US3679022A - Speaker box - Google Patents

Abstract

A speaker box structure comprising a casing having a front side facing the cone of a speaker contained in said casing and also having a substantially convexly curved outer surface of the rear panel joining said front side and further having a plurality of small perforations formed, in uniform scattered fashion, through said convexly curved rear panel for engagement with a hook provided on a generally substantially upright wall of a room. Thus, the position of the front side of the speaker box can be held at any desired parallel or vertically and/or laterally inclined angle relative to the wall surface by selecting the desired one perforation or two perforations for engagement with the hook.

Description

Umted States Patent [151 3,679,022 Ohashi 1 July 25,1972

[54] SPEAKER BOX 2,401,328 6/1946 Black, Jr ..179/179 3,385,929 5/1968 Magyar et al. ..l79/l [72] Invent chasm Fukum" Japan 3,500,953 3/1970 Lahti ..l81/3l B [73] Assignee: Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha,

Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka-ken, Japan Primary Examiner-Stephen .l. Tomsky Filed June 2 1970 Attorney-Cushman, Darby& Cushman [2]] Appl. No.: 50,756 [57] ABSTRACT A speaker box structure comprising a casing having a front [30] Foreign Application Priority Data side facing the cone of a speaker contained in said casing and also having a substantially convexly curved outer surface of j? 2 japan the rear panel joining said front side and further having a pluu y apan rality of small perforations formed, in uniform scattered fashion, through said convexly curved rear panel for engage- (gr naigkfliglfiblostlr zlsllzg mm with a hook provided ona generally substantially uprigm i h 181731 B 31 R wall of a room. Thus, the position of the front side of the c speaker box can be held at any desired parallel or vertically and/or laterally inclined angle relative to the wall surface by [56] References cued selecting the desired one perforation or two perforations for UNITED STATES PATENTS engagement with the hook R1 8,751 2/1933 Weinberger et al ..l8l/3l B 4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures 7 0, 4i IIlIl- A Patented July 25, 1972 3,679,022

FIG. t )3 G. 6

1. Field of the Invention The present invention is concerned generally with a speaker box structure, and more particularly, it relates to a speaker box which can be hung on a substantially upright wall of a room with its front side being held at a desired parallel or vertically and/or laterally inclined position relative to the wall surface of the room and which is such that this position of the front side may be altered as desired.

2. Description of the Prior Art In the past, a speaker box of the type that was hung on a wall was suspended at its rear face from a bent nail or hook extending from a wall surface of a room. In case, however, when it is intended to reproduce sound and especially when it is intended to make stereophonic reproduction of sound, it is important that both the position of installation of the speaker box and the direction of the radiation of reproduced sound be properly selected depending on such factors as the directivity of the speaker, the echo characteristic of the room and the position of the listener. Since the conventional speaker boxes were provided in a square or rectangular box-like frame form having a flat outer surface of the rear panel, it was impossible for one to stably fix this speaker box against a wall when it was desired to have it hung on a wall at a-desired inclined angle relative to the wall surface, unless there was used means of some sort or other to hold the box at such an inclined position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a speaker box which permits one to set the reproduced sound radiating face of the speaker at a desired arbitrary direction.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a speaker box which permits one to select a desired arbitrary position of installation of the speaker box by the provision of a very simplified arrangement of the speaker box structure comprising a substantially convexly curved outer surface of the rear panel and a plurality of uniformly scattered small perforations formed through said rear panel for engagement with a hook or hooks provided on the wall surface on which the speaker box is to be hung.

According to the present invention, there is obtained a speaker box which not only can be stably hung on a wall at a desired angle relative to the wall surface by merely having one or two of the small perforations formed in the rear panel engage a hook or hooks provided on the wall surface, but also permits the position of the box to be altered as desired.

Other objects, features and attendant advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reading the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a perspective representation, as viewed generally from its rear side, of a speaker box which is one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the speaker box shown in FIG. 1 when it is hung against a wall by being engaged at its rear side by two hooks provided in a horizontal row on a wall surface;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the speaker box in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the line IVIV in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the same speaker box when it is hung against a wall by being engaged at its rear side by two hooks provided in a vertical row on a wall surface;

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective representation of another embodiment as viewed generally from its rear side.

2 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in further detail in connection with the first embodiment shown in FIGS. I through 6.

Reference numeral 1 represents a speaker. Numeral 2 represents a box housing said speaker I therein. The box 2 is of the arrangement that it is made with a hollow hexahedral box with one side panel formed into that of a part of spherical surface serving as the rear panel surface 3 and that a plurality of small through-holes or perforations 5 are scattered in uniform spaced relationship in said rear panel in a plurality of vertical as well as lateral rows, and that a speaker I is mounted on the central portion of the inner face of the front side 4 located opposite to said rear panel 3.

In order to hang the wall surface with a speaker box 2 having the aforesaid arrangement, one bent nail or hook 7 is anchored in the wall face 6 or two of such hooks 7, 7 are securely embedded at one ends in the wall face 6 in spaced relationship relative to each other so that the distance therebetween corresponds to that of two of the small perforations 5, 5 formed in the rear panel 3. Then, any arbitrary one perforation 5, or two of such through- holes 5 and 5 of the rear panel 3 are brought into engagement with said one hook 7, or said two hooks 7 and 7.

