US397474A - Therapeutical electrode - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

L. T. STANLEY.

THERAPEUTIGAL ELEGTRODE.

No. 397,474. Patented Feb. 5, 1889.

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LUCIU .1 T. STANLEY, OF BROOKLYN, NEXV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE STANLEY ELEC RTC COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNH YLYANIA.

THERAPEUTICAL ELECTRODE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 397,474, dated February 5, 1889..

Application filed ge t mb r l l, 1887. Renewed January 8, 1889. Serial No. 295,803- (No model.)

To all 1071mm it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUCIUs-T. STANLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Th erapeutical Electrodes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accom mnying and forming a part of the same.

This invention is an improvement in electrodes for z'ipplying electric currents to the human body.

The object of the invention may be briefly stated to be the production of an electrode easily manipulated and used, which shall have a soothing and agreeable effect on the senses of the person upon whom it is used; and which may be capable of a diversity of uses or applications according to the location and nature of the complaint which one wishes to treat.

One object which I have had largely in view isto make an electrode which may be easily and readily applied to the head in such manner as to direct an electric current through the scalp simultaneously at a number of points. This has heretofore been accomplished usually by brushes with metallic bristles connected to the poles of a battery or induction-coil or by combs with metallic teeth. in such cases, however, it is to be remarked that these appliances are made as nearly like the ordinary brushes and combs as possible, in order that their proper functions, to which their eflicacy is generally due, may not be in any way impaired. My invention, on the other hand, while in no sense a toilet article, forms a useful and efficienttherapeutical appliance, will be seen from the following general description of its construction. It may consist of a row of flexible metallic teeth with rounded ends inserted in a base or back carried by a handle and elec trically connected to a terminal, to which one of the wires from a battery or coil is connected. The teeth should be slightly curved and sufficiently flexible to adapt themselves to the varying contour of the body. This is the invention in its simplest form. I generally add to it, however, a form of commutator and electrical connections, by which all the teeth maybe connected to one terminal or pole of the battery, or insulated in groups and connected to both poles. I have shown the preferred construction in the accompanywide.

13 is a metal plate which is secnrelyl'astcued to the under side of the plate A, and serves as a clamp to hold in place a given number of long resilient metal teeth, C (I, which are inserted in suitable grooves in the plate. I) is a similar metal plate, though preferably shorter, clamping a given number of similar teeth, E 'E, in grooves in the upper surface of the plate A. These teeth are suiiicient-ly long and slender to be flexible, and are slightly curved, the outside teeth more than those nearer the center. They are formed with bent. or rounded ends, preferably made with small smooth knobs F, which slide over the scalp or other part of the body, producing a pleasant and agreeable sensation and aiford ing, a better su rface-con tact for the electric current than a pointed tooth. The number of the teeth is arbitrary. I may use either more or less than I have shown; but, in any event, they are secured in a single row or line, or approximately so. A screw, G, in contact with the plate D passes down through the plate B, from which it is insulated, and serves to hold firmly against the plate 13 a cylindrical block,

H, of insulating material, surrounded by a 0 ferrule or ring, K, of metal.

L is a handle, to which the electrode is so cured by the projecting screw G, which enters a threaded metal cylinder or socket, M, set in the end of the said handle. The end of the 5 handle containing the socket M is surrounded by a ferrule, N, and two terminals or means for making electrical connection with battery or other electrical conductors. One of these terminals, a, is set in the ferrule N, and the other, I00 h, in the side of the handle and in electrical connection with the metal part M. When these parts are associated and the wires from an induction-coil are connected to the terminals a Z), respectively, the current passes through the teeth O to the teeth E E, or, conversely, through whatever portion of the body the instrument is applied, thus producing an action purely local.

To produce a more general effect the handie is unscrewed and a small disk or button is placed between the ferrules K N. This button consists, essentially, of a metal washer coated or protected on one side by an insulat-ing material and threaded to fit the screw G. It is applied with the metal surface against the edge of ferrule K, whereby all the teeth are electrically connected to one terminal or pole, while the terminal a and ferrule N are insulated. The current is then established by taking hold of one battery-terminal and applying the teeth to any desired part of the body.

By this device the current is more effectively and agreeably applied to any portion of the human body than by any other device of tion, with a handle, of a row or line of flexible metallic teeth formed with rounded knobs at the end and secured to a back or base and 3 5 provided with circuit-connections,as set forth.

3. The combination, with an insulatinghandle having terminals (t b, of the insulatingplate A, the line or row of flexible teeth, and the metal plates B D, clamped to the plate A, 0 and securing the teeth in position, the said plates being respectively connected electrically with the terminals to b, as set forth.

4. The combination, with the line or row of metal teeth, of the clamping-plates B and D, securing said teeth to the insulating base or plate A upon opposite sides, as described, the back H, ferrule K, and screw G, and the handle provided with the socket M and ferrule N, for making electrical connection with the teeth, as set forth.

5. The combination, wit-h the teeth or elec- .trodes secured in two insulated groups, of the screw 1? and ferrule K, attached to the plate or back carrying the teeth and forming con- 5 5 centric terminals, of the handle L, formed with corresponding terminals, and the metal disk or button 0, insulated on one face, as set forth.

Signed this 18th day of August, 1887.

LUCIUS T. STANLEY.

\Yitnesses:

RoBT. F. GAYLORD, RoBT. H. DUNCAN.

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