US2034388A - Appliance for the treatment of the larynx with ultra-violet rays - Google Patents

Description

March 17, 1936. CEMACH 2,034,388

APPLIANCE FOR THE TREATMENT OF THE LARYNX WITH ULTRA VIOLET RAYS Filed May 2, 1932 25 7 I I J 6% 1M M J Patented Mar. 17, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Alexander Cemach, Vienna, Austria I Application May 2, 1932, Serial No. 608,758 In Austria May 18, 1931 11 Claims. (01. 174-177) This invention relates to an appliance for the treatment of the larynx with ultra-violet rays. The hitherto known appliances for this purpose consist essentially of a casing, containing a mercury-vapour lamp and of a fiat ray-conducting tube adjoining the said casing. This tube is intended to be introduced into the patients larynx and thus to expose the part to be treated to the ultra-violet rays from the mercury-vapour lamp.

Since, with this typ'e'of construction, the rayconducting tube employed must be straight, it will be clear that the patients head must assume a particular position to permit of the introduction of the ray-conducting tube into the larynx. For

this purpose the patient is required to lie in a supine position on a table and to allow the head to hang down over the edge of this table. The patient is then held in this particularly uncomfortable position by the irradiating appliance itself, this latter being mounted upon a stand. Irradiating appliances of this nature are very complicated in construction and cumbersome in use. The most serious objection thereto, however, is the fact that the ultra-violet rays can never in actual fact reach all parts of the larynx to be irradiated. This statement applies more particularly to those parts which lie in the shadow thrown by the epiglottis.

There have been, proposed, appliances for the treatment of the larynx with ultra-violet rays in which a, curved quartz glass rod, or a light conducting member, consisting .of several arcuately curved closed quartz members, serve for conducting into the larynx the rays of a source of light held outside the mouth. Suchappliances have, however, the prohibitive drawback that the ultra-violet rays are largely absorbed in the long path which they must traverse through the quartz conductor, and it is not possible to conduct the rays to all sides of the larynx below the epiglottis.

The present invention relates to an appliance for the treatment of the larynx with the ultraviolet rays emitted by a mercury-vapour lamp in which the discharge space of the vapour lamp is provided within the end portion of a hollow body" which is made of material permeable to ultraviolet rays, and which is so dimensioned and curved that it can be introduced simply into the larynx in the manner of other instruments employed in the examination and treatment of the larynx. The end portion of the hollow member or body which emits the ultra-violet rays can be passed over the open epiglottis and brought into a position close up to the vocal cords, so that the ultra-violet rays can effectually reach all parts of the larynx, the more so since the efiective portion of the appliance is so movable within the larynx that the irradiating tip can always be brought into the most effective position. At the same time, the patient can assume a comfortable position, and the handling of the instrument by the physician is extremely simple.

I One form of appliances embodying the invention is illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanying drawing, in which: 10

Fig. 1 shows the appliance in side elevation.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the appliance, partly in section,

Fig. 4 is a rear view of the appliance, showing 15 the electric cable connection and the connections for the cooling circulation.

Referring to the drawing, the appliance consists essentially of a metallic sleeve I tightly adjoining one end of which there is a hollow body 2 20 which is curved crook-shaped and slightly tapered in towards its outer closed end. This hollow body 2 can consist in its entirety of material which is pervious to ultra-violet rays, such as, for example, quartz glass. In the interior of this hollow body 25 2 there is provided a U-shaped and beak-shaped bent tube 3 having suitable limbs (see also Fig.

,3) which is made of material pervious to ultra- U-shaped and beak-shaped tube 3, and the outer 35 ends of these lead-ins 5 are connected to the core conductors of the cable 6 by means of the terminals l which are screwed into a transverse member 8 in the metallic sleeve I. The cable 6 is taken out through a hole in the closing plug 9 40 ot the sleeve The interior of the hollow body 2 is closed off from the interior of the sleeve I by means of the transverse partition l0. Within the sleeve i there is provided a tube II which is introduced through a bore in the plug 9, and terminates in a bore in the partition l0. There is further pro-' vided a tube l2 which is likewise introduced through a hole in the plug 9, which traverses the partitions 8 and I0, and which projects into the interior of the hollow body 2. The tubes II and I2 can be madeof metal and are provided at their ends projecting from the plug 9 with connecting pieces I3 to which flexible tubes can be attached. The tube 12 is connected to a water l To start the lamp the current leads 5 are con- 4 nected to a current supply of suitably high voltage, and the appliance is so held by the handle 14 that the sharply curved portion 4 of the U- shaped tube 3 of the mercury-vapour lamp is directed downwards. The appliance is then so turned that the sharply curved portion of the U-shaped tube 3 is directed upwards, so that the mercury flows away from the sharply curved end portion into the two side limbs of the U-shaped tube. In this manner a gap is produced between the two columns of mercury, which gap can be so dimensioned by the correct determination of the quantity of mercury inserted in the U-tube that an arc-discharge is started between these two columns. The inherent pressure of the mercury vapour thus generated between the two.

