USRE4282E - Improvement in breast-pumps - Google Patents

Description

IMPROVEMENT IN -BREAS"|'PUNlPAS-,

The Schedule xeferrdxo Letters Patent mrakingpart di the saxue.t x

eration, reference being had to the accompanyingl drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon and making a part of this specification.

My present invention is fora construction of breast-Y pump resembling that patented to me on the 8th day of September, 1868, but differing therefrom in some particulars, which renders it better adapted for use under certain circumstances.

Figure 1 is a general perspective view of my improved instrument complete.

Figure 2 is a vertical section of thc vacuum-glass, and showing also the different positions of the breast as it rises in the glass.

Figure 3 is a sectional view oi' the exhaustingbulb. 1 y

The breast-pump patented to me September S, 1868, consists of two principal parts: a vacuumglass, with a trumpet-.shaped mout-h, so formed as to prevent any essential compression of -thc milk-ducts when the exhaustion is produced, for the purpose of drawing the milk, and an elastic exhausting-bulb having double valves, i. c., an inlet and an outletvalve.

At the time of obtaining such patent it was considered that a bulb, to be most efficient, should have a double set of valves; but subsequent experiments have shown that, for some uses, or for use under certain conditions of the female breast, a breast-pump with an exhausting-bulb having but a single valve is preferable.

In the'use of an elastic bulb having double valves, such valves are arranged at opposite ends of the bulb; and in compressing the bulb the inlet-valve closes, and does not permit any portion of' the air within the bulb, undergoing compression, to pass into the vacuum-glass or cup.

The single valve a', however, which is arranged at the upper end of the bulb A, as 'an outlet-valve, has a different action.

\Vhen the bulb is compressed, the air which it contains does not entirelyY escape through the outletvalvc u', but a portion ot' it is forcet hack into the vacuumglass B, and cannot be wholly expelled without further compression and expansion of the bulb. A reference to Iig. 2, and the dotted wave lines u b c therein, showing different positions of thenippl'e and breast, will show more clearly how the use` of a single valve-produces a dierent result from the use ot' the double valves.

It' the vacuum-glass B, in proper working order, be placed in contact with the breast, in the usual manner, so that there shall be no leakage of air, and the bulb, fitted with double valves, be slightly compressed aud then allowed to expand, the breast will ascend to the wave-line a, and there remain stationary.l

If the bulb be slightly eompresseda second time, and then allowed to expand, the nipple and breast, without receding from a, will ascend toward or to the second line 1), and, in the same manner, will ascend toward or to the wave-line c, from similar compression or expansion ofthe bulb.

If a bulb with a single valve, like that represented in section in iig. 3, be used in connection with the vacuum-glass B, instead of a bulbwith double valves, and such bulb be compressed at intervals, as before mentioned., the breast will ascend to the wave or dotted lines a D c, but with the following dilerence iu action or operation: that, at the moment the bulb is compressed, the nipple and breast will iirst descend a little below'its line, and then ascend to a higher line at the instant the bulb undergoes expansion.

This action is due to a portion of the air being forced into the vacuum-glass by the compression ot' the bulb, there being no valve to prevent it; and the pressureoi' the air thus produced is sulicient to cause the breast to recede, as already described. This action, or the depressing and rising of the nipple and breast, isrepeated at every compression and expansion of the bulb.

Thus we have what may be termed vibratory movements of the breast, and such movements may berapid or slow, in proportion as the bulb is rapidly or slowly operated.

These vibratory movements are closely analogous to the movements produced by the nursing of the infaut, and are, therefore, the closest possible imitation of nature.

In a'brcast in which the Jnilkows freely, there seems to be no choice between the bulb having single or double valves; but at the commencement ol' lyingin, or at other periods when the milk-ducts are more or. less obstructed, o; the milk itself in a thick or creamy condition, so that`its ilow is tardy or4 dillicult, the single-valved bulb is greatly preferable, because tne vibratory movements resultingr from its use aid essentially in procuring a gentle and painless flow of the milk` Such vibrator-y movements of the breast resulting, from the use of a single-valved bulb, are also useful tutti (tie.

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in other vacuum instruments besides the breast-pump; for instance, serving to establish a betterI circulation in blood-,vessels which are torpid or inactive.

Instead of a b ulh with a metallic nose and pipe l d to connect, as shown, with the vacuum-glass by means of a rubber cu'p, j; as shown in fig-1, the bulb may have a tubular neck to couple directly with the vaenum-glass.

Any kind of suitable working valve may be used in connection with the bulb; but I prefer the loose floating valve patented to meApl'il 4,-1854,cxtemled March 30, 1868.

What 1 claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination, with a vacuum-glass, of nu elastic exhausting bulb, A, having or employing a single ^Yalve or valvular apparatus .loeatedeat the end of the bulb furthest from the vacuum-glass, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

. M. MATTSON.

l Witnesses:

S. 3l). LAW, A. '.l. GURLITz.

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