An improved probe for the measurement of the skin temperature of a living organism is provided. The probe has a probe head constructed of thermally and electrically insulative material and having a generally convex surface for skin contact. The probe head defines a depression in the surface wherein a thermocouple will lie. Additionally, provided is an apparatus using an improved first probe and an improved second probe mounted onto a housing in a mutually symmetrical relationship to measure the temperature differential of bilateral areas of the skin of a living organism.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates generally to the art of temperature measurement and 
more particularly to the art of the measurement and display of the 
temperature differential across bilateral areas of the skin of a living 
organism in a clinical examination. 
The temperature of tissue near the skin surface of a human or animal is 
known to be higher than normal when the tissue is experiencing spasm, 
bruising, or other such stress. As a result, the temperature of the 
adjacent skin surface will also be higher than normal. Therefore, local 
aberrations in skin surface temperature are sometimes indicative of an 
inflammation in the underlying tissue. Chiropractors have long utilized 
this phenomenon in clinical examinations. In particular, neural imbalances 
resulting from spinal misalignment can be diagnosed based on the 
differential of the temperature of a skin surface area near the spine on 
one side and the temperature of the mirror image area on the other side of 
the spine. 
A number of devices have been introduced over the years to assist 
chiropractors in this temperature differential diagnosis. While these 
prior art devices have proven successful to some degree, they have 
significant drawbacks. 
The primary shortcoming of the prior art has been in the design of the 
temperature probes. These probes required the chiropractor to bear against 
a patient's skin with such pressure that heat-pattern-distorting chafe 
marks remained after each differential reading. Thus, the accuracy of 
subsequent readings was negatively affected. A further disadvantage of 
much of the prior art is that upon completion of the examination, the 
clinician had no permanent record of the readings. The absence of a 
chart-type record undoubtedly has caused many nuances of the differential 
reading to go unnoticed. Additionally, the design of the probes of some 
prior art devices made cleaning difficult. 
Some of the more recent prior art is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,166,451 
issued to Salera and U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,854 issued to Gosline et al. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is thus an object of the invention to provide an improved probe for the 
measurement of the skin temperature of a living organism. 
It is a further and more particular object of the invention to provide a 
probe for the measurement of the skin temperature of a living organism 
requiring only slight contact between the probe and the skin surface. 
It is also an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for measuring 
the temperature differential across bilateral areas of the skin of a 
living organism using improved temperature probes for better accuracy. 
Some of these, as well as other, objects are accomplished by a probe having 
a probe head made of thermally and electrically insulative material and 
having a generally convex surface for skin contact. The probe head further 
defines a depression in the surface wherein a thermocouple will lie. 
Other objects are accomplished by an apparatus for the measurement of the 
temperature differential of bilateral areas of the skin of a living 
organism having an improved first probe and an improved second probe 
mounted in a mutually symmetrical relationship onto a housing. The 
difference of voltages produced by thermocouples of the first probe and 
thermocouples of the second probe is proportional to the temperature 
differential of the respective skin areas. This differential voltage is 
amplified if necessary and applied to monitoring means for user 
interpretation. 
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent 
and more fully understood from the following description and drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
In accordance with the instant invention, it has been found that an 
improved probe for the measurement of the skin temperature of a living 
organism may be provided. Furthermore, it has been found that improved 
probes may be utilized in an apparatus for the measurement of the 
temperature differential across bilateral areas of the skin of a living 
organism to secure results not heretofore attainable. 
FIG. 1 illustrates an improved probe 10 in accordance with this invention. 
Probe 10 is manufactured generally from a thermally and electrically 
insulative material, such as a polyamide polymer, and comprises a mounting 
stock 12 and a probe head 14. Probe head 14 has a generally convex skin 
contact surface 16. 
