Electrical audio signal processing systems and devices – Electro-acoustic audio transducer – Plural or compound reproducers
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-11
2004-04-27
Kuntz, Curtis (Department: 2643)
Electrical audio signal processing systems and devices
Electro-acoustic audio transducer
Plural or compound reproducers
C381S330000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06728388
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ear-hanging type headphone which does not require a headband, and more specifically, relates to a headphone wherein the ear hanger arm is rotatably constructed via a rotary shaft portion eccentric with respect to the central axis of the headphone body portion, to thereby improve the wearing property of the headphone.
2. Background of the Invention
Recently, with advancement of the times of individuation centering on the youth, demands for a product whose design is regarded as important are increasing even in the headphone industry. In a-case of an ear-hanging type headphone, there is a strong demand for one having fashionability for the outdoor use, not having an image regarding function as important, such as conventional ones used in indoors for guidance in museums or the like, or used in international conferences or the like. However, in the outdoor use, it is also important, in view of safety, that the headphone can be quickly removed and mounted, for example, when the user changes a train or the like.
Here, one example of a conventional ear-hanging type headphone is shown in
FIG. 14. A
speaker unit (not shown) is built in a headphone housing
30
, and one side of the headphone housing
30
is a sound production section side to which an ear cushion
31
is attached. An ear hanger arm
32
is connected by a fixed part
33
to the back side of the headphone housing
30
, bent to a shape wrapped around the ear, and arranged on the front side of the ear cushion
31
. The ear hanger arm
32
is made of a plastic molding material, and made detachable with respect to the ear cushion
31
, utilizing an elastic deformation force thereof. Reference symbol
34
denotes a code pulled out from the headphone housing
30
.
The above-described ear-hanging type headphone is mounted as shown in
FIG. 15
, in such a manner that the ear hanger arm
32
is hang on the ear with the ear hanger arm
32
being bent in a direction away from the ear cushion
31
, to thereby support the dead weight of the headphone by the ear hanger arm
32
, and the ear portion “e” is pressed on both sides of the ear hanger arm
32
and the ear cushion
31
.
FIG. 16
to
FIG. 18
show another example of the conventional ear-hanging type headphone. This headphone is constructed such that the ear hanger arm
36
is rotatable about a supporting point
37
with respect to the headphone housing
35
, and located on the front side of the ear cushion
38
, and the ear hanger arm
36
is spring-energized toward the ear cushion
38
side by means of a spring member (not shown) provided in the supporting point
37
.
FIG. 19
to
FIG. 21
also show an example in which the fitting angle of the supporting point
37
of the ear hanger arm
36
with respect to the headphone housing
35
is different from that of the headphone shown in the above-described
FIG. 16
to FIG.
18
.
FIG. 22
also shows another example of the conventional ear-hanging type headphone. This headphone is constructed such that an annular ear-hanging section
39
in a longitudinally elliptic shape along the shape of the ear portion and a ring-shaped holding section
40
in which the headphone housing is held are integrally formed by a plastic molding material, and a headphone housing
41
having a built-in speaker unit is held in the holding section
40
with the sound production section being inside. The holding section
40
is protruded stepwise towards this side with respect to the annular ear-hanging section
39
, so that a gap “g” is produced vertically between the annular ear-hanging section
39
and the holding section
40
.
The ear-hanging type headphone constructed as described above is mounted in such a manner that the annular ear-hanging section
39
is supported by the ear portion by inserting the ear portion into the gap “g” in the direction of an arrow, to give the insertion fitted condition of the headphone.
The insertion fitting operation of the headphone shown in
FIG. 14
has a problem in that insertion fitting of the headphone is troublesome, since it is insertion fitted such that the headphone housing
30
is held by one hand, and while widening the ear hanger arm
32
by the other hand so as to alienate it from the headphone housing
30
, the ear portion is inserted into the gap produced between them so as to be pressed on both sides. Moreover, the gap after completion of the headphone insertion fitting is required to be set narrow so as to give an initial load, taking into consideration the flexion of the ear hanger arm
32
due to the dead weight of the headphone. With such a structure, the gap is narrow on the side of the fixed part
33
of the ear hanger arm
32
, and the gap becomes large on the tip end side, and hence, the ear portion inserted on the fixed part
33
side is pressed and becomes sore. As a result, there is a problem in long time use.
The headphone shown in
FIG. 16
can uniformly hold the ear portion only in a part where the ear hanger arm
36
is parallel to the headphone housing
35
, and as with the case of the headphone shown in
FIG. 14
, the gap is narrow on the supporting point
37
side of the ear hanger arm
36
, and the gap becomes large on the tip end side. Therefore, for example, when a headphone having a standard size L in the distance from the supporting point
37
to the bending portion of the ear hanger arm
36
, as shown in
FIG. 17
, is mounted on a large ear, the ear portion inserted on the supporting point
37
side is pressed and pain easily occurs. Moreover, when a headphone having a size L
1
for large ears in the distance from the supporting point
37
to the bending portion of the ear hanger arm
36
, as shown in FIG.
18
, is mounted on a small ear, a gap is formed between the headphone housing
35
and the supporting point
37
. As a result, there is a problem in that the headphone housing
35
does not come into intimate contact with the ear portion, causing sound leakage and decrease in the tone quality.
Even in a case of the headphone shown in
FIG. 19
, the gap is narrow on the supporting point
37
side of the ear hanger arm
36
, and the gap becomes widely open on the tip end side, as shown in
FIG. 20
, when a headphone having a standard size L in the distance from the supporting point
37
to the bending portion of the ear hanger arm
36
is mounted on a large ear, as with the case of
FIG. 16
, the ear portion inserted on the supporting point
37
side is pressed and pain easily occurs. Moreover, when a headphone having a size L
1
for large ears in the distance from the supporting point
37
to the bending portion of the ear hanger arm
36
, as shown in
FIG. 21
, is mounted on a small ear, a wide gap is formed between the headphone housing
35
and the supporting point
37
. As a result, there is a problem in that the headphone housing
35
does not come into intimate contact with the ear portion, causing sound leakage and decrease in the tone quality.
On the other hand, with the headphone shown in
FIG. 22
, the gap “g” between the annular ear-hanging section
39
and the holding section
40
is a gap which the ear portion can go through. Therefore, in the state that the headphone is inserted and fitted, there are such problems that the headphone housing
41
does not come into intimate contact with the ear portion, causing sound leakage and decrease in the tone quality, or insertion fitting becomes unstable, and headphone is easily dropped.
The present invention is for solving the above-described problems, and it is an object of the present invention to obtain an ear-hanging type headphone wherein insertion fitting operation of the headphone is quite easy, and insertion-fitting followingness of the headphone to the ear portion is increased without having any problem in long time use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the above-described object, the headphone according to the present invention is constructed such that a rotation shaft portion is rotatably provided in a position
Ito Tomohiro
Nageno Koji
Dabney P.
Kuntz Curtis
Maioli Jay H.
Sony Corporation
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