US5783A - Spinoabdominal supporter - Google Patents

Description

JOHN W. PHELPS,OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SPINOABDOMINAL SUPPORTER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 5,783, dated-September 19, 1848.

To all 'u1/1,0m, t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. PHELPs,.of Boston, in the county of Suolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Dorsal Abdominal Supporters; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and accompanying drawings, letters, figures, and references thereof. v

Of the drawings Figure l, denotes a front elevation, and Fig. 2 a rear elevation of myy improved dorsal abdominal supporter. j

In the same, A exhibits the anterior or front pad; B, B, two lateral or main springs curved so as to adjust themselves lto the body, and passing diectly over the crest of the ilium or hip bone; and united. at the rear ends to the inferior rest frame- C, of the back piece. The said back piece is oo mposed of two frames or parts C, D, which are jointed together in such a manner as to admit of the lateral movements of 'that part of the body above the hips, without disturbing the position of the front pad or inferior back rest C. The two frames C and D, should be made o-f thin strips of tempered steel, and separated at the top or superior ends, so as to rest on the shoulder blades, and admit of a forward or backward 1nove ment of the body when in the act of stooping or bending forward or backward as occasion may require.

The shoulder straps E, E, are fastened to the superior frame D, and respectively have hooks and eyelets or otherl suitable contrivances to confine them and the back piece to the shoulders and back of the wearer.

The ends ofeach of the two lateral or hip springs are perforated with holes, and may be connected to the front pad and back rest C, by means of such contrivances as will admit of their being lengthened or shortened as the case may require.

The whole, viz, thepads, springs, and superior and inferior parts of the back piece, should be suitably covered with silk, cloth, 0r other proper materials, and padded and stuffed as occasion may require. It is well known to the medical profession that in almost all cases of abdominal weakness there is a corresponding debility in the dorsal vertebra or small of the back; my instrument has been constructed so that its parts ma act in unison, and alleviate-.both disabilities.

j I am aware that an abdominal supporter has been constructed with a spinal back piece, made to extend entirely up and down the Vback and close along both sides of the spine.

I am also aware that corselets for the extension of the spine or correction of deformities thereof, have been made with a back piece formed oftwo parts having a oint between them,v or where they come together. I am not awa-re of a dorsal abdominal supporter having been madek withits back piece con-V structed in two parts, and so as to rest on the shoulder blades, and jointed together as above specified; and for the purpose of preventing the troublesome disarrangementv of the front pad when the person or wearer is 1n the vact of stooping laterally. Consequently I lay no claim to a co-rselet having a back piece constructed in two parts; said corselet being in no respect intended for ab-V dominal support; but only as a spinal support and extender. Neither do I claim as any part of my invention an abdominal suppo-rter constructed with a single spinal or back piece, made to extend entirely up and down the back; as my invention or improveso` l ment is intended to possess all the advanl tages of `such an apparatus, andto correct one of its most important defects, to wit, the irregular and improper Strain produced on the abdominal pad, when the person while sitting or standing moves the upper part of the body, or that part lof it which is situated above the hips, in a lateral direction. Nor do I claim as part of this improvement the manner in which the front pad is attached to the transverse spring, by means of` a spiral spring, though I am able to sho-w that I was the original inventor of this mode of attachment, more than six yearssince.

What I claim as my invention is The combination of a back piece made in I two'parts and jointed together as described, with the abdominal pad and the lateral springs; the whole being constructed and operating together, substantially, in the manner and for the purpose as specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereto set my signature this eleventh day of November, A. D. 1847.

JOHN w. PHELPs.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, FRANCIS GoULD.

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