Surface 16 defines a relatively shallow channel-shaped depression 18 
wherein a thermocouple 20 is mounted. This arrangement places the 
thermocouple 20 very near the skin of the organism when surface 16 is 
lightly touching the skin surface. A plastic filler material (not shown) 
fills the depression 18 and thereby protects the thermocouple 20 from 
corrosion or other damage as well as making cleaning of the probe head 14 
less difficult. The plastic filler material should preferably be a block 
epoxy. This gives the target area near the thermocouple 20 a high 
emissivity. As a result, the thermocouple 20 will be more responsive to 
heat changes. More accurate probe readings are thereby obtained. 
Thermocouples, like 20, may be formed easily by the contact of two suitable 
metals. The properties of the thermocouple pair copper and constantan are 
well known. Specifically, copper-constantan has the highest thermal 
conductivity and, consequently, the best measurement response time. Copper 
and constantan is, therefore, the combination preferred for use with the 
instant invention. Here, copper wire 22 extends through probe 10 within 
longitudinal aperture 24 and is connected to electrode 26. Similarly, 
constantan wire 28 extends through probe 10 within aperture 30 and is 
connected to electrode 32. Electrodes 26 and 32 allow quick hook-up to 
other circuitry. The formation of thermocouple 20 can be more easily 
understood with reference to FIG. 2. 
Similar thermocouple configurations are shown in FIGS. 3 through 7. FIG. 3 
illustrates a four-aperture variation. Copper wire 34 enters depression 18 
at aperture 36 and exits depression 18 at aperture 38. Constantan wire 40 
proceeds similarly from aperture 42 to aperture 44. The wires 34 and 40 
are arranged to mutually cross and contact at point 46, as shown. A 
thermocouple is thereby formed. 
The thermocouple in FIG. 4 is formed at contact point 48 by the mutually 
crossing contact of copper wire 50 with constantan wire 52. 
The thermocouple of FIG. 5 is formed by the mutually linking contact of 
copper wire loop 54 and constantan wire loop 56 at contact point 58 Note 
that this configuration requires only two apertures 60 and 62. 
Another two-aperture configuration is shown in FIG. 6. Copper wire 64 and 
constantan wire 66 are parallel to each other and extend longitudinally 
from aperture 68 to aperture 70. Wires 64 and 66 are uninsulated at 
tangent contact point 72 only. 
FIG. 7 illustrates a four-aperture configuration whereby the thermocouple 
is formed by the contact at point 74 of copper wire 76 with constantan 
wire 78. 
The probe depression may take on any number of alternative configurations, 
two of which are illustrated in FIG. 8 and 9. In FIG. 8, a thermocouple is 
formed at the intersection (at point 80) of constantan wire 82 with copper 
wire 84. Note that here the depression 86 is of cross-channel formation. 
That is, depression 86 is formed by the mutual crossing of channels 88 and 
90. Channels 88 and 90 are of approximately equal depth. 
In FIG. 9, thermocouple 92 is formed within dimple-shaped depression 94 by 
the contact of copper wire 96 with constantan wire 98. Wires 96 and 98 are 
uninsulated only at the contact point since they emerge from a single 
aperture 100. 
With any of these thermocouple configurations, copper-constantan contact 
may be maintained by wire-wrapping, soldering, gluing, or any combination 
thereof. Also, the probes may have more than one thermocouple. One 
thermocouple per probe has been illustrated for the sake of clarity only. 
Many of the advantages of the improved probes discussed above can be 
realized when employed in a neurocalograph. FIG. 10 illustrates a 
neurocalograph 102, which is an apparatus primarily used by chiropractors 
for measuring the temperature differential of bilateral skin areas on 
either side of the human spine (see FIG. 11). Neurocalograph 102 has a 
first improved probe 104 mounted on first mounting arm 106 and a second 
improved probe 108 mounted on a second mounting arm 110. Probes 104 and 
108 are of the type previously described and have thermocouples 112 and 
114, respectively. Mounting arms 106 and 110 are attached in a mutually 
symmetrical relationship to a pistol-grip housing 116. An on/off switch 
118 is provided so that the user can easily activate the neurocalograph 
102. Display means, such as light emitting diode (LED) bars 120 and 122 
and a separately housed chart recorder (not shown), are provided. A chart 
recorder allows the clinician to concentrate on the movement of the 
neurocalograph and not the reading as it is being taken. Thus, improved 
accuracy is realized. The chart recorder paper is advanced as desired by 
trigger switch 124. The positioning of switch 124 as a trigger is 
preferred over other possible designs because overall balance is disrupted 
minimally by the force of the user's finger in this way. Knob 125 is 
provided so that the user can adjust the chart recorder pen to the zero 
position before each use. For optimum versatility, the chart recorder is 
adapted to be capable of being adjusted to numerous chart speeds and 
sensitivity levels. Contained within housing 116 is circuitry, including a 
differential input operational amplifier (op-amp). The op-amp has a 
plurality of gain values, which are selectible by gain switch 126. 
