Headphone Assembly

Abstract

A headphone assembly which may be used with a sterophonic audio system, includes a U-shaped block of soft resilient material having a rear portion adapted to engage the back of the head of the user and having a pair of leg portions extending in a spaced-apart manner to grip snugly the head of the user therebetween and to engage the ears of the user, and a pair of speakers mounted within a pair of cavities in the ear-engaging portions of the legs, the openings to the cavities being oppositely disposed so that when placed about the head of the user the speakers are axially aligned to convey sound to the ears of the user. A fabric covering may be disposed over the block. In one embodiment, a cavity at the inside of the rear portion of the block guides the sound from both of the speaker cavities to the back of the skull bone of the user to enhance the enjoyment of the assembly.

Description

The present invention relates to a headphone assembly which may be used with a stereophonic audio system, and it more particularly relates to a stereophonic headphone assembly which is comfortable and enjoyable to use and has an aesthetically pleasing appearance.

Conventional headphones have been used in connection with stereophonic audio systems for the private enjoyment of stereophonic sound reproduction. However, such headphones have not been aesthetically pleasing in appearance, and the heretofore known headphones have not been very comfortable to use. Furthermore, conventional headphones do not utilize the sound-absorbing characteristics of the skull bone to enhance the enjoyment thereof. Therefore, in an attempt to overcome these disadvantages, speakers were mounted in headrests for seats, and in this regard, reference may be made to U. S. Pat. Nos. 3,384,719 and 3,512,605. Also, speakers were employed in a pillow, as disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 3,290,450. However, none of these devices have proved to be entirely satisfactory for some applications in that, unlike conventional headphones, such devices cannot be attached to and worn by the user. Accordingly, the user was not free to move readily about the room, while maintaining the speakers in close proximity to his ears. Moreover, due to the construction of such devices, the speakers were not located in close proximity to the ears of the user while in use, and therefore the benefits obtainable from headphones were not obtainable with such devices. In this regard, since the ears were left exposed and were not covered by the speakers, private enjoyment was not possible, and background noises could not be blocked or absorbed. In the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,384,719, a Masonite sheet in a headrest conveys low frequency sound from a pair of speakers to a limited portion of the back of the skull of the user to convey sound thereto, but such an arrangement is uncomfortable to use since the head must be pressed against the hard surface of the sheet, and the sheet does not provide a desirable frequency response and conveys the sound to a relatively small portion of the skull bone. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a headphone assembly which may be worn by the user with its speakers positioned in close proximity to the ears of the user, and which is adapted to fit various different sizes and shapes of heads. Also, such an assembly should be extremely comfortable and convenient to use to enhance the enjoyment of a stereophonic system, and it should have an aesthetically pleasing appearance in the nature of a fine piece of furniture so as to complement a high-quality stereophonic system cabinet. Moreover, such an assembly should also supply sound vibrations directly to a relatively large area of the skull of the user to provide even greater enjoyment of the stereophonic sound reproduction.

Therefore, the principal object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved headphone assembly, which is extremely comfortable and convenient to use, and which may be worn with the speakers in close proximity to the ears of the user and adapted to fit various different sizes and shapes of heads.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a new and improved headphone assembly, which has an aesthetically pleasing appearance in the nature of a fine piece of furniture, and which is adapted to convey sound vibrations directly to a relatively large area of the skull bone of the user.

Briefly, the above and further objects of the present invention are realized by providing an assembly including a generally U-shaped block of soft resilient material having a rear portion adapted to engage the back of the head of the user and having a pair of leg portions extending in a spaced-apart manner to grip snugly the head of the user therebetween and to engage the ears of the user, and a pair of speakers mounted within a pair of cavities in the ear-engaging portions of the legs. The openings to the speaker cavities are oppositely disposed so that when the assembly is disposed in place on the head of the user the speakers are aligned to directly face the ears of the user in close proximity therewith during use. The soft resilient material enables the user to rest his head against the back of a chair or other supporting surface to increase the enjoyment of the use of the assembly, and also, if desired, enables him to more about the room with the assembly in place so that continuous enjoyment is possible. A fabric covering may be disposed over the block to provide the assembly with a finished appearance so that the covering and the shape of the assembly causes it to have an artistic and tasteful aspect in the nature of a fine piece of furniture. Due to the predetermined spacing between the legs of the assembly, the shape of assembly and the resiliency of the block, the assembly fits various different sizes and shapes of heads. In one embodiment of the invention, a cavity in the rear portion of block conveys sound vibrations directly to a relatively large area of the back of the skull bone of the user to increase the stereophonic sensations for even greater enjoyment of the assembly.

