An old stethoscope

[callmekipling]

Ah, hi all. been a while.

I was at my local shooting range, of all places, this afternoon. They do a good business in used firearms, and recently they've devoted a small section of their sales floor to other things that they pick up in estate trades.

On the table today I saw a stethoscope. It looked normal, with the exception that it had a sort of 'horn' in addition to the regular, flat diaphragm. Unlike the double sided stethoscopes (which I'm told the other end is for pediatrics) this horn was in line with the tubing and so would point straight down if the stethoscope were in use.

Can anybody tell me what I saw? I may sneak out and snag it tomorrow, since everything on the used table is $5..

(Later) I believe the correct terminology is to say it had a bell and a diaphragm, as seen on this page, though it did not look terribly old:

http://www.antiquemed.com/20th_century.htm

Thanks!

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Why don't you look around eBay? Might find something close, and get an idea of value :)

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Ok, was curious, so I started looking myself! Did it look like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-medics-Antique-Stethoscope-Medical-officer_W0QQitemZ290248867927QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item290248867927&_trkparms=72%3A552%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1318

or this? http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-MEDICAL-RUBBER-BRASS-STETHOSCOPE_W0QQitemZ190241098649QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item190241098649&_trkparms=72%3A552%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1318

[RN1989]

Go get it. That would be cool to have.

I know that they used the bull horn portion for different sounds, like using a bell and a diaphragm. I have seen it used for fetal heart tones from an old doc many years ago.

[IamVickiRN]

Sounds like an old fetoscope for doppling fetal heart tones.

[Annony RN]

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/4/0/6/3/5/3/webimg/157831154_tp.jpg Used to a standard bell/ diaphragm combo MD stethoscope up until the 50's I believe. I'm sure that bell shape allowed the all-purpose family dr to pick up fetal sounds well (enough)

http://i1.ebayimg.com/08/i/001/01/1a/f358_1.JPG Fetoscope with hands free bar for head.

[Roberta88]

Hey! My mom has one of those! I just saw it in her room a few days ago and asked her what on Earth it was. Wish I had an answer but she was kind of busy. Anyways, tried putting it to my chest and I didn't hear a thing. Maybe thats not where the bell thing goes?

[callmekipling]

or this? http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-MEDICAL-RUBBER-BRASS-STETHOSCOPE_W0QQitemZ190241098649QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item190241098649&_trkparms=72%3A552%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1318

aHA! you got it!

OK, for $5 I'll go nab it and doppler some fetuses - I have a pregnant friend or two..

Thanks to everybody who helped! I'll post some pictures if there's any interest in seeing yet another stethoscope.:chuckle

[TiredMD]

I was taught that a bell allows you to hear low-pitched sounds better, while a diaphragm picks up high-pitched sounds better. The trick is that you can't push hard on the skin with a bell, because that fuctionally turns it into a diaphragm. Having never heard heart sounds very well to begin with, I will leave it to others to try this out and decide if it actually works.