IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRAWING BLOOD OR OTHER FLUIDS FROM THE HUMAN OR ANIMAL BODY
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alcidalis Auguste Romain Damoiseau, Manufacturer,
of Paris, France, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
DRAWING BLOOD OR OTHER FLUIDS FROM THE HUMAN OR ANIMAL BODY."
Sealed the 24th October 1861, and dated the 6th August 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alcidalis Auguste Romain
Damoiseau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 6th August 1861.
I, ALCIDALIS AUGUSTE ROMAIN DAMOISEAU, Manufacturer, of Paris, France,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR DRAWING BLOOD OR OTHER FLUIDS FROM THE HUMAN OR ANIMAL
BODY," to be as follows:-
The Invention has reference to the drawing of blood or other fluids from
the human or the animal body by means of an apparatus constructed in such
manner as to allow blood or other fluid to be drawn from any part of the
body previously scarified, or having an exploratory needle introduced therein,
and covered in both cases with a cupping glass connected by a pipe with a pneu-
matic or an exhaust air pump, or with any other suitable apparatus in which
a suitable partial vacuum is formed or may be kept up during the operation,
while by means of a cock or other suitable contrivance the air may alternately
be sufficiently exhausted from the cupping glass, and again introduced therein,
and thus cause an alternate lifting and depressing, or extending and con-
tracting of the scarified part of the skin, or an up-and-down motion of the

page_text: blood or other liquid in the interior of the tube of the exploratory needle to
take place, and thus prevent any coagulation or choking of the said tube or
scarified openings, thereby allowing the blood or other liquid easier to pass
through the said tube or through the said scarifications of the skin than when
only a continuous sucking or exhausting of the air from the cupping glass was
to take place.
In practice, I prefer to make use of a double-acting pneumatic or air-
exhausting pump, connected by suitable elastic pipes with the air underneath
the cupping glass, this latter being applied in the usual manner to that part
of the body from which blood or other liquid is to be drawn off, the skin of
which part having been previously scarified or an exploratory needle intro-
duced therein, provision being made for allowing alternately of drawing off a
sufficient quantity of the air contained in the cupping glass, and afterwards to
cause a sufficient quantity of air to enter therein.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters. Patent, filed
by the said Alcidalis Auguste Romain Damoiseau in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 6th February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALCIDALIS
AUGUSTE ROMAIN DAMOISEAU, Manufacturer, of Paris, France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alcidalis Auguste Romain Damoiseau, Her special licence that I, the
said Alcidalis Auguste Romain Damoiseau, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alcidalis Auguste Romain Damoiseau,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRAWING BLOOD
OR OTHER FLUIDS FROM THE HUMAN OR ANIMAL BODY," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alcidalis Auguste Romain Damoiseau,
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

page_text: 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 Alcidalis Auguste Romain Damoiseau,
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 :-
These improvements relate to apparatus for drawing from the human or
animal body blood or other fluids, such as serosities, milk, the liquid contained
in abscesses or other parts, and they consist in abstracting such fluids or liquids
from the body by applying to the skin (previously scarified or non-scarified
according as will be judged necessary) of that part of the body from which the
said liquids are to be abstracted a cupping glass or glasses, connected in
such manner to any suitable air pump or other air-exhausting apparatus for
allowing to form in the said glass or glasses a partial vacuum of sufficient
intensity for causing the said liquid to be drawn into the said cupping glass or
glasses, the air-exhausting apparatus being arranged in such manner that the
air is alternately partially exhausted from the glass or glasses, and afterwards in
sufficient quantity again introduced therein for causing an alternate lifting and
depressing of the skin in the glass; by which up-and-down motion of the skin
this latter is alternately extended and contracted, thereby preventing its pores
or the scarifications made in it, or the hollow part of an explorating needle
introduced through this part of the skin, of becoming choked up by the blood
or other liquid in passing through these capillary orifices, and which alternate
exhausting of the air, and partly re-introducing of the same under the cupping
glass, forms the main principle or characteristic conspicuous feature of my
Invention, so much so that any air pump or other air-exhausting apparatus by
means of which such alternate exhausting of the air, and partly re-introducing
of the same under a cupping glass or glasses applied to the human or animal
body would be effected for the purposes of drawing off therefrom blood, milk,
serosities, or other liquid or liquids, may be considered as forming part of my
Invention, whatever may otherwise be the general arrangement of the
apparatus, or of parts thereof; thus, for instance, an ordinary air pump pro-
perly connected to the cupping glasses would have been so imperfectly con-
structed as to leave, for instance, a vent or opening for the air to pass through
between the surface of the piston and that of the cylinder in such manner,
that after each piston stroke or partial exhausting of the air from under the
cupping glass, part of the air would be allowed again to re-enter into the said
glass. Such apparatus might, though in a clumsy and rather imperfect

