US597037A - Audiphone - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

M. K. TURNER. AUDIPHONE.

No. 597,037. Patented Jan. ll, 1898.

UNITED STATES ATENT @rrrcn.

MATE K. TURNER, OF CEDAR RAPIDS, IOIVA.

AUDIPHONE.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0:" Letters Patent No. 597,037, dated January 11, 1898.

Application filed May 25, 1897. Serial No. 638,024. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MATE K. TURNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cedar Rapids, in the county of Linn and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Audiphones; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such vas will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple and inconspicuous device to facilitate hearing on the part of those afllicted with partial deafness.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter fully described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front view of the device as applied to the organs of hearing, which are illustrated in section to show the relation of parts. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the device in the line a: m of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the inner end of the device, showing more clearly some of the details of its construction and modifications therein, as will be hereinafter more particularly referred to.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The body of the device consists, essentially, of a tube A, adapted to be inserted in the orifice of the ear and having at its outer extremity a forwardly-curved cup-shaped extension, which for convenience herein may be designated as the receiver A, its purpose being to gather and concentrate the soundwaves and assist in transmitting them to the internal ear Near the inner and smaller end of the tube are placed two diaphragms B and C, the latter of which is preferably connected with the receiver A by one or more strings or delicate filaments D. The construction and arrangement of these parts will now be more particularly described.

The tube A is made in the curved irregular form indicated in the drawings, so as to conform closely to the orifice leading from the external to the internal ear. The tube itself is preferably made of a suitable thin metal and should be somewhat smaller than the ear-orifice, so as not to bear against the walls thereof and cause irritation or inconvenience to the wearer. In order to hold it securely in position, it is provided near the outer end with a suitable packing or suction device E, which may be simply a ring of soft rubber, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. The receiver is a comparatively small spoon-shaped extension of the tubeprojecting forwardly with respect to the ear and, as indicated in Fig. l, of about the size of the central hollow of the car. It is thus comparatively inconspicuous,while at the same time adapted to serve its purpose of collecting sound-waves, as before mentioned. This, as will be seen in Fig. 2, curves backwardly and rests neatly within the hollow of the ear. Near the inner end of the tube two diaphragms are secured in some suitable manner, the inner one, B, being preferably of metal and very thin. The outer one is preferably made of a suitable non-metallic substance-such, for example, as a piece of bladderand is provided on the side adjacent to the other diaphragm with a central nib C, the point of which lies so near to the other diaphragm as to touch it slightly when the diaphragm C vibrates. this outer diaphragm C is promoted by the attachment to it (or to the walls of the tube adjacent to it) of one or more very fine strings or filaments D, preferably of delicate wire drawn taut, the outer end fastened to the wall of the receiver A. The vibrations caused by the sound-waves striking the receiver are thus communicated to the outer diaphragm O and thence to the inner metallic diaphragm, the nib O acting as a light hammer to emphasize the resonance due to said vibration. The increased resonance communicates directly with the tympanum of the car, which is at a short distance from the inner end of the tube when the device is in position, and the effect is to facilitate in this way the transmission of the external sound-waves to the internal organs of hearing.

I do not regard it as absolutely essential that the stretched cords or filaments D should be attached directly to the outer diaphragm; but this method is preferable in order to produce the vibration desired. The number of the strings may vary according to circumstances.

It will be observed that the principle in- The vibration of I volved in this construction is the common well-known principle embodied in the device commonly known as the acoustic telephone, the vibrations of the receiver being transmitted to the inner diaphragm in the same way that the vibrations of the one diaphragm are transmitted to the other in the device mentioned.

In the construction of the device the tube A is preferably made in three sections, the inner end A and the main body A being c011- nected with an intermediate ring A, adapted to hold in connection with the adjacent sections of the tube the respective diaphragms in position. A simple and convenient method is illustrated in Fig. 3, where the longer sections of the tube are shouldered down at the ends and fit neatly within the corresponding parts of the central ring. The middle portion of the ring forms two shoulders to take the edges of the interposed diaphragms B and C. The latter may for convenience be stretched over the end of the tube A and pressed inside the ring A like a drum-head. The parts are fitted so nicely as to hold their position without the use of screw-threads or other device.

In order to give the proper ventilation to the apparatus, the tube near the outer diaphragm is provided with one or more small holes A", as shown.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

An acoustic device for the ear consisting of a tube fitting the ear-orifice with a spoonshaped enlargement at its outer end fitting the central hollow of the ear and serving as a receiver for external sound-waves, a thin metallic diaphragm near the inner end of the tube, an adjacent diaphragm of thin organic material, provided with a nib projecting to* ward the other diaphragm, so as to make eontact therewith when vibrated, and one or more tense cords or filaments connecting the outer diaphragm with the receiver, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I al'fix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MATE K. TURNER.

Witnesses J. M. ST. JOHN, J'. F. Gnoirr.

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