US2989357A - Obstetric labor pain recorder - Google Patents

Description

June 20, 1961 w. A. VERRETT ETAL 2,989,357

OBSTETRIC LABOR PAIN RECORDER INVENTORS W004. E1129 4/ mm 1 [eh/W Filed April 13, 1956 Wi W I ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,989,357 OBSTETRIC LABOR PAIN RECORDER Wallace A. Verrett, New Castle, Del. (3144 15th St., Port Arthur, Tex. and Hazel V. Hebert, Brownsville, Tex. (2720 Ave. M, Nederland, Tex.)

'Filed Apr. 13, 1956, Ser. No. 578,066 2 Claims. (Cl. 346-72) This invention relates to obstetrical apparatus, and in particular to a device for recording the frequency of labor pains and their duration.

The timing of labor pains, as is well known, is of great importance in indicating the imminence of delivery and is relied upon to a great extent in determining when the expectant person should leave home for the hospital, and how long the doctor may safely delay in arriving at the labor room. Through accurate determination of the timing of labor pains the expectant mother is frequently saved the expense of a premature trip to the hospital, based upon unreliable conjecture. The timing of these pains is also important in the labor room, for various reasons.

In the hospital the standard rule seems to be that the expectant mother tells the nurse when a pain occurs and the nurse makes a written note of the time of recurrent pains. In this way the progressive shortening of the period between pains is ascertained and the doctor, if not present, is given timely notice of the approaching delivery.

Due to the multiplicity of duties incumbent upon the nurse, she is not always at hand when the pain recurs and the pattern of frequency of the pains is interrupted and its significance to an extent nullified.

An experienced nurse can detect the periodic contraction of the uterus by applying the hand to the abdomen, but this method requires the continuous presence of the nurse at the labor bedside. It has been proposed to substitute the nurse by a mechanical recorder to be placed upon the abdomen of the patient, operative responsive to sensing means which detect the reflex contractions referred to. The use of such apparatus requires that the patient remain supine, in bed, which is an inconvenience to most patients in cases of long labor when they would rather be sitting up or otherwise active, and the necessity of remaining prone while supporting such device, hampers the patient in resorting to the normal straining that promotes delivery.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a labor pain recorder, the operation of which does not necessitate that the patient be lying down or in any other particular position, and which is not designed to respond to reflexive stimuli. On the other hand it is the provision of a recorder which permits the patient to move about, sit up in any desired or comfortable position, and which is operated by the voluntary act of the patient.

Another object of the invention is to provide a labor pain recorder having the virtue of extreme simplicity of construction and mode of operation so that there is no problem in instructing the expectant person how to use it.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of the following specification, and throughout the several figures of which the same characters of reference have been employed to denote identical parts:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the encased unit forming the apparatus of the invention, the case or cabinet being closed;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the cabinet open and in part broken away to show the enclosed recorder, and the top being not shown;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary view partly in vertical elevation and partly in section showing the pneumatically operated lifting mechanism for moving the pen of the recorder.

Referring now in detail to the several figures, the numeral 1 designates as a whole a box-like cabinet having top, bottom, side and back walls respectively designated as 2, 3, 4, and 5, and a hinged front wall 6 provided with a window 7. The front wall 6 may be let down to give access to the recorder; when closed the chart of the recorder is visible through the window. FIGURE 1 shows that the top of the casing is provided with supporting bars 8, having downwardly turned ends 9, said bars being pivoted at 10, and having two operative positions. In the full line position they serve as latches for the front wall 6, and in the broken line positions they function as means for supporting the unit on the framework of a bed. The downwardly inclined ends 9 terminate in upwardly hooked portions 11, which cooperate with loops 12 mounted on the front wall for latching the cabinet in closed position. The top wall is provided with the bandle 13, by means of which the unit may be carried. A bulb 14 with flexible hose 15 is shown extending from the rear of the cabinet. The hose is detachable from the recorder which is within the cabinet and may be neatly coiled and stowed within the cabinet when the apparatus is not in use or being transported.

FIGURE 2 illustrates the recorder which comprises a pair of rolls 16 and 17 mounted on vertical parallel pins 19 and 20 near opposite ends of the cabinet, the pins being in a vertical plane parallel to the front wall 6 of the cabinet when the latter is closed. The pin 19 is a shaft suitably connected to the roll 16, and having a beveled gear 20 which meshes with a similar gear 21, forming part of the clockwork 22 which is windable by means of a key 23. A chart sheet 24 is wound upon the roll 17, and has an end attached to the roll 16, so that it is slowly wound off from the roll 17 upon the roll 16 by means of the clockwork. The roll 17 surrounds the pin 20 with suflicient friction to keep the intermediate portion of the chart sheet taut and in a vertical plane. The chart sheet is marked with three horizontal lines, the lower line being the norm which indicates no pain, and the upper horizontal lines indicating respectively medium and severe pains. The chart sheet is provided with a pattern of equally spaced vertical lines indicating time intervals. For example, as shown, the distance which the sheet travels between two vertical lines represents five minutes.

