Patent Publication Number: US-6700988-B2

Title: Speaker spider with integral lead wire arrangement and manufacturing method thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present inventions relates to a speaker, and more particularly to a speaker spider with integral lead wire arrangement that provides enhanced durability, higher sound quality and improved safety for a speaker with a minimum cost and manufacturing steps. 
     2. Description of Related Arts 
     Conventional speaker always has problems of instability and imperfect sound quality. These two major problems are inherent from the structural limitation of the conventional speaker. 
     Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a conventional speaker  9  comprises a speaker frame  90 , a cone  91 , a speaker spider  92  and a voice coil  93 . The cone  91 , which is supported by the speaker frame  90  in an axially movable manner, has a connection opening  911  provided at a base portion  912  thereof and at least a pair through holes  913  provided at a predetermined position of the cone  91 . The speaker spider  92  is co-axially connected to the base portion  912  of the cone  91 . The voice coil  93  connected to the speaker spider  92  generally comprises two pairs of voice coil wires  931  extended towards the cone  91  by penetrating the through holes  913  of the cone  91  respectively. The speaker  9  also generally comprises two pairs of lead wires  94 , each having a first and a second end, are adapted for connecting the voice coil  93  with an speaker terminal  95 , wherein each of the first ends of the lead wires  94  penetrates the through holes  913  of the cone  91  and connects to the respective voice coil wire  931  of the voice coil  93  at the base portion  912  of the cone  91 . Each of the second ends of the lead wires  94  is adapted for connecting to the speaker terminal  95  behind the cone  91 . Therefore, lead wires  94  are suspending behind the cone  91  and several problems are induced from the wires connection between the voice coil  93  and the speaker terminal  95 . 
     During the vibration of the cone  91  of the speaker, the lead wires  94  may overlap or touch with each other that may cause short circuit. It not only greatly degrades the quality of the speaker but also poses a risk of causing fire that adversely affects the utility safety of the speaker. 
     On the other hand, there will be relative pulling and pushing forces applied to the lead wires  94 , stretching force occurred between the lead wires  94  and the cone  91 , and relative pulling force formed between the lead wires  94  and the voice coil  93 . Thus, the chance of losing or insecure contact between the lead wires  94  and other parts of the speaker is relatively great that may lead to sound instability. Or, in the worst case, the conventional speaker may be electrically disconnected when the connection between the wires breaks. 
     Since through holes  913  are necessarily provided on the cone  91  for the connection of wires, the cone surface is defected that generally lowers sound quality. 
     Furthermore, since the lead wires  94  are suspending behind the cone  91 , there is relative force formed between the lead wires  94  and the speaker spider  92  such that the lead wires  94  greatly hinders the smooth vibration of the speaker spider  92  and adversely affects the sound quality. 
     SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     The main object of the present invention is to provide a speaker spider with integral lead wire arrangement which provides enhanced durability, higher sound quality and improved safety for a speaker. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a speaker spider with integral lead wire arrangement which enables a speaker to be manufactured by fewer steps in a lower cost while achieving a higher quality in comparison with the conventional speaker structure. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a speaker spider with integral lead wire arrangement, wherein the relative pulling and pushing force applied to the lead wires, the stretching force occurred between the lead wires and the cone, and/or the relative pulling force formed between the lead wires and the voice coil during vibration are eliminated. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a speaker spider with integral lead wire arrangement such that no suspending wire is required for connection to the voice coil and hence any possible unwanted contact or overlapping of the voice coil wires and the lead wires is eliminated. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a speaker spider with integral lead wire arrangement, wherein the cone surface is complete and no hole is required on the cone surface for connecting the voice coil wires of the vice coil and the lead wires to an speaker terminal. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a speaker spider with integral lead wire arrangement, wherein no relative movement between the speaker spider and the lead wires and the smooth vibration of the speaker spider will not be affected by any suspending lead wires behind the cone. 
