US738897A - Hydro-electrotherapeutic apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

PATBNTBD SEPT. 15, 1903.

4 vD.4 FISHER.. HYDRO-E'Lmmo- THERAPEUJ'm- APPARATUS.

APPLIQTION FI'ISIJIPf OUIBLZILI, 1902.

no nonni..

UNITED STATES Patented September 15, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

VHYDFlO-ELECTROTHERAPEUTIC APPARATUS.

:"JPESTLFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 738,897, dated September 15, 1903. Application filed October 21,1902. Serial No. 128,203. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, DANIEL C. FISHER, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Hydro Electrotherapeutic Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the external application of electricity in connection with a cur-Y rent of water to any desired part of the person of the patient; and its object is to simplify the apparatus, make it cleanly and efficient, and reduce the danger of accidental shocks to a minimum.

My invention is a flexible pipe with one end adapted to be connected to a faucet or other water-supply, a binding-post or other means of attaching a conducting-wire leading from a battery or other supply of electricity, a conducting-wire within the flexible pipe and extending from the binding-post to a tube of metal open at its outer end and forming a continuation of the iiexible pipe, and an insulating-sheath which serves as a handle of insulating material over the tube of metal as now more fully described with reference to the drawing making a part hereof, which shows the preferred form of my apparatus in longitudinal central section.

In the drawing the rubber pipe A is dared at its outer end in order that it may be readily attached to and detached from the faucet of a bath-tub and is connected at its inner end to the union a, and this union et is provided with the binding-post a' to receive a wire from one pole of a battery, the purpose being to supply a stream of water through pipe B which may be directed to any outer portion of the patient by the proper manipulation of sheath or handle O and which stream of water as it flows through the open end of pipe B is electrified, but without shock to the operator, and the amount of electricity ad-V ministered to the patient is capable of instant control by the movement of handle C toward or from the person of the patient. This pipe B is electrically connected with union c'by a non-corrodible wire c2 and is sheathed and insulated by the hard-rubber sheath or handle O.

The operation is as follows: When the end of pipe A is secured to the faucet of a bathtub, for example, water flows through pipes A and A and out of pipe B in astream or jet of the desired strength up to the full strength of the head or supply, the outow being regulated, of course, by turning the faucet more or less. When the battery is connected, electricity (lows by binding-post ct, union ai, and inner wire a2 to metal pipe B, electrifying the stream of water issuing from pipe B. Sheath or handle O is held in position to direct the electrified stream onto the person of the patient, and the other pole of the battery is brought into contact with the patient in the usual way, too well known to require detailed description.

The main advantages of my apparatus in use are that the administration of the electricity is made stronger or weaker with a given pressure by simply holding the outer end of handle C containing pipe B more or less close to the body of the patient, and the wire a2 is so perfectly insulated that an accidental shock from it is wholly unlikely, while the outer end of metal pipe B is so protected by the overlapping of the sheath G as to prevent direct contact of that end of pipe B with the body of the patient. The force or volume of the stream flowing out of the pipe B also adects to a high degree the electrical effect with a given pressure, and as all these matters-namely, the pressure of the electricity, the volume of outflow of water, and the distance of the end of metal pipe B from the bodyare under control of the patient or his attendant he may modify the treatment very greatly and almost instantly by handling the handle O and in a very short time by handling the water-supply or the electric supply, and all this may be done with practically no danger from accidental shock.

An improved apparatus for electric baths comprising a rubber tube A to be secured to the water-supply; a second rubber tube A' to conduct the water to the point of application; a union-coupling ct of metal electrically connected to a source of electricity and connecting the two rubber tubes; a metal pipe B open at both ends and inserted in the outer end of ICO the second rubber tube A; a, conduetingiai handle C, being readily detachable and Wire a2 in the second rubber tube A and eleereplaced; all substantially as and for the purtrically connecting the coupling a and the metal pipe B; and a nou-conducting tubu- 5 lar protecting-handle C extending over the l Witnesses poses specified.

DANIEL O. FISHER.

J. E. MAYNADIER, C. B. MAYNADIER.

end of tube A and over the outer portion 0f pipe B, the tubes A A', the pipe B and tubu-

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