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Joined: 17 Mar 2009 Posts: 414 Location: Liverpool, NY
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Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 9:49 am Post subject: St. Paul's Church sound system |
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Gary Beissenherz’s book, Christ Our Firm Foundation – Yesterday, Today, Forever, pg. 90 describes the evolution of the sound system in St. Paul’s Church. However, it does not include the hearing devices in the earliest years. One of my most enduring memories of attending church as a young child in the mid-1930s was a number of elderly women in the front pews of the church with their ear horns pointed toward Pastor Heilman in the pulpit. (Men didn’t bother using them.)
Ear horns could be ordered from the Montgomery Ward catalog and other places. The most popular model in use at St. Paul’s was the Model 648 Sound Concentrator pictured below. It can be found on page 102 of the 1889 John Reynders & Co's catalog listed at a price of $4.50. (See https://archive.org/stream/illustratedcatal1889reyn#page/102/mode/2up. Does anyone still have one of these devices?)
Gary’s timeline begins with the installation of the first sound system for use by the hearing impaired sometime near the end of the 1930s. This included an amplifier which fed a number of handheld earpieces similar in design to the one in the second picture below (but in a more discrete black). The earpieces hung on the back of a number of front row pews where most of the older people sat. It was much more convenient than the old ear trumpets.
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Model 648 Sound Concentrator from 1889 John Reynders & Co's catalog. |
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![reynders648EarHorn.jpg](files/reynders648earhorn_181.jpg)
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Typical handheld earphone for use by the hearing impaired. |
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![handheld earphone.JPG](files/handheld_earphone_158.jpg)
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