US810120A - Absorbent bandage. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTE!) JAN. 16, 1906. W. R. GREEN. n ABSORBENT BANDAGE.

APPLIOATION FILED .TUNE 10, 1904.

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WILLARD R. GREEN, OF M'USCATINE, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN ABSORBENT FIBER COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

ABSORBENT BANDAGE.

Patented Jan. 1c, 1906.

To all whom it' may cancel/'71,:

Be it known that I, WILLARD R. GREEN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Muscatine, in the county of Muscatine and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Absorbent Bandages, of which the following is a specification.

My present improvements relate to that class of articles commonly known as Habsorbent bandages,77 the object being to furnish an improved article of this kind adapted to be made at a low cost and which shall at the same time be of an efficient character both for the reception and the retention of fiuid and semifiuid substances.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bandage made in accordance with my present improvements. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view, somewhat diagrammatic in character, taken in line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail view illustrative of the preferred form of one of the members of the article as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a llpngitudinal sectional view taken in line 4 4,

iig. 2.

Similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

In absorbent bandages designed for taking up relatively thick fluids or semiiiuids there is often a tendency for the thicker portions to form a close layer on the surface portion of the absorbent body or mass, and so check the flowage and proper distribution of the fluids in the mass. To provide for this, I furnish the bandage with an upper member, as 5, having an open-work or chambered construction adapted for permitting a relatively free descent through said upper member of the fluid or semifluid substances into the retaining mass, as 6, of absorptive material.

In the drawings the absorbent mass 6 is shown carried in some suitable cover-sheet, which is indicated in a general way by 8. This covering or holder may consist of a suitable fabric, preferably waterproofed, of light weight, which may, if desired, be specially woven for the purpose. The ends of the sheet are shown folded to form attaching portions 8 and 8 for the bandage. In practice this fold may be made as indicated, for instance in Fig. l, the edges 9 and 11 being folded one over the other and held in place by a metallic fastener or by stitching or other suitable connecting means, as indicated, for instance, at 13.

In Figs. 2 and 4 the absorbent mass 6 is shown consisting of the upper portion 16 and the lower and outer portion 26. The portion 16 directly supports the upper or surface member 5 and is preferably of a relatively open texture as compared with the lower mass 26. In practice I make said portion 16 of wood in the form of thin and narrow shavings mingled and intermeshed in miscellaneous directions and compacted sufficiently to form relatively large distribution and conduction spaces and to form retaining smaller spaces having relatively the character of capillary spaces. Excelsior may be employed for this portion of the bandage. These features are illustrated in a somewhat diagrammatic way in Fig. 2 and iii which certain of the larger spaces are indicated by 12, while there is indicated by 14 other locations or regions within the general mass, in

which the spaces are represented of a smaller size, resulting from such compacting or compression ofthe mingled material as will bring a considerable portion of the space into such small dimensions as to have the desired capillary and retention power or quality.

Wood in the form of small and narrow shavings or strands to these being preferably substantially flat in section, when mingled together in miscellaneous directions in a mass suitably compressed or compacted toV the proper density thereby acquires a character and develops qualities that make it peculiarly adapted for use in this class of absorbent articles. This woody mass has its meshes or internal spaces brought some of them within the form and dimensions required for producing a capillary retention capacity for liquids such as blood or those having a serum or watery component combined with a coagulative component, while other portions of the space will thus be left in a form and dimension constituting ramiiied distribution spaces, which also in the present instance form conduits for passing the fiuids downward into the lower mass 26. It will be understood, however, that in some cases nthe entire mass 6 may be formed of such or similar woody fiber or strands or may be formed of ordinary vegetable fiberH so called-such, for instance, as cotton or linen.

The upper member 5 is shown in the form (which I deem preferable) of a perforated sheet material folded or shaped on numerous transverse lines into undulations or corrugations, as 17 and 18, of which 17 are the lower and 18 the upper transverse ribs or transverse members of the series comprised in the member 5. These transverse members, as 17 18, serve to render the member 5 relatively non-compressible and inelastic in a direction laterally of the bandage, while freely permitting the same to bend flatwise of itself. The member 5 is preferably non-iibrous---that is, non-absorptive-as compared with the member 6, although some kinds of paper, especially ifin sheet form and suitably treated or prepared, may be employed for making said side-bracing member.

A further obj ect obtained by the combination above mentioned is the provision in the receiving member 5 of numerous small chambers or cell-like spaces, as 20 22, these being also arranged in lower and upper seri es or tiers 20 and 22, respectively, which are connected with each other by suitable openings, as 21. In practice other well-known forms of folding and of cell construction may be employed in the member 5 in lieu of the simple form of corrugation shownin this case. Said chambers or cells being located at the receiving-surface of the bandage constitute transmission-conduits to the absorbent mass 6 also, by reason of their arrangement, and especially by their being connected together, serve as means-of ventilation for the interior of the bandage while in use. The member 5 When of the form illustrated constitutes, in effect, a combined receiving and resistance member.

