German Oval Pocket Ear Trumpet (Ear Horn) This German-made flat-topped oval "dome" ear trumpet is a bit unusual in that the "dome" is actually perfectly flat. It was made of "faux tortoiseshell" celluloid and had a ivory-colored celluloid screw-on earpiece. There is no name or manufacturer's marks on this ear trumpet. Furthermore, date of manufacture is unknown, but it was probably made somewhere around 1925. The dome of this ear trumpet is 3 3/16" (8.2 cm) high, while the overall height is 3 7/16" (8.8 cm). The grill end measures 2˝" (6.4 cm) by 1˝" (3.8 cm). It weighs a miniscule 1.3 oz. (38 g).
|  | Click picture for larger view | | |   | | | |
| Side view of the German-made flat-topped oval "dome" ear trumpet showing another unusual feature. In contrast to the vast majority of the "domed" trumpets in the museum, the earpiece of this one goes over the top of the dome so that you listen on the opposite side of the dome from where the ear tube comes out of the base. In addition, the ear tube is attached all along the outside of the dome so it won't break off as easily as it otherwise might. This earpiece arrangement is quite rare but was more commonly used on French- and German-made domed ear trumpets. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| End view of the German-made flat-topped oval "dome" ear trumpet showing its slim profile. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| Close-up view of the ear piece of the German-made flat-topped oval "dome" ear trumpet. The ear piece does not stick out very far from the side of the dome, but it is adequate in order to seat the ear tip in your ear canal. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| The ivory-colored ear tip of the German-made flat-topped oval "dome" ear trumpet screwed on the main body (shown here unscrewed). |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| Bottom and side view of the German-made flat-topped oval "dome" ear trumpet, again showing its slim profile. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| Bottom view of the German-made flat-topped oval "dome" ear trumpet showing its ornate celluloid grill. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| Side view of the backlit German-made flat-topped oval "dome" ear trumpet showing its beautiful colors. Note the funnel-shaped sound-gathering tube inside the dome. This tube made a U-turn and joined the ear tube at the bottom right. The way these domed ear trumpets usually worked was that the dome had a parabolic shape so that the sound waves that entered the base of the dome reflected off the curved sides of the top of the dome right into the large end of the ear tube making these ear trumpets surprisingly effective. In this case, the "dome" is flat thus giving it different acoustic characteristics. It does not produce as loud sounds as real domes do. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| Top view side view of the German-made flat-topped oval "dome" ear trumpet showing how the ear tube folds across the top of the dome. |  | Click picture for larger view | | |
|
(If a larger picture doesn't appear, you may have to
turn your pop-up blocker off)
|
| |
