US3303842A - Splayfoot bandage - Google Patents

Description

Feb 1967 H. HORLACHER SPLAYFOOT BANDAGE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 29, 1964 INVENTOR HEINRICH HORU-WHER ATTORNEY Feb 14, 1967 H. HORLACHER 3,303,842

SPLAYFOOT BANDAGE Filed Jan. 29, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. HE/NE/CH HOELflCf/EE,

United States Patent 3,303,842 SPLAYFOOT BANDAGE Heinrich Horlacher, Lutzenberg, Switzerland Filed Jan. 29, 1964, Ser. No. 341,032 1 Claim. (Cl. 128-80) The present invention is concerned with an improved bandage for the ball of a human foot to assist in correcting injury thereto resulting from the deformity of splayfoot, that is, a foot that is abnormally flattened and spread out.

The present invention will prevent the vfoot-arch from becoming fiat, and by assisting the natural restoration of the foot, will return the foot back to its normal form.

The bandages hitherto designed for such purposes are elastic in the longitudinal direction of the foot and nonextensible across the width of the foot, but have the inconvenience that the recess provided to take up the arched part of the foot near the joint of the great toe does not adapt itself to the various bone deformation which may occur at this place through the displacement of the metatarsal bone and the phalange of the great toe, caused by splayfoot. Therefore, in the prior art, the bandage may either slip from its position when walking, or the unyielding edges of the bandage across the width of the foot may hurt the wearer of the bandage.

The improved splayfoot bandage of the present invention will adapt itself to almost any deformation of the foot which might occur near the great toe. Another advantage of the present improved bandage is that it is of such symmetrical design that it can be worn either on a right foot or on a left foot.

An embodiment of the object of the present invention is shown by way of example in the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows the bandaged foot with the bandage of the present invention applied to the foot;

FIG. 2 shows the unwound principal part of the bandage of the present invention with a special insert piece sewn to one of its ends;

FIG. 3 shows the spread-out special insert piece;

FIG. 4 shows a side view of the assembled special insert piece ready to be sewn on the principal part of the bandage;

FIG. 5 shows part of the bandage in the process of making it up;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the finished assembled cup structure of the insert piece with diamond-shaped center piece and the end tabs with the pairs of edges sewn together;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view from the outside of the complete assembled bandage of the joint connecting the two ends of the long principal part of the bandage showing portions of the insert piece which is sewn on the inside of the long principal piece; and

FIG. 8 shows the structure on the inside of the complete assembled bandage of the joint connecting the two ends of the long principal part of the bandage, showing the cup structure of the insert piece of FIG. 6 sewn onto the principal part and across the joint between its ends.

The principal part 1 of the bandage, before being assembled, as will be seen in FIG. 2, has a symmetrical geometrical form so that, when folded across its narrower middle part on line E-E, the two halves of the principal part will exactly cover each other. When the two ends 2 and 4 of part 1 are sewn together along the line 6-6a (FIG. 5), the slanting edges 3 and 5 and the slanting edges 3a and 5a will form angular cut-outs or recesses 13 and 14 as shown in FIG. 5. The principal part 1 of the bandage is formed from a cotton fabric material which is elastic laterally of the band in the direction of the line 6-6:: in FIG. 5 (shown transversely ruled), but nonextensible in the direction perpendicular to that line, that is, across the foot and along the long dimension of the band. W is the central vertical transverse axis of principal part 1, and ZZ is the central horizontal longitudinal axis of principal part 1.

The insert piece 7 of FIGS. 3 and 4 is formed by cutting the fabric into the geometrical form shown in FIG. 3 in which pairs of edges 8, 9, and 8a, 9a and 8b, 9b and 8c, 96 are formed. The sewn- together edges 8a, 9a and 8b, 9b are shown transversely ruled in FIG. 4. The insert piece 7 has diamond-shaped central portion 7a and two rectangular end tabs 7b, 70. In FIGS. 3 and 4, the central horizontal longitudinal axis of diamond-shaped central portion 7a is shown at YY.

The insert piece 7 is formed from a flexible cotton fabric material which is elastic in the direction of the short side of the insert piece, and non-extensible in the direction of its long side. When the edges 8 and 9, 8a and 9a, 8b and 9b and 8c and 9c of the insert piece 7 are respectively sewn together by pairs, it takes the form of a cuplike structure as shown in FIG. 4.

