External auditory canal drying apparatus

An external ear canal drying apparatus 10 comprising a hinged clam shell style housing 11 containing a forced air generating unit 12 having a blower motor 25 and a heating element 26 operatively associated with an air intake and exhaust conduit 22 that has an exhaust port nozzle 24 dimensioned to receive a conduit 32 centrally disposed within a tapered resilient housing 31 having return air passageways 39 that surround the central conduit for introducing forced hot air into and out of the auditory canal 100.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
Not applicable. 
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
Not applicable. 
REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX 
Not applicable. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to the field of medical implements in 
general, and in particular to a forced air device for removing moisture 
from a person's ear. 
2. Description of Related Art 
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,797,475; 
3,986,272; 4,206,556; and 5,404,652, the prior art is replete with myriad 
and diverse forced air and other types of drying implements. 
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than 
adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been 
specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect to their 
failure to provide a simple, efficient and practical and safe way of 
removing moisture from a person's external ear canal. 
As most physicians and otologists are all too well aware, there is not 
currently available an ear canal drying apparatus that can be used to 
remove moisture from a patient's ear canal which presents problems for 
those individuals having chronically moist and/or diseased ear canals, 
mastoid cavities, tympanic membrane perforations, user's of hearing aids 
and swimmers. 
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a 
longstanding need for a new and improved type of heated forced air device 
that is designed to introduce a flow of circulating air into a user's 
external ear canal to remove moisture from a person's external ear canal. 
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Briefly stated, the external ear canal drying apparatus that forms the 
basis of the present invention comprises in general a housing unit, a 
forced air generating unit and a nozzle adapter unit that is removably 
received in the exhaust outlet of the forced air generating unit. 
As will be explained in greater detail further on in the specification, the 
forced air generating unit includes an air inlet and exhaust conduit that 
is operatively associated with a blower motor and a heating element to 
deliver heated forced air through the exhaust port of the forced air 
generating unit. 
In addition, the nozzle adapter unit includes a generally soft pliable 
tapered housing that is dimensioned to be partially received in a person's 
ear canal. In one version of the invention, the tapered housing is further 
provided with a suspended central conduit that delivers the heated air to 
the person's inner ear. 
Furthermore, the central conduit also defines a concentric return 
passageway arranged within the tapered housing to allow the heated air to 
be vented from the person's ear canal. In another version of the 
invention, fluted recesses are formed on the exterior of the tapered 
housing wherein the heated air will escape through the recesses. 
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the housing unit comprises an 
upper and lower housing section which are hingedly connected to one 
another in a contoured clam shell fashion. The lower housing section is 
provided with a recess dimensioned to receive both the primary nozzle 
adapter unit and provide storage space for a spare nozzle adapter unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
As can be seen by reference to the drawings, and in particularly to FIG. 1, 
the alternate version of the external auditory canal drying apparatus that 
forms a portion of the present invention is designated generally by the 
reference number 10'. The apparatus 10 comprises in general a housing unit 
11', a forced air generating unit 12' and a nozzle adapter unit 13'. These 
units will now be described in seriatim fashion. 
As can best be seen by reference to FIG. 2, in the alternate version of the 
invention, the housing unit 11' comprises a hand held blower member 40, 
including a pistol shaped housing 41. The forced air generating unit 12' 
comprises an air intake and exhaust conduit 22 having an air intake port 
23 disposed on one end of the housing 41 and an air exhaust port nozzle 24 
which is disposed on the other end of the housing 41. 
In addition, a blower motor 25 is disposed in line with the conduit 22 
proximate the air intake port 23 and a heating element 26 is disposed in a 
surrounding relationship with the conduit 22 intermediate the blower motor 
25 and the exhaust port nozzle 24. Heated forced air may be delivered to 
the exhaust port nozzle 24 in a well recognized fashion. 
Furthermore, the forced air generating unit 12' is also provided with a 
power source 27 and a pair of switch elements 28, which selectively supply 
power to the blower motor 25 and the heating element 26, respectively. 
At this juncture, it should be noted that given the sensitive nature of the 
human ear 100, both the air speed generated by the blower motor 25 and the 
air temperature generated by the heating element 26 must be maintained at 
fairly low values such that the air flow capacity of the blower motor 25 
will not exceed 10 cc/sec. and the temperature of the heating element will 
not exceed 39.degree. C. It should further be noted that the bower motor 
25 must also have a very low decibel rating given its use in close 
proximity to a user's ear 100. 
Turning now to FIGS. 3 through 5, it can be seen that in the alternate 
version of the invention, the interior passage nozzle adapter unit 13' 
comprises a generally resilient adapter member 30 having a tapered housing 
31 provided with a central conduit 32 which is suspended within the 
tapered housing 31 by a plurality of rib elements 33. 