page_text: manner, serve for the purpose of obtaining the required alternate lifting and
depressing of the skin under the cupping glass, and, consequently, for drawing
blood or other liquid from the body to which the glass would have been
applied for that purpose. If, consequently, I give hereunder the description
of an apparatus I hitherto made use of for the above-mentioned purposes, it
is merely to offer an illustration of one of the very many mechanical arrange-
ments that may serve for obtaining the desired effect; but I wish it to be clearly
understood that I do not in the least intend to restrain or restrict myself to
the use of this apparatus, or of any modification thereof.
In the annexed Drawings, Fig. 1 represents an elevation view on a working
scale of the apparatus; the Figs. 2 & 3 respectively show, on a reduced scale,
an elevation and a top view of a modification thereof; whereas-the remainder
of the Figures represent various views of detached parts; in all these Figures
corresponding parts are marked by the same letters of reference.
The apparatus consists of a double-barrelled air pump, the barrels or
cylinders A of which are fixed in a horizontal (as in Fig. 1); or in a
vertical position (as in Fig. 2), on a bed plate B and standards B'. In the
arrangement shown in Fig. 1, the pistons D are connected together by a
link G and by means of the lever F, having its fulerum in f, and properly
connected to the link G, the said pistons receive a horizontal reciprocating
motion; whereas, in case the cylinders are situated vertically, as shown in
Fig. 2, I prefer increasing their diameter, and shorten the stroke of the
pistons, and have these latter linked to a horizontal lever beam F, having its
fulcrum in the forked top of the standard B', so as to allow the operator,
the apparatus being placed with its bed plate B on the floor, to work the same
by pressing with his feet alternately on each end of the beam F, in order
alternately to depress one piston, and cause the opposite one to rise. The
pistons should be made to fit exactly in their respective cylinders either by an
elastic packing or other means. Each cylinder is provided with an air valve H,
represented separately respectively in top and in sectional views in the Figures 4,
5, 6, viz., in the two latter, deprived of the strip g of india-rubber that fits over
the central or air passage h of the valve, round which passage is made a furrow
or concentric circular groove j, so as to allow the elastic strip g exactly to apply
itself against the projecting narrow ring i left protruding between the air passage
h and the groove j, so as to offer a perfect closure, and prevent any coagulated
blood or other similar matters to remain on the narrow edge of the ring i
between this edge and the strip g. A valve N, Figs. 7 and 8, arranged in the
same manner, but of smaller size, fits between the ajutage N¹ of each cylinder A
and the end of the tube C, by which the cylinders are connected to their

page_text: respective cupping glasses, which latter differ from the ordinary cupping
glasses, in so far that they are provided at the top with a tubular ajutage for
the other end of the tube C to fit on, so as to allow of exhausting the air from
the glass. The tubes C are, by preference, of india-rubber, or any other
suitable flexible material. For causing a suitable re-introduction of air to
take place in the glasses after each exhausting, and allow of properly regu-
lating the quantity of air to be re-introduced therein, each tube C is provided
with a small boss K, represented separately, and partly cut off in Fig. 9; this
boss has a screw-hole made therein, in which fits a screw L, provided along its
length with an angular slit or furrow p, of the shape shown in Fig. 9, and in
such manner, that in consequence of the screw L being screwed more or less
deep into the boss K, the slit p will leave a more or less wide opening for the
outer air to pass into the boss K, tubing C, and the cupping glass connected
thereto, whilst the slit hole is small enough not to interfere with the exhausting
effect of the air-pump. In order to prevent the blood or other coagulable
matters of choking up the tubes C, a small strainer (shown separately in
sectional view in Fig. 10,) and consisting of a small cylinder n, provided at
the inside with a double cone m of wire gauze or other suitable straining
material, fits into the tube C towards the end of this latter, where the same is
applied to the ajutage of the cupping glass so as to allow of occasionally with-
drawing the said strainer, and clean the same.
The mode of working the apparatus will be readily understood; each tube C
having been fitted to a cupping glass and to its respective cylinder A, the
cupping glasses. are applied to that part of the body from which blood or
other liquid is to be abstracted, the skin of this part having been previously
suitably scarified in case blood is intended to be drawn off. The pistons D
are now alternately to be lifted or pressed down, or worked forward and
backward by means of the lever F, whilst the quantity of air to be re-intro-
duced after each exhausting stroke of the piston is regulated by screwing the
screw L more or less deep into the boss K. At each time air is exhausted
from its respective cupping glass by one of the pistons D; a partial vacuum
will be formed in this glass, in consequence of which the skin underneath the
same will be lifted into the glass, while blood or other liquid will pass into
the glass through the scarifications or the pores of the skin, or through the
capillary opening of an explorating needle introduced in the body, and pro-
truding through this part of the skin, whilst at each return stroke of this
piston a small quantity of air will be re-introduced into its cupping glass, so as
to decrease the partial vacuum therein, in consequence of which the skin will
be depressed, and in this mode the alternate lifting and depressing, or

page_text: expanding and contracting of the skin obtained, thus preventing the choking
up of the pores, scarifications, or other capillary openings through which the
blood or other liquid will consequently be allowed to flow into the cupping
glasses; after a glass is thus sufficiently filled, the same is removed and
replaced by another.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be put into prac-
tical effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to restrict or
restrain myself to the precise details of the apparatus above described, as many
variations may be made therefrom without deviating from the main principle
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, drawing off or abstracting blood or other fluids from the
human or animal body by means of a suitably constructed cupping glass or
glasses in combination with an air pump or other similar apparatus, and
arranged in such manner that an alternate lifting and depressing, or expanding
and contracting of the skin of that part of the body to which the said cupping
glass or glasses are applied is to take place, with the object of preventing the
choking up or obstruction of the pores, scarifications, or other capillary
openings through which the blood or other fluids to be abstracted from the
body are to flow into the said cupping glass or glasses.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alcidalis Auguste Romain Damoiseau,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of February,
in the year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and sixty-two.
A. A. R. DAMOISEAU. (L.S.)