US2036832A - Sound reproducing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

April 1936- M. W. SCHELDQRF 29@36v832 SOUND REPRODUCING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 30, 1934 IM/E/vm/a: film/Mei 15v @MMM W Patented Apr. 7, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SOUND REPRODUCING APPARATUS tion of Delaware Application October 30, 1934, Serial No. 750,632

9 Claims.

This invention relates to sound reproducing apparatus, and more particularly to a carrying case and mounting for sound translating devices, such as loudspeakers.

In certain types of sound reproducing apparatus, such as public address systems which are frequently of a portable nature, it is desirable to make the equipment as compact as possible. This is particularly true of the loudspeaker units which should be in a form such that they may be easily transported from one location to another and easily set up for use at any desired or advantageous points.

Public address systems in use at present are usually provided with at least a pair of loudspeakers. It has been customary to house the speakers in casings of the suit case type with the vibratable elements of the speakers facing outwardly. Casings of this type, however, are subject to several disadvantages. In the first place, it is necessary to provide an outlet for the sound on the outside of the casings, and this subjects the speakers to the possibility of injury during transit unless protective coverings for the outlets are provided. Furthermore, it is highly desirable, from an artistic standpoint, to provide a decorative finish for the outside of the casings since they face the audience, and very frequently this finish is marred, if not entirely destroyed, during transit, despite the precaution observed to avoid this. Moreover, with loudspeaker mountings heretofore employed, wherein the loudspeakers are placed back to back, the easings must necessarily be of considerable depth and this makes it cumbersome to carry the units. Where, as in some instances, the casings are made separable at the hinges, it has been found that the separated casing units are per se unstable when set up for use and can easily be upset, so that further danger of injury exists. Often, too, it is not possible to conveniently set up the speakers on a level with the listeners ears. With speaker mountings of the type heretofore employed for public address and the like systems and wherein I the speakers were disposed with their axes normal to the outside surfaces of the casings, much of the output was lost to the audience. These and other disadvantages are characteristic of prior art constructions, and the primary object of my invention is to provide an improved loudspeaker casing and mounting which will not be subject to any of the aforementioned disadvantages.

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved carrying case for loudspeakers which will be of minimum depth consistent with sturdiness and which can be easily and conveniently carried about.

Still another object of my invention is to provide an improved multiple-part carrying case for loudspeakers which can be set up with great ease and of which the individual or separated parts will not be easily upset when once set up for operation.

A further object of my invention is to provide an improved loudspeaker carrying case and speaker mounting which can readily be accommodated to any available or convenient location for installation and which can be set up at such location to direct the reproduced sound toward the ears of the listeners, regardless of whether this location is at the level of, below or above the listeners ears.

Still a further object of my invention is to provide an improved loudspeaker carrying case wherein the speaker units will not be subject to injury during transit and wherein those portions of the casing designed to face the audience may be made highly decorative or artistic without danger of mar-ring or destruction.

It is anoth r object of my invention to provide an improved portable loudspeaker carrying case which is sturdy in construction, economical of manufacture, and highly efficient in use.

In accordance with my invention, I provide a twopart casing split along a bias or plane substantially diagonal to one surface thereof instead of along a plane centrally thereof whereby to provide a pair of substantially wedge-shaped casing parts. These two parts are connected together by means of separable hinges and the loudspeakers are mounted in the wider portions of the wedges with their vibratable elements or diaphragms facing the dividing plane.

The novel features that I consider characteristic of my invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of a specific embodiment, when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved casing with the parts closed,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view thereof with the casing parts separated and showing the manner of mounting the loudspeakers therein, and

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of one of the casing parts showing one way in which it may be set up for use to direct the reproduced sound toward the listeners ears.

Referring more specifically to the drawing wherein similar reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout, there is shown a carrying case I of rectangular parallelepiped form divided into two wedge-shaped casing parts la and lb by a plane normal to and extending substantially diagonally across a pair of opposite faces 3 and 5 and represented by the dividing line 1 on the face 3, the parts la and lb each constituting a substantially right-angled wedge including the right-angularly related faces 9 and l I and the inclined face l3. The casing parts la and lb may be separably connected together by means of the separable hinges l5 and releasably locked together for transportation by suitable catches or the like H, the handles I9 being provided whereby to carry the entire assembly or casing.

