Abstract:
A microphone mount for mounting a microphone adjacent a speaker housed in a cabinet is defined by an elongate body having gripping fingers on opposite ends. The body is extendable and an elastic cord housed in the body normally pulls the gripping fingers together so that the mount may be extended and retained on a cabinet. A microphone interface is attached to one end of the body, which allows the user to position the microphone in any desired position relative to the speaker.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This invention relates to devices used by musicians and other performers to mount microphones to other equipment, and more particularly, to an apparatus for mounting a microphone to a speaker cabinet so the microphone is maintained in desired proximity to loudspeakers in the cabinet. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Musicians and other performers often use microphones to amplify sound from loudspeakers. While there are a myriad of different cabinets and microphones, typically the microphone is mounted in a clip that is attached to a tripod, and the tripod is placed in front of the cabinet. The tripod may include a flexible gooseneck to assist with positioning of the microphone adjacent the speaker housed in the cabinet, but in any case the musician adjusts the position of the tripod so that the microphone is maintained close to the speaker so that it accurately amplifies the sound. 
         [0003]    In many cases there are numerous electrical cords and microphone cables scattered around a stage. This is particularly true where a multi-performer band is playing on stage, where each musician may have multiple instruments, microphones, cabinets and other powered equipment. Numerous cords running around a stage can present all sorts of problems, including tripping hazards. A very common problem occurs with microphones set up on tripods in front of cabinets: performers and others on the stage often trip on the cables or kick them enough to dislodge the tripod so that the microphone is positioned incorrectly relative to the speaker. Tripping can be dangerous to the performer, and improperly positioned microphones degrade the sound quality. 
         [0004]    The present invention is a microphone mounting device that is designed to adapt to a cabinet so that a microphone is held in desired proximity to loudspeakers, and so that cables associated with the microphone may be kept out of the way of performers as they move around a stage. The microphone mount of the present invention is defined by an elongate body with arms that grip the cabinet—the body may be extended and retracted to vary the length of the body between the arms. An interface at one end of the body allows a microphone to be positioned adjacent a speaker housed in the cabinet. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]    The invention will be better understood and its numerous objects and advantages will be apparent by reference to the following detailed description of the invention when taken in conjunction with the following drawings. 
           [0006]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a microphone mount according to the present invention attached to a speaker cabinet. 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  is a cross sectional view taken longitudinally along the length of the microphone mount illustrated in  FIG. 1 , showing the microphone clip in phantom lines. 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  is a perspective exploded view of the microphone mount according to the present invention, omitting the elastic cord housed in the body. 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view similar to the view of  FIG. 3 , but showing the assembled microphone mount in an extended position. 
           [0010]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view similar to the view of  FIG. 4 , illustrating the assembled microphone mount in a retracted position. 
           [0011]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the microphone interconnect portion of the microphone mount shown in  FIG. 5 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0012]    A microphone mount  10  according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. As best shown in  FIG. 1 , microphone mount  10  is used to position a microphone  12  adjacent a speaker cabinet  14 . It will be understood that cabinet  14  houses one or more loudspeakers, which are not shown in  FIG. 1  but which are positioned in a conventional manner behind the speaker grill  16 . There are two basic types of cabinets, those having amplifiers housed in the cabinet along with the loudspeakers, and those having separate amplifiers. And within those two general categories of cabinets, there are innumerable shapes for the cabinet housings. The cabinet  14  shown in  FIG. 1  utilizes a typical box-shaped cabinet. Microphone mount  10  is designed to adapt to most commercially available cabinets, regardless of the configuration of the particular housing used. The mount may be used with wireless microphones as shown in  FIG. 1 , but more typically is used with microphones that use standard cabling. 