These and other important objects and advantages of the invention will be more fully understood upon a reading of the following specification taken in view of the attached drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a headphone assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the assembly of FIG. 1, illustrating it in use on the head of a user;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary view in cross-section of the assembly of FIG. 1 taken substantially along a longitudinally extending plane disposed mid-way between the upper and lower surfaces thereof;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another headphone assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the assembly of FIG. 4 taken substantially along the line 5--5 thereof; and

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the lower half of the assembly of FIG. 4 with the upper half thereof removed for illustration purposes.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIGS. 1-3 thereof, there is shown a headphone assembly 10, which is constructed in accordance with the present invention, and which is adapted to be worn on the head of a user 12 and to be electrically connected to a stereophonic system (not shown) or the like sound reproduction system by means of a cable 14 having an lectrical connector 16 at the free end thereof. The assembly 10 generally comprises a U-shaped block 18 of soft resilient material, such as polyurethane or its equivalent, having a transverse portion 20 adapted to engage the back portion of the head of the user 12 and having a pair of parallel spaced-apart leg portions 22 and 24 to receive and to grip the user's head therebetween, a pair of loud speakers 26 and 28 mounted in the ear-engaging portions of the respective legs 22 and 24 and electrically connected to the cable 14, and a fabric covering 31 which fits over and closely conforms to the shape of the block 18. A flexible head strip 33 is detachably connected between the outer faces of the legs 22 and 24 by means of a pair of snap fasteners 35 and 37 and is adapted to fit over the top portion of the head of the user 12 to facilitate supporting the assembly 10 in place, as shown in FIG. 2. In use, one of the ends of the strap 33 is unfastened, and the legs 22 and 24 are then flexed slightly outwardly and then the assembly 10 is positioned over the back of the head of the user until the forward face of the transverse portion 20 engages the back of the head. The legs are then released to permit them to spring into engagement with the user's head to grip it therebetween with the speakers 26 and 28 positioned in close proximity to the user's ears. The soft resilient material of the assembly 10 serves as a cushion or a pillow for the relaxing comfort of the user, and it readily conforms to the shape of the user's head. The strap 33 is then placed over the top of the head, and the free end is fastened to its respective leg portion. The connector 16 may be inserted into a conventional outlet (not shown) of a system, whereby when the system is energized, sound is produced by the speakers and directed toward the ears of the user 12.

Considering now the assembly 10 in greater detail, the covering 31 is composed of a suitable fabric material, which may be of a fine quality so as to lend an aesthetically pleasing aspect of the appearance of the assembly 10, and which may be identical to or match the color or pattern of the grille cloth material for the main speakers (not shown) of the system to be used in connection with the assembly 10. The covering 33 is provided with a longitudinally extending opening behind a seam flap 40 in the back side thereof overlying the back side of the transverse portion 20. The opening 40 is releasably closed by means of a slide fastening device (not shown) sewn in place behind the seam flap 40 along its marginal edges by stitching, such as the stitching 42, whereby the covering 31 may be removed from the block 18 for cleaning purposes. It should be understood that other types of fastening devices, such as snaps, buttons and the like, may be used in place of the slide fastening device.

A grommet 44 surrounds an opening in the back wall of the covering 31 through which extends the cable 14. By suitable means (not shown) the cable 14 is anchored to the grommet to prevent inadvertant damage to the assembly 10. If desired, in place of a separate opening and a grommet, the cable 14 may extend through one end of the opening at the seam flap 40.

