Chapter 4

These plaster venders are careful to avoid saying out and out in plain language that their plaster will positively keep your rupture from coming out-- they make no direct promises or guarantee whatever of holding the rupture.

If they cannot guarantee holding, it is nonsense to think any plaster can possibly overcome any weakness like rupture, no matter what kind of _magical_ ointment there may be in the plasters.

We have talked of these kinds of people in plain language; we have called a spade a spade.

For it is nothing less than a crime the way these men have grown rich by defrauding ruptured people.

It is worse than the way wildcat "mining" men have robbed the unsuspecting public. For these rupture swindlers take advantage of people's suffering.

[Sidenote: How to Save Yourself from Being Humbugged]

But it is easy enough to avoid being fooled-- easy enough to guard against frauds and fakes.

And it is easy enough to save yourself from throwing money away on drug-store trusses and other things which may be sold without wrong intent-- but which are utterly incapable of doing any particular good.

Simply make up your mind not to put any faith in anything whatever for rupture unless you can get the sellers to agree to let you test it on _Sixty Days' Trial_ and under the protection of a _Money-Back Guarantee_.

Make sure that everything is clearly understood-- see that all agreements are plainly worded-- insist on a signed guarantee that your rupture will be held or your money refunded.

Any concern which makes or sells a truss or anything else good enough to stand _that_ test doesn't need to resort to misleading claims or subterfuge or trickery of any kind.

And _that_-- a sixty days' trial under the protection of our iron-clad money-back guarantee-- is the test we ask you to make of the Cluthe Automatic Massaging Truss.

_+Showing How the Cluthe Truss is Held in Place Without Leg-Straps or Other "Harness"+_

These illustrations show the free action of the rear or Suction Pads of the Cluthe Truss.

The sole work of these pads is to support the frame which passes around the body. They hold the Truss in position, so the Rupture Pads in front can't slip up or down or away from the rupture opening.

These pads rest against the cushion of muscles behind the hips (the muscles forming the rump). The pads are hollow on the under side. This forms a vacuum or suction, which makes slipping or displacement impossible in any position.

_+What We Have Done For 290,000 Others+_

At this writing we have treated at our Institute, over 290,000 ruptures.

These included all kinds and conditions. Some of them the worst cases in history.

Many of these people, in despair, were at the point of undergoing an operation. But the Cluthe Truss made operation unnecessary-- saved the big expense-- saved the terrible risk.

Among those we have fitted by mail are many infants from a few months to a few years old.

And even these little ones wore the Cluthe Truss in absolute comfort while being made better, while being cured.

We don't need to tell you it would be cruelty to put any other truss on children.

[Sidenote: From Infants To Men Over 80]

We have fitted by mail men and women over 60, 70 and 80 years old.

People who had been ruptured for from twenty to fifty years.

People who had tried dozens of other trusses. But never found one that would hold.

Some were in such bad shape-- in such pain-- that they hadn't worked for years.

Some of them, before getting Cluthe Trusses, couldn't walk more than two or three blocks without resting. Could hardly get around at all for fear of bad effects on their rupture.

And the Cluthe Truss, with its strengthening massage, has worked thousands of cures in cases apparently hopeless like these.

While in those cases where cure wasn't brought about-- or hasn't yet been-- this truss kept the rupture from coming out, and made the rupture better.

We keep in touch with all our patients-- our interest doesn't cease until we know they are getting along all right. Yet we have known of only a few cases, including the worst ones, where the rupture ever came out after the first few days' wear of this truss.

Think of that-- you who had almost given up hope.

You can see for yourself what the Cluthe Truss has done by reading a few of the letters-- all voluntarily written-- which are printed at the back of this book. These letters are only a few out of the thousands we have received.

_+Costs More to Do Without It Than To Get It+_

You will find it many times cheaper to get a Cluthe Automatic Massaging Truss than to try to do without one.

As long as you put up with worthless makeshifts, you are paying the price of a Cluthe Truss over and over without getting any of its benefits.

