Untitled record

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Inventor:

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N. PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON,

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SILAS J. HOWELL, OF ORANGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 86,016, dated January 19, 1869.

IMPROVED INSTRUMENT FOR TREATING GUN-SHOT WOUNDS AND EXTRACTING BULLETS.

Th© Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part _of the «am»

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Silas J. Howell, of Orange, in tlie county of Franklin, and State of Massachusetts, have invented .a new and useful Improvement in Surgical Instruments; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same·, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to an instrument for extracting bullets, in the treatment of gun-shot wounds, and for other purposes; and consists in operating expansible lever-jaws by a rod sliding through a tube, and forced against a spring, as will be hereinafter more fully described.

Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section ofthe instrument.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of one of the jaws and side pieces detached.

. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding payts.

A is a tube, which is attached to a drum or cylinder, B, at the handle-end of the instrument, and terminates in a tapering piece, 0, at. the other end, to which tapering piece 0 the side pieces D are hinged.

F represents the jaws.

E is a rod, which works through the tube A.

The handle F is attached to one end of this rod, and

G is a screw fast to the rod, on which there is a wheel-nut·, H, which screws up against the cylinder B when it is designed to limit· the expansion of the jaws.

I is a piston or disk on the rod, which serves to compress the spiral spring J in the cylinder.B, when the rod is pressed down for expanding the jaws.

K represents finger-pieces for withdrawing the instrument.

On the end of the rod E there is a heart-shaped joint-piece, L, to which the jaws are hinged, as seen in the drawing.

The jaws.are also jointed to the side pieces D, at n n, and act as levers, with their fulcra at the pivots nn.

Jaws of different shapes may be used, as occasion may require, as for crushing stone in the bladder, removing pieces of bone, and for other purposes.

For extracting bullets, the jaws are made hooking and pointed, as seen in the drawing.

It will be seen that the spring J acts upon the long end ofthe lever-jaws, so as to gripe the ball, and hold it while it is being withdrawn.

Forcing the rod through the tube expands the jaws and side pieces, while the action of the spring J tends to contract them, as seen in the drawing.

P represents the cap of the cylinder B, which screws on. By taking off this cap, and removing the screws forming the joint at the other end of the instrument, the instrument may be taken to pieces.

The side pieces D are curved so as to close over the joint-pieces L, when the jaws are closed, and also recessed out, as indicated in fig. 2, for receiving the long ends ofthe lever-jaws, so that when closed, the instrument presents a smooth and even surface, and may readily be inserted into a wound, without at all lacerating the flesh. When thus inserted into a wound, and the jaws are expanded, (when the instrument touches the ball,) by pressing in the rod as before stated, the tension of the spring will cause the ball to be firmly· griped by the jaws, when the instrument, with the ball, is readily withdrawn by drawing upon the fingerpieces K. . '