Untitled record

Application filed October 5, 1888

Serial No. 287,800. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Reuben N. Mayfield, a citizen of the U nited States of America, residing at Boulder, in the county of Boulder and 5 Stifle of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Catheters, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings. in io My invention relates} to ah' 'luiproved construction of catheter for use in diseases of the bladder.

It is well known that when it is necessary to use a· catheter there arc conditions of the iS bladder under which, the catheter of usual construction—that is, with the ordinary fine perforations as an ulmt thereinto—does not work readily or satisfactorily, or subserve fully the results expected from it. Examples of so such unsatisfactory operation are seen where there is a good deal of mucus present in the bladder, such mucus being apt to surround or lie upon the end of the catheter, clogging or stopping the fine apertures thereof 25 and preventing the ingress of fluids to he drawn off, and again where the bladder is in a flabby condition the walls are apt. to close around the catheter and similarly prevent the ready ingress and (low of liquids, while if 3° much sediment be present it clogs, even sometimes filling in part or completely, the apertures, with again consequent- failure of the catheter to fully perform iffi functions. Such failure is especially apt to happen in 35. nearly if not quite all forms of chronic diseases of the bladder, and notably so in cystitis.

The object therefore of my invention is to furnish a catheter reliable and efficient in 4° operation when the use of a catheter is indicated and that in all conditions and diseases of the bladder, in which danger of clogging or of failure to perform its functions is obviated, whose interior may be read ily cleansed, . 45 by which bits of mucus, usually clogging an ordinary catheter, .may be read'ily drawii off, one that may be used on occasions as a- lithontriptor to a certain extent and with small obstructions, of comparatively simple construction, readily used and operated, and durable; to which ends it consists in the features more particularly hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings is illustrated a catheter embodying my invention, in which drawings 5 Figure 1 is an outer plan view thereof; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section; Fig. 3, an enlarged view of the bulbous head’and cleaning-loop.

; In these figures the reference-numeral 1 : indicates the body of the catheter, the tube ( \ through which after insertion fluids are conl veyed. It is of the ordinary plain tubular ; construction, curved at the entrance end in the I usual way, said end preferably being unperforated. Instead, however, of being rounded c or ovaled at the end, as is usual, it is cut off square at the end, leaving an inlet thereat of the same or about the same size as the body of the tube at such end, as seen at 2 in the figures. For the closure of this open end and 7 the easy insertion of the catheter, as well as for other purposes, some of which arehereini after referred to, a bulbous or rounded head, I 3, is used, preferably solid, and attached to ' one end of a wire, 5, passing through the body 7 I or tube 1 and projecting at its rear or outlet j end. For convenience of manipulation, such end is provided with a handle, G, though the . object of such handle, attachable or detachable front the wire 5, may be accomplished by 8 formi ng a simple loop at the end from the wire itself. If the wire 5 and the wire 10, hereinafter noted, be of ductile met al, they or either of them may be bent, as at 7, the step or ledge serving as a stop to limit the amount of in- 8 j ward movement of the wire and consequent ! lifting of the head 3 from its seat at the end 2. j This construction, as thus described, forms, ί it is seen, a very efficient catheter, having an area of opening so large as to greatly obviate 9 danger of clogging, for if mucus should lodge against the end 2 the working of the head 3 back and forth upon its seat would cut away the obstructing bits of mucus and permit them to pass out through the tube 1, while by 9 the use of the head projected from i ts seat the wall of the bladder, when the latter is in a flabby condition, may be so kept away from the inlet at end 2 that the flow thereinto is not impeded. To add, however, to its effi- 1 ciency, the bulbous head 3 should be formed with a rim, 4,' by cutting away part of the

396,754 base, and so that the rim 4 sits snugly upon the cud 2, as a valve upon its scat, the lower part of tlie head passing within the tube L Such construction aids in the crushing of any 5 small obstructions which may lodge at the top of the end 2, and in the cutting away of mucus, Ac.., xvhich tend to clog the flow.

To provide for the ready and thorough i cleansing of the interior, a second wire, 10, is io passed up through the tube 1, its outer end being furnished with a loop or handle, 12. At its inner or upper end it is formed into or i lias secured toil, a circularloop, 11,surrouiidingthe wire 5, and of a size to scrape the in15 terior xvall of the catheter-body and to .fit, around the portion of the head below the rim 4, xvhcrc it would ordinarily rest xvlien not in use. The reciprocation of this loop xvithin the tube xvould readily remove, it is 20 easily seen, any adherent matters therefrom. ,

At the rear end of the tube or body 2 there should be one or more ledges or th reads, 9, for Hie securemcnt of a flexible pipe slipped thereover, so that the catheter may be trans25 formed into a syringe for the introduction in- i sic.'id of the removal of fluids.