The operation of neurocalograph 102 will now be explained with reference to 
FIGS. 10, 11 and 12. As the probes 104 and 108 of neurocalograph 102 are 
applied lightly to bilateral skin areas across the spine, voltages will be 
produced at thermocouples 112 and 114 (shown as 130 and 132 of FIG. 12) 
proportional to the temperature of the respective adjacent areas. Because 
thermocouples 130 and 132 are both grounded, they are in mutual nodal 
oppositely polarized electrical communication. Therefore, the voltage as 
measured from the positive lead 134 of thermocouple 130 to the positive 
lead 136 of thermocouple 132 is the difference of the voltages across each 
thermocouple individually. This voltage difference is usually too small to 
be useful unless amplified. Therefore, a differential amplifier 138 is 
provided having an inverting input 140 and a non-inverting input 142. 
Means are provided such that thermocouple 130 is in electrical 
communication with input 140 and thermocouple 132 is in electrical 
communication with input 142. As one skilled in the art will recognize, 
switches 144 and 146 (actually one double-pole double-throw switch and 
shown as 126 in FIG. 10) allow the user to select between two gains. 
Normally, readings should be taken in the low gain position. However, the 
low gain position will occasionally yield an insufficient reading, in 
which case the high gain position is required. For example, patients on 
medication will sometimes show a masked signal. A gain of twenty has been 
found suitable for the low gain mode and a gain of twenty-eight has been 
found suitable for the high gain mode. To achieve these gains, the 
resistors 148, 150, 152, 154, 156 and 158 should have values in the 
kilo-ohm range. The output of amplifier 138 will either be positive or 
negative, depending on which of its inputs (140 or 142) has the higher 
input voltage. One skilled in the art will recognize that a positive 
output from amplifier 138 will be processed by chip 160 to light a number 
of LED's within display 162 (shown as 122 of FIG. 11) proportional to the 
magnitude of the differential voltage. A negative output from amplifier 
138 will be inverted by amplifier 164 and similarly processed by chip 166 
and displayed on 168 (shown as 120 of FIG. 10). In this way the user knows 
not only which bilateral skin area is at a higher temperature, but the 
magnitude of the temperature difference as well. As the neurocalograph 102 
is drawn down the patient's neck and back (as shown by arrow 128 of FIG. 
11), the clinician can fully diagnose the patient's spinal misalignment 
neural imbalance. The improved design of probes 104 and 108 allows this 
reading to be made with only light pressure, eliminating the heat pattern 
distorting chafe makes caused by prior art devices. This ensures that 
successive readings are as accurate as the first. The output of amplifier 
138 is also fed to the chart recorder, giving the user a permanent record 
of the examination readings for later, more detailed analyses. Trigger 
switch 124 and knob 125 of FIG. 10 are illustrated schematically as switch 
170 and potentiometer 172, respectively. It should be noted that a chart 
recorder with a built-in amplifier may be used, eliminating the need for 
amplifier 138. 
It is thus apparent that an improved probe for the measurement of the skin 
temperature of a living organism has been provided. It is also apparent 
that an apparatus using improved probes to measure the temperature 
differential across bilateral areas of the skin of a living organism has 
been provided. As many variations will be apparent from a reading of the 
above description, such variations are embodied within the spirit and 
scope of this invention as defined by the following appended claims.