The flexible head strap 33 is composed of a fabric material, but it may also be composed of other suitable materials, such as a flexible plastic material, or a resilient stretchable material. If a stretchable material, such as an elastic band, is employed, the band may be left in place during attachment of the assembly to the user's head since the band stretches to permit the legs of the assembly to be spread apart and to accommodate various different sizes of heads. The strap 33 comprises two strips of fabric material joined together by means of a buckle 45 or the like fastening means to enable the length of the strap to be adjustable so that it can accommodate various different sizes of heads. The strap 33 is adapted to extend across the central portion of the user's head, and thus the end portions of the strap 33 are centrally located on the outer faces of the legs 22 and 24. It should be understood that the strap 33 need not be used, if desired, since the resiliency of the block 18 enables the assembly to be at least partially supported by the head of the user, whereby without the strap 33 the user can place the assembly over his ears in the same manner as mentioned in the foregoing description and then press the assembly against the back of a chair, or use the assembly in a reclining position on a bed or the like.

The leg portions 22 and 24 of the U-shaped block 18 are similar to one another, and thus only the leg portion 22 will now be described in detail. The leg portion 22 is laminated and includes an outer block 47, an intermediate block 49 having a frusto-conically shaped chamber 50 extending therethrough for receiving and confining the speaker 26, and an inner thin block 52 which has a circular hole 54 therein, and which engages the intermediate block 49 with a mounting flange 56 and a protective metal grille plate 58 sandwiched therebetween. It is to be understood that the chamber 50 may have other shapes, such as a cylindrical shape. The chamber 50 and the hole 54 are aligned to define a cavity for the speaker 26, which is aligned with the speaker 28 so that the speakers have aligned axes of sound directed toward the ears of the user when in use. A pair of speaker wires 61 and 62 extend from the speaker 26 between the outer block 47 and the intermediate block 49 within an opening therebetween formed by the resilient material of the blocks conforming to the shape of the wires 61 and 62 and through a longitudinally extending slit through the transverse portion 20 to the cable 14. The transverse block 20 is longitudinally rectangular, and due to its resiliency, conforms to the user's head in use. The blocks are secured together by means of a suitable adhesive to form the leg 22, which is then fixed to the transverse portion 20.

The legs 22 and 24 are spaced apart by a predetermined distance to permit the assembly 10 to fit a large number of users, so that when the user places the legs over his ears, the legs snugly grip the head. It was discovered that the assembly accommodates a large number of sizes of heads and the assembly fits snugly but comfortably on the head when the legs 22 and 24 of the block 18 are spaced apart by about 4 inches and the transverse portion 20 is about 3 inches thick. In its unstressed condition as shown in FIG. 3, the legs 22 and 24 being spaced-apart by about 4 inches cannot be directly slipped over the ears of the average user without first spreading them apart slightly. However, when the legs are flexed outwardly to position them opposite the ears and then released to permit them to move into engagement with the ears of the user, the portion of the covering 31 extending over the hole 54 deforms inwardly to receive and to conform to the ear of the user, and the portion of the block 52 surrounding the hole 54 snugly engages the portion of the head surrounding the ear, the hole 54 being somewhat larger than the average size ear. Thus, the legs 22 and 24 grip the head and the ears are cupped within the holes in the inner blocks of the legs. When in position on the user's head, the U-shaped member 18 is only slightly stressed and assumes a shape which is almost the same as the unstressed shape shown in FIG. 3, whereby the assembly 10 attaches itself to the head in a comfortable manner due to the soft resilient material and cups the ears to direct the sound thereto from the speakers and to acoustically isolate the ears from extraneous background noise.

In order to assemble the U-shaped block 18, the speaker wires are electrically connected to the speaker 24, and the speaker 24 with the grille plate 58 positioned in overlying engagement with its mounting flange 56 is mounted within the chamber 50 and then the inner block 52 is secured with adhesive to the block 49 over its face having the larger opening to the chamber 50 therein to retain the speaker 56 and its grille plate 58 in place, the larger opening to the chamber 50 being somewhat smaller than the flange 56 so that it extends beyond the opening and is secured between the blocks 49 and 52. Thereafter, with the speaker wires 61 and 62 extending along the rear face of the block 49, the outer block 47 is secured with adhesive to the rear face of the block 47. After cutting the longitudinally extending slit 64 through the transverse block 20, the speaker wires and cable 14 are pulled through the slit within the block 20 until it engages the legs 22 and 24. Thereafter, the legs are fixed to the transverse block 20 with adhesive to form the U-shaped block 18, the covering 31 then being slipped over the U-shape block 18 as a final step in the assembly process.

