US835290A - Fluid-actuated vibrator. - Google Patents

Description

No. 835,290. PATBNTED NOV. 6, 1906. C. H. RICHWOD. FLUID ACTUATED VIBRATOR.

APPLIOATIOI FILED DEU. 7. 1905.

@raffor- UNITED STATES PATENT oEEroE.

No. 835,290.V

Specification of Letters Patent.

` Patented Nov. 6, 1906.

Application filed December 7, 1905. Serial No. 290.782.

.'l'o au whom it may con/cern..-

Be it known that I, CLARENCE H. RICH- WOOD a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fluid-Actuated Vibrators, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to mechanically-operated massaging-vibrators of the class in which a suitable plate or pad, commonly called an applicator, is employed to transmit vibratory pulsations to the skin or otherwise to the person in exceeding rapid succession; and the resent invention pertains more particular y. to the construction and operation of the automatic and manuallyapplied devices for producing in rapid succession such blows or vibrations.

One object of the invention is .to provide in a hand instrument of the class indicated an improved automatic pneumatically-operated comparatively heavy iston, the ra id reciprocations of which Wit in its cylindical casing imparts thereto, by reason of the considerable weight of said piston, correspondinglyrapid longitudinal vibrations of the casing and the applicator attached thereto.

Another object is the provision in an airoperated vibrator of the class indicated of improved means for regulating the vibrations in connection with the airexhaust opening, and a still'further object attained in conjunction with those above described is the cushioning of the holding knob or handle, whereby a minimum reactionary eect of the vibrator while running at high speed is perceptible at the hand of the operator.

`To these ends the invention consists in the combination or arrangement of parts and the constructions of certain of the parts, all substantially as hereinafter described, and set forth in the claims. A

Reference'is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is a sectional view taken longitudinally through the vibrator'. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, a considerable portion of the vibrator being broken out in section and showing the piston at the opposite end of its stroke from that shown in Fig. 1. Fi 3 is a transverse section taken on line 3 3, ig. 1

and Fig. ,4 is a section taken horizontally on the line 4 4, Fig. 1.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all of the views.

In the drawings, A represents the cylin drical casing of the vibrator, having the centrally-located piston-bore A extending longitudinally from end to end therethrough.

ing in a direction longitudinally of the casing A the handle-stud C, having the air-supply passage C', formed therein, and a corrugated end portion for the hose attachment with the air-compressor or other source of air-supply, the manner of attachment of this handlestud C. to head B being lby the screw-threaded joint C2, Fig. 1.

The left-hand end portion of casing A is of reduced diameter and is screw-threaded at b and receives thereon the applicator-supporting head D, a conical-shaped stud c, which projects longitudinally therefrom, being provided with the tapering hole d therein for the engagement of a tapered stud portion of.a suitable pad or applicator E, (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1,) or the vibrator may be in any suitable manner adapted for the reception of interchangeable applicators.

A piston F of a diameter to closely t the casing-bore A and of a length, for instance, about.twothirds that of the casing A has formed at each end portion thereof the angular-shaped conduits H and G. These conduits extend from accurately positioned openings in the piston sides to dischargeopenings in the piston ends, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and conduct the supplied fluid-pressure to end portions of the casing-bore A The side walls of the casing A, which are of substantial thickness, have extending longitudinally thereinto from the right-hand end thereof the air-inlet duct I and the oppositely-located air-outlet duct J.

A progeny-positioned connecting duct or passage provided in the head B and leading from the longitudinally-extending supply-passage C, has an opening G:2 connecting eeaeeo it with the'inlet-duct I of the casing A, `An j S abuts. A second spring T, somewhat outletassage li, formed in head B inline with t 1c above-described inlet-passage G', has a discharge-opening which is continued beyond the periphery of the head B in the threaded projection Bi. The opposite end portion of this passage li by means of the opening li communicates with the outlet-duct J in the casing.

