NHS ear trumpets distributed by Medresco
Medresco (MEDical RESearch COuncil) and the Department of Health & Social Security (later NHS) provided free ear trumpets in the UK from 1948 to 1976.
Medresco hearing aid type numbers all began with the letters "OL" followed by some numbers.
Date marking of later Medresco trumpets follows the simple pattern of MONTH
YEAR, some trumpets have a secondary date.
The arrow or 'pheon' () is a UK mark used on government equipment, you may be more familiar with this older broad arrow 
, but I use the 1980 standard.
Manufacturer FWA oftens displays 2 dates, I suggest '8 51' is the NHS-required build date and 'SEP 1951' is a later added ship date.
This list is to help assign pictures to model numbers. We know that the OL series was started just after the NHS was created. The oldest NHS/OL trumpet recorded here is January 1949 and the latest is April 1976, HAM has 7 76 on an OL38001.
Starred items are part of my Wish List
Medresco hearing aid type numbers all began with the letters "OL" followed by some numbers.
Date marking of later Medresco trumpets follows the simple pattern of MONTH
YEAR, some trumpets have a secondary date.
The arrow or 'pheon' () is a UK mark used on government equipment, you may be more familiar with this older broad arrow , but I use the 1980 standard.Manufacturer FWA oftens displays 2 dates, I suggest '8
51' is the NHS-required build date and 'SEP 1951' is a later added ship date.This list is to help assign pictures to model numbers. We know that the OL series was started just after the NHS was created. The oldest NHS/OL trumpet recorded here is January 1949 and the latest is April 1976, HAM has 7
76 on an OL38001.Starred items are part of my Wish List
buyno
Mfr
Model #
date
Mfr
Model #
date
image
note
recorded in paper by Stevens/Goodwin 1984,
marked OL301 DEC 1951 FWA 8 51,
also 2 samples at Thackray Medical Museum, Leeds
51,
also 2 samples at Thackray Medical Museum, Leeds
*
OL311
no arrow
OL311
no arrow
these are faux tortoiseshell - the A suffix seems to denote grey plastic - see next item
image provided by
Thackray Medical Museum, Leeds
where there are 2 samples
image provided by
Thackray Medical Museum, Leeds
where there are 2 samples
*
Mears
OL 312
7 53
Mears
OL 312
7
53
closed it measures about 19 cms open it is about 28 cms
mine is dated 3
52
oldest RJDowling seen 4
49
Eschmann also made this in black and red acetate as late as 1976,
sometimes labelled EBW
(Eschmann Bros & Walsh)
see next item
marked: OL380 FWA-4 
finally found an OL380A on Ebay and bought it Feb 2015 small earpiece difference to the 380 the 380A rotates !
possibly a 1958 version see 
Eschmann
OL 38001
4 76
OL 38001
4
76
NHS battery booklet
this booklet arrived with a trumpet
* Observed elsewhere and on my Wish List.
9 71 represents Sep 1971 with the Government broad arrow.
More data on OL numbers for vacuum tube hearing aids may be found at the Hearing Aid Museum
9
71 represents Sep 1971 with the Government broad arrow.More data on OL numbers for vacuum tube hearing aids may be found at the Hearing Aid Museum
| Ref | Type | Note |
| Mark II | ||
| Mark III | ||
| OL10 | Vacuum Tube | |
| OL15A | Vacuum Tube | |
| OL20A | ||
| OL27X | Vacuum Tube | |
| OL35 | Remploy | |
| OL35A | Vacuum Tube | |
| OL56 | Transistor | picture picture |
| another OL56 is at Richards Radio | ||
| OL57 | for children with pick up coil | |
| OL58 | high power, bone conduction | |
| OL58C | ||
| OL63 | high power | |
| OL64 | OL56 with screened mike | |
| OL66 | ||
| OL67 | for children | |
| OL230 | battery | 45V HT |
| OL240 | battery | 30V HT |
| OL342 | battery | 18V HT |
| OL345 | battery | 1.5V LT |
| OL375 | Vacuum Tube | |
| OL419 | battery miniature | 1.5V LT |
| OL575 | ||
| OL675 | Ear piece | From Neil at the Hearimg Aid Museum : Here is a picture of the OL675 receiver from what is presumably an Ardente transistor body aid of around 1960 - not sure the exact model. I'm assuming that the number only refers to the receiver and not the whole aid - or else the number would have been put on the body of the aid as is done in other cases. |
