US3369546A - Urine collector - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 20, 1968 G. E. HICKOK 3,369,546

' URINE COLLECTOR Filed March 1, 1965 INVENTOR. GEORGE E. H/cKoK A ORNEYS United States Patent 3,369,546 URINE COLLECTOR George E. Hickok, 3231 Monterey Blvd., Oakland, Calif. 94602 Filed Mar. 1, 1965, Ser. No. 436,094 2 Claims. (Cl. 128295) ABSTRACT 01? THE DISCLOSURE A urine collector for a male having a thin walled sheath portion communicating with a thicker walled transverse wall provided with an integral sleeve which may be attached to a tubular drain tube.

afflictions, it is possible for a person to be incontinent,

i.e., not to have control over when he discharges urine. In such an instance, means are desirably provided to collect urine from the person when it is discharged. One common way of now collecting urine from a male patient is to insert a catheter tube, which is in communication with a liquid waste container, into the urethra of the patient. Then, as urine is discharged from the patients bladder, it will run through the catheter tube into the waste container. Besides the insertion of such a catheter tube into the urethra of a patient being painful, the presence of the tube within the urethra often causes irritation and infection. For this reason, as well as other reasons, the use of a catheter tube to collect urine from a patient is not always satisfactory. Bags and hard rubber tubes strapped to a patient and into which the penis is inserted have also been used. However, such bags and tubes are cumbersome, have a tendency to develop leaks, and do not always properly maintain the patients penis therein. In addition, they are relatively expensive and, therefore, are generally used a plurality of times. This poses a sanitation problem.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved and simple device for collecting urine discharged from a male.

Another object of the invention is to provide a urine collector having a sheath adapted to grippingly fit about a penis.

A further object of the invention is to provide a urine collector which is lightweight and which is worn comfortably by a male.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a urine collector for a male which is easily applied to and maintained on the penis of such male without producing pain or causing infection.

One other object of the invention is to provide a urine collector for a penis which minimizes a possibility of urine leakage occurring.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a urine collector for a male which is economically made and readily disposable.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following description of the preferred form of the invention which is illustrated in the drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification. It is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by the said drawing and description may be adopted within the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

Referring to the drawing.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a urine collector of the invention as it appears when on a penis and in combination with a urine deposity means.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of the urine collector of FIGURE 1 depicting particulars as to its construction.

FIGURE 3 is an elevation view of the urine collector of FIGURE 1 before it is applied to a penis.

Generally, the urine collector of the invention comprises an elastic sheath adapted to fit on and grippingly engage a penis. The lower end of such sheath which is the end into which urine is to be discharged, has an elastic sleeve in communication therewith. This sleeve provides a connection means between the sheath and a tube leading to a liquid waste container or other depository for the urine.

More particularly, and with reference to FIGURES 1 and 2, it is seen that the urine collector 11 of the invention comprises a membranous tubular sheath 12 made of a suitable elastic material, such as rubber, a synthetic rubber or a plastic. Sheath 12 is adapted to receive a penis through its upper end and the diameter of such sheath is such that when it is on a penis it will be stretched to thereby grippingly engage such penis. Sheath 12 has a length of, e.g., 5 to 6 inches, to provide a substantially large surface area in contact with the penis to assure a firm engagement between the penis and the sheath to prevent such sheath from inadvertently being separated from the penis. It is to be appreciated that because of such large surface area contact between the penis and the sheath, relatively little elastic pressure from the sheath onto the penis is necessary to prevent such separation. Thus, the sheath can firmly grip the penis without applying undue pressure thereto.

A rim 14 is provided on the edge of the upper end 13 of sheath 12 to facilitate application of the sheath onto and removal thereof from a penis as will be hereinafter described in more detail. The lower end of the sheath has an inwardly tapering transversely extending wall 16 defining a urine drainge outlet 17 which is coaxial with the sheath. A drainage sleeve 18 for receiving one end of a urine guide tube 19 is formed integrally with wall 16 about and in communication with outlet 17. Thus, urine discharged from the penis impinges upon wall 16 and drains through outlet 17 into sleeve 18 whereat it flows into tube 19. Guide tube 19 can be of any suitable material such as a plastic and its other end suitably communicates with a urine depository such as a urine disposal means, or a liquid waste container such as flask 21.

FIGURE 2 depicts particularly advantageous features of urine collector 11. As shown therein the cylindrical elastic wall of the sheath 12 is relatively thin and, therefore, easily stretched. Thus, when the sheath is in a stretched condition on a penis such wall provides a tight fit without applying undue pressure on such penis.

As mentioned before, because of the large surface contact between the penis and sheath, just a slight pressure on the penis by the sheath is sufiicient to maintain the sheath properly on the penis. Further, because of the thinness of the cylindrical wall of the sheath, such wall can be stretched to a fairly large diameter without appreciably affecting the amount of pressure it will apply to a penis so stretching it. Therefore, because of its stretchability, one size of such a sheath can accommodate various sized penises and any change of size of an individual penis to which it is applied.

