General Information

Serial #

17346

Part Number

1

Total Parts

2

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Dull silver metal ear tubes and bracket, body connector and chest piece. Black rubber (?) or synthetic (?) tubing connects ear tubes and chest piece; black rubber (?) or synthetic (?) ear buds.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

55.0 cm

Width

10.6 cm

Height

3.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Medical Technology

Category

Instruments

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Pilling

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Pennsylvania

City

Philadelphia

Context

Country

North America

State/Province

Unknown

Period

Presumably used c. 1901-1950; possibly also used later.

Canada

Part of a large collection of medical artifacts, archival material & trade literature transferred to CSTM in 2002 from the former History of Medicine Museum, Toronto, ON.

Function

Allows user to hear sounds from within the body. Especially used to listen to heart, pulse & lungs.

Technical

This style stethoscope developed by Dr. Robert C.M. Bowles in 1894. Original version has a flat diaphragm chest piece which could be used alone, or with a short rod that screwed into the diaphragm to localize heart sounds. The chest piece could be connected to a binaural earpiece, or could be used alone by applying the ear directly to the hollow opening. Early versions of the Bowles stethoscope had only the diaphragm chest piece but later models (referred to as "combination stethoscopes" had both a bell and diaphragm interchangeable in the same chest piece. George P. Pilling & Son Co. of Philadelphia was the sole manufacturer of the Bowles stethoscope in America from 1900 to c. 1950. [Ref. 3]

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

"BOWLES STETHOSCOPE/ [logo]/ 17346/ PAT. JUNE 25 '01/ PAT. FEB. 22-98. PATS. PENDING/ G.P. PILLING & SON, PHILA./ SOLE M'F'R'S." stamped into underside of chest piece. "PAT. FEB. 18 '02" stamped into one ear tube. UHN catalogue no. "970.8.1" printed by hand in black ink on bracket.

Missing

Appears complete.

Finish

Dull silver metal ear tubes and bracket, body connector and chest piece. Black rubber (?) or synthetic (?) tubing connects ear tubes and chest piece; black rubber (?) or synthetic (?) ear buds.

Decoration

N/A