Improvements in Apparatus for Assisting the Hearing of the Deaf.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Oct., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 9th July, 1894-Accepted, 18th Aug., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Assisting the Hearing of the Deaf.
A communication to me from LUISE, BARONESS VON KETELHODT,
of 50, Schillerstrasse, Rudolstadt, in the Empire of Germany.
I, EDMUND EDWARDS, of the Firm of Edwards and Co., Patent Agents and
Engineers, of 35, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
All ear-trumpets or other apparatus for assisting the hearing used to the present.
time, are inserted into the ear and whilst in use have to be continually held by
the deaf person or by the person speaking through them. It follows that this
requirement is an inconvenience for persons conversing together and the use of the
apparatus affects the nerves of the deaf person so that it is only used in the most
pressing cases. Moreover, such apparatus is of less value, as the user cannot
well take part in general conversation, whilst it is generally applied to one ear
only.
These objections are overcome in the improved apparatus which forms the
subject of the present invention which is equally applicable to one or to
both ears.
It consists of a shell or spoon shaped sound collector directed forward and having
a projection lying behind the ear. By means of an adjustable flexible wire or
wires, or spring, passing over the top of the head, and attached at its lower ends to
the sound collectors described the latter are held in position outside the ears, their
concave part being directed forward. The back edge of the ear is also bent
forward and held in that position, so that sounds are collected by it and by
the concave collector and directed into the ear. The wires may be covered with
any soft material.
The apparatus may be held in position against the ear by any other convenient
means as well as by the flexible spring described.
The sound collecting and reflecting device described may be arranged at either
one or both ends of the support, so as to be applied to one or both ears, and it
may be made of aluminium, glass, or other suitable material.
The improved apparatus described is neither inconvenient to a deaf person
using it, nor is it unsightly in appearance, as is the case with apparatus as
ordinarily used, and it can be made at little cost.
Dated thio 7th dor of October 1803
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
5 Improvements in Apparatus for Assisting the Hearing of the Deaf.
A communication to me from LUISE, BARONESS VON KETElhodt,
of 50, Schillerstrasse, Rudolstadt, in the Empire of Germany.
I, EDMUND EDWARDS, of the Firm of Edwards and Co., Patent Agents and
Engineers, of 65 and 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
O declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be
Dirt

page_text: performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying drawing, that is to say :-
All ear-trumpets or other apparatus for assisting the hearing used up to the
present time, are inserted into the ear, and whilst in use have to be continually
held by the deaf person or by the person speaking through them. It is obvious
that this requirement is a source of inconvenience for persons conversing together,
and the use of the apparatus affects the nerves of the deaf person, so that it is only
used in the most pressing cases. Moreover, such apparatus is of less value, as the
user cannot well take part in general conversation, whilst it is generally applied to
one ear only.
These objections are overcome in the improved apparatus which forms the
subject of the present invention, which is equally applicable to
both ears.
one or to
In the accompanying drawing which is in illustration of the invention,
Figure 1 is a back view of the improved apparatus. Figure 2 is a side view,
Figure 3 a back view of a slightly modified form, and Figures 4, 5, and 6, detailed
views of some of the parts.
a,
directed
The apparatus consists of a shell- or spoon-shaped sound collector
forward and having a projection 6 lying behind the ear. By means of an adjustable
flexible wire or wires or spring c, passing over the top of the head, and attached at
its lower ends to the sound collectors described, the latter are held in position
outside the ears, their concave part being directed forward, as shewn in Figure 5.
The back edge of the ear is also bent forward and held in that position, so that
sounds are collected by it and by the concave collector, and directed into the ear.
The wires may be covered with any soft material.
The apparatus may be held in position against the ear by any other convenient
means as well as by the flexible spring described.
The sound-collecting and reflecting device described may be arranged at either
one or both ends of the support so as to be applied to one or both ears, and it may
be made of aluminium, glass, or other suitable material.
Figure 3 shews the apparatus applied to one ear only, the spring wires c being
carried to the other side of the head, against which they press to hold the apparatus
in position. They are shewn brought together and covered with a silk or other
soft covering.
The improved apparatus described is neither inconvenient to a deaf person using
it, nor is it unsightly in appearance, as is the case with apparatus as ordinarily used,
and it can be made at little cost.
An important point in the improved apparatus is the method of construction, by
which the sound-collecting plate a is held in such a position, that, on the one hand,
the back of the ear is pressed forward, whilst, at the same time, it is kept
sufficiently out from the head.
This is effected by means of the projecting part 6 of the apparatus, which is
supported firmly by the head behind the ear, so that the plate a exercises a lever-
like action upon the part of the ear directed forward.
The pressure of such lever can be easily proportioned so that the ear is held in
the required position.
The proportions of the improved apparatus may be more or less modified, but it
must always be so arranged that the above-described lever-like action upon the
ear is caused.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. The improved apparatus for assisting the hearing, consisting of a sound-
collecting plate or plates a, at one or both sides of the head, firmly held by the
means described in such position against the forwardly directed ear, that the outer
ear is so held as to direct the sound-waves meeting it into the inner ear.

page_text: 2. The projection b upon the sound-collecting plate described and claimed in
Claim 1, pressing against the head behind the ear in such manner as to cause a
lever action by which the back of the ear is held in the required position.
Dated this 9th day of July 1894.
EDWARDS & Co.,
65 & 66, Chancery Lane, Middlesex, Agents for the Applicant.