AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF STETHOSCOPE."
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Paton Hawksley, of No. 4, Blenheim
Street, New Bond Street, in the County of Middlesex, Surgical
Instrument Maker, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION
OF STETHOSCOPE."

page_text: "
"
metal, brass, iron, or any other metal. This collector is made in the
shape of a conc, with its edge turned upwards and outwards, so as to
protect the skin of the patient from abrasion when being applied. The
collector being soldered to one end of the tube which is also made of
ear plate or
metal, at the other end of which is the
"vibrator" to be
applied to the car during auscultation. This car plate is made of ebonite
or vulcanite, conveniently curved to fit the ear of the physician, and is
attached by rivets, screws, or any other means to the opposite end of
the tube to which the collector is fixed.
The advantages of this improved stethoscope are its superior acoustical
qualities to enable the physician to hear more particularly sounds heard
from the chest, and for its greater durability by reason of its being
made of metal and ebonite or vulcanite.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Thomas Paton Hawksley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
PATON HAWKSLEY, of No. 4, Blenheim Street, New Bond Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Surgical Instrument Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
ycar of
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas Paton Hawksley, Her special licence
that I, the said Thomas Paton Hawksley, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Paton Hawksley,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF STETHOSCOPE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Paton Hawksley, my executors or ad-

page_text: '
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal
5 Patent Office within six calendar monthis next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Paton Hawksley, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say :-
The principal object of my Invention is to form an improved stetho-
scope of materials that will more perfectly concentrate the sound it
transmits, and prevent the slightest amount of sound being lost, and
will enable the physician or operator to determine with greater certainty
the nature, conditions, and exact seat of various discases of the body
produced by the movements of the different organs affected by the
disease from those which belong to their healthy functions, and consists
in making the part that is applied to the chest, termed the "collector,"
of very thin gun metal, brass, iron, or other suitable metal. This collector
or chest end is made in the shape of a cone, with the edge at its base.
curved smoothly round upwards, and then turned inwards over its outer
edge, so that it will not be at all disagreeable to the feelings, and protect
the skin of the patient to whom it is applied from abrasion. The
collector thus formed is soldered or otherwise fastened to one end of a
cylindrical tube also made of thin gun metal, brass, iron, or other suit-
able metal, and polished inside. At the top or opposite end of the tube
to which the collector is fixed is attached the "car plate" or "vibrator”
to be applied to the car of the physician or operator during auscultation,
by means of a flange placed over the end of the tube and soldered to it,
and also fastened to the ear plate or vibrator by screws, rivets, or other
nechanical appliance, the end of the tube passing through to the
pposite side of the ear plate. The ear plate or vibrator is made of
bonite, vulcanite, or other analogous material conveniently curved to
it the ear, so that the aperture of the instrument will be in direct
ommunication with the internal car of the physician or operator.

page_text: But in order that my Invention may be more clearly unuc
vill proceed to describe the same by the aid of the accompanying Sheet
f Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side view of my improved stethoscope,
nd Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same.
a is the part termed the collector, made of thin gun metal, brass, iron,
or other suitable metal. This collector is made in the shape of a conc,
about one inch in length, the r part of an inch in thickness, and of
an inch in diameter at its inner end, or that part next the tube,
and about one inch in diameter at the part which is to be applied
to the chest of the patient. The edge of the collector at its widest end
is smoothly curved round upwards, and then turned inwards, so as to
protect the skin of the patient from abrasion during the operation. To
this collector is soldered or otherwise attached the tube b also formed of
thin gun metal, brass, iron, or other suitable metal of the same thick-
To the other end of the tube is fastened a
ncss as the collector.
flange c, by which the ear plate or vibrator d is fixed to the tube, and
which ear plate is to be applied to the ear of the physician or operator
during auscultation. The flange c is soldered or otherwise fastened to
the tube b, and is attached to the car plate or vibrator d by screws,
rivets, or other well known mechanical contrivance. The end of the
tube 6 passes through to the opposite side of the ear plate or vibrator d,
which is made of ebonite, vulcanite, or other analogous material
of an inch in thickness, and about 24 inches in diameter.
part
Although I do not limit myself to the above proportions I have found
from continual experience and a long series of experiments the abov
described dimensions and principles of construction of my improve
stethoscope to answer best.
The advantages obtained in the construction of my improved stetho
scope are that from its superior acoustical qualities it will enable th
physician or operator better to elucidate the diagnosis of certain disease
with far more precise and certain results than have hitherto bee
obtained, by reason of that part of the instrument formed in the shap
of a cone called the collector and the tube being made of metal polishc
inside, approaching most nearly to a wet surface, which I find conduc
sound much better than a dry unpolished surface, and the car plate
vibrator of cbonite, vulcanite, or other similar substance, and also i
extreme lightness and durability.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I claim the improved
construction of stethoscope substantially as herein shewn and described.
=
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Paton Hawksley, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this First day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three