A sweat collection capsule permitting quantitative collection of sweat is described. The device consists of a frame held immobile on the skin, a closure secured to the frame and absorbent material located next to the skin in a cavity formed by the frame and the closure. The absorbent material may be removed from the device by removing the closure from the frame while the frame is held immobile on the skin

Delaplaine, R. W.

Greenleaf, J. E.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

United States Patent [I91 11 11 4,190,060 
Greenleaf et a)l. r451 Feb. 26, 1980 
[54] SWEAT COLLECTION CAPWLE 
[75] Inventors: John E. Greenleaf, Sunnyvale; 
Robert W. Delaplaine, Woodside, 
both of Calif. 
[73] Assignee: The United States of America as 
represented by the Administrator of 
the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration, Washington, D.C. 
I 
[21] Appl. NO.: 897,828 
[22] Filed: Apr. 19, 1978 
[51] Int. (3.2 .............................................. A61B 10/00 
[52] U.S. Cl. ..................................... 128/760; 128/275 
E581 Field of Search ............... 128/2 F, 280, 2 E, 2 H, 
128/2 W, 2 R, 293, 172.1, DIG. 15 
~561 References Cited 
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 
2,924,219 2/1960 Wershaw ............................. 128/260 
3,289,671 12/1966 Troutman ......................... 128A72.1 
4,026,290 5/1977 Brooker et al. ...................... 128/260 
4,036,229 7/1977 Marinello ............................. 128/268 
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 
195034 6/1967 U.S.S.R. .................................. 128/2R 
249546 12/1969 U.S.S.R. .................................. 128/2R 
Primary Examiner-Robert W. Michell 
Assistant Examiner-J. L. Kruter 
Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Armand McMillan; John R. 
Manning; Darrell G. Brekke 
1571 ABSTRACT 
Sweat collection capsule permitting quantitative collec- 
tion of sweat, comprising a frame held immobile on the 
skin, a closure secured to the frame and absorbent mate- 
rial located next to the skin in a cavity formed by the 
frame and the closure. The absorbent material may be 
removed from the device by removing the closure from 
the frame while the frame is held immobile on the skin. 
4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19810021225 2020-03-21T09:43:28+00:00Z
U.S. Patent Feb. 26,1980 Sheet 1 of 3 4,190,060 
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FIG. I 
U S .  Patent Feb. 26, 1980 Sheet 2 of 3 4,190,060 
FIG. 2 
U.S. Patent Feb, 26,1980 Sheet 3 of 3 4,190,060 
FIG. 3 
4,190,060 
1 
SWEAT COLLECTION CAPSULE 
ORIGIN 
The invention described herein was made by employ- 
ees of the United States Government and may be manu- 
factured and used by or for the Government for govern- 
mental purposes without the payment of any royalties 
thereon or therefor. 
THE PRIOR ART 
Human sweat collection has been of interest in sev- 
eral diverse contexts. The athlete is served by a device 
which permits an absorbent towel to be affixed to his 
arm. The towel is thus immediately available to absorb l5 
sweat generated during a game (British Pat. No. 
476,063). The interests of the over-weight person may 
be aided by an airtight elastic material which is wound 
around the body allegedly preventing evaporation of 
Where the end objective in the sweat collecting pro- 
cess is quantitative recovery of the sweat, it has been 
taught that a device which prevents evaporation of the 
sweat and provides a means for absorbing the sweat is 
required (U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,671). The prior art 25 
method suggests satisfying these requirements by secur- 
ing an inverted watch glass containing an absorbent 
material over the area of skin from which the sweat is to 
be collected. 
tive sweat collection is that the watch glass must be 
lifted from the skin, at least in part, in order to allow 
10 
sweat and causing weight reduction. 20 
The shortcoming of this prior art method of quantita- 30 
recovery of the absorbent m a t e d  contained thereun- 
der. When one is interested in repeated recoveries and 
replacements of the absorbent material used to collect 
the sweat, this method is unsatisfactory since error may 
be introduced through movement of the watch glass. 
The present invention provides an improved device 
to be used in the quantitative collection of human sweat. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The sweat collecting capsule of the present invention 
consists essentially of a frame which is held immobile on 
the surface of the skin and a removable closure which is 
secured to the frame in an airtight manner. An abosrb- 
ent material is located next to the skin in a cavity cre- 
ated by the frame and the closure. The improvement in 
sweat collecting that this invention teaches is that the 
absorbent material may be recovered by removing the 
closure of the capsule from the frame while the frame 
remains in place on the skin. 
DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
The present invention, along with its method of use, 
can be best understood by referring to the accompany 
drawings in which: 
FIG. 1 illustrates a preferred form of the sweat col- 
lection capsule as applied to a human subject’s skin; 
