CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON VAPOUR BATHS
Year: 1822

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GAUNTLETT, of Bath, in the County of Somerset, Surgeons' Instrument Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of
June, One thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, in the third year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Gauntlett, my exors, adñors,
and assigns, His especial licence; full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Thomas Gauntlett, my exors, admors, and assigns, during the term
of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercisc,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON VAPOUR BATHS;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I, the said Thomas Gauntlett,.shall
not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my' said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,
and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease,
determine, and become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Gauntlett, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention by the following description thereof, and the manner in which I
perform the same by the figures and Drawings annexed, that is to say:-
My said Invention doth consist in a portable apparatus, which I call a
portable vapour bath, and by means of which said apparatus I convey steam
for the purposes of a vapour bath in two or more directions at the same time
and by the same movement. One of the said two directions being under or
immediately about the feet, and the other or others upwards, generally into a
casing or dress, suspended by a portable frame over the patient. And my said
Invention doth also consist in such an arrangement of the said apparatus that
the said two or more different directions may be given to the steam, and the
steam regulated either by the patient or an assistant by means of a handle
and universal joint, which said handle may be brought by means of the said
universal joint to any situation most convenient to meet the hand of the
herein-before mentioned being drawn in section for the purpose of shewing
the stool, the receiver, and other parts of the apparatus, which being used.
under it would otherwise be concealed by it. A. is a boiler, supposed to be on
a common bed-room fire, (for it requires no other); V is a safety valve,
contrived, as is herein-after more particularly described, in that part of the
boiler where the steam passes into the connecting pipe; B is a connecting pipe
through which the steam is conveyed under the casing or dress, herein-before
mentioned, into a receiver R, which is herein-after more particularly described;
M is a stool on which the patient should sit; N is another stool for the feet
to be placed upon; E is merely an ordinary tin dish to catch the water which
may become condensed and escape from the receiver; H is the handle, herein-
before mentioned, and herein-after more particularly described; this handle is
here represented as passing through a small loop of leather on the side of the
stool and thus brought to the hand of the patient; K is a frame from which
the casing or dress is suspended over the patient, and which may be raised
or lowered by means of the cord f and pulley g; P is the casing or dress,
herein-before mentioned, and is made of flannel or other suitable substances;
it is kept in a bell or tent shape by means of a crane or other hoop L, L, to
which it is attached; at Q is an armhole, and at the top also is a hole for the
head to pass out at if it should be desirable not to steam that part; when it.is

page_text: so, a cap
S is put over the hole, as represented in this Figure; X, X, are two
union joints merely to lengthen the pipe and connect it with the boiler.
Fig. 2 is merely a representation of the frame K, shewing how it takes to
pieces and folds up for the purpose of making it portable.
'
Drawing B, Fig. 1, is a section of the receiver, lettered R in Drawing A,
and a view of the screw plug or regulator through which the steam is
admitted into the flannel casing or dress. It should here be observed that
the Figs. in this Drawing are all of the full size of the apparatus used. B is
one end of the connecting pipe, X being a union joint; R is the receiver into
which the steam passes through the connecting pipe immediately from the
boiler. Tis a spout or pipe formed on to the upper part of the receiver. V is a
hollow screw plug; on screwing up this plug, which is done by the handle H,
the plug rises, in which position it is shewn in this Fig., and on rising permits
the steam to escape. The dotted lines represent the passage of the steam, and
by tracing it will be seen that the steam enters the receiver from the connect-
ing pipe and passes up through the screw plug, coming out of it again at the
holes e, e, e, e, and thus rushes upwards against the shoulder or flange G, G,
forming the top of the screw plug, which distributes the steam in the manner
represented by the dotted lines from that part of the Figure, while another
large portion of steam escapes in another direction through the spout T. This
second direction is given to the steam by means of the worm or groove W,
which, being cut in the same direction as the worm of the screw plug V, keeps
a considerable opening always opposite the spout T, however close the
flange G, G, may be brought to the top of the receiver by screwing down the
plug, provided it be not entirely shut. Thus it will be seen that while only a
very small portion of steam is let into the casing or dress from the upper part
of the receiver, a large column of steam is always kept rushing out of the spout
which is directed towards the feet. When the plug is quite screwed down all
further escape of the steam from the receiver is prevented, for the groove W is
only cut to a certain extent round the plug for this purpose, as will be seen by
reference to Fig. 2, and when the plug is quite screwed down the plane
surface of it comes opposite the aperture into the spout, and thus prevents any
further escape of the steam at that point. Z is a universal joint attached to
the handle H for the purpose of turning this handle to any situation most
convenient for the hand of the operator.
Fig. 2 is a separate view of the screw plug and universal joint and top
of the receiver, Y being that part of the plane surface of the plug before
mentioned. which comes opposite the spout when the plug is quite screwed
down, and which shews where and how the groove W ends.

page_text: Fig. 3 is a perspective elevation of the parts of Drawing B, before
described.
Fig. 4 is a section of the safety valve which I use in the top of my boiler,
and herein-before mentioned; D, C, J, being the valve; A, A, the head of the
boiler; and B, the end of the connecting pipe.
Now the materials of which my said portable vapour bath may be made
may vary according to the pleasure of the manufacturer, nor need its propor-
tions be confined to those I have represented, and which I have adopted
myself as considering them the best. But a portable apparatus by means of
which steam may be conveyed for the purposes of a vapour bath in two or
more directions at the same time and by the same movement, one of the said
directions being under or immediately about the feet, and the other or others
upwards, generally into a casing or dress, suspended by a portable frame over
the patient, and also such an arrangement of the said apparatus as will admit
of the said 2 or more different directions being given to the steam, and of the
steam being regulated either by the patient or an assistant by means of a
handle and universal joint, being to the best of my knowledge and belief
entirely new, and never before used in these kingdoms, I hereby declare this
to be my Specification of the same, believing the said Specification in all
respects fully and without reserve or disguise to comply with the proviso in
my said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained, and intending
hereby to maintain my exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Gauntlett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of Angust, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-two.
SALMON, Extra
in the year of our Lord 1822, the aforesaid Thomas Gauntlett came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord' One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-two.