Referring now to FIG. 4 of the drawings, there is shown a headphone assembly 70, which is also constructed in accordance with the present invention. The assembly 70 is similar to the assembly 10, except that the assembly 70 is entirely self-supporting on the head of the user without the need for a head strap and conveys sound vibrations directly to the back portion of the skull bone of the user for enhancing the enjoyment of the use of the assembly. The assembly 70 is adapted to be worn on the head of a user (not shown) in a similar manner as the assembly 10, and is adapted to be electrically connected to a stereophonic system (not shown) or the like sound reproduction system by means of a cable 72 having an electrical connector 74 at the free end thereof. The assembly 70 generally comprises a U-shaped block 76, which is composed of a soft resilient material, such as polyurethane or its equivalent, and which comprises a top half portion 78 secured to an identical bottom half portion 81 by means of a suitable adhesive. It is to be understood that the block 76 may also be of a unitary construction and molded in one piece. The material of the block 76 may be of various different colors to complement a sterophonic system cabinet, or a suitable covering (not shown) may be provided for the assembly 70 in a manner which is similar to the covering for the assembly 10.

The block 76 includes a rear transverse curved portion 83 adapted to engage the back portion of the head of the user, and a pair of spaced-apart leg portions 85 and 87 to receive and to grip the user's head therebetween. A pair of loud speakers 89 and 90 are mounted in the respective leg portions 85 and 87 and are electrically connected to the cable 72. In use, the legs 85 and 87 are flexed outwardly and then the assembly 70 is positioned over and engages the back portion of the head of the user, and then the legs are released to permit them to spring into engagement with the user's head to grip it therebetween with the speakers 89 and 90 positioned in close proximity to the user's ears. The soft resilient material of the assembly 70 serves as a cushion or a pillow in the same manner as the assembly 10, whereby the rear portion 83 of the block 76 may be pressed into engagement with the back portion of a chair or other supporting surface so that the block 76 also serves as a cushion.

Considering now the assembly 70 in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 of the drawings, the block 76 has a smoothly rounded contour and is generally spherical in shape with its upper and lower surfaces flattened to provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance. The leg portions 85 and 87 are similar to one another, and thus only the leg portion 85 will now be described in detail. The leg portion 85 has a speaker chamber 92, which includes a generally cylindrical-shaped portion 94 opening inwardly and a closed rounded cup-shaped portion 96, whereby when the assembly 70 is positioned on the head of the user, the speaker 89 is disposed opposite the ear of the user. A flange 98 of the speaker 89 fits snugly within an annular groove 101 within the cylindrical portion 94 of the chamber 92 to secure the speaker 89 in position. A generally C-shaped projection or ridge 103 on the inside surface of the leg 85 partially surrounds the opening to the cavity 92 and opens rearwardly to seal the speaker cavity 92 to the head of the user so that sound is conveyed directly to the ear. A cavity 105 is provided in the inside surface of the rear portion 83 and is in the form of a hollowed-out area which extends between the C-shaped projection 103 and the corresponding C-shaped projection 107, whereby the cavity 105 communicates with the speakers 89 and 90 so that sound is directed via the cavity 105 to the back portion of the skull bone of the user to enhance the enjoyment of the assembly 70. It should be noted that the upper edge 109 and the lower edge 112 of the rear portion 83 at the upper and lower end portions of the cavity 105 are adapted to tightly grip the back portion of the head of the user to seal the cavity 105 to the head of the user and to tightly grip the head.

It should be understood that if a covering is provided for the assembly 70, the inner concave surface of the cavity 105 is covered with a fabric of a low acoustical impedance characteristic, while the outer surfaces of the block 76 is covered with a heavier conventional type of fabric material.

