Ear Protector

Abstract

An ear protector comprising a pair of cup-like ear members and means connecting said ear members for maintaining the ear protector on the ear position, said ear members having an inner cushion-like packing, a film of plastic material for maintaining said packing in the members, and a slot along an outer circle of the ear pieces into which the hem is fitted, said slot having a depth twice its breadth, whereby when the hem is fitted into the slot the inner circle of the hem is stretched substantially to the maximum degree when it is compelled to come away from the slot.

Description

The present invention may be used in conjunction with any prior art ear protector such as described in applicant's co-pending application Ser. No. 264,854 filed June 21, 1972.

This invention relates to an ear protector having a means for fastening the packing of the ear protector to the ear pieces comprising a hem belonging to the packing made of a plastic membrane and on the circle of the cup-like ear pieces there is provided a slot cooperating with the hem.

A soft ring-shaped cushionlike packing between the ear pieces of the ear protector and the skin is generally made of a plastic memberane of about 0.2-0.4 millimeters thick by seaming different pieces and which is filled with plastic foam or liquid.

Sometimes the packing is fastened by means such as glue to its base, a ring-shaped bottom part of the ear pieces, but to make easier for the removal of broken and dirty packings it has become common practice to supply the packing with an outside hem, which is stretched out on the edge of the ear piece and keeps the packing in its place.

Ear protectors are often used under such circumstances that sudden loosening forces are directed against the packing so that the hem slips from the edge of the ear piece and the whole packing gets loose. If the user of the ear protector works out of doors in winter time and has mittens on his hands, it is very awkward to thrust the packing in its place again.

Consequently, because of the stretching quality of plastic membrane, the hem of the packing although tightened the first time on the circle of the ear piece, soon looses its tension and in its stretched state can no longer in the same way as before resist the loosening forces. The extending occurrence proceeds approximately to the same end result during a relatively short time independent on the original tightness of the hem.

An object of this invention is to provide an ear protector having at reasonable expenses an essentially more secure fastening method for the packing than prior art means.

The main characteristic of the invention is that the depth of the slot on the circle of the ear piece is at least twice its breadth, in consequence of which the hem fitted in the slot gets into such a position that the inner circle of the hem has to stretch out as much as possible, when it is compelled to remove it from the slot.

The single accompanying drawing is a partial cut-away view of one of the ear pieces of this invention.

As shown in the drawing the ear pieces of the ear protector has its bottom part la fastened to it such as with glue or cement. On the outer circle of the ear piece, there is a deep cone-shaped slot 2. The hem 4 of the packing 3 is formed so that its inner circle is so short that it comes down to the bottom of the slot 2 and so that a sudden force is necessary to extend the hem so much that it can be moved out from the slot 2.

The remaining portion of the hem 4 as been further improved by making it twofold so that the cone-shaped slot 2 is very narrow and only slightly wider than the twofolds of the hem received therein. The hem membrane is made of any soft material which will adhere to the walls of the slot 2 and which promotes its staying in place and preferably being of plastic material.

Preferably, a thinning furrow 4a is made in the hem 4 so that it may be doubled or folded back upon itself. As the last precautionary measure against loosening there may be bound in the ring-shaped deepening formed by the furrow 4a a non-elastic thread 5, from under which the upper fold 4b of the twofold hem has to slip before the packing gets loose. The force necessary for this is already so great that the packing does not loosen even by drawing unless the thread breaks off or the hem 4 tears at the thinning furrow 4a.

Obviously, the embodiment shown is exemplary only and a wide variety of embodiments may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An ear protector comprising a pair of cup-like ear members and means connecting said ear members for maintaining the ear protector on the ear position, said ear members having an inner cushionlike packing, a hem of plastic material for maintaining said packing in the members, said hem having a peripheral portion which is folded back upon itself to form a double width thereof and being substantially V-shaped in form, a cone-shaped slot along an outer circle of the ear pieces, said slot having a depth at least twice its breadth, the breadth of said slot being only slightly larger than the width of said V-shaped hem portion whereby when the hem is fitted into the slot the inner circle of the hem at the folded portion is stretched substantially to the maximum degree when it is compelled to come away from the slot.

2. The ear protector of cclaim 1, further including a non-elastic thread disposed around the V-shaped portion of the hem in the throat thereof.