Probably paying its price again and again in time lost from work or business.

For if your rupture never keeps you from putting in a full day-- if you never find it a handicap-- if it never keeps you at home in bed when you should be earning money-- then you are far more fortunate than most ruptured people who don't wear Cluthe Trusses.

And as long as you try to get along with worthless makeshifts, you have to keep buying truss after truss, paying out dollar after dollar for new trusses to take the place of those which don't last and those which don't do any good. Thus throwing away in a little while many times more than the price of a Cluthe Truss.

[Sidenote: Ordinary Trusses Are a Waste Of Money]

As long as you go without a Cluthe Truss, your rupture keeps getting worse-- probably worse now than a year ago-- been getting worse every day.

Thus again, you are constantly paying far more than the price of a Cluthe Truss; paying it in wear-and-tear on your health, in the drain on your strength and vitality, in the loss of many of the enjoyments which help make life worth living.

Without a Cluthe Truss, your rupture is a constant worry. For a man has to be more optimistic than most ruptured people if he can look into the Future without dread when he knows his rupture isn't getting any better.

No man, especially one with a family to provide for, wants to let his rupture make him more or less helpless if there is anything he can do to prevent it.

No man wants to be disabled for active work, no man wants to be dependent on others.

That has been the fate of thousands who never knew of the Cluthe Truss, or who didn't have the wisdom to try it.

But you who read this, now that you know the facts, have absolutely no excuse for ever letting rupture get the best of you.

[Sidenote: Don't Let Rupture Get the Best of You]

No one's fault but your own, if you now let your rupture keep on growing worse.

No one but yourself to blame if you don't take the chance we give you to find out, by trial at our risk, just what the Cluthe Truss can do for you.

It will be _our_ loss and not yours if this truss doesn't at least make you a whole lot better. But _your_ loss, not ours, if you neglect to _try_ it.

Unless you have already let your rupture become permanently irreducible the probabilities are that the Cluthe Truss can entirely free you from the clutches of rupture, just as it has thousands of others.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying a Cluthe Truss.

If it doesn't do any good, we'll take it back and you won't lose any money.

[Sidenote: Ends all Expense on Account of Your Rupture]

If it does prove beneficial, it will in all probability last as long as you have any need for a truss. For it is mighty seldom that any part of a Cluthe Truss ever gives out, even when, as in incurable cases, it is worn year after year.

So once you get a Cluthe Truss, you'll probably never have to pay out another dollar on account of your rupture.

The Cluthe Truss costs so little-- only $9 to $14-- that every body not a pauper can easily afford it. Costs so little-- when you consider the good it does-- that no one can afford to go without it.

You can get lots of trusses that cost less and some that cost even more-- but one Cluthe Truss is worth a dozen of them.

Every thrifty man knows that good _shoes_, for instance, are more economical than cheap ones; for the cheap shoes soon go to pieces, soon get shabby; one good pair would outlast three or four of the cheap ones.

Every man knows that good shoes-- shoes that keep the feet dry-- are less expensive in the end than shoes which leak and bring on colds and sickness.

[Sidenote: Like Buying Shoes]

And every man knows that properly fitting shoes, shoes you can wear with comfort, are worth three or four pairs of shoes which hurt the feet. For no matter how little the uncomfortable shoes cost, you can't get your money's worth out of them if you can't wear them.

Lots of people have common-sense enough to think of all these things in buying shoes.

But lots of them let their common-sense go on vacation when it comes to buying trusses.

Yet a truss is a hundred times more important than shoes.

Think how much depends on a truss-- your comfort, your ability to make a living, your safety when working, even your very life sometimes, all depend on your truss.

If your truss is no good, if it lets any little strain throw your rupture out, there is constant danger that some sudden wrench, some slip, some fall or misstep, may throw the rupture out so violently as to cause _strangulation_ of the rupture. And that usually ends in quick death.

