will be
obtained.
The accompanying drawing is a perspective view illustrating a piece of bandage
material prepared as described, a a being the layers of wadding; ce
being the
powdered plaster of Paris; and b being the upper and lower protective layers
of non-hygroscopic material.
To use bandage-material prepared in the manner hereinbefore described, a
straight strip of sufficient length and breadth is cut from a sheet thereof with the
aid of a scissors or a knife, rolled up and then dipped into water, and, after the
excess of moisture has been removed by pressure, the rolled-up strip is unrolled
and then rolled around the part of the body to be protected or supported. The
bandage thus made may be bound round with an ordinary or a dressed or treated
binding of any suitable material as for example. muslin.
The bandage becomes in a few minutes as hard as an ordinary plaster of Paris
bandage, as compared with which it possesses the following advantages.
It is cheaper to make, and can be applied in a shorter time, and in a cleaner

page_text: manner than the plaster of Paris bandages heretofore used. Furthermore by my
invention a plaster of Paris bandage capable of being removed at any time, can
be prepared in a very simple manner from a sheet of bandage material prepared
as hereinbefore described, which is an improvement of great importance and
renders the said improved bandage material extremely suitable for surgical
purposes in war. This removable plaster of Paris bandage is made by winding
two strips of the prepared bandage material side by side around the part to be
bandaged, insulating the two strips at their contact edges in front and behind
by means of strips or rolls of ordinary non-hygroscopic splint-cushion wadding, and
binding the whole together by means of a binder.
When the bandage has become hard, this binder need only be cut through at
the contact edges, to enable the bandage to be opened out or removed, when
desired.
The new bandage material can also be used as a splint capable of adapting
itself to the shape of the limb or other part of the body to which it is applied,
and can be prepared and applied in a very short time by moistening a straight
strip of such bandage material and binding the same firmly on the part required.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
1. The manufacture of material suitable for bandages, by working or forming
pure hygroscopic wadding, as for example cotton wool, into thin layers or sheets,
and arranging said layers or sheets one above another and impregnating each of
them with powdered plaster of Paris, substantially as described and illustrated in
the drawing annexed.
2. The new manufacture of bandage material consisting of layers of wadding
impregnated with powdered plaster of Paris, the outer layers being each provided
with a protective non-hygroscopic layer or coating as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 31st day of October 1891.
G. C. W. BREIGER,
By L. W., per F. B.