A pen 25 is mounted in the middle of the cabinet at the top of a vertical stem 26, which is vertically recipro cable, being guided through eyes 27 and 28 extending in vertical alignment from a guide 29 fixed to a supporting block 30 secured to the bottom wall 3 of the cabinet. The lower end of the stem 26 normally rests upon the block 30, and when in this position, the point of the pen 25 is on the horizontal norm of the chart sheet. A pressure tube 31 is carried by the block 30, having a normally curved portion 32, the end of which is attached to the stem 26. When fluid pressure is admitted to the tube, it tends to straighten out, the free end which is attached to the stem rising and lifting with the stem with the pen. The extreme lifting range carries the pen vertically until the point is on the horizontal line which represents severe pain. The tube 15 and bulb 14 are attached to the lower end 33 of the pressure tube which extends laterally from a side of the block 30. The pen above the point is formed with a well 34 which from time to time is supplied with ink by means of a medicine dropper. It is in present contemplation that one winding of the clockwork will operate the recorder for twelve hours, although this feature is altogether optional and not limiting as far as the invention is concerned.

The recorder as described, is designed to be employed as part of the standard hospital equipment, or to be carried as portable equipment by registered or practical nurses or by doctors. When the expectant mother at home feels that the time for going to the hospital is approaching, and calls the doctor, he brings the labor pain recorderto the house, winds the clockwork, puts a drop or two of ink in the pen well, closes the cabinet, and places it in any convenient spot such as upon the bureau, and instructs the patient to squeeze the bulb when a pain hits you, and release the bulb when the pain leaves." There is a natural tendency for the expectant person to clamp her fists when a pain comes, and when the pain leaves a conscious relaxation is natural, so there is a good reason to believe that the instructions will be carried out. The patient need not go to bed, but may' remain sitting up, walking about or maintaining herself as relaxed and comfortable as is possible under the circumstances. The graph drawn by the pen is readily visible through the window in the front wall, the pains being represented by peaks in the graph and when these reach the degree of frequency to which the patient has been alerted by the doctor she may make immediate preparations to leave for the hospital.

In the use of the device in the hospital, it may be placed in the patients room or supported upon the labor bed by means of the bars 8, and the chart may be read from time to time by the nurse on the spot or who comes into the room frequently for the purpose of reading it. Thus, the recorder becomes a means by which the doctor may be given ample notice to enable him to reach the hospital in time for the delivery.

The virtue of this apparatus over mechanical devices for recording uterine contractions through the wall of the abdomen is the fact that the operation of the subject apparatus is entirely voluntary on the part of the patient, permits her the freedom to assume any position that she desires, and which is comfortable for her, and enagage in any relaxed pursuit, while with the abdomen supported recorder the patient must lie in one position during the entire labor period and hampered in her instinctive efiorts to accelerate the approach of delivery. The sub ject invention due to its simplicity of construction and mode of voluntary self-operation, is much more accept able to the expectant mother as well as to physicians and hospitals than involuntary recorders which require that the patient be restricted to one position during the labor period.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the specific details of construction and arrangement of parts, as shown and described, are by way of illustration and not to be construed as necessarily limiting the scope of the invention.

What we claim is:

1. Apparatus for voluntarily recording successive contractions of the uterus during the labor period permitting bodily freedom of the one aifected, comprising in combination, a box-like cabinet having a hinged front wall and a window in said wall, a carrying handle for said cabinet and means for supporting it upon a bed frame, a recorder mounted in said cabinet having a chart sheet windable from one to the other of a pair of spaced rolls on axes in a plane parallel to the plane of said window when said front wall is closed, a clockwork connected to one of said rolls, a pen contiguous to said chart sheet for marking a graph thereupon, and means movable responsive to fluid pressure operatively connected to said pen for moving it perpendicular to the direction of movement of said chart sheet, for making peaks in said graph, and a flexible hose connected to said movable member terminating in a bulb actuable at will by hand pressure of the one affected.

2. Apparatus for voluntarily recording successive contractions of the uterus during the labor period permitting bodily freedom of the one affected, comprising in combination, a recorder of the type including a moving chart sheet and a pen contiguous thereto for making a graph on said sheet, and means movable responsive to fluid pressure operatively connected to said pen for moving it perpendicular to the direction of movement of said chart sheet for making peaks in said graph, and a flexible hose connected to said movable means terminating in a bulb actuable by hand pressure at will of the one affected.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 349,780 Bernsee Sept. 28, 1886 414,963 Andersson Nov. 12, 1889 1,181,511 Eder et a1. May 2, 1916 2,208,633 Heidbrink July 23, 1940 2,239,330 Lorand Apr. 22, 1941 2,447,018 Keinath Aug. 17, 1948 2,556,645 Cameron June 12, 1951 2,708,367 Lusk May 17, 1955

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