But the man who wears a Cluthe Truss has nothing whatever to worry about.

For the Cluthe Truss keeps the rupture from coming out, takes all danger out of work or exercise, takes all strain off the weak ruptured parts, rests them, and-- by automatically massaging them-- daily strengthens them.

As the result of this constant hold and in constant strengthening, rupture is not likely to give any more trouble from the day a Cluthe Truss is put on. Just as weak eyes won't bother you any more after you get the right kind of glasses.

[Sidenote: Does More for Rupture Than Glasses do for the Eyes]

The Cluthe Truss or Cluthe Automatic Massager is the only truss in existence that can be depended on to do for rupture what good glasses do for the eyes.

In the majority of cases, it does far more.

About all that glasses can do is to keep the eyes from getting worse-- take the strain off them-- rest them, so they won't be further weakened.

No one expects glasses to _cure_ weak eyes, no one expects them to improve the sight so much that glasses won't need to be worn.

But the Cluthe Truss, in many cases, _does_ cure rupture.

You will see proof of that by reading some of the letters at the back of this book.

And in those cases where it doesn't result in complete cure, it almost invariably makes the rupture better. If it doesn't do that, we are always ready to refund the purchaser's money, as fully explained in a later chapter.

_+X-Ray View of Cluthe Truss+_

Note that there is no Belt, Elastics or Spring around the Waist, and no Leg-Straps

This Truss Can be Worn in the Bath, or when Swimming-- All Parts Are Water-Proof

This X-ray view shows how simple the Cluthe Truss is-- how few parts it has-- its freedom from uncomfortable "harness"-- and just how it looks when on.

This view is taken from above-- what is called a "Bird's Eye" view. The rear pads (Suction Pads) are level with the pads in front (the Automatic-Acting Holding or Rupture Pads), though they seem higher in the picture.

Bear in mind that the frame you see in the picture is no way a spring or belt or band. It leaves the hips and spine free-- doesn't press against the body at any point. (This is shown more clearly by the Cross-Section View on page 58.) The Suction Pads in the rear-- which rest lightly on the rump-- hold the truss in proper position, keeping it from slipping, shifting or moving the least bit out of place. The only purpose of the frame is to connect the Suction Pads with the Rupture Pads in front, so the truss can hold you together.

The truss shown here is for a severe case of right-side Groin or Scrotal Rupture. Has Automatic-Acting Holding or Rupture Pad on the ruptured side, and a free-acting Protection Pad on the side not ruptured, thus protecting the well side against strains, etc.

For Double Groin Rupture, another Holding Pad would be fitted where the Protection Pad is shown here.

The Cluthe Automatic Holding Pads are made in over 115 different shapes and sizes, and are selected as the severity and nature of each case may demand.

We determine the true nature and real needs of the case from the answers given to the questions on our Order blank, and then shape frame of truss so hips and spine will be left free from pressure, and select Rupture Pad or Pads of the right size and shape, and "set" or adjust the truss so it will be self-regulating in the way necessary to automatically seal the rupture opening to give proper support, and to hold the rupture properly in place.

_+The Special Advice You Get in Connection with the Cluthe Truss+_

In every case, we give our complete _Professional Services_.

[Sidenote: Like Being Under a Physician's Care]

Just as the physician gives thorough study and attention in connection with the medicine he prescribes.

Our Professional Service gives you knowledge of your trouble, based on Nature's laws, mechanical laws and common sense, which we have learned during our forty years of day-after-day experience.

As a part of our Professional Services, we give Special Instructions-- confidential advice-- based on the individual needs of each case.

This confidential advice has to do with your general health, the length of time you have been ruptured, and other conditions having a direct bearing on your rupture.

All this costs you nothing extra. And our Special Instructions and Advice are no trouble whatever to carry out.

_+Showing How the Cluthe Truss Can't Rub, Hug, Pinch, Squeeze, Chafe, Bind or Irritate+_

Cross Section View, showing how the frame of the Cluthe Truss doesn't press against the body at any point. The Cluthe Truss comes in contact with the body only at the rupture opening (where the Holding Pads support the rupture)-- and at the rear, where the Suction Pads rest against the muscles of the rump.

