Conducting same to the Tympanum of the Ear.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd May, 1887.
Specification Accepted, 22nd July, 1887.
Conducting same to the Tympanum of the Ear.
I, JAMES ALOYSIUS MALONEY of Washington, District of Columbia, United States
of America, Physicist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to improvements in instruments designed for use by persons
of defective hearing, which operate to collect sound waves in greater volume than
can be collected by the unaided external ear, and to conduct the same, after having
I have
been made to pass through interposed media, to the tympanum of the ear.
named such instruments, auriphones, and my present invention has for its object the
construction of an auriphone in which the medium interposed between the external
air and the tympanum of the ear is a peculiarly constructed diaphragm.
This diaphragm, by reason of its peculiar construction and the mode of mounting
the same, is exceedingly sensitive to sound vibrations which it receives in large
volume, and which it conducts with the least possible diminution of force to the
tympanum.
In furtherance of the object of my invention I sometimes provide a means for
excluding from the ear all sounds which do not pass through the auriphone, and in
the preferred form of my instrument I also provide a means for locking the same to
the ear, so as to be supported entirely by the latter.
I also provide a suitable arrangement for preventing the entrance into the auriphone
of foreign disturbing sounds, which means are exemplified in the following description
by a peculiarly shaped mouth-piece.
The construction of the diaphragm involves a novel process of making the same,
and this, in connection with the several details of construction, more or less essential
to the useful application of the main features of my invention, constitute the parts of
said invention.
All this will more fully appear from the following description, in which reference
is made to the accompanying drawing, in which-
Fig. 1 is a sectional view of one form of my improved auriphone.
Fio. 2 a face view of the ear-piece employed in this form.

page_text: Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a preferred form of my invention.
Figs. 4 and 5 are rear and side views, respectively, of the same, and
Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate the process of making my improved diaphragm.
Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the improved mouth-piece.
Fig. 9 an axial section of the same, and
Fig. 10 illustrates the combination of my auriphone with a line of speaking tubes
between the mouth and the ear-pieces.
In Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown a flaring sound-collector, A, which connects by a
curved tube B with a case C in which the diaphragm D is mounted; an ear piece E
with a suitable sound opening F closes the case in front, and a cross wire or wires G
serving as a fender, prevents the ear from touching the diaphragm, and also protects
the latter against injury from external objects.
The diaphragm D may be made of any suitable resonant material, but I prefer
to make it of a thin, highly elastic sheet of soft rubber which is stretched between two
rings a, b, of thick paper, cardboard, or other like material, one on each side of the
diaphragm. I deem it important that there should be a ring on each side of the
diaphragm, but that the latter be in a state of tension when the rings are attached ;
in this manner both sides of the diaphragm, or the two opposite surfaces of the same,
are under tension when the diaphragm is in place, and maintain the tension given to
them, proportionately, during the operation of the apparatus.
Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate the manner in which I secure this result.
I employ an annular block H of any suitable material, as wood or metal, having a
bead formed at its upper edge, and a groove i directly below the bead. Upon this
block I place the sheet of soft rubber Ď or other membranous body which may be
selected, and stretch the same by passing its edges tightly over the bead 4, and
securing the edge or edges by a wrapping of silk or other thread K.
If bladder or other membraneous substance is used in place of soft rubber, the
same is moistened before it is stretched upon the block, and is then allowed to dry.
I take the two rings a, b, of paper, cardboard, wood, or any other suitable material,
and glue or cement the same one to each face of the membrane, as clearly shown
in Fig. 7.
The external diameters of the rings a, b, are smaller than the internal diameter of
block H, and the two rings are equal as to diameter and thickness; they are both
applied concentrically to the stretched membrane, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7.
The glue or cement employed, is now allowed to dry, and the membrane is
removed from the block H; a cut with a sharp tool around the outer edge of the
rings, removes the finished diaphragm, which has then the shape shown in Fig. 1.
The whole diaphragm is then varnished to render it non-hygroscopic, or it may be
varnished before it is removed from the block.
By the process described, the diaphragm is so stretched between two rings, as to
have both faces under very nearly equal tension, and I find that such diaphragms are
specially sensitive to sound vibrations. I ascribe this to the fact that the fundamental
notes of the two vibrating surfaces are the same, and that there is no interference
between the same.
The diaphragm constructed as above described, is inserted into the case C; the
external diameter of rings a, b is smaller than the internal diameter of case C so that
there is a small space between the edges of the former and the inner side of the case
as shown. By one of its rings, as for instance by ring a the diaphragın is glued or
cemented to the curved portion of case which joins the inner, cylindrical with the
plane face of the same, as indicated at ., and in this position as the diaphragm receives
the impact of sound waves through the collector A and tube B, it responds forcibly
to these waves, and if the ear is applied to the ear piece, the sounds uttered toward A
are heard much better than if the waves were directly received through the air.
In Figs. 3, 4 and 5, the sound collector A is shown to have the form of the ear-
piece in Fig. 1, while the ear-piece E in this instance consists of a short tube
extending from the case C and slightly inclined to the axis of the lattor. This tube is