     In order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a speaker spider arrangement which comprises: 
     a speaker spider which has a central opening defining an inner rim for mounting on a voice coil of a speaker, a periphery outer rim for affixing to a speaker frame of the speaker, and a spring effect portion provided at a portion located between the inner rim and the outer rim to enable the inner rim to be moved axially up and down with respect to the outer rim when a driving force is applied to the inner rim and be retained to an original position after the driving force is released; and 
     an integral lead wire arrangement which comprises: 
     at least a pair of lead wires each having a length longer than a distance between the inner rim and the outer rim of the speaker spider, wherein each of the lead wires has an inner end portion, an outer end portion and an attachment portion extended between the inner and the outer end portions, wherein the two attachment portions of the two lead wires are spacedly extended from the inner rim to the outer rim of speaker spider while the inner end portion and the outer end portion of each of the lead wires are outwardly extended from the inner rim and the outer rim of the speaker spider respectively for connection to voice coil wire of the voice coil and an speaker spider terminal of the speaker respectively, and 
     means for attaching the attachment portions of the lead wires on one side surface of the speaker spider so as to ensure the attachment portions of the lead wires being spacedly extended between the inner rim and the outer rim of the speaker spider and to integrate with the speaker spider to move simultaneously. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a sectional perspective view of a conventional speaker. 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a speaker equipped with a speaker spider arrangement according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded view illustrating the speaker spider and the voice coil according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a top view of the speaker spider arrangement according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings, a speaker  10  equipped with an integral lead wire arrangement is illustrated. The speaker  10  comprises a speaker frame  20  and an audio arrangement  30  supported by the speaker frame  20 , wherein the audio arrangement  30  comprises a cone  31  and a secure wire connection system  32 . 
     The cone  31  is supported by the speaker frame  20  in an axially movable manner. The cone  31  has a connection opening  311  provided at a base portion  312  thereof and a top rim  313  provided at a peripheral portion  314  thereof. 
     The secure connection system  32  comprises an induction device  321  and a speaker spider arrangement  322 . The induction device  321  comprises a voice coil  3212  having at least a pair of voice coil wires  3213  extended up through the connection opening  311  of the cone  31  and a ring-shaped magnet base  3214  supporting by the speaker frame  20  and surrounding the voice coil  3212  for electromagnetic induction. 
     Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the speaker spider arrangement  322  comprises a speaker spider  3222  and an integral lead wire arrangement  323 . The speaker spider  3222  has a central opening  3220  defining an inner rim  3222 A for mounting on the voice coil  3212 , a peripheral outer rim  3222 B for affixing to the speaker frame  10 , and a spring effect portion  3222 C provided at a portion located between the inner rim  3222 A and the outer rim  3222 B, The spring effect portion  3222 C has a wave shaped cross section to provide a spring effect for the speaker spider  3222  so as to enable the inner rim  3222 A to be moved axially up an down with respect to the outer rim  3222 B when a driving force F is force is applied to the inner rim  3222 A and be retained to an original position after the driving force F is released. In other words, when the magnet base  3214  induces the voice coil  3212  to move up and down along an axis of the magnet base  3214  so as to vibrate the cone  31  to produce sound, the spring effect of the speaker spider  322  is adapted to retain the voice coil  3212  and the cone  31  back to its normal position with respect to the speaker frame  20  after each induction. 
     The integral lead wires arrangement  323  comprises at least a pair of lead wires  3221  corresponding to the pair of voice coil wires of the voice coil  3212 , wherein each of the lead wires  3221  has a length longer than a distance between the inner rim  3222 A and the outer rim  3222 B of the speaker spider  3222 . Each of the lead wires  3221  has an inner end portion  3221 A, an outer end portion  3221 B and an attachment portion  3221 C extended between the inner and outer end portions  3221 A,  3221 B, wherein the attachment portions  3221 C of the lead wires  3221  are spacedly extended from the inner rim  3222 A to the outer rim  3222 B of the speaker spider  3222  while the inner end portion  3221 A and the outer end portion  3221 B of each of the lead wires  3221  are outwardly extended from the inner rim  3222 A and the outer rim  3222 B of the speaker spider  3222  respectively for connection to a voice coil wire  3213  of the voice coil  3212  and an speaker terminal  40  of the speaker  10  respectively. 
     The integral lead wires arrangement  323  further comprises an attaching means  3231  for attaching the attachment portions  3221 C of the lead wires  3221  on one side surface of the speaker spider  3222  so as to ensure the attachment portions  3221 C of the lead wires  3221  being spacedly extended between the inner rim  3222 A and the outer rim  3222 B of the speaker spider  3222  and to integrate with the speaker spider  3222  to move simultaneously. 