At properly-spaced points in the casingbore A are inlet and outlet grooves M and M and N and' N', respectively, the inlet-connecting grooves M and M communicating with the inlet-duct I by the ports or openings lm and m', and the grooves N and N are conneoted with the duct for outlet by the openings n and 'n'. v

A screw-threaded cap O is provided on the threaded portion of the projection B2 of head Bi and has the exhaust-opening o formed in the side wall thereof at a point adjacent the outlet end portion of said. projection B2, whereby a slight screw adjustment ofthe cap 0 on the threaded projection B2 resultszin the diminishing or enlarging of the exhaustopening o more or less, according to the degree of covering of said opening o by the end. of the projectionB caused thereby. A helical: spring p inside of cap 0, which exerts a constant pressure on the engagingscrewthreads of the cap and the projectionB2 constitutes an efficient thread-locking device for. the prevention of any disturbance of the exhaust adjustment, as described, by the action of vibration.

A- knob-or handle Q', loosely located on the handle-stud' C between the head B and the portion. for hose connection thereon, comrises-in its construction means for protect-fmg the handof the operator from the tremulous jar of' the vibrator While in use. thisV end:I the knob-handle Q is made up ofA two round-edged. circular handieces. g g, whichl referably may be made ofp ber. hess two handpieces, which have aI centrally-formed' circular opening g therethrough are attached together and to-an inte ose guiding-disk Rl by screws r. The dis R has a centrally-formed circular opening -r of. somewhat smaller diameter thanthe handpiece openings g and. large enough topernnt ofits being easily slid' onto the handie-stud C, as shown in Fig. 1, and the portionof this disk surrounding its central opening forms an internal annular flange within. and intermediate of the length of the opening throughv thehandle.

In assembling the various parts constituting' this non-vibratory handle Q the handlestud C, being removed from the headi B, hasfirst lacedi thereon the short helical spring S, w 'ch abuts. against the shoulder C3,

formedzonhandle-studC. Theknob-handle Qf is thenplacedfon the handle-stud, beingguided; thereon by the disk R, against which spring hard rublonger than spring S, is next placed in position on the handle-stud, one end thereof being placed in contact with the opposite side of the flange forming portion of the guidingdisk R from the spring S. The spring S and a portion of the spring T are inclosed by the circular knob-handle openings g, as shown in said Fig. 1 of the drawings. The springs S and T and the interposed knob-handle Q having been positioned, as described, on the handle-stud C, the handle #stud is forced against the combined pressure of these springs into its screw threadedjoint connection (shown at C2) with the head B. The slight compression-of these springs Sand T, located on either side of the guide-plate'R of the knobhandle, serves to maintain saidhandle in its normal position and forms a yielding or cushioned support for the vibrator.

The operation of the vibrator is as follows: Assuming that the air or other motive fluidy from the air-compressor or other source of supply is about to be admitted to the vibrator with the piston in the position Within the casing-bore A', as shown inFig. 1, the course of saidA motive iuid'is through a flexible connecting pipe or hose (not shown) toandl into the handle-stud passage Ci and the-connecting-passages G and G2 in the head B and thence into theinlet-duct I. vFromthis duct I the motive fluid passes through the open- M from which it is taken through the anguing or port m into.fthe annular' `et-groove lar-shaped. piston-ducts H to the left-hand end, portion of the casing-bore A," and there being at this time no. outlet therefrom the piston F is forced toward the rightv and into the second terminal position, as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. At this time the motive fluid on the left-hand end of the piston F escapes through the now uncovered port-opening 'n' into the outlet-duct J and the connecting-passage K K, and o tolthe outer air. Simultaneously with this abovedescribed piston movement a certain percentage of the unexhausted fluidi that was not expelled from the right-hand end ofv casing-bore A becomes pocketed therein now by the closing of the outlet opening or ort a (see Fig. 2) and forms an air-cushion w `ch serves to check any further. travel of the piston toward the right. The next course the fluid from the inlet-duct I takes, as a, further reference to Fig. 2' indicates, is

lthrough the opening or port m and thel annular casing-groove M and thence through the angular-shaped piston-ducts G to the fright-hand end'portion of the casing-bore A', 1 which. causes the piston, F to then. move to the left and. into the first-described position,

as shown in the drawingsin Fig. 1.

