US3345983A - Clothing support for surgical patients - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 10, 1967 H. A. DENNEY, JR 3,

CLOTHING SUPPORT FOR SURGICAL PATIENTS Filed Sept. 50. 1965 HARRY/1. DENNEX,.

BY I

ywm MZa 3,345,983 CLQTHING SUPPORT FOR SURGICAL PATIENTS Harry A. Denney, In, 5967 Crittenden Drive, Cincinnati, ()liio 45244. Filed Sept. 30, 1965, Ser. No. 491,526 9 Claims. (Cl. 128-82) This invention relates to a surgical collar for post operative wear and more particularly to a clothing support for surgical patients whereby the clothing, such as a blouse or the like, will be suspended away from the wearers body.

Surgical operations performed upon the chest area of the bodies of both men and Women are becoming rather frequent in nature, generally as the result of malignant tumors, commonly known as carcinoma cancer. Even though both men and women are susceptible to chest cancer, women are more prone to having chest operations because of the high incidence of breast cancer. For example, among Women cancer of the breast is the second most common type of cancer, and virtually thousands of women undergo breast surgery every year.

As a result of any surgical operation, the chest skin tissue is, of course, very tender and sore, and is extremely sensitive when touched. Such physical discomfort usually prevails for a period of some thirty to sixty days following the surgery. Additional physical discomfort results if follow-up X-ray or radium therapy is required.

Upon commencement of X-ray or radium treatment, the patient will not only be affiicted with adversities which naturally follow from the surgical operation, such as tender chest skin tissue,.etc., but will also commonly suffer from such side effects of the X-ray or radium treatment as some degree of burn similar to sunburn.

Needless to say, during the above referred to period subsequent to the surgical operation, or during the period of the follow-up X-ray or radium therapy treatment, it is extremely necessary that clothing and the like be kept away from the afflicted body areas.

With the foregoing considerations in mind, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a surgical collar which is effective to prevent the wearers usual clothing, except snug undergarments which cannot be worn, from contacting the afilicted portions of the upper body, generally the chest area, during the period of post operative convalescence.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a device which permits clothing to be worn in a normal manner, insofar as its size and fit are concerned, excepting in the critical area to be protected against rubbing action.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a surgical collar which is lightweight, flexible, extremely soft, and which settles to body form.

, Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a surgical collar which will stay firmly in place, yet which is easily taken on or off, and which requires no fastening to clothing or to any parts of the body, and which works equally as well for light summer clothing as well as for heavier winter clothing.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a surgical collar which .will protect clothing from being stained by markings used in follow-up X-ray or radium therapy, if such post operative treatment should be prescribed by the attending physician.

Additionally, it is an object of the present invention to provide a surgical collar which will effectively eliminate the appearance of a physical void where breast surgery has been performed, until, for example, a breast form may be comfortably Worn.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide United States Patent f 3,345,983 Patented Oct. 10, 1967 a surgical collar which does not interfere with performance of post operation exercises prescribed by the attending physician, or with any light housework which conceivably might be performed by the patient during the convalescence period.

Finally, it is an. object of the present invention to provide a surgical collar which is inexpensive and economical to manufacture.

These and other objects of the invention, which will be described in greater detail hereinafter or which will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading these specifications, are accomplished by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which the following describes an exemplary embodiment.

Reference is made to the drawings forming a part hereof and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the surgical collar of this invention.

FIGURE 2. is a vertical elevation of the surgical collar of this invention.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the surgical collar of this invention wrapped with cloth and containing padding within the cloth wrapping.

FIGURES 4 and 5 illustrate the typical mode of use of the surgical collar of this invention.

