IMPROVED MEANS FOR THE RELIEF AND CURE OF DISEASES OF THE FEET
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward William Augustus Bartlett, of Brighton,
in the County of Sussex, for the Invention of “IMPROVED MEANS
FOR THE RELIEF AND CURE OF DISEASES OF THE FEET."
Sealed the 24th June 1873, and dated the 30th April 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward William
Augustus Bartlett at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,.
with his Petition, on the 30th April 1873."
.
I, EDWARD WILLIAM AUGUSTUS BARTLETT, of Brighton, in the
County of Sussex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED MEANS FOR THE RELIEF AND CURE OF DISEASES OF THE FEET,"
to be as follows:-
-
The Invention consists of an electric sock to be placed in the boot or
shoe and worn either inside or outside the stocking.
The sock has the usual soft woollen lining in the upper surface of
which are embedded at intervals zinc and copper discs or plates disposed
concentrically, one which is annular encircling the other.

page_text: The centres are preferably stelliform in order to multiply the points
at which the current is emitted, the encircling plates being similarly
pointed on the inner edge.
The centres are alternately of zinc and copper as also the encircling
plates, and the several pairs of plates are coupled by fine brass wires
enclosed in the thickness of the sock.
As a rule the moisture of the feet is sufficient to charge the plates,
but should the feet be dry the cloth discs on which the plates are placed.
may be damped with weak salt and water.
My improved means is designed for the relief and cure of all diseases ]
C
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward William Augustus Bartlett in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 29th October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD]
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS BARTLETT, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex,
.send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty- 2
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edward William Augustus Bartlett, Her
special licence that I, the said Edward William Augustus Bartlett, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward William Augustus Bartlett, my executors, administrators, and 2
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 "IMPROVED MEANS FOR THE RELIEF AND CURE 3
OF DISEASES OF THE FEET," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Edward William Augustus Bartlett, 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

page_text: 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.
3 NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward William Augustus Bartlett,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Sheet of
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
".
or inner sole to be placed
This Invention relates to an electric "sock
in the boot or shoe, or to be worn inside the stocking for the relief or
cure of all diseases of the feet by the application of an electric current
thereto.
The sock has the usual soft woollen lining in which are embedded at
intervals pairs of zinc and copper discs or plates disposed concentrically,
the one which is annular encircling the other.
The centres are preferably stelliform and the encircling plates are
similarly pointed on the inside as the attractive and impellent forces of
> the electric currents act more continuously from the points than if the
plates were made of circular or other form.
The centres are alternately of zinc and copper, as also the encircling
plates, and the several pairs of plates are coupled by fine brass wires or
brass tissue enclosed in the thickness of the sock so as to form a voltaic
3 series or battery, the current being continuous and working from toe to
heel and from heel to toe.
'
The moisture of the feet is generally sufficient to excite the plates but
should the feet be dry, the cloth beneath the discs may be damped with
a weak solution of salt or vinegar in water.
The annexed Drawing shows the electric sock which consists of one
or more thicknesses of woollen cloth a cut to the proper shape and
pasted together, in the top surface of which are placed discs z, c, z, of
zinc and copper (embedded therein to avoid galling or hurting the
feet) encircled by the annular discs of copper and zinc c, z, c, both of
the form shown.

page_text: '
Any suitable number of pairs of discs may be employed as desired.
They are not covered so that when worn inside the stocking they would
be in contact with the skin of the feet. Discs z, z, (of zinc) are each
connected to discs c (of copper) by fine brass wires, as shown in red lines,
and discs c, c, of copper are similarly connected to disc z of zinc. The 5
wires are completely enclosed or covered by a thickness of leather pasted →
to the sock at back.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters 1
Patent is, the electric "sock" consisting of a sole-piece provided with
a series of voltaic pairs, substantially as and for the purpose shown and
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward William Augustus Bartlett,.
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of 1
October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
Seventy three