Improvements in and Apparatus for Promoting the Growth of Hair, applicable also for Dry Cupping and the like.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Jan., 1899-Accepted, 18th Feb., 1899
Improvements in and Apparatus for Promoting the Growth of Hair,
applicable also for Dry Cupping and the like.
I, JAMES YATE JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of London,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has been com-
municated to me from abroad by The International Chalice Company, of 11,
Broadway, New York City, in the State of New York, United States of America)
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement: -
This invention relates more especially to promoting the growth of hair and to
mechanical devices for use therein and consists essentially in determining a flow
of blood to the scalp (for example) and loosening the scalp, so as to permit the
free circulation of the blood through it, by means of repeated applications of a'
partial vacuum thereto.
The partial vacuum may be produced by a number of devices, but for this
purpose an elastic or pneumatic, cup, dish, or shell is preferred. Such a cup,
dish or shell having not only most important and numerous therapeutic applica-
tions in the development of tissue, where needed, in the treatment of atrophied
conditions of the various parts of the body, but being also a most efficient and
convenient device for dry cupping, which thus for the first time becomes gener-
ally available as a mode of treatment.
Illustrations shewing various forms of such an elastic, or pneumatic, cup, dish
or shell are given in the accompanying drawing in which:
Figure 1 is a vertical section of one form of such cup dish or shell.
Figure 2 is an elevation of an inverted cup, dish, or shell, shewing the interior
of the cup, dish, or shell, with lute, or ointment, applied to the periphery.
Figure 3 shews the cup, dish, or shell applied to the scalp.
Figure 4 is an elevation of a cup, dish, or shell of oblong form.
Figure 5 is a section of a modification of the cup, dish, or shell, shewn in
Figure 1.
The
The material of which the cup, dish, or shell, is made is preferably pure Para
rubber. The bottom should be of sufficient thickness to produce the requisite
lifting tension when the cup is compressed upon the surface to be treated.
cup, dish, or shell, may be made in two ways, namely:-Either sufficiently thick
to merely flare out on compression, or of comparatively slight thickness so as
to cause buckling, or denting on compression. Cups, dishes, or shells, of the
former kind may be called rigid cups, dishes, or shells, and cups, dishes, or shells,
of the latter kind may be called buckle cups, dishes, or shells. Such bucklo
cups, dishes, or shells, may be made of material not more than one-sixteenth
of an inch thick at the point of greatest thickness, and with them the vacuum
produced may he kept exceedingly low and uniform, securing a gentleness of
action never before known in the application of the principle of dry cupping.
Rigid cups, dishes, or shells, are preferably so constructed that the thickness of the

page_text: walls diminish towards the edge. As an example of suitable dimensions for
such a cup, dish, or shell, I give the following:-Thickness of cup, dish, or shell,
at the bottom inch. Internal depth thereof one inch. Diameter thereof,
4 inches.
In order that the edge of the cup, dish, or shell, may not indent the skin,
the periphery of the cup, dish, or shell, is preferably of a bell shape, as shewn
in the drawing.
The cup, dish, or shell, when in use serves the purpose of air pump, outlet valve
and vacuum chamber. In some cases the cup, dish, or shell, may be made to fit
air tightly by adhesion merely. Generally, however, it is necessary to prevent
the air from entering at the edge, or periphery. This result is readily attained
by internally coating, or covering, the cup, dish, or shell, either throughout,
or merely at the periphery, with a coating of suitable lute, or ointment, such as
cold cream, petroleum, or beeswax, or, preferably, by means of a lute possessing
medicinal, or nutrient, properties in which case the lute serves the double purpose
of securing a tight joint and of conveying medicinal, or nutrient, agents to, say,
the scalp.
By means of this process and the device described, baldness is readily cured
in all cases depending upon atrophy of the scalp, and where baldness is caused by
organic disease this process and device are useful in connection with the proper
course of medication.
This process in its action is very expeditious and efficient in starting growth
of hair on heads which have been bald even for years, and it is the readiest, and
most reliable, means for ascertaining whether the roots of the hair are remaining.
In general therapeutics, the said pneumatic cup, dish, or shell, is of the greatest
value, as it can be given any shape desired, and, by varying its thickness, it is.
possible to obtain a very powerful, or the most gentle or any intermediate, action,
according to the requirement in each case.
By selecting the proper thickness the cup, dish, or shell, may very conveniently
be worn at night, or it can be worn in the day-time under a skull-cap, or fez,
without interfering with ordinary pursuits.
If very powerful cups, dishes, or shells, be used on the scalp, the action of
the partial vacuum for a few minutes only at a time is necessary to obtain
advantageous results.
By the use of the cups, dishes, or shells, described, not only does the blood
rise to the scalp pneumatically, but the scalp becomes loosened, no matter how
tightly it may previously have fitted over the skull, and when the scalp has thus
been loosened, it ceases to impede the normal circulation of the blood among
the roots of the hair, and as a consequence there is a proliferation of cells and
a new formation of blood vessels.
If desired a suitable antiseptic agent, such as diluted formaldehyde, may be
applied to the scalp, immediately before applying the cup, dish, or shell, so
that the liquid, or vaporized, antiseptic agent is confined by the cup, dish, or
shell. A nutrient, and an antiseptic, or other medicinal, agent, can also be used
together and be confined by the cup, dish, or shell.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. The promotion of the growth of hair, by subjecting the roots of the hair
to the repeated action of a partial vacuum, with, or without, an ointment, or
nutrient, substantially as hereinbefore explained.
2. For the purposes described a vacuum apparatus consisting of a cup, dish,
or shell, of elastic material having a bell shaped expansion at the base.
3. For the purposes described a vacuum apparatus consisting of a cup, dish, or
shell, of elastic material of a thickness lessening towards the edge thereof and
having a bell shaped expansion at the base.

page_text: 4. For the purposes described the combination of a vacuum apparatus consist-
ing of an elastic cup, dish, or shell, with a lute, or ointment, on the interior
of the cup, dish, or shell, to prevent, or diminish, leakage.
Dated this 12th day of January 1899.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.