In addition, the central conduit 32 has an inlet port 34 which extends 
beyond the enlarged end 35 of the housing 31 and which is dimensioned to 
be frictionally engaged in the exhaust port nozzle 24 of the air intake 
and exhaust conduit 22 of the forced air generating unit 12'. 
Furthermore, the central conduit 32 has an exhaust port 36 which is 
disposed within the narrow end 37 of the adapter member 30. As can best be 
seen by reference to FIG. 4, the central conduit 32 is spaced from the 
interior of the resilient tapered housing 31 to define an interior 
concentric return passageway 38 to allow the forced air to flow away from 
the person's ear drum 102. 
It should also be noted that the tapered configuration of the resilient 
housing 31 is specifically designed to limit the extent of travel of the 
nozzle adapter unit 13' relative to the interior of the ear canal 101 and 
to space the exhaust port 36 and the narrow end 37 of the adapter member 
30 from the user's ear drum 102. 
Turning now to FIGS. 6 through 9, it can be seen that in the preferred 
embodiment of the invention the housing unit 11 includes a two-piece 
hinged housing member 42 having contoured upper 43 and lower 44 housing 
sections which are hingedly connected to one another as at 45 to produce a 
generally clam shell arrangement in the storage mode as depicted in FIG. 
7. 
In addition, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, the upper section 43 of the housing 
member 42 is provided with an air intake port opening 46 and an air 
exhaust port opening 47. The lower section 44 of the housing member 42 is 
provided with an enlarged recess 48 dimensioned to receive both the nozzle 
adapter unit 13 and a spare nozzle adapter 13 which is captively engaged 
on a tapered post element 49 disposed within the enlarged recess 48, and a 
battery access panel 50. 
As can best be seen by reference to FIG. 8, the forced air generating unit 
12 also comprises an air intake and exhaust conduit 22 having an air 
intake port 23 disposed on the lower portion of the upper housing section 
43 and an air exhaust port nozzle 24 disposed on the outboard end of the 
upper housing section 43. 
In addition, a fan or blower motor 25 is disposed in line with the conduit 
22 and a heating element 26 such as a halogen bulb, or the like is 
disposed upstream of the blower motor 25 to deliver heated forced air to 
the exhaust port nozzle 24 in a well recognized fashion. 
Furthermore, the forced air generating unit 12 includes a power source 27 
such as a pair of batteries or the like disposed in the lower housing 
section 44. The power source 27 is electronically coupled to a control 
system 60 in the upper housing section 43 via electrical wiring 29. 
Still referring to FIG. 8, it can be seen that the control system 60 
comprises a circuit board 61, a pair of switches 28 that control the 
heating element 26 and the blower motor 25, respectively, and a 
temperature sensor 62 which is disposed intermediate the heating element 
26 and the exhaust port nozzle 24 to limit the temperature of the heated 
air being generated by the apparatus 10 in a well recognized fashion. 
As shown in FIGS. 6, 8, and 9, besides the distinctions between the housing 
units 11 and 11' and the location of the various components of the forced 
air generating units 12 and 12' in the preferred and alternate embodiments 
of this invention, the design and operation of the nozzle adapter units 
13, 13' two embodiments are also somewhat distinctive. 
In the preferred embodiment of the invention depicted in FIGS. 6, 8, and 9, 
the nozzle adapter unit 13 comprises a generally resilient adapter member 
30 having a transparent tapered housing 31 provided with a central conduit 
32. The central conduit 32 is provided with an inlet port 34 which extends 
beyond the enlarged end 35 of the tapered housing 31 and is dimensioned to 
be frictionally engaged in the exhaust port nozzle 24 of the forced air 
generating unit 12. 
Furthermore, the central conduit 32 is provided with an exhaust port 36 
which terminates in the narrow end 37 of the adapter member 30. The narrow 
end 37 of the adapter member 30 and the exhaust port 36 share a common 
juncture. 
In addition, as can best be seen by reference to FIGS. 6 and 9, the 
external periphery of the tapered housing 31 is provided with a plurality 
of fluted recesses 39 which are designed to allow the heated air generated 
by the apparatus 10 to escape from the user's external auditory canal in a 
well recognized fashion. 
Furthermore, since the tapered housing 31 is transparent, the user will be 
given a visual indication when the heating element 26 is in operation. 
Although only an exemplary embodiment of the invention has been described 
in detail above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that 
many modifications are possible without materially departing from the 
novel teachings and advantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such 
modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this 
invention as defined in the following claims. 
In the claims, means-plus-function clauses are intended to cover the 
structures described herein as performing the recited function and not 
only structural equivalents, but also equivalent structures. Thus, 
although a nail and a screw may not be structural equivalents in that a 
nail employs a cylindrical surface to secure wooden parts together, 
whereas, a screw employs a helical surface, in the environment of 
fastening wooden parts, a nail and a screw may be equivalent structures.