Specification of James Williams : vapour and steam baths.

  • Williams, James.
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of James Williams : vapour and steam baths. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/8 (page 2)
    A.D. 1871.—N° 2787. Provisional Specification. O Williams' Jmpts. in the Construction and Arrangement of Steam Baths, IT 1 ’ 5tli. Tlie use of superheated and medicated steam, either separately or combined. 6tli. The use of electro-magnetic or galvanic currents in the hath, whilst the person therein is under the influence of the superheated and medicated steam. 5 I construct my improved hath chamber and bath in the following mannerThe outer case or shell of the chamber I form of wood, and the sides and roof thereof I line with sheet metal. I also adapt a venti¬ lator to the top of the roof and sides of the chamber. The floor of the bath chamber I form perforated or with interstices, and between the said 10 floor and the bottom of the outer case of the chamber I arrange a tortuous perforated pipe, through which I pass superheated steam from a suitable steam generator and superheater. Upon the aforesaid perforated floor I adapt a reclining perforated seat made as a double incline, with a screw adjustment for raising the back and head of the 15 person to any desired elevation. I also adapt a vessel beneath the said reclining seat, near the foot thereof, and place in the said vessel herbs or drugs of any approved and suitable description, and enclose the said herbs or drugs by a perforated lid or cover. I then introduce and mix steam with the said herbs or drugs, and by these 20 means am enabled to medicate the steam. I further propose in ope¬ rating with the above bath to apply electro-magnetic or galvanic currents to the spine or other parts of the person by conducting wires and plates suitably arranged and connected. In connection with the foregoing arrangements I employ a flexible pipe and rose for directing 25 a current of hot and cold water to the person in the bath. I also adapt a thermometer to the bath chamber to ascertain and regulate the temperature within. By the above arrangements to avoid the objections to the common vapour bath. Tor instance, the common vapour bath is not sufficiently complete in its construction, as it does not enclose 30 the whole person, the head is excluded, and consequently the lungs and the whole breathing surface are not acted upon by the vapour. Hie Turkish bath and the Bussian vapour chamber are the only baths which secure this great desideratum, viz., the application of heat to the pulmonary mucous membrane, but the] absence of moisture and 35 the high temperature at which the Turkish bath is given, from one hundred and forty to one hundred and eighty degrees, are in many cases objectionable and unnecessary. The improved vapour bath