US3512185A - Urinary collection device - Google Patents

Description

May 19, 1970 C J. P. ELLIS 3,512,185

URINARY COLLECTION DEVICE Filed Nov. 9, 1967 IN VEN TOR.

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United States Patent O 3,512,185 URINARY COLLECTION DEVICE Jacob P. Ellis, 1705 W. Cedar, El Dorado, Ark. 71730 Filed Nov. 9, 1967, Ser. No. 681,657 Int. Cl. A61g 9/00; A61f 5/44 U. S. Cl. 4-110 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of invention The invention relates to the art wherein devices are designed to be worn by or applied to a person to receive the urine of the user. Said inventive device is impressed against the vaginal introitus and may be used by either ambulatory or bedridden females who have the need to control or directurine discharges when it isimpractical or impossible touse a common urinal. Said device may also be used by bedridden females who are continent of urine, but who normally require assistance byothers in being placed upon a bed pan or similar apparatus in order to accomplish urinarydischarge collection.

Description of prior art Various devices are known to the public to assist in urination for bedridden female patients who are not incontinent but who are bedfast, orto provide for a personalized device for patients who are ambulatory but to the patient. Also, the Williams device appears to have the limitation of requiring an intravaginal external urethral meatus for efiicient operation. It would appear that an external urethral meatus located superior to the vaginal introitus would cause urine to be spilled around the device rather than through it.

Pat. 3,072,125 to OBrien discloses a device which is applied peripheral to or exteriorly to the labia majora. It requires that a steel spring be inserted into the body opening thereby reforming such opening. On the other hand, the present invention does not require the intrusion of any object into the vaginal orifice or vault. The U- shaped guards are impressed against the vaginal orifice to produce indentation or. slight invagination of the introitus. In addition, this device has an air vent located ice:

exteriorly to the body which may be unbecoming, espe cially to an ambulatory patient.

Pat. 3,227,162 to Aguirre discloses a simple urine receiver device for a female child. This device follows the outward form of the area adjacent to the vulva. While this device is simple and practical, urine can stain the ambient cutaneous parts and cause irritation or infection. Said device also appears to have limited application to young female children.

The present invention is small, inexpensive, nonirritating and it operates on an entirely new principle. The invention is impressed against the vaginal orifice, not into it, and the labia minora enfold the device in such a manner as to make it inconspicious while revealing enough of the device to make it easy to handle and drain. The principle which the invention utilizes is based upon two observations. First, the female external urethral meatus, most frequently located inferiorly to the clitoris and superiorly to the vaginal introitus, is often located intravaginally. Second, voided urine in supine position tra-' verses into the introitus or, in cases of intravaginal urethra meatus, actually emits from the vaginal orifices. From these observations, it becomes apparent that the vaginal mucosa is impervious to urine. The inventor has taken advantage of these facts to invent a device which can be impressed into the vaginal introitus to produce a urine pool. Because of the unique structure of the in-. vention this pool can be easily and efliciently drained, thereby releasing the patient from anxieties and em- .barrassment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A method of collecting urine in the introital and distal vaginal areas and channeling the urine to receptacles is disclosed. Also disclosed is a urinary collection means to collect urine in the introital and distal vaginal areas and channel it away, said means including a forward lip normally fitting below the clitoris, U-shaped guards capable of being impressed against the introitus, a hollow .body to collect urine, portions of said body capable of being enfolded by the labia minora when in position, and a runoff spout to funnel the urine to a depository.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the viscera of a female showing the invention enfolded by the labia minora and impressed against the vaginal introitus;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the inventive device;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the inventive device;

and 1 FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the invention across line 4-4 in FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 3 minora are in proximate contact with the sides and front of the device 10. A drain tube 34 fits tightly over the runoff spout or second opening 32 of the device 10.

FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, illustrate a closeup of one design of the device. The device shown is generally hollow and has a single opening or elongated first opening which is shown in three parts 38(a) (b) and (c). 38(a) opens to the urethral meatus 12, 38(b) is smaller and may be characterized as a channel between inverted U-Shaped guards 40(a) and (13).

These guards extend upward from the top edge 42 of the device and, by being impressed against the vaginal orifice, produce a pooling of urine at the vaginal orifice for the effective channeling of urine into the hollow body of the device. A third section 38(0) extends rearwardly to cover adjacent areas so as to trap all urine flow or leakage and prevent its spillage onto cutaneous parts.

While it will be well understood that various modifications of the device are possible, the preferred configuration may be described as follows. The size of the device will vary according to the user. The drawings disclose a full scale representative device. The guards 40(a) (b) are slightly rounded at the top and slope concavely outward to a ridge-line 44. The rounded edges 41 and 43 of the openings 38(a) and respectively pick up and follow the slope of guards 40 away from rounded edge 42 of opening 38(b). Directly beneath the opening 38(a) is a hollow rounded well which curves inwardly from the ridge line 44 and the front edge of the device. This well continues rearwardly to form a collecting chamber 46. Said chamber is drained by means of the runofl? spout 32 located at the back of the device. The design of the spout is such that it will drain when the user is either erect or supine. Obviously, modifications can be made to adapt the device to drain when the patient is in a prone position.