FIGS. 2 through 4 show an example of the manner of mounting the speaker box 2 on a wall. Two spaced books 7 and 7 extend from the wall surface 6 in a lateral row, i.e., in a row parallel with the plane of the floor of the room. Two of the small through- holes 5 and 5 of the rear panel 3 are engaged by said two hooks 7 and 7. In this example, the front side 4 of the speaker box 2 is seen to be inclined downwardly in a drooping fashion and also to face slightly toward the right side when the speaker box is viewed from the foreground thereof. This applies true to an instance when the speaker box 2 is hung on a single hook 7 extending from the wall surface 6.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show another example of the manner of suspending the speaker box on the wall surface. In this example, two spaced hooks- 7 and 7 extend from the wall surface 6 in a vertical row, i.e., in a row perpendicular to the plane of the floor. The speaker box 2 is hung from the wall surface 6 by having two of the small through- holes 5 and 5 engaged by these two hooks 7 and 7 to give bidirectional directivity of the reproduced sound as in the preceding example.

It will be understood that, in each of these twoexamples,

the rear panel face 3 of a partial global shape is in point-contact with the wall surface 6. However, because of the weight of the speaker I which is positioned in the speaker box 2 close to the front side thereof, the center of gravity of the speaker box 2 is located on the side closer to the front side 4 of the speaker box. Therefore, the rear panel 3 is urged against the wall surface 6 when the speaker box 2 is hung on the wall in the state of being inclined downwardly and laterally. Thus, the'speaker box can be held at a quite stable position. The angle of the downward and lateral inclination may be altered arbitrarily as desired by bringing these two hooks 7 and 7 into engagement with other two small holes 5 and 5. This applies true to an instance when the speaker box 2 is hung on a single hook 7 extending from the wall surface 6. In addition, the speaker box 2 of this embodiment is of four flat peripheral side surfaces between the rear side 3 and the front side 4. Accordingly, it is possible for the user to place the speaker box 2 on a supporting surface such as a floor or a table in the erect position of the box, in which position the speaker box stands stably on one of its four flat peripheral side surfaces. Furthermore, in case it is intended to use the speaker box of the type having one or more sound-escaping apertures in its rear panel, the partially spherical rear panel face will provide the advantage that the entire rear panel face 3 will never be blocked by the wall surface. Thus, there is insured a sufiicient communication of air between the inside and the outside of the speaker box 2. This will not cause any degradation of the tone quality.

Description will hereunder be directed to another embodiment of the present invention by referring to FIG. 7

In 7, reference numeral 1 represents a speaker. Numeral 2 represents a box housing said speaker therein. This box 2 is made of a hollow hexahedral box having one of its six sides formed with an arcuate panel representing the surface of a part of a cylinder. This arcuate panel 3 serves as the rear panel. A plurality of small through-holes 5 are formed, in uniformly spaced relationship relative to each other, in the arcuate rear panel 3 in vertical as well as lateral rows. Apertures indicated by a dot-dash line 8 are provided in the rear panel 3 to provide a speaker box of the type having sound-escaping apertures in the rear panel. A speaker I is secured to the central portion of the inner face of the front side 4 located opposite to the rear panel 3. This speaker box 2 also has four flat peripheral sides between the front and the rear sides. From the aforesaid arrangement of this second embodiment, it will be understood that the speaker box of this embodiment is such that the semispherical rear panel face of the first embodiment is substituted by a convexly arcuate rear panel face. It will be understood also that the many manners in which the speaker box 2 of this second embodiment is installed and their effects are similar to those described in connection with the first embodiment. Therefore, their detailed description is omitted.

Description has been made on the examples of the rear panel, semispherical or arcuate, having scattered small through-holes formed therethrough for engagement with a hook or hooks. It should be understood that this convexly curved rear panel may be provided in the form of lattice instead of a panel having scatteredsmall through-holes. By the provision of a convexly arcuate or semispherical rear panel having openings for engagement with a hook or hooks, the

speaker box will not be subjected to any restriction with respect to the position in which this box is mounted on a wall surface even when the speaker box is of the type having sound-escaping apertures in the rear panel. it should be understood further that said perforated rear panel need not have a smooth arcuate or spherical face, but that any angled convex face may be used so long as it permits the positioning of the box at desired angles on the surface of the wall. It should be understood also that the speaker box may not have flat peripheral sides, and that the convexly arcuate or semi-spherical or convexly protruding rear face may start at the edges of the front face.

i claim:

1. A wall mounted loudspeaker enclosure comprising a box having a convex rearface provided with a plurality of perforations scattered thereover;

a wall having at least two hook means thereon protruding therefrom at a spacing equating-to the spacing between at least some of said perforations;

said hook means being removably received in respective ones of said perforations to support the loudspeaker enclosure from the wall at a desired spatial orientation with respect to the wall.

2. The wall mounted loudspeaker enclosure of claim 1 wherein the convex rear face is generally part-spherical.

3. The wall mounted loudspeaker enclosure of claim I wherein the convex rear face is generally part cylindrical.

4. The wall mounted loudspeaker enclosure of claim I wherein the perforations are arranged in a plurality of mutually perpendicular rows and columns.

i i i

Claims (4)

1. A wall mounted loudspeaker enclosure comprising a box having a convex rear face provided with a plurality of perforations scattered thereover; a wall having at least two hook means thereon protruding therefrom at a spacing equating to the spacing between at least some of said perforations; said hook means being removably received in respective ones of said perforations to support the loudspeaker enclosure from the wall at a desired spatial orientation with respect to the wall.

2. The wall mounted loudspeaker enclosure of claim 1 wherein the convex rear face is generally part-spherical.

3. The wall mounted loudspeaker enclosure of claim 1 wherein the convex rear face is generally part cylindrical.

4. The wall mounted loudspeaker enclosure of claim 1 wherein the perforations are arranged in a plurality of mutually perpendicular rows and columns.

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