It is to be appreciated that the actual optimum thickness of the cylindrical wall of sheath 12 will depend on the material from which it is made. As an example, however, in an embodiment of the collector made of a vinyl Plastisol, it was found that a cylindrical wall thickness of .005 inch provided the desired engagement between the sheath and various sized penises without undue pressure being applied to such various penises.

Wall 16, the interior surface of which will be subjected to discharged urine, and sleeve 18 are of a thicker material. Because of this extra thickness of wall 16 and sleeve 18, the chances of a leak developing in a collector thereat are greatly minimized. Further, the extra thickness of sleeve 18 causes a relatively high contracting force to develop when it is stretched. Thus, with just slight stretching of such sleeve, a tight firm engagement between the sleeve and guide tube 19 will result to prevent such tube from being accidentially pulled from the sleeve. As an example of a suitable wall thickness for wall 16 and sleeve 18, if the collector is made from the vinyl Plastisol previously mentioned, such thickness can be 030 inch.

It is to be noted that the upper end portion 22 of sleeve 18 is of a less diameter than the remainder of such sleeve. Therefore, the sleeve canfirrnly grip various sized guide tubes 19. That is, guide tubes of various diameters can be inserted into the sleeve up to the contracted end portion 22 where they will be firmly gripped. This contracted portion 22 also prevents a guide tube from being inserted all the way through sleeve 18 into sheath 12 whereat it could strike the patient.

The provision of extra thickness of material at wall 16 and sleeve 18 provides another desirable advantage. Wall 16 and sleeve 18 thereby act. as a relatively rigid unitary structure. Thus, if tube 19 should inadvertently be forced upward toward the penis of the patient, sleeve 18 and wall 16 will move upward therewith, and wall 16, rather than tube 19, will first engage such penis. Thus, wall 16 and sleeve 18 act to cushion the force of the upward movement of tube 19. If tube 19 moves upward with suflicient force to overcome the cushioning provided by the relatively rigid structure of wall 16 and sleeve 18, such tube still will not contact the patient. More particularly, the contracted end portion of the sleeve will be between the patient and tube 19 and act as a cushion and prevent any sharp edges of the end of tube 19 from striking the patient.

The configuration of the urine collector of the invention as it is providedto the user is shown in FIGURE 3. More particularly, sheath 12 is rolled downward upon itself to form a roll 23. Because of this configuration, the urine collector can be easily applied to the penis of a patient. Roll 23 need only be brought into coaxial engagement with the penis and the sheath then rolled onto the penis to provide the configuration shown in FIGURE 1. As will be appreciated in this method. of applying the sheath, in contrast to other methods, it is not necessary to stretch the sheath to allow it to receive the penis. When the sheath is in the form of the roll 23, it is already in stretched condition and, therefore, when it is unrolled overv the penis it grippingly engages such penis.

To apply the collector to a tube 19, the tube is simply inserted into sleeve 18 until it engages and is firmly gripped by the contracted end portion 22.

The urinary collector is also easily removed from the penis. To so remove the collector, rim 14 at the upper end of the sheath can be contacted with the fingers and moved downward to again roll the sheath upon itself and then from the penis. While tube 19 is quite often dispensible and both the tube and collector can be thrown away after use, the tube can be separated from the collector if it is desired to save it by simply pulling it from sleeve 18. Then the collector can be disposed of suitably.

From the above it is seen that with the present inven tion effective collection of urine can be made without the necessity of any portion of the invention coming into contact with the urethra or other internal organs of the patient. Therefore, use of the present invention does not cause infection, irritation or pain. Further, because the collector of the invention is so easily applied to and removed from the patient, no special skills are required for'its use. Thus,

in contrast to catheter tubes, it can be used by laymen in the home or wherever desired.

It is also seen that the invention is easily made and economical. Therefore, for sanitation purposes, a change of collectors on a patient can be frequently made.-

What is claimed is:

1. A urine collector for a male comprising an elastic thin walled tubular sheath adapted to receive a penis through a first end thereof and elastically grip said penis over a substantial surface area thereof, a transversely ex-.

tending elastic wall at an opposite end of said tubular sheath defining a urineidischarge outlet, and an elastic urine drainage sleeve integrally formed with said wall in communication with and about said outlet, said elastic wall and said elastic sleeve havinga substantially thicker wall thickness than said tubular sheath, the distal end portion of said sleeve having a larger cross-sectional passage than the other end portion of the sleeve adjacent said transversely extending wall in the unstressed state of the collector, said sleeve including a transition portion connecting said distal end portion and said other end portion to constitute a distal end facing annular stop shoulder. means for preventing a drain tube that has an external diameter at least as large as the internal diameter of said References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,940,450 6/1960 Witt et al. 128-295 3,032,038 5/1962 Swinn 128-295 3,138,160 6/1964 Stoutenburgh l28-295 RlCI-LARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

C. F. ROSENBAUM, Examiner.

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