An extending lip 48 is located below the chamber 46. Said lip acts as a linger grip plate to enable the device to be easily placed by a person applying it to herself or by another applying it to the female patient.

Because of the size and configuration of the vulva in the average adult female the device may be easily placed so that the upper portions are enfolded by labia minora. Modifications of the illustrated device would make it adaptable to female children and young adults.

The method of placement does not cause the device to be retained in a fixed positon. Fixation of the position is dependent upon appropriate external strapping. Because of the personal nature of the enveloping fit of the device, conventional elastic belts or modifications of conventiOnal sanitary napkin straps may be used, to eliminate bulky external evidence of the device. Of course, provision must be made to collect the runoff waste, but by utilizing specially designed rubber or elastic collection urinals for ambulatory users, the user may carry on her normal daily routine. 7

The composition of the device can vary with its particular purpose. For instance, rigid plastic has been found to be preferred for bedridden patients, but other softer, resilient material may be utilized. The simplicity of the device adapts it to inexpensive construction which may enable the device to be employed as a disposable item. In any case, because of the ease in placing and removing the device, a nondisposable one can easily be sterilized. Because the device is located within the folds of the labia minora, the dangers of cutaneous injury are minimized.

While the device is impressed against the vaginal orifice with the labia minora in proximate position, leakage around the device is minimized or eliminated entirely. The U-shaped guards 40 (a) (b) provide a channel in the vaginal introitus to direct the urinary stream or leakage into the collecting chamber 46. The force of the stream and gravitational flow of the urine will carry it downward and backward through spout 32, into the tube 34.

By impressment against the vaginal introitus, the U- shaped guards create a pocket or pool where urine can collect or pool until sufficient urine has collected to flow. Such a collection of urine is subsequently directed into and through the device and into a collecting chamber. This pool is located mainly at or near the vaginal orifice but could cover the entire urogenital cleft area. The need to provide means of urinary drainage from the introitus as well as the urethral meatus arises from the two observations previously stated that: (1) the female external urethral meatus, which is most frequently located in= feriorly to the clitorius and superiorly to the vaginal introitus, is often located intravaginally; and (2) when the female is in the supine position, voided urine traverses the introitus or, in cases of an intravaginal urethral meatus, it emits from the vaginal orifice.

The pooling of urine in the introitus and distal vaginal areas does not harm or cause irritation to these tissues because vaginal mucosa appears impervious to urine. The device allows the urine to flow by gravity or by the force of the urinary stream into the device, to be funneled away to a receptacle. Thus it can be understood that regardless of the point of urine discharge, the device causes the urine to pool in the introital and distal vaginal areas, so that it may be directionally funneled from the body, with the labia minora substantially enfolding the device.

I claim:

1. A urinary collection device for women comprising:

a generally elongated hollow body of a size and configuration to be substantially enfolded by the labia minora of the user,

an elongated first opening formed through a top wall of said hollow body for receiving voided fluids, said first opening having (a) a forward aperture portion adapted to receive voided fluids from the area of the urethral meatus when the device is operatively positioned, (b) a relatively narrow intermediate aperture portion adapted to receive voided fiuids from the area of the introitus when the device is operatively positioned, and (c) a rearward aperture portion adapted to receive voided fluids from ambient introital areas when the device is operatively positioned,

at least two upwardly extending U-shaped projections formed on said hollow body for being impressed against the vaginal orifice or introitus when the device is operatively positioned, said upwardly extending U-shaped projections being arranged with at least one such U-shaped projection positioned on each side of said relatively narrow intermediate aperture portion so that when the device is operatively positioned with said U-shaped projections impressed against the vaginal orifice or introitus there is formed a pool area which assists in directing a flow of voided fluids into a collection chamber of said hollow body, and a second opening formed through a lower wall of said hollow body for draining voided fluids away from the collection chamber of said hollow body.

2. A urinary collection device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said second opening is a single, open nozzle-like projection extending downward and rearwardly from said collection chamber so as to allow drainage thereof.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein said elongated first opening is generally hourglass shaped in plan view.

4. A urinary collection device as claimed in claim 2 wherein the edges of said first opening are rounded.

5. A urinary collection device as claimed in claim 4 wherein said U-shaped projections slope generally inwardly and upwardly from marginal edges of the first opening.

6. A urinary collection device as claimed in claim 5 wherein said body slopes outwardly and downwardly from the edges of said first opening to form a rounded ridge from the forward lip of said first opening which extends along the length of said first opening, and then slopes downwardly and inwardly from said rounded ridge to form said collection chamber.

7. A urinary collection device as claimed in claim 6 wherein said body has a projection beneath said collection chamber whereby said device may be grasped for purposes of insertion and removal.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Behan 4110 Wells 4-110 Williams 128---295 Kinyon 4-110 Felts 41 10 Siegenthal 4-110 OBrien 128-295 Bauman 4-110 6 Giesy 4110 Naftolin 41 10 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain. Great Britain. Great Britain. Great Britain. France. France.

LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner D. B. MASSENBERG, Assistant Examiner

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