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a preferred from of the 
sweat collection capsule; 
FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of a preferred form of 
the sweat collection capsule. 
The preferred embodiment of the sweat collection 
capsule comprises a frame 1 with a closure 9. The clo- 
sure 9 is shown in exploded view in FIG. 2, and assem- 
bled and secured to the frame 1 in FIG. 3. In the present 
embodiment of the invention as shown in FIG. 1, frame 
1 with closure 9 mounted thereon is held immobile and 
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airtight against the human subject’s skin by means of 
Velcro straps 6 attached to each side of the frame with 
the aid of staples 11 that are permanently affixed to the 
frame 1. 
In the preferred embodiment depicted in the draw- 
ings, the closure 9 comprises a base plate 2, an O-ring 3, 
a cover plate 4 and a locking device 5. Base plate 2 is 
provided with a rod 10 protruding perpendicularly 
from its center. This rod 10 is helically ribbed in the 
preferred embodiment. O-ring 3 which is placed on the 
rod side of the base plate is resilent in nature and may be 
made of rubber or other elastomeric material. Centrally 
perforated cover plate 4 is then placed on top of the 
base plate and the O-ring. Locking device 5, which is 
the preferred embodiment comprising an internal 
screw, is tightened upon the rod 10 of base plate 2 as 
illustrated in FIG. 3. The tightening of the locking 
device 5 causes the cover plate 4 and the base plate 2 to 
be forced together. The pressure of the cover plate 4 
and the base plate 2 on the sides of the O-ring 3 causes 
the O-ring to extend beyond the base plate and engage 
the frame in an airtight manner. It may also be desirable 
to provide an adjusting band 12, as shown in FIG. 3, to 
occupy the space between the surface of the base plate 
and the O-ring so that when pressure is exerted as de- 
scribed above the O-ring may only extrude in the direc- 
tion of the frame. 
Frame 1 and closure 9 when assembled provide a 
cavity to hold the absorbent material 8 that is the means 
for absorbing the sweat from the skin. Low-electrolyte 
Whatman No. 541 filter paper is a preferred material for 
this purpose as it does not interfere with analysis of the 
various sweat components. 
The sweat collection capsule allows for recovery of 
the absorbent material by removal of the closure while 
the frame is secured next to the skin rather than by 
displacement of the entire capsule. The usefulness of a 
device comprising such a removable frame and immobi- 
lized frame may be illustrated as follows. The remov- 
able closure characteristic may be useful when one 
wishes to collect the sweat generated by the skin over 
an extended period of time. It provides a means for 
regular removal and replacement of the sweat absorb- 
ing material as it reaches saturation. Further, when it is 
desirable to measure the number of sweat glands which 
produced the quantity of sweat collected, the closure 
may be removed while the frame remains in place on 
the skin clearly defining the area of skin from which the 
sweat was collected. The number of active sweat glands 
within that area may then be counted, for example, by 
painting the skin with tincture of iodine and the placing 
of a piece of paper with high starch content over area. 
The sweat produced by active sweat glands will cause a 
reaction between the iodine and starch leaving purple 
spots in the paper opposite each sweat gland. 
Having described this invention in terms of the em- 
bodiments shown in the drawings, it remains under- 
stood that the invention is not limited by any of the 
details of description unless otherwise specified, but 
rather is to be construed broadly within the spirit and 
the scope of the following claims. 
What is claimed is: 
1. A capsule for collecting sweat from the skin of a 
(a) a frame; 
(b) a removable closure adapted to mount on the 
frame and which, when mounted, leaves a cavity 
human subject, which comprises: 
4.190.060 
3 
on one side of the frame; said closure comprising 
(1) a circular base plate adapted to fit within the 
frame and having a rod protruding perpendicularly 
from its center; (2) an O-ring for placement on the 
rod side of the base plate; (3) a cover plate for 
placement on top of the O-ring and the base place, 
said cover plate being centrally perforated to ac- 
commodate the rod of the base plate; and (4) a 
locking device operable to engage the rod of the 
base plate in such a way as to cause the O-ring to 
4 
expand beyond the perimeter of the base plate and 
push against the frame in airtight cooperation; 
(c) means for absorbing sweat, located within said 
cavity; and 
(d) means for attaching the frame to the skin in an 
immobile and airtight manner. 
2. The capsule of claim 1 wherein the rod of the base 
plate is a helically ribbed cylinder. 
3. The capsule of claim 2 wherein the locking device 
4. The capsule of claim 1 wherein the cover plate has 
a perimeter larger than the inner boundary of the frame. 
5 
10 comprises an internal screw. 
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Sweat collection capsule

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