USRE12E - Improvement in trusses for the cure of prolapsus uteri - Google Patents

Description

ST AVAILABLE COPY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADMINISTRATOR AMOS G. HULL, DEOEASED.

IMPROVEMENT IN TRUSSES FOR THE CURE 0F PROLAPSUS UTERI.

- l @83X Specification forming part of Letters Patent dated May 7, 1834; Reissue No. l 2, dated September 14, 1839.

Y .To all whom it may concern.' above the hypogastric portion of the abdomen, Be't known that AMos G. HULL, late of the and operates, as the inventor supposed, by city of New York, deceased, did invent a surcounteracting the depressing forces of the dia- ,f gical apparatus forthe relief and cure of prophragm` and upper part of the belly to relieve cidentia and prolapsis uteri and other diseases the womb from the weight of the intestines .f dependent onv relaxation of the viscera of the above it, whereby itwas pusheddown and expel-vis, otherwise known as Dr. A: G. Hulls ytruded from the lower outlet of the pelvis. Utero-Abdominal Supporter, for which in- The inventor also thought that by pressing vention Letters Patent were granted to said the hypogastrium obliquely upward and back- AMosG. HULL bearing date the 7th day of ward it might render the peritoneal connec- May, in the year 1834. Said Letters Patent tions of the uterus tense, and thus raise it .to were assigned to me, AMos GERALD HULL, by or suspend it in its place by a lifting process. JOHN F. GRAY, administrator of the estate of However other surgeons might explain the the said AMOS G. HULL, deceased; and I hereprinciple upon which the apparatus cured the with surrender the same on account of defectprolapsus, the inventor claimed to be the dis'- ive specification, offering the following decoverer ofthe means by whichfsuch salutary scription in amendment thereof: result was eeeted. A surgical apparatus for the cure of falling Description of the utero abdominal supofthe womb, (or prolapsus procidentia uteri,) porter: This apparatus consists, in part, of a whichapparatussaid AMOS G. HULLdid make hypogastric pad, a a a a, Figure 1, made of and vend by the name of Utero-Abdominal such size and shape'as to adapt it accurately Supporter. The inventor of this apparatus to all that part of the nioying front wall of the discovered that pressure made upon or against belly lying below a line subtended between the vthe lower part ofthe abodomen, in manner and anterior and superior processes `of the iliac by means substantially the same as herein debones of the pelvis. This space, which .described, does always relieve, and very often fines the size and shape of the hypogastric e'ectnally cure, the malady in females compad, is bound below bythe pubes, and at the monly called falling of the womb.7 Before sides by the upright margins of the iliac or the discovery of this apparatus the malady haunch bones. This pad is therefore of anirwas treated in the last resort b'y the introducregular 4cordiform shape, much dilated latertion of props or blocks into the vagina (pasally, and indented on its lower or pubic marsage leading to the womb) to prevent the gin'to correspond to the shape of the upper .mb from falling down or from being pressed line of the pubes, against which it rests. The down and out through said vagina. These position of this pad when applied is exhibited however constructed, were called F pesin Fig. 3.

membrane with which it is in perpetual conplate of metal or other suitable material, di-

tact, sometimes causing inflammation, ulcera-v vided near its'vertical axis into two wings by tion, and even death, and at best it is a merely a hinge contrivance, as seen in Fig. 4, which palliative expedient, tending rather to perrepresents the pad-plate of its ordinary size. getinte than to cause a removal of the pro- The object of this hinge contrivance is to give peus by distending the vagina and tormentto the inner or belly aspect of the whole pad ing the patient. o Hence it occurred that bea form which approaches that of a double inore the date of this invention confirmed Vproclined plane, the angle of which double plane lapsus was considered incurable, resisting may be increased or diminished to any desirmedical treatment, and subjecting the subable or necessary extent with facility, without ject of it to the unhappy necessity of wearing removing the apparatus from the patient, by, pessaries during the remainder of her days. means hereinafter named. The plate of the This apparatus, instead of propping up the hypogastric pad may also, in some cases, be -womb from below, as the pessary does, hasits made entire without the hinge. The padllain pressure above the site of that organ, plate, whether hinged or not, is covered with AMOS GERALD HULL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., SSIGNEE OF; JOHN F. GRAY,

- saries. The pessary irritates the delicate This pad (the hypogastric) is made of a thin pads ordinarily used intrusses for ruptures,

' cloth and leather or other suitable material.

