Hearing Aid
date: label: Date made
content: 1946 - 1949
notes: label: Description
content: During World War II, after having studied at M.I.T. and the Harvard Business School, Leon Strauss, Jr. (1915-2002) became a Captain in the Army Air Forces and learned about the printed circuits developed for use in proximity fuses. In 1946, while Strauss was serving as president of the Allen-Howe Electronics Corporation, that firm introduced Solo-pak, the first hearing aid with a printed circuit. The inscription in the lid of the case of this early example reads “Solo-pak / by / ALLEN-HOWE.” Other inscriptions read “Solo-pak / PRINTED CIRCUIT / ALLEN-HOWE ELECTRONICS CORP. / PEABODY, MASS., USA.” and s/n 265. Allen-Howe moved to Salem in 1948.
label: Description
content: Ref: “Hearing Device Uses War Born Printed Circuit,” <i>Chicago Tribune</i> (Oct. 9, 1947), p. 65.
label: Description
content: “First Application of the Printing Circuit Technique to a Hearing Aid,” in National Bureau of Standards, <i>Printed Circuit Techniques</i> (1947), pp. 52-64.
label: Description
content: George Brinton Beale, “Once Deadly War Weapon Becomes A Boon To Mankind,” <i>Boston Post Magazine</i> (April 4, 1948).
label: Description
content: “Peabody Firm Achieves Fame By Clever Use Of War Device,” <i>The Peabody Times</i> (April 2, 1948), p. 8.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Leon Strauss, Jr.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1996.0060.01
label: catalog number
content: 1996.0060.01
label: accession number
content: 1996.0060
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Case
label: Object Name
content: hearing aid
label: Other Terms
content: Case; Prostheses
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: leatherette (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: velvet (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: satin (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brown (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: red (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: white (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 3.5 cm x 12.5 cm x 11.2 cm; 1 3/8 in x 4 15/16 in x 4 7/16 in
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 10.2 cm x 6 cm x 3 cm; 4 in x 2 3/8 in x 1 3/16 in
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 93 cm x 2.1 cm; x 36 5/8 in x 13/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 5/8 in x 4 7/8 in x 4 1/2 in; 6.6675 cm x 12.3825 cm x 11.43 cm