Surgery: splint – brace – or bandage – Orthopedic bandage – Protective covering means for a bandage or cast
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-12
2001-04-03
Brown, Michael A. (Department: 3733)
Surgery: splint, brace, or bandage
Orthopedic bandage
Protective covering means for a bandage or cast
C128S849000, C128S856000, C128S878000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06210352
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND—FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to the medical or sports profession specifically, to an improved splashproof limb protection device.
BACKGROUND—DISCUSSION OF PRIOR ART
To design an acceptable splashproof device a number of design constraints must be satisfied. The term splashproof as used in this specification means that when the device is exposed to the weather or bathing, the area to be protected will remain dry. First, the seal between the limb and the outer covering must not choke the blood supply. The seal must maintain contact with the skin in spite of the motility of the body part. The seal must be adjustable to accommodate varying limb sizes. The device must be simple to manufacture. And finally, the device must have an aesthetic quality.
Sealing methods are usually accomplished by (1) straps and cords circumventing a flexible outer material, (2) straps and cords circumventing a flexible outer material with an internal spongy material, (3) deformable rings, and (4) inflatable boots.
Some of the more common methods utilizing straps and cords circumventing a flexible outer material are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,151 Disposable Dressing Cover to Rankin(1990), U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,864 Protective Sleeve for the Leak-proof Coverage of Body Parts to Wiesenthal(1988), U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,919 Protective Sleeve to Silverberg(1991), U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,350 Limb Protective Covering to Brown(1985), U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,586 Protective Cover For a Limb or a Cast to Couri(1985), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,834 Waterproof Limb Covering to Bates(1986).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,203 Protective Covering to Liman(1973) describes a method using straps and cords circumventing a flexible outer material with an internal spongy material.
Methods using deformable rings and inflatable boots are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,945 Protective Method and Apparatus to Betz(1987), U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,003 Waterproof Cast Protector to Little(1979), U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,326 Waterproof Cast Protector to Little(1977).
Before a tight joint can be achieved, all of the possible routes for leakage must be removed by a force of such magnitude so as to remove the minute irregularities between the seating surface and the gasket surface. For all gaskets, there is a minimum seating pressure. With regard to the prior art, all these contraptions use various methods for sealing. First, the outer flexible material is pressed against the skin by the application of straps and cords. In this case the flexible material is the seating surface, and the skin is the gasket. As the flexible material is brought closer to the skin by tightening the strap or cord, the flexible material becomes bunched and uneven causing the minimum seating pressure to increase. In order that this method seal, the skin must be squeezed into the irregularities of the flexible material by increasing the tension of the strap, causing discomfort to the user. Consequently, these types of joints either leak or cause discomfort to the user.
Attaching a spongy material to the inner circumference of the flexible covering is another method used by these devices. In this case the spongy material is the gasket, and the skin is the seating surface. The idea is to provide a soft material such as a gasket which, under the application of the strap, flows into the irregularities of the skin. This is self defeating because the spongy material is probably not as soft as the skin and, also, the spongy material will have a large number of surface irregularities. The irregularities of the seal are increased because the texture of the material has irregularities and, in addition, the pleating of the material as the strap is tightened. For this joint to seal, the tension in the strap must be increased to squeeze the skin into the pleats and fill voids of the spongy material. This method is probably better than trying to squeeze the skin into the flexible covering but the seal will leak or cause discomfort to the user. As this joint ages, the resilience of the spongy material will decrease and, as a consequence, the strap tension must be increased to obtain the same watertightness.
With regard to the deformable ring sealing device, if the limb were of cylindrical shape, this seal would probably hold. However, since limbs are usually unsymmetrical in cross section, this seal is not adequate for the intended use. For persons fitted with catheters or bandages, shoving the limb through this deformable material could cause damage to the catheter and grief to the user.
The inflatable boot is probably the best of all of these contraptions since the limb and catheter can be maneuvered through the opening and afterward the seal inflated. This seal is not much different than the strap and flexible material discussed above except the strap has been replaced with air pressure. The skin still has to be squeezed into the boot material irregularities. This joint will either leak or cause discomfort to the user.
All of these contraptions try to reduce the larger circumference of the outer covering to the smaller circumference of the limb causing the material to pleat which undermines the best of these innovations.
Since some of the prior art references use more than one turn of the strap to encompass the flexible material, this suggests that the area of the joint should be increased. This seems reasonable, since the irregularities are random in nature: the more turns, the higher the likelihood the joint will seal. But as the turns are increased, the tension must increase or the presiding turns will slacken. This increase in the surface area with its attending increase in the strap tension will seal the joint but will cause grief to the wearer.
Objects and Advantages
My protective sleeve has numerous advantages. First, the sleeve is made from a hydrophobic cloth which absorbs smaller amounts of water than wool, cotton or silk. This allows perspiration to wick to the outside and evaporate. At the same time, the cloth has an impenetrable barrier which repels rain and droplets of water. The sleeve has a unique seal that is adjustable and also eliminates the pleating or bunching of the outer fabric. One seal can accommodate a large variation of limb sizes. In addition, the fabric has a hook and loop substitute laminated to the outside of the hydrophobic cloth which eliminates the stiff backing material associated with most hook and loop designs. The result is a flexible sleeve that is comfortable to the patient. The sleeve can be adjusted or installed without the help of another person. The sleeve does not crawl or shift along the limb due to the motion of the limb. The sleeve is light-weight, soft, and non-chafing. With the hook and loop substitute laminated to the outside of the hydrophobic cloth used in this invention, additional paraphernalia associated with the medical treatment of cancer such as tubes and pumps can be fastened to the sleeve.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3710790 (1973-01-01), Lemon
patent: 3741203 (1973-06-01), Liman
patent: 4043326 (1977-08-01), Little et al.
patent: 4098268 (1978-07-01), Scott
patent: 4139003 (1979-02-01), Little et al.
patent: 4157713 (1979-06-01), Clarey
patent: 4442834 (1984-04-01), Tucker et al.
patent: 4523586 (1985-06-01), Couri
patent: 4530350 (1985-06-01), Brown et al.
patent: 4562834 (1986-01-01), Bates et al.
patent: 4639945 (1987-02-01), Betz
patent: 4727864 (1988-03-01), Wiesenthal et al.
patent: 4911151 (1990-03-01), Rankin et al.
patent: 5063919 (1991-11-01), Silverberg
patent: 5070541 (1991-12-01), Gloss
patent: 5113533 (1992-05-01), Takada
patent: 5143762 (1992-09-01), Ho
patent: 5173967 (1992-12-01), Carter
patent: 5187813 (1993-02-01), Klein
patent: 5395302 (1995-03-01), Botha et al.
patent: 5511241 (1996-04-01), Ziegler
Williams David
Williams Peggy
Brown Michael A.
Hamilton Lalita M.
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