US594865A - Fracture apparatus - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) v `D.Bolurlvm. FRAGTURE APPARA'IUSL No. 594.865. Patented Deo. 7j, 1897.

UNITED STATES DAvID EORTNEY,

PATENT OFFICE.-

or oTHo, IowA.

FRACTU RE APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters Patent N 0. 594,865, dated December 7, 1897.

Application tiled May 29, 1897. Serial No. 638,829. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID FORTNEY, a citizen of the United States of America, and av and illustrated by the accompanying drawing. y

In the construction of the device as shown the numeral 11 designates a horizontal footpiece integral with an ankle-piece 12. The upper end thereof is broadened and flattened and is inserted between the-arms or faces of a bifurcated lower end portion of a shankpiece 111 and pivoted thereto by means of a pin 15. The upper end portion of the ankle-l piece 14 is extended to a plane coincident with the knee-joint of the wearer and is broadened, flattened, and inserted between thefaces of arms of a bifurcated lower end portion of the thigh-piece 16 and pivoted thereto by means of a pin 17. The axes of the pins 15 and 17 are parallel and are respectively in alinement with the axes of the knee and ankle of the wearer when in use. The upper end portion of the thigh-piece 16 is round and has a screwthreaded extension lgand a ratchet-face on its top. A jointed curved brace has an enlargement 18f at one end, provided with acentral bore or eye to admit the extension 18%, and a ratchet-face on its under side. A nut 19 is placed on top of the extension 163g.

To facilitate the adjustment of the device on a person at intervals of time, as required, to straighten crooked feet or crooked legs, the nut on the vertical extension at the top i of the thigh-piece 16 can be readily relaxed and the plate or brace 18 changed in position, as required, to increase or diminish pressure. The brace 18, provided with a joint, allows up-and-down iiexion thereof to accommodate itself to motions of the body of the wearer. By means of the nut on the screw-threaded end of the extension 16e the ratchet-faces of the brace and the thigh-piece are readily pressed together and rigidly locked. It is -therefore obvious that the thigh-piece 16 and the plate 18 may be readily adjusted relative to each other and the body and limb of a person, as required, to draw a foot or limb inward or outward by torsional pressure of the device and that such pressure can be readily regulated, as required, to gradually effect the purpose for which the device is designed.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a device for supporting and straightening the feet and legs of a person, a plate adapted in form to engage the person above the thigh and provided with an eye at one end and a ratchet-face at the bottom of the eye, in combination with the top of a jointed brace adapted to extend upward over the thigh and provided with an extension to enter said eye and a ratchet-face to engage the ratchet-face at the bottom of the eye, and a nut fitted to the screw-threaded top end of the said extension, as and for the purposes stated.

2. A devicefor supporting and straightening feet and legs comprising a plate having an eye at one end and a ratchet-face at the bottom of the eye, a thigh-piece having an extension at its top to enter said eye and a ratchet-face to'engage the ratchet-face of the eye, a nut fitted to the screw-threaded end of said extension, a shank-piece pivoted at its upper end to said thigh-piece, an ankle-piece pivoted at its -upper end to the lower end of the shank-piece and provided with a rightangled projection at its lower end and means for attaching the device to the body and leg of a person, as and for the purposes stated.

DAVID FORTN EY.

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