mercury electrodes in the sharply curved end portion of the U-tube is sufficient to prevent the two columns of mercury from coalescing in the said end portion when the appliance is again turned with its pointed end downwards. When the arc-discharge has once been started in the described manner, the appliance can thus be rotated, turned, and tilted in any direction without causing the mercury electrodes to approach each other, and it is thus possible to maintain the arc in any position of the appliance, a feature necessary to enable the appliance to be introduced into the larynx.

The possibility of maintaining the arc-discharge at all positions of the appliance is ensured by the correct choice of the shape and dimensions of the discharge space of the lamp, so that the inherent pressure of the mercury vapour, when once ignition has been effected, shall be sufiicient to hold the two electrodes apart in all positions of the appliance. To this end the sharply curved end portion 4 of the U-tube 3 can be made of slightly narrower bore than the two side limbs of this tube, and that either throughout this portion or at certain points, and the constriction may even be such as to be of a capillary order, so that capillary resistance aids in preventing the mercury columns from coalescing. In order in this case to bring the mercury columns together and then to separate them at the start, as is necessary for the purpose of ignition, the appliance must be shaken or jarred in the manner usual with clinical thermometers to-bring down the mercury column.

It is advisable as a rule to restrict emission to the extreme outer end of the mercury-vapour lamp, and to this end it is possible to provide the hollow body 2 with an impermeable protective sleeve I5 or with an impermeable coating, leaving only the extreme tip 4 of the lamp free to emit rays. It would also be possible to make the greater part of the hollow body 2 of material impervious to ultra-violet rays and to fit a separate tip of pervious material atthe extreme end only.

With the employment of a mercury-vapo lamp consisting essentially of a U-tube the two electrodes can also be held apart by the insertion in the sharply bent portion of this tube of a certain quantity of gas, preferably of a rare gas which at the same time serves to allow of or even to facilitate the starting of the mercury arc. 7

It is further possible to dispose within the hollow body'Z mercury-vapour lamps of a different construction from that described, for instance a discharge vessel which is filled in a known manner with a rare gas, such as neon, and which contains at some one point a drop of mercury. A discharge vessel of this type must also comprise two separate electrodes one of which may take the form of a hot electrode, which is likewise in itself known. The discharge vessel can also be in the form of a U-tube of the type denoted by the reference number 3 in Figs. 2 and 3. 0n the starting of a discharge tube of this nature there first takes place a discharge in the rare gas, and this discharge vapourizes the drop of mercury, and thus gives rise to the emission of ultra-violet rays. A mercury-vapour lamp of this type also permits of any desired movement of the appliance without disturbance ofv its functioning.

In other respects also,

' ing and are connected with the current leads.

The appliance, when about to be put inoperation, is held substantially horizontally but somewhat inclined downwards so that the mercury the individual component parts of the appliance, for instance the cool-' ing arrangement, can be varied without depart fiows from the reservoirs into the U-tube and fully fills same. Thereupon the appliance is tilted upwards a small angle so that the mercury re- .cedes in the two shanks of the U-pipe and flows towards thereservoirs, whereby a light-arc results between the two columns of mercury. A

slight downward inclination of the forward end of the appliance thus sufllces to extinguish the arc, in that the mercury runs forward in the two shanks up to the tip of the U-tube where the two mercury columns contact with each other and a trifling upward tipping of the appliance suffices to separate the mercury columns and thus to produce the are.

poses, and-it is impossible to use such an ap-- pliance in which the mercury can flow unimpeded to and fro within the shank and the tip of the In order still further to reduce this tipping movement, it was also pro-- U-tube for irradiating the larynx, for which purpose it must be downwardly curved in a sharp curve in order to be able to introduce it into the Y larynx. In the absence of special precautions,

