US810124A - Absorbent bandage. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED JAN. 16, 1906.

w. R. GREEN.

ABSORBENT BANDAGE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10, 1904.

wmwsw UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLARD R. GREEN, OF MUSCATINE, IOWA, ASSIGN OR TO THE AMERICAN ABSORBENT FIBER COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1906.

Application filed June 10, 1904:. Serial No. 211,933.

To all whom it may concern:

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'Band ages, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to that class of articles commonly known as absorbent bandages, and has for its object to provide an article of this class of improved construction whereby advantages of efficiency and mode of operation may be obtained in an article of low cost to manufacture.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure l is a perspective view representing a bandage made in accordance with my present improvements. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view in line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the bandage, this view being taken in line 3 3, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a preferred form of one of the members of the article. Fig. 5 is a similar view in perspective of a portion of a chambered member.

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

In absorbent bandages designed for taking up relatively thick fluids or semifluids 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 substance into an absorptive granular layer or pad of material, as 6, which material may be of any suitable character, as sand or the like. The granular layer 6 is constantly changing its position due to the flexing of the bandage while in use, thereby aiding the fluids to freely pass through the pad into the absorbent mass below.

In the drawings the absorbent mass 7 is shown as a body carried in some suitable covcr-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. 1, the edges 9 and 11 being folded one over the other and held in place by stitching or by a metallic or other suitable connecting means, as indicated, for instance, at 13.

As a suitable material of which to make up the relatively granular absorptive body or layer 6 I prefer to use granules of sand, preferably of a medium grade, which may be contained in a suitable cover-sheet of open-mesh fabric, as 6, folded about the sand or other granules in such a manner as to form a looselycontained mass through which the thinner fluids will freely pass. The thicker portions or semifluids as they lodge on the granular member tend to be separated or segregated by the working or shifting of the same, there by causing the fluids in whatever condition received to separate and the thinner portions to freely pass therethrough into the absorbent mass or body 7 below. This cover-sheet 6 is best shown in Fig. 4 as being lapped over lengthwise of the layer, forming two overlapping edges 15 and 16, with the ends 17 folded inwardly and suitably held together by stitching, as 18.

The upper member 5 is shown in the form (which I deem preferable) of a sheet material folded or shaped on numerous transverse lines into undulations or corrugations, as 25 and 26, of which 26 are the inner and 25 the outer transverse ribs or members of the series comprised in the member 5. These transverse elements form cell-spaces 25 and 26. Two of the transverse members are joined together at the center in any suitable way, but in the drawings are shown secured to a strip of cloth 27 by metallic fasteners 28. The cloth tape in some cases, however, may be omitted.

The receiving member 5, with its cellular spaces 25 26 arranged side by side in a flat layer, is preferably made somewhat tapering at the ends thereof, as roughly indicated at 28, to adapt it to the gradually-reduced dimensions of the bandage as it tapers into the attaching ends 8 and 8. This member also acts as a side brace to prevent the collapse of the bandage. This feature will hereinafter be more fully described.

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 shown in this case. Said chambers or cells 25 and 26 being located at the receiving-surface of the bandage constitute transmission-conduits downwardly to the mass 7 below; 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 constitutes, in effect, a combined receiving and resistance member.

The member 5 is laid on the granular member or pad 6, with the cells communicating with the granular substance contained therein, which material is of such a nature as to disintegrate the semifluids and aid in the proper distribution of the same into the absorbent mass below. This construction serves to render the member 5 relatively non-compressible and inelastic in a direction laterally ofthe bandage, while freely permitting the same to bend flatwise of itself. The member 5 is preferably nonfibrousthat is, non-absorptive-although some kinds of paper, especially if in sheet form and suitably treate ed or prepared, may be employed for making said side bracing member, as more fully set forth in my aforesaid application, Serial No. 211,930, filed June 10, 1904.

