US1366453A - Artificial arm - Google Patents

Description

F. C. HENNING. ARTIFICIAL ARM. APPLICATION mu) JULY 24, I919.

Patentad Jan. 25, 1921 2 SHEETS-SHEET I ifTI/Z//Zfil'i' Z1," new F. c. HENMNG.

ARTIFICIAL ARM. APPLICATION FILED'JULY 24, I919.

Patented Jan. 25,1921.

2- SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

FREDERICK C. HENNING, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS ASSIGNOR TO THE MIRACLE ARTI- FICIAL ARM 00., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORI'ORATION OF ILLINOIS.

ARTIFICIAL ARM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 25, 1921.

Application filed July 24, 1919. Serial No. 312,987.

' a simple and novelartificial arm comprismg upper and lower arm members; together with a simple and novel harness for supporting the arm and permitting it to be moved and flexed very much in the same way as a human arm.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its object and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein: r

Figure 1 is a front view of the upper part of a man wearing a device arranged in accordance with the preferred form of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a rear view;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal. axial section, on an enlarged scale,'through the arm at the hinge joint; 7 I

Fig. 4: is a side view of the arm, the upper end and the hand being omitted; and

Fig. 5 is a section taken approximately on line 5-5' of Fig, 2, through a part of the harness.

Referring to the drawings, 1 and 2 are respectively the upper and lower arm'members of an artificial arm; the same being'pivotally connected together at the elbow by means of a suitable shaft or pintle, 3. The members 1 and 2 may be of anyusual or suitable construction, the upper end of the member 1 being, however, made hollow so as to be capable of receiving the stump of an arm which has been amputated above the elbow.

The arm is flexibly suspended from a saddle, 4-, which is adapted to rest upon the shoulder from which the remaining fragment of the human arm extends; the connection between the saddle andthe artificial arm being conveniently eifected by means of a heavy flexible strap, 5, of leather or other suitable material extendingfrom the saddle down to the top of the upper arm member at the outer side of the latter. Of course it will be understood that the saddle and the connecting member 5 may be made out of a single piece of material if desired.

The saddle is secured in place by means of twoadjustable straps formed into loops lying in planes approximately at right angles to each other; one of the straps, 6,

being comparatively short and passing from the front lower edge of the saddle under the adjacent armpit and back to the rear lower edge of the saddle; and the other strap, 7, being long enough to extend across the chest of the wearer, under the opposite armpit, and across the back of the wearer to the saddle. The straps may conveniently be adjusted by means of buckles, 8 and 9.

.It will be seen that by properly proportioning the parts, the straps not only hold the saddle firmly in place on the shoulder but, acting with the saddle, they form a harness by means of which the artificial arm may be drawn snugly up on the upper arm fragment of the wearer without interfering with the freedom of movement of the fragment of the human arm.

The artificial arm may be flexed automatically through the mere movement of the portion of the human arm to which it is connected. To this end I have placed Within the artificial arm, at the elbow, a wheel or pulley, 10, which may conveniently be loosely supported on the hinge pin or shaft, 3, as best shown in Fig. 3. A cable, 11, is fastened at its front or lower end to a point in the forearm near the back side thereof andnot far from the elbow, as indicated at 12. The cable is then wrapped around the creases and therefore the length of the proportioning part of the cable 11 must be increased." The increase in length of the cable on the outside of the arm can only be obtained by shortening the portion of the cable lying within the arm, namely by causing the forearm to swing from the full line position toward the dotted line position, illustrated in Fig. 3, and thus bring those two parts of the cable which extend from the hole 13 to the peripherv of the pulley and from the periphery of the pulley to the point of attachment, 12, more nearly into alinement with each other than they are when the arm is straight. Therefore, when the wearer swings the artificial arm forward there is an automatic flexing of the arm.

WVhere the opening and closing of the fingers of the artificial hand is controlled by a movement of the shoulder on the opposite side of the body of the wearer, it is desirable that the movement of the arm itself, in swinging about the shoulder joint or the elbow hinge have no effect on the finger mech anism. he arrangement illustrated possesses this desirable characteristic. The finger mechanism, not shown, is controlled by a suitable rod, 15, extending longitudinally along the outer side of the forearm, 2, a suitable lock or-clamp, 16, being provided to lock the rod in any adjusted position. The

rod is moved in one direction by means of a cable, 17, passing between two small rollers. 18, carried by a head, 19, on the end of the shaft or pintle, 3, so that whenever the arm is flexed. there will be no tendency to lengthen or shorten the cable. The cable is then continued upwardly through suitable guides, 20'and 21, located respectivel on the part 5 and the saddle 4'; and it is fina ly connected to an adjustable strap, 21, extending across the back of the wearer and looped at one end underneath the arm and over the shoulder on the opposite side of the body from that on which the artificial arm is located. The adj ustability of the strap 22 may be secured by means of a simple buckle, 23.

The guides 20 and 21 are so placed that the cable 17 in passing from the arm over to the back of the wearer, comes as close as may be to the axis about which the arm swings in its ordinary swinging movements from front to back. Therefore, just as in the case of the elbow joint, there is no tendency to; shorten the finger-controlling-cable when the arm is swung at the shoulder, be cause the effect is simply that of bending or partially folding the'cable. When it is desired to actuate the finger-controlling cable, this may be done by a simple shrugging motion of the shoulder around which the strap 22 is looped, regardless of the position of the artificial arm and regardless of whether or not the latter be flexed or straight.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the terms employed in the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, an artificial arm, asupporting harness for said arm including a saddle adapted to rest 11 on the shoulder corresponding to the arti cial arm, a strap adapted to extend across the back of the wearer and be looped about the opposite shoulder, a controlling cable extending upwardly along the outer side of the arm and connected at its upper end to said strap, and guiding means on said saddle for causing said cable to lie close to the hinge axis about which said arm moves in swinging toward the back or front.

2. In combination, an artificial arm comprising an upper member and a lower member, harness including a part extending across the shoulder of the wearer on the side i at which the artificial arm is to be worn, a

cable connected at its upper end to said harness back of said shoulder, said cable passing into the interior of said arm on the rear side of the upper member and having its lower end attached to the forearm near the rear side of the latter, and means at the elbow for loosely engaging and deflecting said cable so as to cause that portion lying within the arm to form two sides of the triangle of which the third side is a straight line extending from the point at which the cable enters said arm and the point at which the free end of the cable is attached to the forearm, V r

In testimony whereof I sign this specificatlOIlr FREDERICK C. I-IENNING.

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