- the vertically-downwards-directed tip part of the U-tube would then always be filled with mercury and in this position an arc cannot be maintained. As above mentioned, it is indispensable in an sitions of the appliance, especially when the appliance for irradiating the larynx that the arc when once it is formed, is maintained in all podownwardly bent U-tube is introduced into the larynx. The mercury vapor lamp of such an appliance must thus when the arc is once formed, be quite insensitive to alterations of position to obtain the necessary stability of the lamp discharge. As compared with this, in the known lamp just described, value is attached to great sensitiveness, as the upward bending of the tip part of the U-tube has been done expressly for the purpose of reducing as .far as possible the angle about which the appliance must be tipped for the purpose of producing and extinguishing the tipping arc.

. I claim:

l. An'appliance for the treatment of the larynx behind the epiglottis with ultra-violet rays, comprising a hollow sleeve closed at one end and having electric current lead-ins mounted therein, a hollow body having an opened end which tightly adjoins the open end of said sleeve, said hollow body having such a shapely curved. beakbeing so shaped and dimensioned that the vapor pressure generated by the discharge in the yokelike portion of the tube is capable, in all positions of the appliance, of preventing liquid mercury contained within said tube from running together in the yoke-like portion of the latter when the arc discharge is once started.

2. An appliance such as described in claim 1, having a handle attached to said hollow sleeve whereby said appliance may be moved into any desirable position.

3. An appliance such as described in claim 1, having a handle pivotally attached to said hollow sleeve whereby said appliance may be moved into any desirable position.

4. An appliance for the treatment of the larynx behind the epiglottis with ultra-violet rays comprising a metallic hollow sleeve closed at one end, a hollow body having an open end which tightly adjoins the open end of said sleeve, said hollow body having such a shapely curved, beak-shaped tip portion composed of'a material transparent to ultra-violet rays that it is adaptable to be introduced into the larynx behind the open epiglottis without any harm and a hot U- shaped and beak-shaped mercury vapor arc discharge tube having a yoke-like portion arranged within the said tip portion of the hollow body for emitting the ultra-violet rays behind the open epiglottis, said are discharge tube also having two limbs connected with said yoke-like portion, said hollow sleeve having at least one partition mounted within the same for maintaining said discharge tube limbs in their proper position, said yoke-like portion having a smaller bore than the limbs of said tube, said tube being so shaped and dimensioned that the vapor pressure generated by the discharge in the yoke-likeportion of the tube is capable, in all positions of the appliance, of preventing liquid mercury contained in the two limbs of said tube from running together in the yoke-like portion of the latter when the arc discharge is once started.

5. An appliance for the treatment of the larynx behind the epiglottis with ultra-violet rays comprising a hollow sleeve closed at one end and having electric current lead-ins mounted therein, said hollow sleeve having at least one partition mounted therein for supporting said electric current lead-ins, a hollow body having an open end which tightly adjoins the open end of said sleeve, said hollow body having such a shapely curved, beak shaped tip portion composed of a material transparent to ultra-violet rays that it is adaptable to be introduced into the larynx behind the open epiglottis without any harm and a hot U-shaped and beak shaped mercury vapor arc discharge tube having'a yokelike portion arranged within the said tip portion of the hollow body for emitting the ultra violet rays behind the open epiglottis, said are discharge tube also having two limbs connected with said yoke-like portion, said yoke-like portion having a smaller bore than the remainder of said discharge tubes, said tube being soshaped and dimensioned that the; vapor pressure generated by the discharge in the yoke-like portion of the tube is capable, in all positions of the appliance, of preventing liquid mercury contained in the two limbs of said tube from running together in the yoke-like portion of the latter when the arc discharge is once started.

6. An appliance for the treatment'of the larynx behind the epiglottis with ultra-violet rays comprising a hollow sleeve closed at one end and having electric current lead-ins mounted therein, a hollow body having an open end which tightly adjoins the open end of said sleeve, said hollow body having such a shapely curved, beakshaped tip portion composed of a material transparent to ultra-violet rays that it is capable tovbe introduced into the larynx behind the open epiglottis without any harm, and a hot U-shaped and beak-shaped mercury vapor arc discharge tube having a yoke-like portion arranged with- -in the said tip portion of the hollow body for in the yoke-like portion of the tube is capable in all positions of the appliance of preventing liquid mercury contained in the two limbs of said tube from running together in the yokelike portion of the latter when the arc discharge is once started.