While the frame doesn't press against the body, it fits so closely around the body that the truss won't "show" in any way under the clothes-- no one can tell you have a truss on. Won't even "bulge" a woman's corset-- won't interfere with the corset. Many acrobats wear this truss under their tights when performing, yet no one can see any sign of it.

_+Showing the Simplicity of the Automatic-Acting Rupture Pads and of the Massaging Device+_

Illustration at left shows Holding Pad in normal position.

When you cough or strain, your abdomen naturally expands, pushing upper end of pad (where finger points in illustration at right) outward, thus forcing the lower part of pad (where arrow points) in against rupture opening. Because of this automatic action of the Holding Pad, your rupture can never come out.

The simple mechanism shown on the inside of this pad-- a device so small it would almost go in a watch case-- is what makes the Cluthe Holding or Rupture Pad automatic in its action (self-adjusting, self-regulating).

And at the same time, this little device causes the Holding or Rupture Pad to give the strengthening _massage_ to the weak ruptured parts-- all _automatically_ or _mechanically_, like the running of a watch. But-- unlike a watch-- this massaging device doesn't need to be wound up-- never needs any attention whatever; and also unlike a watch, so strong and simple that it can never get out of order-- never fail to work properly.

_+Forms and Conditions of Rupture+_

The illustrations on following pages show various stages of the four common varieties of abdominal Rupture.

Groin Rupture (Inguinal) is the most common form.

Scrotal Rupture (Inguinal) is simply a worse stage of Groin Rupture. The intestines have descended into the scrotum.

Navel Rupture (Umbilical) is that form in which the opening occurs at or near the navel.

Thigh Rupture (Femoral) is that form of rupture which appears at the upper part of the thigh.

Any of these forms of rupture may appear on the right or left side or on both.

Our experience has taught us that out of one hundred cases of rupture about eighty-six are Groin or Scrotal Rupture. Thirteen out of each hundred are about evenly divided between Thigh and Navel Rupture. And the remaining one may be one of several uncommon forms not mentioned here because they are usually the result of accident.

About half of the cases of rupture occur in childhood. But there are many cases which occur between the ages of 30 and 40. And it is a well known fact that two-fifths of such cases become Scrotal because of neglect, or because a truss is worn that does not keep the rupture from coming down.

All ruptures at the start are usually very mild in form. But if the ruptured parts are not held in place, the sac will gradually grow larger because of the failure to seal the originally small opening through which the intestines at first escape.

[Sidenote: Warn Those Recently Ruptured]

This is something about which you who have been ruptured any length of time, you who know how rupture gets worse if not properly taken care of, should warn any one you may know who has only recently been ruptured. You can save them years of suffering by telling them about the Cluthe Truss.

For it so often happens-- due to the general ignorance about rupture-- that newly ruptured people don't know their danger until too late. The rupture often gives so little trouble at first that they think it nothing to worry about. Or perhaps-- also due to ignorance-- they are ashamed to ask anyone's advice. So they go to a drug-store and get a worthless makeshift; and, of course, wearing the cheap contraptions sold by drug-stores, they soon find themselves in a serious state.

There are six conditions of rupture.

When the rupture can be pressed back into the abdomen by the ordinary manipulation of the fingers, it is a Reducible Rupture. This is the first condition, but without a proper truss it soon grows worse.

When only a part of the contents of the lump or rupture sac can be pressed back into the opening, it is known as a Partly Reducible Rupture. This condition is generally the result of neglect of the Reducible Rupture or the use of an improper truss.

When at times the contents of the lump or sac cannot be pressed back into the body with the hands, it is known as a Temporarily Irreducible Rupture. This temporarily irreducible condition can often be cured and always prevented from growing worse if the proper truss is fitted and worn.

