Surgery – Truss – Pad
Patent
1981-06-03
1983-05-24
Recla, Henry J.
Surgery
Truss
Pad
220DIG19, A61F 1102
Patent
active
043845754
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention is directed to ear protection plugs and particularly elastically deformable ear protection plugs of the type which can be disposed of after use.
As is well known, an ear protection plug is a more or less elastically deformable ear protector to be inserted in the outer portion of the ear canal by the fingers, thereafter to be held in place by friction and a certain pressure between the plug and the wall of the ear canal.
The classical ear protection plug quite simply is a piece of cotton-wool which is formed by the fingers and is inserted in the ear. Its noise attenuating effect varies with the accuracy with which it has been formed, and the same applies to its capability of being retained in the ear canal. The noise attenuation effect is, at the best, relatively low and the retention capacity depends on the fit and pressure of the cotton-wool plug in the ear canal. The main advantage of an ear protection plug of this type is that the cotton-wool material is cheap and thus well suited for single use. The main drawbacks are its relatively poor noise damping effect, a varying capability of being retained in the ear canal, and a pressure in the ear canal that increases with increasing retention capability, which means greater discomfort to the user.
Departing from such cotton-wool plugs, many different types of ear protection plugs have been developed which have an improved noise attenuating effect and retention capability and which cause less discomfort in the ear, a common feature of all ear protection plugs which have displayed a good noise attenuating effect and a good retention capability without causing discomfort to the ear, being however that they are relatively expensive and therefore are used several times in order to reduce cost per time of use. Repeated use in many cases is a serious hygienic problem. Within many fields, for instance in the armed forces, the engineering industry etc., use is often made of ear protection plugs instead of earmuffs since ear plugs are lighter and less cumbersome to wear. When used for the first time, the plugs can be inserted in the ears without being seriously contaminated by dirty fingers, but if they are used several times and are handled by dirty fingers and between uses are kept on a dirty work-table or drop to the floor, contamination is of course greatly increased and so is the risk of infection in the auditory canals.
The object of the invention is to provide an elastic ear protection plug which has a good noise attenuating and retention capability and which is comfortable to wear or, at least, causes minimum discomfort and which is so cheap that it need not tempt the user to wear it more than once.
As is known, ear canals have elliptic or ovoid cross-section and the dimensions of the section are of different size in different people. Thus, females and children have smaller ear canals than males, the size also varying with the size of the body. Elastic ear protection plugs whose cross-section can be reduced or shaped by the fingers or by pressing the plug into the ear canal, can within certain limits be adapted to ear canals of different size and shape. Thus, in the manufacture of ear plugs, it has been possible to restrict the number of different sizes to a relatively small number of standard sizes, but it would be possible further to lower the costs of manufacture and stock-keeping to a not insignificant extent if the number of standard sizes could be reduced.
Thus, the invention also has for its object to provide an ear protection plug which reduces the number of necessary standard sizes to about the half.
These objects have now been achieved in that the ear protection plug according to the invention has been given the features stated in claim 1 and, in preferred embodiments, the features which are stated in claims 2-9.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method for economical mass production of ear protection plugs according to the invention, this object having been achieved in that the method has been given the features
REFERENCES:
patent: 2710427 (1955-06-01), Canton
patent: 2803247 (1957-08-01), Zwislocki
patent: 3736929 (1973-06-01), Mills
patent: 3984022 (1976-10-01), Babiol
patent: 4089332 (1978-05-01), Rose
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