Patent Application
20070185428
1. Field of the Invention
The current compression bandages that are employed to give first aid to trauma wounds are sometimes difficult to adequately tighten securely over the wound. For wounds that are aggressively bleeding, an increase in compression over the wound site is necessary.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Some past tightening devices that are attached to trauma bandages do not allow a sufficiently large force to be placed on the tightening device to stop arterial bleeding. In addition, some past bandages needed hand tied knots to fasten the bandage to the wound, resulting in loosening of the bandage on the trauma.
A solution to the need for the problem of hand tied knots was the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 6,593,508 issued to the current inventor, Robert H. Harder on Jul. 15, 2003 with a divisional of that patent issued Jul. 13, 2004 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,762,338 (hereinafter “the Harder patents”). The Harder patents disclose the structure and method of use of a compression bandage having an S-hook as a tightening means. The passing of the elastic bandage through the open end of the S-hook provides compression on the wound located under the S-hook. While this works extremely well, it is desirable to be able to increase the amount of pressure applied to wounds, particularly arterial bleeding wounds.
The compression bandage with an H-anchor tightening means is based on the use of a elastic bandage roll that has a absorbent pad attached near one end, each end of the elastic roll having male Velcro® strips (the trademark for one type of hook and loop fastener system having the male or micro-hook characteristics) to allow closure, in the initial and final application, and an H-shaped anchor attached through both the elastic roll and the absorbent pad attached thereto. The application of the absorbent pad to a trauma seals that wound, and the initial Velcro® strip allows placement of the pad on the wound and retention even if done one-handed.
The elastic roll, after wrapping once around the extremity, is engaged around one leg of the H-anchor sewn into the elastic bandage and absorbent pad. The elastic is then pulled tight and passed around the extremity and is engaged around the other leg of the H-anchor. The elastic bandage is then doubled back on itself again and pulled tight against the H-anchor to give compression to the pad and the wound. Thus each vertical leg of the H is engaged with the elastic bandage pulling on it from both sides of the wound (instead of only one side as in the case of the patented S-hook embodiment. The elastic strip is then stretched and wound around the wound, with the Velcro® strip at the end used to finish fasten.
This invention allows an individual to place a bandage on a wound and, with one hand if necessary, put a higher degree of compression on the wound, easily fastening and securing the bandage.
A better understanding of the invention will be had by reference to the following drawings in which:
The present invention, an elastic bandage, comprises a strip of material 10 in the form of a roll, preferably at least 3″ to 6″ in width, and 48″ to 60″ long. At each end of the material male Velcro® strips 12, 14 are fastened. Near one end of the elastic roll (the ends of the material are defined as the near end and the far end), a high absorbent pad 16, in a preferred embodiment at least 5″×8,″ is attached. In one embodiment, shown in
After the pad 16 is located over the wound, the elastic roll is wrapped once around the extremity. The use of the Velcro® strips allows ease of initially holding the pad over the wound site and permits single-handed operation (important for severe wounds in which assistance is not readily available). The Velcro® strip 12 located at the near end of the material may be located on the same side of the material as the H-anchor 18 and initially secures the bandage as the material is initially wrapped around the extremity, with the hooks in the male Velcro® strip engaging the bandage material 10 to temporarily hold the bandage in place as shown in
The elastic bandage is then passed around one leg of the H-anchor 18 as shown in
However, as shown in
The remaining material is wound over the wound as shown in
Alternately, or in conjunction with the far end Velcro® strip 14, a barrette clip 20 can be sewn into the far end of the material as shown in
In one embodiment of the present invention, the H-anchor is made of a high strength, low weight plastic which may include fiber reinforcement, although other materials may be advantageously employed. In one embodiment, the bandage may be sterilized and vacuum packed in a protective plastic casing so as to minimize the necessary storage space.
