Abstract:
A telephone using conventional telephone mechanical and electrical components mounted within a telephone housing, typically mounted on a wall, with the earpiece and mouthpiece mounted within the telephone. To operate, the user pushes an on/off switch, dials his number, and then places his ear next to the fixed earpiece. The telephone is designed for use in prisons so inmates within a prison can not hang themselves with a handset cord or break a handset and handset cord off for use as a weapon. The telephone is also designed for use in any high crime or remote area to reduce the potential for vandalism. The telephone design reduces the cost of maintenance by eliminating the need to fix and replace a telephone handset.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This is a continuation under 37 CFR 1.53(b) to application Ser. No. 09/459,314, “Wall Mounted Telephone”, filed on Dec. 10, 1999 now abandoned by Mark Styron, which is a continuation-in-part application under 37 CFR 1.53(b) to application Ser. No. 09/017,982, “Inmate Phone,” filed on Feb. 3, 1998 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,169 by Mark Styron. The parent application and continuation-in-part application are under examination in Group Art Unit 2742 by Examiner J. Chiang. 
    
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates generally to telephone equipment and more specifically to a structure for a telephone for use by inmates or in other environments wherein the telephone is subject to abuse (hereinafter referred to as an inmate telephone). The inmate phone contains conventional telephone mechanical and electrical components mounted within a telephone housing, typically mounted on a wall, with the earpiece and mouthpiece mounted within the housing to serve as a hands-free telephone for safety. The inmates within a prison can no longer hang themselves with a handset cord or break off the handset and handset cord to use as a weapon. This phone reduces repairs by eliminating the need to fix and replace the telephone handset, thereby saving money for the cost of maintenance. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Numerous hands-free telephone equipment systems have been taught in prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 2,277,907 issued to Goodale, Jr. et al. discloses a speaker attachment for a conventional telephone. U.S. Pat. No. 3,144,513 issued to Sherron teaches a partially enclosed telephone stall with a microphone and speaker mounted in the enclosure wall of the booth. U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,735 issued to Bridenbaugh uses a shared transducer, alternatingly functioning as a speaker and a microphone, connected to a conventional telephone. U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,485 issued to Pessel et al. discloses a loudspeaker system mounted over a conventional telephone. None of the prior art utilizes a design for a telephone that can be wall mounted and is self-contained with minimal external parts as described herein. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the objectives of this invention are to provide, inter alia, a new and improved telephone that: 
     provides hands-free operation; 
     is easy to use; 
     is economical to manufacture; 
     is resistant to vandalism and thus low-maintenance; 
     can be mounted on a wall; and 
     has no external cord, handset or other external parts that could be used as a weapon or means for vandalism or self-injury. 
     These objectives are accomplished by a mountable telephone that uses standard telecommunication and electronic components, including a push-button dialing pad, earpiece, mouthpiece, electronic circuitry, and switching circuitry. 
     To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, this invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The drawings are illustrative only, and changes may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described within the scope of the appended claims. Other objects of the invention will become apparent from time to time throughout the specification hereinafter disclosed. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an interior portion of a prison, showing the present invention mounted into a wall thereof. 
     FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the invention taken in the direction of arrow  2  in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view of the invention taken in the direction of arrow  3  in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 4 is a front view of the invention, further showing diagrammatically an electrical circuit incorporating a volume control for the handset. 
    
    
     Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a telephone described as inmate phone  10 , generally depicted in FIGS. 1-4, of the type having housing  12 , capable of being mounted to a building wall, such as building wall  14  of prison  16 . While inmate phone  10  is described as being mounted and used in prison  16 , it is understood that inmate phone  10  may be used, mounted or free standing, in any location where a telephone is desired that encompasses the safety and security features described herein. Inmate phone  10  may be modified for use with coin or card payment mechanisms using standard methods and electrical/mechanical designs for this feature. 
     Typically, inmate phone  10  is mounted to building wall  14  by mechanical and locking attachment of housing  12  to a mounting plate (not shown) that is anchored to building wall  14 . Housing  12  includes a housing front wall  20 . Housing front wall  20  includes a front wall inner surface  21 . Located within housing  12 , and typically attached to front wall inner surface  21 , are electronic circuit board  19 , earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30 . 
     Typically, push-button dialing pad  18  is a component of electronic circuit board  19 , which is mounted to the front wall inner surface  21 . In an alternative embodiment, push-button dialing pad  18  can be separate from electronic circuit board  19  and electrically connected. A plurality of push-button digits  22  of push-button dialing pad  18  extends outward through push-button apertures  23  through housing front wall  20 . Plurality of push-button digits  22  extend a sufficient distance to afford full travel distance for each of the push-button digits  22  to effect activation of the electric information switch associated with each push-button digit  22 . 
