Appeal No. 95-3184
Application 07/981,910
treating a patient by vibrating a column of gas which is in
communication with his airway” (column 1, lines 15 through 17).
This treatment is said to exercise and massage the airway and
associated organs, to loosen and remove mucous therefrom, and to
cause the gas to diffuse more rapidly within the airway (see
column 1, lines 51 through 57). As explained by Emerson,
[t]he method and apparatus of the present
invention may be used to vibrate a column of gas during
both the period of a patient’s inhalation and the
period of his exhalation or during either of said
periods. The column of gas which is vibrated may be
under positive, negative or atmospheric pressures and
it may be either static or in motion inwardly or
outwardly of his airway and such motion may be created
by his own natural breathing or by the application of
positive or negative pressures to the column [column 1,
lines 31 through 40].
In essence, the apparatus consists of a face mask A, a pump C, a
line, including tube 17 and conduit 11b, for connecting the face
mask to the input or output side 42, 43 of the pump, and a
vibrating device B. The vibrating device
comprises [a] chamber 25 having a movable wall or
diaphragm 26 made of rubberized fabric or other air
impervious flexible material and which when moved
upwardly and downwardly varies the volume of the
chamber and the pressure of the air therein. The
chamber 25 opens into the tube 17 through the passage
21 and as the volume of the chamber is varied
vibrations or pulsations are created in the gas in the
tube 17 causing the gas to move first in one direction
and then in the opposite direction. These vibrations
are transmitted to the column of gas in the conduit 11b
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Last modified: November 3, 2007