Acousticon Carbon Church Aid (Black leatherette case)
The Acousticon Carbon Church Aid was manufactured
from around 1905 and up through the 1920s by the General Acoustic Company,
which became Dictograph Products, Inc. of New York, NY in 1918. This version
was covered in black leatherette, and likely dates from around 1920 to
1925.
In 1927, a complete 6-person system cost the grand total of $220.00!
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View of the front of the Acousticon Carbon Church Aid showing the four black carbon microphones. Each
microphone was 3¼" in diameter. Constructed of wood and covered
with black leatherette, the case measured
16" by 4½" and was 2" deep. The unit weighed 2 pounds.
This carbon microphone box was placed on the pulpit.
Four "Gray Label" 1½ volt dry cells powered this "hearing aid". |
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Close-up view of the two center microphones showing the pattern of the
microphone grill and the Acousticon name. Between the two center
microphones (top center) is the twist on-off switch.
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Close-up view of a later version of this same Acousticon Church Aid,
again showing the two center microphones, but notice that the on-off
switch is now a lever switch rather than a rotary one. This lever switch
was used on Acousticon Church Aids by 1926. This Church Aid dates about
1927 or 1928. Apart from the switch, these two Church Aids appear
identical.
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Left end view of the microphone box of the Acousticon Carbon Church
Aid showing the two pin sockets. There are identical pin
sockets on each end of the box. One set was for the wires going to the various
volume controls/earphone jacks and the other set was for connecting the
batteries to the microphone box.
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Right end view of the microphone box of the Acousticon Carbon Church
Aid showing the other two pin sockets. These pin sockets
consist of one large and one small socket each—and
probably were used interchangeably because of the very nature of
carbon hearing devices since the batteries, earphones and microphones
are all hooked in series with each other.
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The label, located on the right end of the microphone box of the
Acousticon Carbon Church Aid showing the serial number (105468 K).
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The label, located on the right end of the microphone box of a later
version of the
Acousticon Carbon Church Aid shown above. Notice the serial number is
now 160787 K. This dates this Church Aid as later than May of 1926 since
the serial number at that time was 153738 M.
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To hear with this system, a hard of hearing person picked up the
earphone lorgnette, extended the handle to a comfortable length and held
it up to one ear. The handle extended from 4" to 9¼".
The ear phone plugged into a volume control (bottom left) on the back
of the pew in front of you.
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Close up of the carbon earphone with the handle collapsed. The
earphone was 2" in diameter. |
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Close up of the back of the carbon earphone. |
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The removable collapsible handle slid into a slot on the back of the
earphone (shown removed). |
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View showing the tip of the handle being inserted into the slot in the
back of the earphone. |
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Close-up view of the back of the earphone showing the handle fully
inserted. Notice the hole in the end of the handle (right side) so you
could hang the earphone on a hook on the pew in front of you when not
using it. |
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Close up of the pins (plugs) at the end of the earphone cord. These
plugged into the appropriate holes in the volume control that was
mounted on the back of the pew in front of you. Note that the pins
were of different sizes to prevent plugging them in the wrong holes,
thus preserving the correct polarity. |
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Close-up view of the volume control of the Acousticon Church Model carbon
assistive device. This volume control was mounted on the back of the pew
in front of you. It was 2" in diameter and ¾" thick. The earphone pins
plugged into the two holes (top left and right).
This was a five position volume control shown in the medium
position. Louder was the two positions to the left and softer was the
two positions to the right. |
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Side view of the volume control showing the groove in the bottom
where the wire from the microphone on the pulpit connected to the volume
control. Four to six of these volume control units were typically
connected to the microphone. The maximum the system could handle was 8
receivers. |
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Picture taken from an Acousticon instruction manual showing a similar
Acousticon Church assistive device and all its parts.
Note the battery case (top center) containing 4 standard "Gray Label" dry cells.
A set of batteries was supposed to last from 6 to 12 months of use.
Also, notice the coil of wire (upper right) that connected the
microphone box on the pulpit to the volume controls on the backs of the
pews—usually in the first or second row of pews.
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Acousticon put out an informational booklet for their Silver
Anniversary in 1927, showing how to use the church aid, giving
testimonials, instructions for setting it up and costs, etc. Click here to read this 24 page interesting booklet entitled "For
the Love of Mankind".
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