In Fig. 2 the fiber mass 26, preferably consisting of relatively fine vegetable fiber stock-such as cotton, linen, or the likeis Shown brought up over the edges at 5 of the member 5, thus serving to close the open ends of the chamber-spaces, as 20 22, while serving also to cushion the bandage along the edges thereof, and, furthermore, forming a direct absorption means for immediately taking up the more fluid or serum like portions of the material to be absorbed, while the thicker portions pass gradually down through the chamber-space of said receiving member into the portion 16 (when this is used) of the absorbent mass. Preferably this portion 16 isof a relatively coarse and open character, for reasons elsewhere herein more fully set forth.

For closing in, or partially doing so, the chambers or cells, as 22, of the member 5 I prefer to provide this member with a surface sheet, as 25, preferably of fabric, and this of relatively open mesh.A `In-.some cases this surface sheet may be attached directly to the upper folds of the member 5, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 4. This attachment may be made by using a waterproof cement or by stitching or otherwise, or in some cases, the edges of the sheet 25 may be so far extended down between the mass 6 and its containing cover-sheet as to be properly held in place thereby. When arranged in this latter manner, the meshes of the surface sheet operate in combination with the surface or upper portion of the member 5 by a sliding movement thereon in a manner analogous to that which occurs between the upper and lower surface sheets when two of these are employed. There is also, as will be evident, a corresponding interaction between the member 5 and the portion 16 of the mass 6. When the fiber or strands of the portion 16 of this mass 6 are made of woody material and are mingled together and suitably compacted to the proper density to form the desired capillary retention-spaces, with relatively large conducting-spaces ramifying throughout the absorbent mass, the upper edges of such strands then operate (especially on the bending of the bandage) to clear away by a scraping or abrasive action matter that would otherwise adhere to the under side of said member 5. This particular coaction of the woody strands with the chambers or cells of said surface member is in some cases of importance, since it tends also to increase the receptivity of the absorbent mass below, especially when it is required that this mass shall rapidly take up a relatively large amount of semifluid material.

The woody fiber-like strands which I prefer for use in the upper portion of the mass 6 have the important advantage of being highly resistant to the matting or felting tendency that is an especially prominent and objectionable quality of cotton and other analogous fibers of the so-called vegetable class when these become saturated. This superior quality of the woody material in that respect thus assists in maintaining the high absorptive and distributive capacity of the whole mass.

The receiving member 5, besides providing for the series of cells or chambers, also constitutes a side brace, which in the present instance is located at or near the top of the bandage and,while flexible, constitutes,in combination with the other members of the bandage, a resistance device or brace for preventing the undue collapse of the bandage laterally by reason of side pressure thereon and in this manner serves also to prevent accidental discharge or expulsion of any fluids contained within the bandage. The cellspaces or chamber-space serve as a receptacle .for

uickly taking up a considerable quantity of duid and for retaining the same while being IOO IIO

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gradually absorbed into the absorptive material or mass 6, and thus finally disposed of. Said spaces also at a later time serve as permanent receptacles for such thicker portions of the fluids as may have become segregated from the serumlike portions during such process of absorption.

One of the objects and advantages sought to be obtained by means of the present improvement and also by the improvements in the same art set forth in my several concurrently-pending applications for absorbent bandages is to provide for the manufacture of the bandages at a lovv cost and for the use in such manufacture of materials of allow cost and employed in a minimum quantity. For this purpose and also to provide for a high degree of receptivity and distributive capacity, `but especially to reduce the amount of absorptive material Which Would otherwise be required in a bandage of a given and proper bulk or size, I employ such a construction of the component members of the bandave as will secure an open space in the nature o chamber-space or cell-space, these spaces serving in part as receptacles for the quick reception of fluid or semifluid material and also serving as distributive means for transmitting the same more gradually to the absorptive portions of the bandage. Also such space or spaces Will in general serve to finally receive and retain portions of material which would otherwise have to be taken up by the absorptive or fibrous portions of the bandage.

The perforated and corrugated side-bracing member and such member having a coarse-mesh fabric attached to the summits thereof are not claimed, broadly, herein, since they constitute in part the subject-matter of my copending applications, Serial No. 211,926, filed June 10, 1904, and Serial No. 212,276, filed June 13, 1904.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- In anabsorbent bandage, the combination With a cover-sheet, of an absorbent mass contained therein and having the upper portion of such mass formed of relatively coarse Woody strands intermingled together and a loWer portion of relatively fine liber, and a chambered, receiving-surface member located above said absorptive mass.

Signed at Nos. 9 to 15 Murray street, New York, N. Y., this 7th day of June, 1904. WILLARI) R. GREEN.

Witnesses:

FRED. J. DOLE., JOHN O. SEIFERT.

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