     Aural output and input to inmate phone  10  is provided respectively by earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30 , both being mounted to the interior of housing front wall  20  and extending outward from housing front wall  20  through aural apertures  38 . Earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30  are each electrically connected to electronic circuit board  19  by connection wire  32 . Earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30  are mounted such that earpiece  28  is positioned above mouthpiece  30 . Earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30  are affixed to housing front wall  20  using any appropriate form of attachment known in the art. This means of attachment may be an adhesive, mechanical clamps (not shown) interior to housing  12 , or any other means of attachment that provides secure mounting of earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30  to housing  12  such that they can not be removed via the exterior of housing  12 . In the preferred embodiment, earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30  are sealed into aural apertures  38  by annular seal  42 . Each annular seal  42  extends about earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30  within the two vertically spaced apart apertures  38  in the housing front wall  20  of the housing  12 . 
     In an alternative embodiment, earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30  are mounted within inmate phone  10 , preferably to front wall inner surface  21 , such that no portion of earpiece  28  or mouthpiece  30  extend through housing front wall  20 . In this embodiment, aural communication to earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30  is afforded through a sound transparent section of housing front wall  20 , such as a plurality of small holes (not shown). This sound transparent section provides protection to earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30 , while allowing sound to pass through. 
     Dial tone actuating switch  36  extends through housing front wall  20  of housing  12  via dial tone actuating switch aperture  37 , for manually actuating the dial tone of the inmate phone  10 . In the preferred embodiment, actuating component  36  is an on/off push-button switch  56  as is known in the art. Push button switch  56  may require constant pressure applied by the telephone user to maintain electrical circuit continuity, or may be a toggle push button requiring a first depression to actuate and a second depression to deactuate. In an alternative embodiment, actuating component  36  may be any on/off electrical switch capable of completing an electric circuit, including but not limited to a toggle lever switch, a relay or a breaker switch. However, it is a critical feature of actuating component  36  that it be of limited dimension to prevent injury to the user from being struck by actuating component  36  or its related structure, and for actuating component  36  to be ergonomically correct for proper usage. This ergonomic correctness includes proper positioning on housing front wall  20 , proper throw distance of actuating component  36 , and absence of surround structure, such as a phone hook, that creates an ergonomic hazard. Dial tone actuating switch  36  is electrically connected between phone line  58  and electronic circuit board  19 . Typically, phone line  58 , providing electrical access to the remote telephone routing switching equipment, enters housing  12  through the wall mounting plate (not shown) behind mounted housing  12 , such that phone line  58  is not exposed to vandalism or environmental damage. 
     Earpiece  28 , mouthpiece  30  and push-button dialing pad  18  are also electrically and functionally connected to electronic circuit board  19 . Electronic circuit board  19  includes electronic components known in the art of telephone and electrical switching to receive electrical signals from mouthpiece  30  and phone line  58 , to transmit electrical signals to earpiece  28  and phone line  58 , and to receive and process electrical input from push-button dialing pad  18  for transmission to phone line  58 . In the preferred embodiment, inmate phone  10  is capable of dialing out to another phone, but is not enabled to receive incoming phone calls. 
     An assemblage  60 , as shown in FIG. 4, can be electrically connected to earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30  for increasing and decreasing sound coming out of earpiece  28  and sound going into mouthpiece  30 . In one embodiment, the sound increasing and decreasing assemblage  60  consists of the on/off push-button switch  56  having a built-in volume control circuit  62  with a rotatable control knob  64 . 
     Amplifier  66  is electrically connected between volume control circuit  62  and earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30 . Typically, amplifier  66  is a component of electronic circuit board  19 . Typically, when the control knob  64  is manually rotated in a clockwise direction, the sound coming out of the earpiece  28  and the sound going into the mouthpiece  30  will be increased. When the control knob  64  is manually rotated in a counterclockwise direction, the sound coming out of the earpiece  28  and the sound going into the mouthpiece  30  will be decreased. 
     In the preferred embodiment, inmate phone  10  is mounted on building wall  14  at a height such that earpiece  28  is approximately level with the ear of an average height adult user. To use inmate phone  10 , the user actuates actuating component  36 . With actuating component  36  actuated, inmate phone  10  receives a dial tone and the user dials the desired phone number. The user then places his ear next to extended earpiece  28 , or in the alternative embodiment next to the sound transparent section of housing front wall  20  in front of earpiece  28 , to hear the person being called. The vertical orientation of mouthpiece  30  is such that mouthpiece  30  is ergonomically oriented below earpiece  28  for normal speech input into mouthpiece  30  when the user&#39;s ear is placed next to earpiece  28 . In the preferred embodiment, the volume for earpiece  28  and mouthpiece  30  is controlled by control knob  64  as described above. When the call is finished, the user disengages actuating component  36 , either by releasing it or by depressing it a second time, depending on the type of switch used for actuating component  36 . 
     It is understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above. While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described are pointed out in the annexed claims, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.