The foregoing condition sometimes becomes so bad that it is known as Permanently Irreducible. But even then it can usually be controlled-- prevented from growing worse-- if the right kind of truss is worn.

The condition bordering on strangulation is known as Incarcerated Rupture. The only help for a person in this condition is an immediate operation.

The worst condition of rupture is the strangulated form. This is a condition where mortification has already set in. If an operation is not immediately resorted to, the sufferer will die.

* * * * *

These illustrations show Groin Rupture as it first appears, and how it gradually grows worse and descends into the privates (both male and female) when neglected or not properly protected, as when a worthless truss or other appliance is worn which frequently or occasionally lets the rupture come out.

Figures 1, 2, and 3 show the first three stages of Groin Rupture.

Figure 4 shows Groin Rupture descended only to the privates.

Figures 5 and 6 show the rupture _after_ it has descended _into_ the privates.

Figures 7, 8, and 9 show advanced stages of Scrotal or Groin Rupture (getting worse all the time because not properly protected, because not kept from coming out) after it has descended into privates. (The different stages are the same in Females as in Males.)

Figure 10 shows Thigh or Femoral Rupture, which comes out on the upper part of thigh, just below the crease or depression between abdomen and thigh. Femoral Rupture never appears higher up-- never appears in groin, and never descends into privates.

Figures 11 and 12 show two stages of Navel Rupture. (For Cluthe Navel Truss, see page 64.)

We make the Cluthe Truss with special Holding Pads that meet the requirements of every one of the foregoing conditions of Rupture, save Incarcerated and Strangulated. With the exception of these two forms we guarantee that the perfect truss with Automatic Massage Treatment will constantly hold any rupture in place.

Navel or Umbilical Rupture (which appears at or near the navel) demands immediate treatment.

[Sidenote: Navel (Umbilical) Rupture]

Neglect or Mal-Treatment is liable speedily to treble the size of the rupture.

We make a special Cluthe Navel Truss which has never in any case failed to improve the condition from the moment it was applied.

Our Navel Truss does not bind the abdomen-- allows perfect freedom-- is light, clean and comfortable even in the hottest weather.

It is the only successful holder for Navel Rupture-- the only one that supports the overhanging weight in front without the use of torturing elastic fabrics.

Cases of Navel Rupture demand special care, for hardly any two are alike. So we cannot prescribe for Navel Rupture until we know your condition.

Simply write us stating whether the rupture can be fully reduced. If it can't, give size of part that cannot be reduced.

If none of the forms of Navel Rupture shown on the order blank seems to be about the size of your rupture, and in the same location, please mark on the picture as nearly as you can the size and location of your rupture.

On receipt of such report, we shall advise you as to the appliance needed, and its price.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: After Operations]

For recurrence of Rupture after an operation, we make the Cluthe Truss with special frames and pads. For the requirements in each case are usually different.

Simply fill out the order blank, and we will tell you just what you need, and the price.

_+Let Us Send You A Cluthe Truss On 60 Days' Trial+_

Won't Cost You a Single Cent if You Don't Get Better

We don't ask you to risk a single cent of your money in finding out what a Cluthe Truss can do for you.

We have so much faith in our truss-- we know what it has done for so many others-- that we are willing to make a Cluthe Truss, as explained below, especially for your case, and let you wear it sixty days on trial.

Think of that, Reader! When you get a truss at a drug-store or truss dealer's, the only chance you have to make a test is _while trying the Truss on_.

But the sixty days' trial we allow you certainly gives you plenty of time to make an absolutely thorough test-- plenty of time to see whether the truss is doing any good-- plenty of time to make sure that, with this truss on, your rupture can't come out-- plenty of time to prove the wearing and water-proof qualities of our truss.

_Sixty days_ is longer than lots of trusses or "appliances" would last!

[Sidenote: 60 Days Is Longer Than Lots of Trusses Would Last]

Longer than you could stand to wear any truss which pinches or squeezes or hurts in any way!