         [0013]    Microphone mount  10  is defined by an elongate main body  20 , which in turn comprises an outer tube  22  and an inner tube  24  that, as detailed below, is elastically and slidingly telescopic in outer tube  22 . Main body  20  defines a longitudinal axis, and as detailed below, the length of main body  20  may be varied to accommodate a variety of cabinet shapes and sizes. Main body  20  has a first arm  26  that extends transversely relative to the longitudinal axis from a first end  28  of main body  20 , and a second arm  30  that extends transversely relative to the longitudinal axis from a second end  32  of the main body. A microphone interconnect  34  is removably attached to the second end  32  with a threaded lock nut  36 , which is placed at the first end  38  of the interconnect  34 . A similar threaded lock nut  40  attaches a microphone clip  42  to the second end  44  of the interconnect. Microphone  12  is removably attached to microphone clip  42 . Microphone interconnect  34  is a length of tubing that has an approximately 90° bend midway along its length so that the microphone is positioned adjacent the speaker in the cabinet. The interconnect defines a microphone positioning mechanism that allows variability in the position of the microphone  12  adjacent or proximate to the cabinet. It should be understood that the manner in which microphone  12  is attached to the microphone clip, and the manner in which the microphone clip is attached to the microphone interconnect  34  are not particularly important to the invention defined in the claims, and that there are numerous equivalent structures that may be used in place of these components. 
         [0014]    With reference now to  FIG. 2 , first and second arms  26  and  30  are essentially identical in construction and have a base portion  46  that is configured to attach the arms to the main body  20 . In the case of the microphone mount  10  illustrated herein, in which the main body is cylindrical, the base portion  46  is a semi-circular portion that has a radius approximately the same as the radius of the outer periphery of the main body. The distal portion  48  of the arms  26  and  30  has a gripping member  50 , preferably a soft material such as rubber that tends to grip the cabinet  14 . A notch  52  may be formed in the middle section of the arms to accommodate a peripheral edge  54  of a cabinet such as shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0015]    Arm  26  is attached to or near first end  28  of outer tube  22  of main body  20  with a screw  54  that extends through bores formed in the outer tube—the threaded portion of the screw  54  threads into a threaded bore formed in the base portion  46  of the arm. Second arm  30  is attached to an adaptor  56  that has an outer circumference the same as the outer circumference of outer tube  22  and which fits over the second end  32  of inner tube  24  of main body  20 . A screw  58  extends through aligned bores formed through adaptor  56  and inner tube  24  and is threaded into the threaded bore in the base portion  46  of the arm to secure the arm to the adaptor and main body. When the arms  26  and  30  are attached to the main body, the gripping members are oriented so that they face one another. Of course, the position of the arms on the inner and outer tubes is somewhat variable so long as the arms are separable when the tubes are slid relative to one another. 
         [0016]    Both outer tube  22  and inner tube  24  are cylindrical and the inner diameter of the outer tube is slightly greater than the outer diameter of the inner tube. As such, inner tube may be inserted into the outer tube, and the inner tube is longitudinally and axially slidable in the outer tube. A pair of diametrically opposed longitudinal slots  60  and  62  is cut into inner tube  24 . When the inner and outer tubes  22  and  24  are assembled as shown in  FIG. 2 , a pin  64  is inserted through bores in the outer tube and through the slots  60  and  62 . Pin  64  thus functions as a keeper that maintains the relative orientation between the inner and outer tubes as the mount is moved between extended and retracted positions. This insures that the arms  26  and  30  always extend away from the mount on the same side of the main body  20 . The proximate ends  66  of slots  60  and  62 , and the distal ends  68  of the slots, define stops. Thus, assembled as shown in  FIG. 2 , inner tube  24  is longitudinally slidable in outer tube  22  to increased the length of microphone mount  10  (arrow A in  FIG. 2 ) until pin  64  abuts the proximate ends  66  of slots  60 ,  62 . Pin  64  thus acts as stop that prevents inadvertent removal of inner tube  24  from outer tube  22 . Conversely, inner tube  24  is longitudinally slidable in outer tube  22  to decrease the length of the microphone mount (arrows B in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ) until pin  64  abuts the proximate ends  68  of slots  60  and  62 . 
         [0017]    An elastic cord  70  is contained in main body  20  and has one end  72  attached to screw  54  and the opposite end  74  attached to screw  58 . The elastic cord is sized so that when microphone mount  10  is in a resting position—that is, when pin  64  is abutting ends  68 —the cord is under slight tension to retain the inner tube in a retracted position in which pin  64  is abutting the proximate ends  68  of slots  60  and  62 . It will be appreciated that as inner tube  22  is moved in the direction of arrow A in  FIG. 2 , elastic cord  70  is stretched, placing the cord under tension. Accordingly, at all times elastic cord is exerting pulling force on inner tube  22 , pulling the inner tube in the direction illustrated with arrows B. It will be appreciated that there are many equivalent structures that may be used to attach an elastic cord to the inner and outer tubes, and that there are many kinds of elastic cord that may be utilized with this invention. A cap  76  is added to the first end  28  of outer tube  24  to provide a finished appearance. 
