US507367A - Electro-thermal bathing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

' W. P. HOWE.

.ELEOTRO THERMAL BATHING APPARATUS; No. 507,867. Patented Oct. 24, 1893.

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WILLIAM F. HOWE, OF EVANSTON, WYOMING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 507,367, dated October 24, 1893.

Application filed April 29, 1893.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM F. HOWE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Evanston, in the county of Uinta and State of Wyoming, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electro-Thermal Bathing Apparatus; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in electro-thermal, vapor and medicated baths and its object is to provide a portable structure of this character which will be very efficient in use and so simple in its operation as not to require the services of a physician or skilled attendant, and which can be so cheaply constructed as to. be within the reach of the public generally.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a central longitudinal sectional View of an apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a side view of the chair the casing and cover being removed.

In the said drawings the chair in which the person undergoing treatment is seated may be of any ordinary construction, comprising the legs 1, seat 2, rounds 3, and back t. To the upper cross bar 5 of the back is secured a gasoline reservoir 6, provided with a pipe 7, which extends downwardly and then forwardly, terminating at the center of and underneath the seat in a burner 8, of any ordinary or approved construction. This pipe is provided with a valve 9 and valve stem 10, the latter having a cog wheel 12, meshing with a similar wheel 13, fixed to a rotatable shaft 14, journaled in a transverse bar 15 secured to the rear legs of the chair, and in a plate 16, carried by the pipe 7. This shaft projects rearwardly through a hole in a casing hereinafter described.

Located above the burner 8 and resting upon the side rounds of the chair is a removable receptacle 17 for containing water,which may be medicated, if desired, and which is Serial No. 472,394:- (No model.)

provided with a faucet 18, for drawing 0E the contents without removing the receptacle.

The numeral 19 designates a casing consisting of a metal plate bent into circular form and its ends connected by thumb nuts or clamps 20. This casing is formed with a hole 21 for the passage of the shaft 14, and also to admit air to the burner.

The numeral 23 denotes a covering consisting of a rubber sheet having a hole 26 in the center for the passage of the head of the patient.

The numeral 25 designates a metallic conducting plate, with which is connected one of the Wires of an electric battery. In use the plate rests upon the floor in front of the patient forming an electrode upon which the feet are placed. The other electrode is held in one of the patients hands.

The operation is as follows: The casing 19 completely incloses or surrounds the chair, with its lower edge resting on the floor. The patient to be treated unfastens the thumb nuts 20 and pulls the ends of the casing apart so that he can enter the same, and seats himself on the chair. The water vessel is then partly filled with water, the burnerlit and the cover placed over the upper edge of the casing,with the patients head projecting through the hole therein. The Water in the vessel will cominence to boil very soon and the vapor being con fined Within the casing will act upon the patient with very beneficial results. This Water may be medicated or not as desired, and an electricalcurrent maybe made to pass through the body of the patient, by means of the electrodes and battery before mentioned. By means of the shaft 14, the cog Wheel and the cog wheel and valve connected with the gasoline pipe, the supply of liquid supplied to the burner may be regulated from outside the casing, so as to increase or decrease the heat, according as circumstances may dictate. By this construction it is not necessary for the attendant to enter the casing.

From the above it will be seen that the device is very cheap and simple in construction, and can be readily applied to any ordinary chair Without the aid of skilled labor. The casing also being of sheet metal, preferably zinc, can berolled up into a very small compass so that all the parts may be readily removed from place to place and then set up for use, which will be very advantageous to traveling specialists. Again there is no necessity of the patient being exposed during the treatment or while dressing and undressing, as any person of average intelligence can take a proper position in the bath without assistance.

The apparatus maybe used asa vapor bath, as before set forth, or by removing the water vessel, be converted into adry or hot air bath.

The electrodes may be applied to any portion of the body so as to localize the current to the parts needing treatment.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is The combination with a chair, the sheet metal casing provided with thumb nuts-at its meeting edges, and havingxa hole at its rear, and thecover having a hole for the passage 3 of the head of apatient,aof theliquid fuel res- 1 ported by the rounds of the chair, substantially as described.

In testimony thatI claim the foregoing as my ownI have hereunto aftixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM F. HOWE.

Witnesses:

BENJ. M. AUSHERMAN. STEPHEN D. SOMMERS.

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