Specification of James Willson : socks and vapour baths.

  • Willson, J. (Joseph)
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of James Willson : socks and vapour baths. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/14 (page 2)
    Willsons Socks and Vapour JBaths. NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said James Willson, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the description thereof hereunder written, and in manner following, that is to say :— The manner in which the objects expressed in my Patent are to be obtained 5 is, first, by a sock or covering to be worn over the stocking or next to the skin, made of the gut called by butchers the bung gut, of oxen, sheep, or swine, or the intestine of any animal, or of the exterior membrane called the parito- noaum, of those which afford one sufficiently strong, or of any skin or substance sufficiently close and ductile to be formed without a seam. They are first to 10 be cleansed by scraping and washing, and when the inside skins are to be pre¬ served for use, inflated until dry, and then the air is discharged ; when required, they are to be immersed in water until they become pliant. The membrane may be immediately used without drying, and when necessary to be preserved, it is done by spreading on any smooth surface. The mode of forming the socks 15 is upon a last, consisting of five pieces, as described in the Drawing, and a key which serves the double purpose of connecting and separating, by screwing into the perpendicular and oblique centre pieces alternately, which when with¬ drawn, permit the others to be taken out when the sock is sufficiently dry. The bottom of the gut makes the neatest sock. Those who from gout or any 20 other complaint wish to envellope the foot or limb with a greater quantity, may make use of the entire skin as a roller, which will exclude the humidity from the surface of the earth, and, when rendered adhesive by any proper application from excluding the, atmospheric air, may be used with effect in the dressing of certain wounds. The socks may be covered with any 25 varnish that sufficiently resists heat and moisture, a solution of elastic gum, the composition mentioned in Mr. Bellamy’s Specification, for preparing leather, or some of the ingredients and proportions in it, and Mr. Angel’s Brittannic Elastic Gum, if with consent or purchase from the Patentees, and if not, the same ingredients or some of them, so modified (which may be done 30 with effect) as not to interfere with any legal right of others. This is men¬ tioned from the infinite changes that have been specified in different Patents, as it is well known to be impossible almost to suggest any which must not approach to one or the other. The elastic gum I can prove to have used for more than a year before I knew there was a Patent for it, and have found that 35 several preparations of it,—oil, glue, wax, letharge, umber, resin, and birdlime answer the purpose. I have used with effect one quart of best Dutch linseed oil, one ounce and half of letharge, one ounce and half of amber, one ounce and half of gypsum, and two ounces of the inspissated juice of holly, boiled