Improvements in or relating to Inhalers.
Year: 1890

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Inhalers.
A communication from KARL ILLING, of Zwickau, Bahnhofstrasse 50, in the Kingdom
of Saxony, Pharmaceutical Chemist.
1, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
M.I.M.E., 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:-
The main object of this invention is to enable invalids suffering from disorders in
the respiratory organs to inhale fresh air warmed to the desired temperature; but the
invention is also adapted to permit persons in good health to remain without danger in
places when the air is vitiated.
"
The inhaling apparatus hitherto known under various names such as "respirators"
and breathing masks" &c. have all this defect in common that they admit pure air
through the same channel or medium through which the exhalations issue so that the
supply of air becomes invariably impure before it reaches the mouth.
In the device herein described the two channels or ways are independent of each
other, their respective openings being closed by diaphragms or membranes one of
which closes while the other is opened. The air to be inhaled is not supplied from a
point immediately adjoining the mouth of the invalid, but from a source which may be
situated at any desired distance, and before it reaches the respiratory organs it is
purified, warmed, and if necessary saturated with some agent possessing curative or
other properties.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of the complete inhaler,
Fig. 2 a horizontal section of the reservoir,
Fig. 3 a vertical section of the cup or mouthpiece and
Figs. 4 and 5 are vertical sections of the inlet and outlet valves respectively when
open.
The before mentioned result in the apparatus shown in the accompanying drawings,
is accomplished by means of a reservoir or chamber A divided into several compart-
ments and constructed of metal, india-rubber, card-board, or the like. The air to be
inhaled is supplied to the first compartment a¹ by means of a flexible tube of any
suitable length. This first compartiment may be filled with cotton-wool soaked with
glycerine for the purpose of filtering the air and intercepting dust or other impurities.
From this part the air passes through one or more coils or serpentine or sinuous
passages into the second compartment a filled with cotton-wool which may be impreg-
nated with medicine or the like, wherewith it is desired to saturate the air to a greater
or less degree. From this compartment the air is inhaled by the user through another
flexible tube . The reservoir A being attached to the body preferably the chest of
the invalid, the air as it slowly passes along the serpentine shaped passages, is warmed
nearly to the blood temperature.
The end of the flexible tube is provided with a cup d adapted to be applied to the
mouth of the invalid and surmounted with two tubes cc intended to close the nostrils
against the external atmosphere. The cup d is further provided with two openings e el
covered with gauze or the like. Over these openings or sieves are arranged the
membranes diaphragms or valves ff of thin india-rubber, fish bladder, gut or the
like, retained in position over the centres of the sieves or openings by means of
springs y g'. The diaphragm f covering the air-inlet is situated over the sieve e while
the diaphragm 1 which closes the air outlet is arranged behind the sieve e¹ within a
perforated case h.
From the foregoing it will easily be gathered how this inhaling apparatus is used.

page_text: When air is inhaled the membrane f laterally recedes from the sieve or inlet e as
in Fig. 4, while at the same time the membrane f¹ is pressed by the external air
against the sieve e as in Fig. 3, thus effecting an air-tight closing of the outlet.
When the air is exhaled the reverse takes place that is the membrane f is closely
pressed on to its sieve e as in Fig. 3 and the membrane f¹ laterally moves away from
the sieve e as in Fig. 5 so that the air exhaled may escape through the sieve e¹ and
perforated case h.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is ;-
1. An inhaling apparatus consisting of a reservoir or chamber such as A divided
into several parts or compartments so that it may therein be warmed and if necessary
purified and medicated and from which reservoir the air passes into a cup or mouth-
piece such as d so arranged as to cover the mouth and nostrils and provided with
separate orifices for the inlet and outlet of the air which are alternately opened and
closed by membranes diaphragms or valves ff arranged for the purpose over cach
orifice the whole substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
2. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the complete inhaler
substantially as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Taka thi. 24. Ja
200
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.