         [0018]    The inner surface of second end  24  of inner tube  22  is threaded, as is the first end  38  of microphone interconnect  34 . Threaded nut  36  is threaded onto the first end  38  of the interconnect  34 , and the nut  36  is then threaded into the threaded inner surface of adaptor  56  to lock the interconnect relative to main body  20 . The rotational position of the interconnect  34  relative to main body  20  may be changed by loosening threaded lock nut  36 , rotating the interconnect to the desired position, and then tightening the nut. The microphone clip  42  and the second end  44  of interconnect  34  is attached to the interconnect in a similar, conventional manner. It will be appreciated that pin  64  extending through slots  60  and  62  prevents inner tube  24  from axially rotating relative to outer tube  22 , and thus maintains the positions of arms  26  and  30  relative to one another. It will also be appreciate that other geometrically shaped inner and outer tubes may be used in place of the circular shaped tubes shown in  FIG. 1 . For example, tubes having square or triangular cross sectional shapes may be used, in which case a pin would not be necessary to prevent relative axial rotation—so long as the tubes had like cross sectional configurations the smaller of the tubes will be longitudinally slidable within the relatively larger tube. The pin  64  used with round tubes, or other geometrically shaped tubes, thus define means for preventing relative axial rotation of the tubes. 
         [0019]    The components described above are shown in an exploded view in  FIG. 3 , illustrating the manner in which the components are assembled. 
         [0020]    The overall length of microphone mount  10  between arms  26  and  30  may be varied so that the mount may be attached to most commercially available cabinets. In  FIG. 4  the inner tube  24  has been extended away from the outer tube  22  so the mount is in an extended position and the distance between arms  26  and  30  is shown as distance X. Of course, in this position there is a significant tension applied to inner tube  24  by elastic cord  70  (not shown in  FIG. 4 ), pulling the inner tube and thus arm  30  into the retracted position shown in  FIG. 5 , where the distance between the arms is shown as distance Y. And as noted above, even in the fully retracted position of  FIG. 5 , there is preferably some tension applied to the inner tube by the elastic cord. 
         [0021]    To attach microphone mount  10  to a cabinet  14 , the inner tube is pulled outwardly to an extended position ( FIG. 4 ) such that the distance X between arms  26  and  30  is slightly greater than the depth of the cabinet to which the mount is being attached. The extended mount is then positioned over the front and rear edges of the cabinet and the mount is allowed to retract. The elastic cord applies pressure to the arms  26  and  30  and the gripping pads  50  increase the holding strength of the mount as the arms rest against surfaces of the cabinet. In many cases, as shown in  FIG. 1 , the cabinet will have raised peripheral edge portions that fit nicely into the notches  52  in the arms. 
         [0022]    An alternative embodiment of a microphone interconnect  34  according to the present invention is shown in  FIG. 6 . In this embodiment, microphone interconnect  80  is defined by a flexible arm that allows for enhanced ability to position the microphone adjacent the cabinet. It will be appreciated that in addition to the flexible gooseneck type of arm  80  shown in  FIG. 6 , and the bent arm  34  in  FIGS. 1 through 5 , there are numerous other structures that may be used to attach a microphone to the microphone mount main body, and to allow positioning of the microphone adjacent the cabinet. 
         [0023]    It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the microphone mounts described above may be modified in certain equivalent respects without departing from the scope of the invention. As one example, the main body may be defined by flat rods that are movable relative to one another as opposed to tubular members that have like cross sectional configurations. As another example of an equivalent apparatus, the elastic cord could be replace with a mechanism such as a thumb screw that fixes the position of the inner and outer tubes relative to one another, and thus defines means for fixing the length of the mount body between the two arms. These and other modifications are contemplated by the invention. 
         [0024]    While the present invention has been described in terms of a preferred embodiment, it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill that the spirit and scope of the invention is not limited to those embodiments, but extend to the various modifications and equivalents as defined in the appended claims.