GB1061367A - Device for the therapeutic treatment of disorders of speech - Google Patents

Abstract

1,061,367. Treatment of speech disorders; massage devices. O. STAUB. Nov. 25, 1965, No. 50099/65. Heading A5R. A device for use in the therapeutic treatment of disorders of speech, for example rhotacism and sigmatism, comprises a housing suitable for holding in the hand, an adjustable electric driving means within the housing, a manually - operable control member located outside the housing for adjusting the driving means, a rotatable first shaft located within the housing and connected with the driving means a rotary - oscillatory converter located within the housing and connected with the first shaft, a second shaft partly extending within the housing and connected with the rotary-oscillatory converter, and a probe suitable for introduction into the mouth of a patient, which probe is carried by the second shaft and located outside the housing. In operation, the second shaft and probe oscillate in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the housing, adjustment of the driving means by the control member altering the rate of oscillation. As illustrated in Figure 1, the driving means is in the form of a D.C. motor 2 having an integral reduction gear 3, the output shaft 13 of which forms the first shaft. The motor is powered from an A.C. source, for example mains supply, located outside the housing 1, the A.C. first being reduced in voltage by a transformer in the mains plug 18 and then being converted to D.C. by the silicone rectifier system 5 located within the housing; alternatively, the D.C. motor may be powered by battries (not shown) contained in the housing. Suppression capacitors 4 and on-off switch 17 are located inside and outside the housing, respectively. The driving means may be adjusted by rheostat 6 located in the housing and having a shaft 7 which extends through the wall of the housing, a control member in the form of a knob 8 being attached to the external end of the shaft. The rotary-oscillatory converter is an eccentric linkage compriing a pin 11 drivably connected with the first shaft and engaging a fork member 12 which is attached to the second shaft 10 supported by a waterproof bearing 9; the pin is eccentrically driven with respect to the axis of the first shaft. The probe comprises a seating 14 having a bore adapted to slidably engage the second shaft with a tight fit, at least one rod 16 having an axis transversal of the axis A of the seating attached to the seating, and a body 15 attached to the end of the or each rod remote from the seating. As illustrated in Figure 1, the bodies are disc or spherical shaped; as illustrated in other Figures (not shown), the body may be spoon shaped or be in the form of a bar, flat plate, arcuate bar or arcuate flat plate.