Generating and applying electricity for medicinal or other purposes, &c. : letters patent to Robert Vacy Ash of Marylands Road, Saint Peter's Park in the county of Middlesex for an invention of "An improved method of generating and applying electricity for medicinal or other purposes, and in the " : Sealed the 1st July 1879, and dated the 28th April 1879.

  • Ash, Robert Vacy
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Generating and applying electricity for medicinal or other purposes, &c. : letters patent to Robert Vacy Ash of Marylands Road, Saint Peter's Park in the county of Middlesex for an invention of "An improved method of generating and applying electricity for medicinal or other purposes, and in the " : Sealed the 1st July 1879, and dated the 28th April 1879. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Ash's Method of Generating, &c. Electricity for Medicinal or other Purposes, producers and in such a manner that when in use and upon the body the electrical or magnetic energy will be excited automatically but when not worn or in use there will be a cessation of such energy thus avoiding continual waste. As an example. When carrying my Invention into practice I interweave sew or otherwise combine or attach to textile fabrics strands of copper surrounded 5 spirally by zinc wire, or other equivalent metals, and with open spaces, threads or strands of nonconductors interposed, the elements will, whilst adapting themselves to the curves or undulations of the body, be electric and magnetic current producers or other current producers having polar extensions of Silver, Gold, or platinum so as not to produce an injurious effect on the surface by actual application, or when 10 a conducting medium is interposed between the poles and the surface to be operated upon, conduction and influence as the case may be, are effected. For instance when the respirator is constructed of the wires mentioned or other equivalent wires such as zinc and silver or zinc and platinum or the like then the moisture of the breath keeps up the electrical excitation. The duration is regu- 15 lated in the usual way videlicet, by applying the positive or negative pole where required. The system I have adopted of weaving the elements of copper and zinc or other combinations mentioned into the substance of fabrics is also new, I illustrate this by the example of stiffening stays or other similar articles of clothing by inserting my spirally made exciters of electricity in the place of the usual stay 20 bones and connecting the ends in a suitable manner according to the well knowm electrical laws for producing the required potential by terminating the one or more series in such a manner that while no injury results to the surface the current is conveyed to the Patient and the moisture from the skin in the condition of vapour excites the galvanic series above named and thereby produces the current 25 of electricity which can be applied at any convenient part determined by the Physician. Ihe means of producing the electrical and magnetic currents possesses novelty from the manner in which the wires are arranged rather than from the com¬ position of the elements copper and zinc, or zinc and silver, gold, platinum or the 30 Thm automatic excitation is one of the principal features of this Invention and diners greatly from the galvanic chains which are usually excited by vinegar and water, which soon dries up and the action then from this cause also ceases. This point is more clearly seen by regarding my improved form of web-battery as 35 possessed ot a means of absorption by which it constantly renews itself. Never¬ theless on removal from the source of moisture or vapour the action rapidly ceases thus avoiding waste. With respect to the construction which lias been referred to and with regard to the absorbing power of the cotton or other medium between the metals Iwould 40 point out that the thickness of this varies in proportion to the internal resistance required in this my improved construction of webb-battery, the thicker the medium the greater the resistance will be and the spaces facilitate evaporation and like the non conducting threads increase the internal resistance anv rLnitid / 6 er wire‘lik„e or flattened, if small, will readily be moulded to 45 y quned figuie necessary for the human body or other living beinm The Gold »nteiiS1°nS I?7 be l0Ug °r Sh°rt aS th® case may be and are always to be of pos!oniS4X°rskS n“ °r °ther metal’if any’ Which SM1 be “Vie of note ^nrovtlf aSU,faCea too sensitive for the actual application of the metallic 50 cotduc Jor Hes g°°d C0ndu0t“S materia‘ aad P]ace over the continuoulhform'1thln!d mariufacturcd with the textile fabric in the so as to facility* p H ^0J1 ffc ors generators are parallel and spirally arranged In some cases^I should^ ipf ea;rc foi™atlon and to secure the requisite potentials— the same evstem of nJu'1* ° emPloy the flattened formations of conductor as same system of excitation already explained would be adopted in each case, 55