Briefly, the surgical collar of thi invention comprises a unique preferably one-piece frame which has a neck portion terminating forwardly in a pair of garment supporting projections which in turn continue as a back contacting support. The garment supporting projections provide a support which is effective to prevent the wearers clothing from contacting the afflicted frontal portions of the upper body, and the neck portion and shoulder members, which fit across the wearers shoulder and upper back, coacting to counterbalance the collar to maintain it in relatively snug and secure fitting position of use without the necessity of fastening the collar to the wearers clothing or body. 7

Referring now in more detail to the drawings and particularly to FIGURES 1 and 2, the device comprises a collar-like frame 10 adapted to closely conform to the wearers neck and shoulders and having forwardly projecting relatively wide garment supports 11 and 12 which act to maintain the entire front surface of a garment free from contact with the wearers chest. Essentially, the device permits a blouse, for example, to be worn in normal manner insofar as its size and fit are concerned, excepting in the critical area to be protected against rubbing action.

The collar-like frame 10 includes a curved neck member 13 adapted to fit behind the wearers neck. At each of its extremities, the curved neck member 13 terminates in forwardly projecting arm members 14 and 15 which in turn continue into the garment projections 11 and 12, respectively. The neck portion 13 and the arm members 14 and 15 are preferably co-planar, lying substantially within a plane which gradually slopes downwardly in a forward direction until arm members 14 and 15 continue into garment supports 11 and 12, respectively (see FIGURE 2).

Each of the garment supports 11 and 12 consists basically of three co-planar members which lie in a plane which is inclined upwardly with respect to the plane formed by the neck member 13 and the arm members 14 and 15. Thus, garment support 11 consists of outwardly directed members 16a and 16b connected at their ends by the member 17, defining what may be chacterized as a bail. Garment support 12 is identical to garment support 11 and consists of members 18a and 18b joined by member 19. As will be explained hereinafter, the fact that the neck member 13 and arm members 14 and 15 do not lie Within the same plane as garment supports 11 and 12,

is of importance to the successful performance of the surgical collar of this invention.

The garment support members 1612 and 18b continue into shoulder members 2% and 21, respectively, having curved shoulder fitting portions 22 and 23, respectively, at their opposite ends. The shoulder members are contoured to hug the shoulders of the wearer, and as will be seen from FIGURE 2, the shoulder members lie below the plane formed by neck member 13 and arm members 14 and 15.

The ends of the curved shoulder portions 22 and 23 are inter-connected by back contacting member 24 which preferably lies in substantially the same plane as garment projectors 11 and 12 thereby balancing the frame front and rear. In effect, the neck member 13 acts as a fulcrum with the various frame members balanced forwardly and rearwardly with respect thereto.

It should be apparent that the construction of the surgical collar of the instant invention enables the wearer to place it quickly about her person and to fit it snugly to the contours of her body. This assures that any clothing 25, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 5, which is worn in normal fashion over the collar, will appear in as natural a position as possible, insofar as its size and fit are concerned, except in the critical area to be protected against rubbing action where the forwardly projecting garment supports 11 and 12 cause the front of the garment to be held outwardly away from the wearers body.

While the frame is effectively maintained in place by reason of its balanced construction, the wearers clothing also assists in assuring that the collar fits snugly and securely to the body, thus eliminating the necessity of fastening the surgical collar 10 to the wears body or clothing 25. In particular, it will be noted from FIGURE that the clothing contacts the back member 24 and holds it in contact with the wears back so that the frame will not tip forwardly and downwardly to a position in which the garment supports 11 and 12 will lose their effectiveness. Even though some forward tipping of the frame should occur, the garment supports 11 and 12 will maintain the Wears clothing away from her body due to the fact that they are angularly related to the plane of the arms. While the collar has been illustrated in use under a blouse, it will be evident that it may be placed under either light or heavy garments, including winter outer clothing, without diminishing its effectiveness.

The surgical collar of the instant invention, which does not require fastening to the wearers clothing or strapping to the wearers body, may be left in place when prescribed exercises are performed, and complete freedom of body movement may still be attained. The fact that the surgical collar may be left in place eliminates the necessity for removal of upper body clothing in order to prevent rubbing during the exercises.