Adjacent the widest portion of each of the wedges la and lb, there is permanently mounted a loudspeaker 2] with the vibratable element or diaphragm of each loudspeaker directed toward the inclined face l3 of each casing part, the faces l3 each being provided with an opening 23 for the egress of sound reproduced by the respective loudspeakers. When the parts la and lb are assembled, the loudspeaker diaphragms each face the common plane represented by the line i and there is no danger of the loudspeakers being injured during transit. Also, since the faces l3 are inside of the casing when the casing parts are assembled, there is similarly no danger of marring the decorative finish usually formed thereon or the usual grillwork covering the openings 23. Safety of the working parts of the unit and of the decorative faces l3, which face the audience during operation of the loudspeakers, is thus assured.

From the foregoing, it will be readily apparent that I have provided a compact, sturdy loudspeaker carrying case which can be assembled with great facility and carried about with considerable ease and without discomfort. If it is found necessary to set up the loudspeakers below the level of the listeners ears, the casing parts may be rested on the faces 9, as in Fig. 2 or on the faces II, as in Fig. 3, whereupon the sound is directed upwardly toward the audience. When set up on one of the faces 3 or 5, there is little, if any, danger of accidentally upsetting the unit by reason of the fact that the face I l is considerably wider than the opposite face. Also, the overall depth of my improved casing is considerably reduced from those of prior art casings wherein it has been necessary to provide a depth substantially twice that of the face ll of my improved carrying case in order to accommodate the loudspeakers.

Although I have shown and described but one embodiment of my invention, I am fully aware that many modifications thereof are possible. My invention, therefore, is not to be restricted except insofar as is necessitated by the prior art and by the spirit of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination, a carrying case for loudspeakers comprising a pair of separable casing parts each of wedge-shaped configuration, and at least one loudspeaker mounted in each of said casing parts, the vibratable element of each of said loudspeakers facing a common plane.

2. In combination, a carrying case for loudspeakers comprising a pair of separable casing parts each of wedge-shaped configuration, means separably connecting said casing parts, said parts together constituting a parallelepiped when assembled together, and at least one loudspeaker mounted in each of said casing parts, the vibratable element of each of said loudspeakers facing a common plane.

3. In combination, a carrying case for loudspeakers comprising a rectangular parallelepiped divided into two casing parts along a plane substantially diagonal to one of the faces of the parallelepiped, means separably connecting said casing parts along the line of intersection of said dividing plane and said face, and a loudspeaker mounted in each of said casing parts with the vibratable element of each of said loudspeakers facing said dividing plane when the casing parts are in assembled relation.

l. The invention set forth in claim 3 characterized by the addition of means for releasably securing the casing parts together.

. In combination, a carrying case for loudspeakers comprising a rectangular parallelepiped divided into two wedge-shaped casing parts along a plane substantially diagonal to one of the faces of the parallelepiped, means separably connecting said casing parts, and a loud speaker mounted in each of said casing parts at the wider portions of the wedges, the vibratable element of each of said loudspeakers facing said dividing plane when the casing parts are in assembled relation.

6. The invention set forth in claim 5 characterized in that the adjacent faces of the wedges are provided with openings for the egress of sound emitted by the loudspeakers.

7. In a loudspeaker carrying case, the combination of a right-angled wedge-shaped casing part, and a loudspeaker mounted therein adjacent the widest portion of the wedge with the vibratable element thereof directed toward the inclined face of the wedge, said casing part forming, with a similar casing part, a component part of the loud speaker carrying case.

8. In combination, a carrying case for loudspeakers comprising a pair of separable, interfitting casing parts, said parts constituting a parallelepiped when assembled together and each of said parts having a face angularly related to one side of the parallelepiped, means separably connecting said casing parts, and at least one loudspeaker mounted in each of said casing parts, the vibratable element of each of said loudspeakers facing adjacent faces of said casing parts when in assembled relation.

9. In combination, a carrying case for loud speakers comprising a pair of separable, interfitting casing parts, said parts constituting a parallelepiped when assembled together and each of said parts having a face angularly related to one side of the parallelepiped, means separably connecting said casing parts, and at least one loud speaker mounted in each of said casing parts, the vibratable element of each of said loud speakers facing the angularly related face of its associated casing part.

MARVEL W. SCHELDORF.

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