page_text: cut off at an angle, and is destined to be inserted in the ear, whereby extraneous
sounds, or such as do not pass through the diaphragm are excluded.
A cam shaped structure L is secured to the ear-piece, and when the tube is
inserted into the ear and the instrument is turned about the axis of said tube or ear-
piece, the cam engages one of the convolutions of the external ear, or pinna, preferably
the concha, and is thereby locked in position.
In this form of instrument, the listener is not obliged to employ his hand to support
the same, it being carried by the ear with great comfort.
My auriphone may be used as an independent or portable instrument; but it is
clear that it may also with advantage be used as an attachment to a line of speaking
tubes. If so used, the auriphone proper is secured to one end of the speaking tube,
and it may be used either with ordinary ear and mouth-pieces, or with either or both
of them constructed with my improvements applied thereto. The speaking tube may
also be portable, in which case it is preferably made of soft flexible material. This is
shown in Fig. 10 where at one end of the flexible tube M the auriphone provided
with an ordinary ear-piece E, is shown, while at the other end, the improved mouth-
piece A' is attached. The latter is constructed as shown in Figs. 8 and 9.
The general form of the mouth-piece is that of a section of a hollow sphere as is
clearly indicated in the drawing, but provision is made to so adapt it to the face of
the speaker, that none of the sounds uttered by the same will escape from the conveyer
tube M, and that no external or disturbing sounds can enter the same.
This purpose
is achieved by two curved notches N and O, cut into the edge of the mouth-piece, and
on diametrically opposite sides of the same. The notch N, is the smaller, both in
width and depth; it is delineated to adapt itself to that portion of the face which
extends below the septum of the nose, and to both sides of the same. The notch O is
somewhat deeper and considerably wider than notch N, and is delineated to adapt
itself to that portion of the face which extends between the lower lip and the chin.
Between these two notches are the portions Q, Q, of the edge of the mouth-piece
which are circular and concentric with the tube P; these circular portions of the
edge adapt themselves well to the face of the speaker to the right and left of
his mouth.
The tube P projects rearwardly, and is preferably corrugated upon its outer
surface, and as shown in Fig. 10, the sound conveyer or tube M, of rubber or other
soft elastic material is slipped over the same.
It will thus be seen that when the mouth-piece is used in the manner indicated, it
will tightly enclose the mouth of the speaker, so that no portion of the sounds
uttered by him can escape from the conveyer, and that no foreign disturbing sounds
can enter the same. While I have found the semi-spherical form of mouth-piece
to be very effective, I do not mean to limit myself to such form, as the mouth-
piece may also be constructed in the general form of a cone or cylinder, so long
as the edge of the same is shaped to enclose hermetically the mouth of the
speaker. By preference I use for the mouth-piece a material of low resonating
power, such as soft rubber, but wood or ebony may also be used.
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. An auriphone, consisting of a sound collector, an ear-piece, and an elastic
diaphragm interposed between the two and stretched between two rings, substantially
as described.
2. An auriphone, consisting of a sound collector, an car-piece, and a diaphragm
having its two surfaces held under the same degree of tension, substantially as
described.
3. In an auriphone, the combination of a sound collector, ear-piece and diaphragın;
of a cam secured to the car-piece, substantially as described, for locking tho
aurinhone to the our

page_text: 4. In an auriphone, the combination with a sound collector and ear-piece; of a
diaphragm composed of elastic non-hygroscopic material, and two rings applied
concentrically upon the opposite sides of said diaphragm, as described, for holding
both faces under equal tension.
5. A diaphragm for auriphones,. consisting of a stretched membrane, and two
concentric rings cemented to said membrane, as described, for maintaining the
tension of both faces.
6. The process of making diaphragms for auriphones, which consists in first
stretching a membrane, and then clamping the same on both sides concentrically,
substantially as described.
7. The process of making diaphragms for auriphones, which consists in first
stretching both faces of a membrane, and then framing the same by concentric
clamps, substantially as described.
8. A mouth-piece for an auriphone, consisting of a hollow shell, having in its
edge a small curved-notch, delineated to fit the portion of the human face
between the septum of the nose and the upper lip, and a larger curved notch,
delineated to fit the face between the lower lip, and the chin, substantially as
described.
9. In an auriphone, the combination of a mouth-piece having an edge delineated
to conform to the shape of that portion of the human face which immediately
surrounds the mouth; with an ear-piece and diaphragm and a flexible sound
conveyer extending between mouth and ear piece, substantially as described.
10. In an auriphone, the combination of a diaphragm stretched between two
rings; with a mouth piece which hermetically encloses the mouth of the speaker, and
a sound conveying tube extending between the two, substantially as described.
Dated this 3rd day of May 1887.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London,
Applicant's Agent.