Untitled record

Application filed April 16,1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Charles F. Stillman, of Plainfield, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and 5 useful Improvements in Surgical Braces, of which the following is a specification.

This invention applies to braces for treating deformities or abnormal conditions of the foot and leg, whether occurring in children from io their birth or in adults or children by subsequent injuries to the joints or muscles.

My invention aims to provide a brace of this kind which will act upon the foot in a more physiological manner than those heretofore 15 produced and permit a more natural and easy movement of the loot, while supporting and directing it in the required directions, such, also, as will enable the patient to wear his own shoe, and which may be applied to or detached 20 from the shoe in a simple manner, as may be required.

My improved brace is represented in elevation in Figures 1 and 2 applied to the foot and leg, which figures present respectively an in25 side and outside view thereof. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan of the same.

In these figures the brace is represented as double—that is, as applied to and bracing each side of the leg; but it may be either single or 30 double, or applied to but one or both sides of the leg.

In difficult cases the double brace may be used, but ordinarily the single brace is sufficient. I have, however, shown the brace in 35 the drawings as double, as this gives an opportunity to illustrate two slightly different but equivalent constructions, as hereinafter explained.

This brace is designed more especially for 40 treating those affections of the foot and leg where there is a weakness in the ankle and in the muscles of the leg, in which the foot tends to fall and to turn in ward, being thus designed for treatment of the club deformity, as well as 45 for those cases of weakness and maltendency where no positive deformity exists.

The main portion of the brace consists of the vertical rod a, usually of steel, placed parallel with the leg and extending down along the 50 side of -the leg, belpw the ankle. The upper end of the rod is fixed to a girth, b, which is strapped around the leg at the base of the calf, and is adjusted on the rod by a screw-and-slot connection, as shown, by which it may be adapted to the size of the limb. The lower 55 end of this rod diverges in an oblique direction backward from a point above the ankle, and terminates at the back of the foot, at about the middle of the heel, and at a good distance behind the ankle, where it is jointed to a hori- 60 zontal bar, d, disposed about parallel with the sole and terminating about tlie middle of the instep, well in advance of the ankle, as illustrated. A lateral branch, e, extends from about the center of the horizontal bar d, and 65 is curved under the arch of the foot, where it is pivoted centrally in front of a vertical line from the ankle, at or about the center of motion of the foot in its horizontal plane, by the screw or pivot s on a pivot-plate,/, riveted to 70 the sole of the shoe, as seen best in Fig. 3.

In case of a double brace the two horizontal bars on each side of the foot are, of course, connected together by this lateral branch e, which in this case will be pivoted at its mid- 75 die and connected at the opposite ends to the bars d d, as illustrated in Fig. 3. A spring, g, of rubber or other suitable material, extends in an oblique position from the vertical bracerod a and connects to the front end of the hori- 80 zontal bar d, the spring being connectable at various points a¹ on the rod «, to obtain any desired tension thereof. This spring, constantly tending to contract, thus tends to raise the pivoted bar d, and with it the patient’s 85 foot, it being attached to the shoe under the arch of the sole, as already described, and hence overcomes the tendency of the foot to fall and enables the vertical ankle movement of the foot to be performed in an easy and 90 natural manner.

In Fig. 1 the spring h is shown arranged on the outside of the foot, and this spring is hence a contracting rubber or spiral spring, which is attached at one end to the bar d or its lateral 95 branch e, and at its opposite end to a plate, k, secured to the sole of the shoe near the toe, and accordingly tends to pull the toe outward, and thus cause the foot to assume its proper position. 100

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In Fig. 2 the spring h^T is shown applied on the inside of the foot, and in this case the spring is a flat metal one, whose front end presses laterally on the plate A:', and thus tends 5 to press the toe outward, with the same effect as in the other case. The back end of the spring h' is attached to the bar d by a screw, I, and pin m, or by two screws, so that it may be readily attached or removed to substitute io stronger or weaker springs, as may be required, and the front end of the spring is guided by two pins on the plate k', or by a slot or equivalent device.

I prefer to make the pivot screw or pin s of 15 the brace on the sole, as seen in Fig. 3, with a round center and a T-shaped head, and the pivoting-bar e with a slot of similar shape, so that when the pivot-screw is turned parallel with the slot the brace may be readily affixed 20 to or detached from the patient’s shoe, and when the pivot-screw is turned at right angles thereto the brace will be securely retained upon the shoe.