Repe `'tions ofl the above-described cycles of the vibratoniston. are-made tooccur antomatically in t e manner specified so long IOO as the motive fluid is supplied to the vibrator, and the impacts or jars on the cushioned air caused by the checking of the iston in the successive strokes thereof pro uce the vibrations of the device as desired.

I clai'm- 1. In a vibrator, the combination of a casing, the wall of which is provided with an inlet-duct communicating with the bore of the casing by way of two annular groove-ports, an exhaust-duct in the casing-wall communicating with the bore of said casing by way of two annular groove-ports, a piston arranged for reciprocation in said casing and rovided Withpairs of passages formed in the body thereof, leading from the circumference and discharging from the ends of said piston, and adapted alternately to have communication with the annular groove-ports of the inlet-duct, and discharge motive fluid into the ends of the casing, a screw-cap having an exhaust-discharge passage, and means for varying the area of the discharge-passage, substantially as described.

2. In a vibrator of the class described, the combination with a cylinder having closureheads, annular inlet and exhaust grooveports formed in the wall of the cylinder-bore, and positioned in pairs longitudinally extending inlet and exhaust ducts formed in the cylinder-Walland having passages connecting with the annular inlet and exhaust groove ports respectively; inlet and exhaust passages formed in one of the cylinder-heads, having opening-passages therefrom connecting with the inlet `and exhaust cylinder-ducts; of' a reciprocatory piston endwise slidable in the cylinder-bore and having conduits formed in each end portion thereof, extending from positioned receiving-openings on the sides of the piston, to discharge-openings on the piston ends, whereby motive fluid from the said cylinder-inlet passages and annular inletgroove ports is conveyed through the pistonconduits at one end of the piston into one end portion of the cylinder-bore, causing the piston to move toward the other end of said bore, and the exhaust fluid from this latter end portion of the cylinder-bore to be simultaneously discharged through the oppositelylocated piston-conduits into the exhaust annular groove ports and passages of the cyl-l inder, whereby reciprocating movements of the said piston are made to'repeatedly occur as long as fluid-pressure is supplied thereto, thereby causing endwise jar to the piston-inclosing cylinder.

3. In a vibrator, the combination of a casing, a piston arranged in said casing, and means for admitting motive uid to reciprocate said piston, a handle-stud detachably screw-connected with saidcasing and provided with an abutment-shoulder, a handleknob having an opening therethrough whereby it may be fitted freely over said shoulder of the stud, provided with an annular member between its inner and outer sides forming an internal flange intermediately within the wall of said opening, a spiral spring interposed between said flange and said shoulder at one side of such flange, and another spiral spring between the casing and said internal flange at the other side of the latter.

' 4. In a vibrator, the combination of a casing, a piston arranged to reciprocate in said casing, a duct to admit motive fluid to said casing to reciprocate the piston, an exhaustduct, a screw-cap adjustably fitting about the exhaust-discharge, and .a spring combined with said screw-cap to prevent disturbance of the adjustment thereof with relation to the exhaust-discharge.

, 5. In a`vibrator, the combination of a casing, a piston arranged to reciprocate in said casing, motor inlet and exhaust ducts, a projection from the casing having a passage communicating with the exhaust-duct and an exhaust-discharge opening, a screw-cap adjustably fitting about 'said projection to vary the discharge-opening thereof, and a spring combined with said screw-cap to prevent disturbance of the adjustment thereof.

Signed by me at Springfield, Massachusetts, in presence of two subscribing vwitnesses.

CLARENCE H. RICI-IWOAOD.

Witnesses:

WM. S. BELLows, G. R. DRrsooLL.

Images