It is important that the surgical collar be lightweight and flexible. To this end, it has been found that a highly satisfactory material for construction of the frame is an aluminum alloy wire, such as, for example, wire made from Aluminum Company of America alloys 5357, 5056 and 5005, in declining order with regard to strength, finish and price. It is preferred that the frame be non-rigid so that it may be bent and contoured by the user as may be required to obtain maximum conformation to the users body. Of course, any other essentially rigid yet deformable material may be employed.

Preferably the frame will be covered with a covering of soft cloth or gauze material 26 as shown in FIG- URE 3. It is also contemplated that padding 27 may be placed between the frame members before being wrapped with the cloth wrapping. Such padding and the cloth wrapping permits the frame to additionally settle to body form while at the same time providing a cushioning medium. Alternatively, the various parts of the frame may be covered with rubber or other cushioning material.

It will be understood that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, while the frame is preferably formed from a single length of wire stock, it will be evident that it could be made in a plurality of parts suitably inter-connected, as by Welding, brazing or by inter-connecting joints. It is also possible to construct different parts of the frame from different materials. Thus the garment supports 11 and 12 may be formed from nylon or other plastic material molded or otherwise contoured to the desired shape, with the ends of the arm and shoulder members fitted into the plastic pieces. Therefore, no limitations other than those specifically set forth in the claims are intended or should be implied.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined is follows:

1. A garment holding collar for post operative use comprising a frame having a curved neck member, a pair of arm members projecting forwardly and downwardly from said neck member, a pair of outwardly projecting garment holding members at the ends of said arms, a pair of contoured shoulder engaging members projecting rearwardly from said garment holding members, and a back member inter-connecting rearmost ends of said shoulder engaging members.

2. The garment holding collar claimed in claim 1 wherein said frame is wrapped with cloth.

3. The garment holding collar claimed in claim 2 wherein padding is enclosed within said cloth wrapping.

4. The garment holding collar claimed in claim 1 wherein said frame is formed from a single length of wirelike material.

5. A one-piece garment holding collar for post operative use formed from an essentially rigid yet deformable wire-like material, said collar comprising a frame having a curved neck member, a pair of arm members projecting forwardly and downwardly from opposite ends of said neck member, a pair of outwardly projecting garment holding members at the ends of said arms, said garment holding members being in the nature of bails, a pair of shoulder engaging members projecting rearwardly from said garment holding members, said shoulder engaging members being of curved configuration so as to overlie the wearers shoulders, and a back member interconnecting the rearmost ends of said shoulder engaging members, said back member being curved to conform to the wearers back.

6. The garment holding collar claimed in claim 5 wherein said outwardly projecting garment holding members are inclined with respect to a plane defined by said arms and are essentially co-planar with respect to said back member.

7. The garment holding collar claimed in claim 6 wherein said frame is covered in part at least with a protective covering.

8. The garment holding collar claimed in claim 7 wherein said protective covering includes a webbing of cloth wrapped about said frame and extending between said neck portion and arms and said shoulder engaging members and said back member.

9. The garment holding collar claimed in claim 8 including padding lined within the confines of said cloth webbing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,931,990 10/1933 Massack 128 7s 3,049,130 8/1962 Fuschetti 132 1 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. 5. A ONE-PIECE GARMENT HOLDING COLLAR FOR POST OPERATIVE USE FORMED FROM AN ESSENTIALLY RIGID YET DEFORMABLE WIRE-LIKE MATERIAL, SAID COLLOR COMPRISING A FRAME HAVING A CURVED NECK MEMBER, A PAIR OF ARM MEMBERS PROJECTING FORWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY FROM OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID NECK MEMBER, A PAIR OF OUTWARDLY PROJECTING GARMENT HOLDING MEMBERS AT THE ENDS OF SAID ARMS, SAID GARMENT HOLDING MEMBERS BEING IN THE NATURE OF BAILS, A PAIR OF SHOULDER ENGAGING MEMBERS PROJECTING REARWARDLY FROM SAID GARMENT HOLDING MEMBERS, SAID SHOULDER ENGAGING MEMBERS BEING OF CURVED CONFIGURATION SO AS TO OVERLIE THE WEARER''S SHOULDERS AND A BACK MEMBER INTER-

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