Specification of William Fitkin : instruments for extracting teeth.

  • Fitkin, William.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of William Fitkin : instruments for extracting teeth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Fitkin’s Improvements in Instruments for Extracting Teeth._ and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent. E0W KNOW YE, that I, the said William Pitkin, do hereby declare 5 the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:— My apparatus consists of two separate portions, instruments, or appliances, 10 which, when put to use, are employed in conjunction or combination, each has a handle or end conveniently formed for holding and using it. One of these instruments or appliances, which I call the “ fulcrum instrument, is constructed with a part or surface, herein-after called “ rest piece’ (intended to bear or rest against the gum or jaw of the patient), and also with a curved 15 or bent arm, or what I call “ bridge piece” or “ arch,” which is so shaped that when the rest piece is applied against the gum, this bridge piece or arch passes over the tooth, and affords a fulcrum or bearing point for the second instrument or elevator to rest and work upon at the opposite side of the gum to that against which the rest piece is applied. The stem or body, the rest 20 piece, and the bridge piece or arch of the first appliance are in one piece, or in rigid connection, or so contrived as to afford a firm and steady bearing, rest, or fulcrum for the second appliance. The second instrument (or “ elevator,. ) is serrated or otherwise conveniently formed at one end for acting directly upon the tooth in the operation of extraction, and is also conveniently con- 25 trived for resting on the bridge piece or arch, for which purpose I prefer to shape it with an orifice near the end, by which it is passed over the end of the bridge piece. The compound instrument is generally applied by so placing the first or 46 fulcrum instrument” that the rest piece may bear, rest, or press against * the gum on one side or surface thereof, and the elevator is rested on the 30 bridge piece or arch at the opposite side, and works thereon as a lever on its fulcrum, and thus acts upon the tooth; in fact, both appliances or instru¬ ments may be worked as levers in some cases, the handles being moved in antagonistic or opposite directions. The first or fulcrum instrument may be said to be formed with two fulcra, one being the rest piece and the other the 35 place of contact with the elevator or second appliance. Instead of the two instruments which constitute my apparatus being separate or detached, as above described, I sometimes modify the contrivance by jointing, connecting, or attaching them together, their arrangement being in other respects similar to what has before been stated.