Surgical bandage, dressing and the like

Claim 1

A NON-ADHESIVE SURGICAL BANDAGE HAVING FIRMNESS AND CLOSED-MESH CHARACTERISTICS SIMILAR TO CLOSELY-WOVEN CLOTH BANDAGE DURING APPLICATION WHILE ENABLING LATERAL EXPANSION TO OPEN THE MESHES AND TO PROVIDE SHEARING ACTION DURING REMOVAL, AND CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF AN ADHESIVE-FREE THREAD-TYPE CLOTH FABRIC HAVING NUMEROUS THREAD INTERSECTIONS, THE THREADS BEING ARRANGED TO ENABLE AT LEAST 25% EXTENSION IN ONE DIMENSION BY MOVEMENT OF THE THREADS AT SAID INTERSECTIONS RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER WITH COMPLEMENTARY CONTRACTION IN ITS TRANSVERSE DIMENSION, EXTENDED TO SUBSTANTIALLY ITS MAXIMUM LENGTH WITH THREAD DRAWN TOGETHER SUBSTANTIALLY CLOSING THE MESHES, AND MEANS RETAINING SAID FABRIC IN ITS EXTENDED CLOSEDMESH CONDITION AGAINST SELF-RECOVERY THEREFROM BY THE CONFORMATION AND STIFFNESS OF THE INTERSECTING THREADS, THE BANDAGE BEING NON-STRETCHING LENGTHWISE DURING APPLICATION WITH SUBSTANTIALLY CLOSED MESHES WHICH CAN BE OPENED AND ENLARGED READILY BY LATERAL PULL.