In Fig. 2 the fiber mass 7 is shown brought up over the edges at 5 of the member 5, thus serving to hold in place as well as to interlock with the ends of the chamber-spaces 5",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 orserum-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 pad or member 6 of the bandage. I

For closing in, or partially doing so, the chambers or cells of the member 5 I prefer to provide this member with a surface sheet, as 29, preferably of fabric, and this of relatively open mesh. In some cases this surface sheet may be attached directly to the upper face of the member 5 by using a waterproof cement or by stitching or otherwise, but is shown herein as having the edges of the sheet 29 extended down between the mass 7 and its containing cover-sheet 8, as indicated at 30, Fig. 2, as to be preferably 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 should two of these be employed. There is also, as will be evident, a corresponding interaction between the member 5 and the lower member 6 and also between the lower edges of the member 6 and the fiber mass 7. When the fiber or strands of the portion 7 are made of a 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 in 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 Emember 6. woody strands with the chambers or cells of said intermediate granular member is in some E 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 This particular coaction of the amount of semifluid material.

The receiving member 5, besides providing for the series of cells and 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 receptacles for quickly taking up a considerable quantity of fluid and for retaining the same while being gradually absorbed into the granular layer and the absorptive material or mass 7, and thus finally disposed of In this action or process the cellular or chambered members 5, as well as the granular member 6, operate together, the lower member 6 being in some respects in the nature of a distributing or disintegrating layer to further the downward progress of the fluid into the absorbent mass 7. The cellular spaces of the member 5 also at a later time serve as permanent receptacles for such thicker portions of the fluid as may have become segregated from the serum-like portions during the process of absorption. In this way the member 6 assists in receiving and breaking up such thicker components of the fluids, especially while coagulation is proceeding. v

The intermediate member 6 being located just below the side bracing receiving member 5, when the chambers or spaces in said member 5 are elongated, as shown in the present instance, are located along the entire the member 6 may be of any desired specific character as a granular-layer receiving and transmitting member, I prefer to so construct the same that it will be flexible in all directions, thereby securing its perfect cooperation with the fibrous mass 7.

One of the objects and advantages sought to be obtained bymeans of the present improvement is to provide for the manufacture of the bandages at a low cost and for the use in such manufacture of materials of a low 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 other- Wise be required in a bandage of a given and proper bulk or size, I employ such a construction of the component members of the bandage as Will secure a considerable proportionate amount of open space in the nature of chamber-space or cell-space, these spaces serving in part as receptacles for the quick reception of a considerable amount 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 considerable quantities of material Which would otherwise have to be taken up by the absorptive or fibrous'portions of the bandage.

It is not intended to claim herein, broadly, a side bracing member, as this constitutes in part the subject-matter of my copending aplication, Serial No. 211,926, filed June 10, 1904, nor a cellular side bracing member, as this constitutes in part the subject-matter of my copending application, Serial No. 211,931, filed June 10, 1904, nor the use of a granular material in combination with a cellular construction or With a diiierent absorbent material, nor a body of sand and means for maintaining the opening of the cover-sheet, as this constitutes in part the subject-matter of my copending application, Serial No. 211,930, filed June 10, 1904, nor the use of a granular material and a fibrous material, broadly, as this constitutes in part the subject-matter of my copending application, Serial No. 195,729, filed February 29, 1904.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. A bandage comprising a body of absorptive material, a body of sand or analogous granular material thereon, and a body com prising a number of cells upon such sand body, for passing fluid material to the sand and for preventing sidewise compression of the bandage.

2; A bandage comprising a body of absorbent material, a body of sand or analogous granular material thereon, and means thereon for preventing sidewise compression thereof.

3. A bandage comprising a cover-sheet, a body of fibrous absorbent material therein, a sack or layer of granular material thereon, a side bracing member on said sack or layer of granular material and having cells, spaces or chambers for the passage of fluid therethrough, and a surface sheet over said side bracing member.

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

WILLARD R. GREEY.

Witnesses:

FRED. J. DOLE, JOHN O. SEIFERT.

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