'1'. In an appliance such as described in claim 1 having cooling means comprising at least two tubes mounted within said hollow sleeve and extending at one end through the closed end of said hollow sleeve, said cooling tubes at their opposite ends projecting into said hollow body whereby a cooling medium in passing through said cooling tubes will cool said tip portion of the hollow body.

8. An appliance for the treatment of the lar- .ynx behind the epiglottis with ultra-violet rays.

I which tightly adjoins the open end of said sleeve,

said hollow body having such a shapely curved, beak-shaped tip portion composed of a material transparent to ultra-violet rays that it is adaptable to' be introduced into the larynx behind the open epiglottis without any harm and a hot U-shaped and beak-shaped mercury vapor arc discharge tube having a yoke-like portion arranged within said tip portion of the hollow body for emitting the ultra-violet rays behind the open epiglottis, said yoke-like portion having a smaller bore than the remainder of said discharge tube, said tube being so shaped and dimensioned that the vapor pressure generated by the discharge in the yoke-like portion of the tube is capable, in all positions of the appliance, of preventing liquid mercury contained within said tube from running together in the yokelike portion of the latter when the arc discharge is once.started, cooling means comprising at least two tubes mounted within said hollow sleeve and extending at one end through the closed end of said hollow sleeve, said cooling tubes at their opposite ends projecting into said hollow body whereby a cooling medium in passing through said cooling tubes will cool said tip portion of the hollow body, said hollow sleeve having at least one partition mounted therein, said partition closing said sleeve adjacent said hollow body-whereby the cooling medium is prevented from entering said hollow sleeve to thereby short-circuit the electric current lead-ins.

9. An appliance for the treatment of the larynx behind the epiglottis with ultra-violet rays, comprising a hollow sleeve closed at one end and having electric current lead-ins mounted therein, a hollow body having an opened end which tight- 1y adjoins the open end of said sleeve, said hollow body having such a shapely'curved, beak-shaped tip portion composed of a material transparent to ultra-violet rays that it is adaptable to be introduced into the larynx behind the open epiglottis without any harm, said hollow body being coated in part with an impermeable material to thereby limit the rays to emit from its extreme tip only, and. a hot U-shapedoand beakshaped mercury vapor arc discharge tube having a yoke-like portion arranged within said tip portion of the hollow body for emitting the ultraviolet rays behind the open epiglottis, said yokelike portion having a smaller bore than the remainder of said discharge tube, said tube being so shaped and dimensioned that the vapor pressure generated by the discharge in the yoke-like portion of the tube is capable, in all posltionsof the appliance, of preventing liquid mercury contained within said tube from rurming together in the yoke-like portion of the latter when the arc discharge. is once started.

having electric current lead-ins mounted therein,

a hollow body having an opened end which tightly adjoins the open end of said sleeve, saidhollow body having such ashapely curved, beakshaped tip portion composed of a material transparent to ultra-violet rays that it is adaptable to be introduced into the larynx behind the open epiglottis without any harm, said hollow body being provided with an impermeable protective sleeve to thereby limit the rays to emit from its extreme tip only, and a hot U-shaped and beakshaped mercury vapor arc discharge tube having a yoke-like portion arranged within said tip portion of the hollow body for emitting the ultraviolet rays behind the open epiglottis, said yokelike portion having a smaller bore than the remainderof .said discharge tube, said tube v.being so shaped and dimensioned that the vapor pressure generated by the discharge in the yoke-like portion of the tube is capable, in all positions of the appliance, of preventing liquid mercury contained within said tube from running together in the yoke-like portion of the latter when the arc discharge is once started.

11. An appliance for the treatment of thelarm comprising a hollow sleeve closed atone end and tached to said hollow body for emitting the ultraviolet rays behind the epiglottis, and a hot U- shaped and beak-shaped mercuryvapor are discharge tube having a yoke-like portion arranged within said tip portion of the hollow ,body for emitting the ultra-violet rays behind the open epiglottis, said yoke-like portion having a smaller bore than the remainder of said discharge tube, said tube being so shaped and dimensioned that the vapor pressure generated by the discharge in the yoke-like portion of the tube is capable, in all positions of the appliance, of preventing liquid mercury contained within said tube from running together in the yoke-like portion of the latter when the arc discharge is once started.

ALEXANDER CEMACH.

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