The folded part 113-11 (FIG. 4) of the insert piece 7 placed inside of the assembled tube-like bandage 1, and the ends 2, 4 of principal part 1 of FIG. 5 are sewn together. In FIG. 5, SS is the vertical central axis of bandage 1 which passes through the mid-point of line 6-6a. The dash lines 12 and 12a of the insert piece 7 of FIG. 4 are sewn onto the edges 3 and 5 of principal part 1, and the dash lines 12a are sewn onto the edges 3a and 5a of FIG. 5. The triangular parts of the insert piece '7 which bridge over the angular cut-outs of recesses 13 and 14 (FIG. 5) are thus elastic in the direction of the width of the foot. This enables the wearer to slip the bandage easily over the arch of the deformation of the great toe. Owing to its elasticity, the completed bandage with its recess will fit perfectly around the arch. Furtherrnore, there will be no undue depressions of the bandage on the places designated by A, B, C, D (FIG. 1).

The direction of extensibility of principal part 1 is shown in FIG. 1 by the substantially vertical lines 219, and the direction of extensibility of insert piece 7 is shown by the substantially horizontal lines 19 in triangular portions A, A, A" and B, B, B of the insert piece 7.

FIG. 6 shows in perspective the cup structure of the insert piece when edges 3, 9, and 8a, 9a and 8b, 9b and 8c, 9c are respectively sewn together in pairs, thus attaching together the diamond-shaped piece 7:: and the end tabs 7b and 7c.

FIG. 7 shows in perspective from the outside of the complete assembled bandage the joint between the ends 2, 4 of the long principal piece 1 as seen from the outside or" the bandage, with portions of the insert piece showing through notches 13, 14. The end tabs 71;, 7c of insert piece 7 are respectively sewn to edges 3, 3a and 5, 50 along lines 15, 16, 17, 18.

FIG. 8 shows from the inside of the complete assembled bandage the application of insert piece 7 to the joint between the ends 2, 4 of long principal piece 1. The diarnond piece 7a is sewn by its edges 9, 9a, 9b, to end tabs 71:, 7c of the insert piece 7. The horizontal central axis of the diamond piece 7a is shown at TT. The assembled cup structure of the insert piece is sewn on lines 15, 16, 17 and 18 to the ends 2, 4 of long principal piece 1.

Owing to the insert piece 7 which is elastic in one direction, the assembled splayfoot bandage described is thus elastically extensible longitudinally in the areas A, A, A" and B, B, B (FIG. 1). The new bandage is easier to fit onto the foot and is better held in place than was the bandage heretofore known which was entirely non-extensible longitudinally along its whole width.

The new bandage can be slipped over the foot more easily and will adapt itself to almost any kind of deformation near the big toe. It will be held better in place once slipped over the foot than was the previous known bandage and will not slip out of position. It will not hurt the foot around the longitudinal edges of the bandage because, now, part of these edges are extensible compared to the wholly non-extensible edges of the bandage heretofore known. One and the same new bandage, because of its symmetrical geometrical cut, will fit a left foot as well as a right foot, whereas this was not possible with the bandage heretofore known which had to be made either for a right foot or for a left foot and were not symmetrical.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is subject to modifications to adapt the same to particular applications, and all such modifications which are within the scope of the appended claim are considered to be comprehended within the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed:

In a splayfoot fabric bandage, a principal long part having two ends each having a transverse terminating centr-al edge and slanting edges extending laterally from said central edge, said two ends being sewn together in a joint on said central edges to form a band, and an insert piece sewn to the ends of said principal piece on said joint, said principal piece being elastic across the short dimension laterally of the band and non-extensible along the long dimension of the band, and said insert piece being elastic in one given direction and non-extensible in a direction perpendicular to said one given direction, said insert piece being sewn to said principal piece in such a manner that the direction of elasticity of said insert piece is substantially perpendicular to the direction of elasticity of said principal piece, whereby said bandage is provided with a recess to take up the arched part of the foot near the joint of the great toe, said insert piece being cut from a substantially rectangular piece of fabric and having two notches cut in each of two opposite edges, said notches extending toward each other but not meeting and forming a diamond-shaped structure in the central portion of said insert piece, said insert piece being non-extensible in the direction of the two opposite sides in which said notches are cut, and elastic in the direction perpendicularly to said two opposite sides in which said notches are cut, the two adjacent edges of each of said four notches being sewn together separately for the respective notches, and said two sewn together central edges and said four slanting edges of said two ends of said principal long part being sewn centrally on to said insert piece.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,351,248 8/1920 Hill 128166 1,727,897 9/1929 Myers et al. 128165 2,572,152 10/1951 Horlacher 128166.5 X 2,786,206 3/1957 Steiner 128432 X RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT E. MORGAN, Examiner.

J. W. HINEY, JR., Assistant Examiner.

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