A pair of wires 115 and 117 for the speaker 89 are disposed within a groove 119 of the lower half portion 81 and a complementary shaped corresponding groove 120 in the upper portion 78 to the cable 72 disposed within a downwardly extending hole 122 in the rear portion of the lower half 81.

The legs 85 and 87 are bowed slightly inwardly so that when they grip the head of the user the assembly 70 is self-supporting thereon. It was discovered that the assembly 70 accommodates a large number of sizes of heads when the legs 85 and 87 are spaced apart by about 31/2 inches between the centers of the mouths of the cylindrical portions, such as the portion 94 of the cavity 92. It should be noted that the legs 85 and 87 are spaced somehwat further apart at the rear portion 83 near the center of the assembly 70 to facilitate a tight seal on the head of the user.

It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention provides a novel and useful improvement in headphone assemblies of the character described herein. The arrangement and types of structural components utilized within the invention may be subject to numerous modifications well within the purview of this invention and it is intended only to be limited to a liberal interpretation of the specification and appended claims.

Claims

I claim as my invention:

1. A headphone assembly adapted to be electrically energized by an independent sound signal system comprising: a U-shaped member composed of soft resilient material having a rear portion adapted to engage and extend across the back portion of the head of a user and having a pair of legs extending from the end portions of said rear portion in a spaced-apart manner to grip snugly the head of the user therebetween to at least partially support the assembly thereon and to fit over the ears of the user; means defining a pair of cavities in the ear-engaging portions of said legs having oppositely disposed openings; a pair of speaker means mounted within said cavities having aligned axes of sound when said assembly is in position over the ears of the user; wire means adapted to connect electrically said speaker means to the sound signal system for driving said speaker means; and means defining a third cavity in the inside surface of said rear portion opening inwardly for conveying sound from said speaker means to the skull bone of the user.

2. An assembly according to claim 1, further including a pair of projections extending from the inside surface of said legs and at least partially surrounding said speaker cavities to seal said legs to the head of the user.

3. An assembly according to claim 2, wherein said projections are generally C-shaped and open rearwardly, said third cavity extending between said speaker cavities at the open portions of said projections to connect said third cavity in communication with said speaker cavities.

4. An assembly according to claim 2, wherein said legs are spaced apart by approximately three inches for securing said assembly to the head of the user to support said assembly thereon.

5. An assembly according to claim 4, wherein said rear portion is longitudinally curved.

6. A headphone assembly adapted to be electrically energized by an independent sound signal system comprising: a member composed of soft resilient material having a rear portion adapted to engage and extend across the back portion of the head of the user and having a pair of legs extending from the end portions of said rear portion in a spaced-apart manner and able to be spread apart further by means of the resiliency of said rear portion to grip snugly the head of the user therebetween to at least partially support the assembly thereon and to fit over the ears of the user, said legs being spaced apart by not more than approximately 4 inches at the speaker means to enable said assembly to accommodate various different sizes of heads; means defining a pair of cavities in the ear-engaging portions of said legs having oppositely disposed openings; a pair of speaker means mounted within said cavities having aligned axes of sound extending through said openings when said assembly is in position over the ears of the user; and wire means adapted to connect electrically said speaker means to the sound signal system for driving said speaker means.

7. A headphone assembly adapted to be electrically energized by an independent sound signal system comprising: a U-shaped member composed of soft resilient material having a rear portion adapted to engage and extend across the back portion of the head of a user and having a pair of legs extending from the end portions of said rear portion in a spaced-apart manner and able to be spread apart further by means of the resiliency of said rear portion to grip snugly the head of the user therebetween to at least partially support the assembly thereon and to fit over the ears of the user, said rear portion and said legs being of substantially the same height, said legs being inclined slightly toward one another, said U-shaped member having a smoothly rounded outer contour and being generally spherical in shape with the upper and lower surfaces flattened; means defining a pair of cavities in the ear-engaging portions of said legs having oppositely disposed openings; a pair of speaker means mounted within said cavities having aligned axes of sound extending through said openings when said assembly is in position over the ears of the user; and wire means adapted to connect electrically said speaker means to the sound signal system for driving said speaker means.