' center of the outer surface of the pad by .Y means of a button-headed mortise, through make the strongest pressure by the lower or V:effect lthis the rotary wedge of Amos' G.l Hulls truss for varicocele, patented July 5,. 1833, may be attached so as to play between many cases it is found serviceable to make e veniently derived from the spring alone, which to suit the various clothand leather, or either, and wadded on its inner aspect; so as to make a proper cushion for the belly of the patient.

The utero-abdominal supporter further consists of a steel spring, b b, Fig. 1, andra back pad, c, Fig. 1, like the springs and counterin which the spring body and thev back 0f the patient. The spring is encompasses one-half the pad rests on the spine covered with In front the spring crosses the center ofthe back or outer surface of the hypogastric pad, and terminates, as shown at f, Fig. -1, on the left segment or side, of it, near the edge. The spring may be made fast at the' which it should pass, or any convenient ix. ture. In some instances it is desirable to pubic portion of the hypogastric pad. To

the spring attachment to the pad and the back of the pad (see Figs. 1, 3, and 4) at e. In

a much stronger pressure than can 'be conmay be eiected by conveying a strap from the back or counter pad, c, around the side of the body opposite the spring b b to the hypogastric pad, making a complete elastic belt around the pelvis, as yseen in Fig. 2, where said strap f f is divided into two thongs, g g, which are made fast by two knobs on the back of said hypogastric pad. .Y

This apparatus further consists of a sliding wedge, d, Figs. 1 and 2, interposed between the right segment ofthe hypogastric pad and the spring where it covers that part of the pad. The spring being hoop-shaped, and terminating on the left half of the pad, where it presses much the strongest, this wedge equalizes the pressure of the .two segments or halves of the pad, and when the vertical hinge in the padplate 'is used, sliding thisrwedge forward or backward depresses or elevates the right win g, segment, or half of the pad, altering the capacity'of the inner or belly aspect of the pad and changing states of the hypogastric region with respect to plumpness or convexity; and in case the patient is y so formed as that the front margins of the haunchbones project considerably, as is apt to be the case in prolapsus of long standing, the combined effect of this sliding wedge, the vertical hinge, and the free end of the spring is to sink the right and left margins of the pad a ava a below the level of said projecting haunchbones, making the inner surface of the pad in this case also correspond to the shape of the hypogastric region under thevarious attitude; and states of the body.

In very full subjects the pad may be applied entire without the hinge.

The apparatus' further consists, in some cases, of a contrivance for pressing they anoperineal 'region o'f the body (perineum) upward and forward, called perineal strap, h h, Fig. 2. The perineal strap extends from the counter-pad c', Figs. 1 and 2, to the hypo gastric pad, traversing closely the ano-perineal region in its course. This strap may be made of lleather and cloth or` other suitable material, and befastened to the pads aforesaid by knobs or other convenient fixtures. To the inner or perineal aspect of this strap -1s attached a cushion, t', Fig. 2, made of cloth and covered with oiled silk.. The cushion may be about an inch thick at right angles with the` strap, and it should be of such length and so attached to the strap as to press against all the space lying between the tip of the os coccygis and the fourchette or lower end of the vulva. e y

What is claimed in the within-described apparatus as the invention of the late AMos G.

HULL is- The hypogastric pad aaa a and the employment thereof for the cure of prolapsus uteri, the same being madeand operating substantially as herein set forth; likewise the combination of the said hypogastric pad with the spring b b, the sliding wedge d, and the counter or back pad, c,- and also the combination of the perineal strap h h and cushion i with the hypogastric pad and its appendages, as herein Y described.

No separate part of this apparatus is claimed as new except t-he said hypogastric pad; nor

are any of 'the materials of which the several parts ofthe apparatus are composed new or claimed as such in this specification.

AMOS GERALD HULL.

Witnesses:

GEO. BUTLER, JOHN W. VAN BENscHo'rnN.

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