Improvements in Artificial Ear Drums.
Year: 1886

page_text: Improvements in Artificial Ear Drums.
I, HARRY AMASA WALES, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States of America,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ARTIFICIAL EAR DRUMS," and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention has for its object to provide an artificial ear drum which will
relieve deafness to a greater extent than has ever heretofore been accomplished, which
may be readily inserted or withdrawn without difficulty and without the slightest
pain to the wearer, and which shall be wholly invisible upon the outside. It is of
course well understood that the aural passage is extremely sensitive to the insertion
of any foreign body, this being the case even when the tympanum or drum of the,
car has been seriously injured or even destroyed.
It has been a serious objection to artificial ear drums as heretofore constructed
that they have been complicated and difficult to manage, and, owing to rigid
metallic parts, have caused serious inconvenience and frequently great pain to their
users. The essential requirements of artificial ear drums are, that they shall be
soft and flexible, easy to insert and withdraw, invisible, and that they shall have
no metallic or rigid parts. In order to produce a device of this class which shall
be thoroughly effective to receive the waves of sound and transmit them to the
auditory nerves, and which shall be invisible, free from metal, and easy to manage-
which shall, in short, avoid all the objections enumerated above-I have devised
the simple and novel construction which I will now proceed to describe, referring
by letters to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in
which-
Figure 1, is a perspective view of the simplest form of the device complete.
Fig. 2, a similar view, but slightly modified, a withdrawing cord being made
part of the device.
Figs. 3, and 4, are respectively side and plan views, showing the manner in
which my improved drum is seized by a pair of aural forceps for the purpose of
insertion, and
· Fig. 5, illustrates a hook which may be used for withdrawing it when no cord
is used.
A, is the drum, which consists of a single thin flexible disk of rubber, prefer-
D fan the nuennoe of ventilation.

page_text: and C, is a loop made integral with or attached to the drum. In practice I make
the loop of rubber and mold it integral with the drum. D, is a cord, which may
or may not be attached to the loop. To insert the artificial drum in place, the
two opposite outer sides of the loop are grasped by a pair of ordinary aural
forceps, E. Upon compressing the forceps the drum will assume substantially the
position shown in Figs. 3, and 4. When grasped in this manner, it may be readily
inserted in the ear, owing to its extreme pliability. In the act of insertion the
edges may become turned backward. The other end of the forceps, or any suitable
smooth instrument, may then be inserted and the edges pushed forward, the
operation being perfectly painless. Ordinarily, however, after the drum has been
inserted as far as may be desired and is released, it will be thrown to its proper
position by loop C, which acts as a spring to expand the drum, so that it will fully
fill the auditory passage, its edges being in contact with the walls of the passage
entirely around it.
It will be seen that I wholly do away with the rigidity which is a feature of all
artificial drums heretofore devised, and also with the danger to the natural parts
which is inseparable from the use of central wires. Moreover, by doing away with
the central wires the sensitiveness of the drums is greatly increased, as they do not
have to carry any superfluous weight.
When the cord is used, the end may be pushed in just out of sight, but where it
can be readily reached when it is desired to withdraw the drum. When it is
preferred not to use a cord, the drum is used precisely as shown in Fig. 1, and may
be readily withdrawn at any time by using a hook, F, (see Fig. 5) which readily
catches the loop.
I do not, of course, desire to limit myself to the exact construction shown, as it
is obvious that the details may be varied within reasonable limits without
departing from the spirit of my invention.
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 :-
An artificial ear drum consisting solely of a thin flexible disk of rubber provided
with a device made integral therewith-for example, a flexible loop-whereby it
may be inserted or removed,