     Referring to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 2,  3  and  4 , two pairs of lead wires  3221  extended from two sides of the inner rims  3222 A to two opposing sides of the outer rims  3222 B respectively and also attached on the side surface of the speaker spider  3222  by the attachment means  3231 . The attachment means  3231  is embodied as a piece of attachment member which is preferably made of a sheet like material having a length at least equal to a width of the attachment portion  3222 C of the speaker spider  3222  and a width larger than the spaced interval between each pair of lead wires  3221  to be attached on the speaker spider  3222 . The attachment member  3231  can be a piece of tape, cotton paper, plastic film, neoprene membrane, fabric, knitting cloth, or other similar sheet like material. Adhesive layer is applied between the attachment member  3231  and the side surface of the speaker spider  3222  so as to adhere the two lead wires  3221  on the side surface of the speaker spider  3222 , as shown in FIGS. 2,  3  and  4 . 
     Generally, the speaker spider  3222  is made from a piece of ring-shaped meshed fabric, having a central opening  3220 , which is molded to have the wave formed spring effect portion  3222 C by means of a press mold or a roll mold. Heat may be applied during the molding step. In order to reinforcing and strengthening the fiber material of the speaker spider  3222 , the meshed fabric is soaked with a kind of volatilizing adhesive so as to coated two layers of volatilizing adhesive on two side surfaces thereof before molding. 
     To manufacture a speaker spider with integral lead wire arrangement, two elongated lead wires are adhered across one of the side surfaces of the ring-shaped meshed fabric coated with volatilizing adhesive in a parallelly spaced manner. Thereafter, the ring-shaped meshed fabric and the elongated lead wires are molded to form an integral speaker spider which is further dried until the volatilizing adhesive is volatilized. The two elongated lead wires are cut at the middle to form the two pairs of lead wires  3221  adhered on the side surface of speaker spider  3222 . 
     Finally, to construct the integral lead wire arrangement  323 , two attachment members  3231  are adhered to cover the two pairs of lead wires  3221  for protection and avoiding any unwanted movement of the lead wires  3221  with respect to the speaker spider  3222 . 
     The integral lead wire arrangement  323  can also be constructed to an existing speaker spider  3222 . The user may adhere the pair of lead wires  3221  in a parallelly spaced manner to a bottom surface of the attachment member  3231  while the inner end portion  3221 A and the outer end portion  3221 B of each of the lead wires  3221  are extended from an inner side and an outer side of the attachment member  3231  so as to form the lead wire arrangement  323 . The adhesive layer is coated to the bottom surface of the attachment member  3231  so that the attachment member  3231  can be adhered on the side surface of the speaker spider  3222  while the attachment portion  3221 C of each of the lead wires  3221  is adhered to extend radially from the inner rim  3222 A to the outer rim  3222 B in a wave manner along the curvature of the spring effect portion  3222 C, so that the attachment portions  3221 C of the lead wires  3221  are arranged in complete contact with the speaker spider  3222  so as to ensure the lead wires  3221  are moving simultaneously with the speaker spider  3222  to avoid any vibration, sliding movement and tearing force with each other. In other words, the lead wires  3221  are integrally connected to the speaker spider  3222  to form an integral body. 
     Since the lead wires  3221  of the speaker spider arrangement  322  is attached on the speaker spider  3222  to form an integral body such that when the speaker spider  3222  vibrates with respect to the induction device  321 , the lead wires  3221  attached on the speaker spider  3222  having the outer rim  3222 B affixed to the speaker frame  20  is adapted for simultaneous motion with the speaker spider  3222  and the relative pulling forces between the speaker spider  3222  and the lead wires  3221  is eliminated. 
     The inner end portions  3221 A of the lead wires  3221  are upwardly extended from the connection opening  311  of the cone  31  and connected to the voice coil wires  3213  of the voice coil  3212  respectively, and the outer end portions  3221 B of the lead wires  3221  are adapted for connecting the speaker spider arrangement  322  to a speaker terminal  40 . Therefore the speaker spider  3222  and the voice coil  3212  are connected securely for coaxial simultaneous motion and the relative pulling force between the voice coil  3212  and the lead wires  3221  of the speaker spider arrangement  322  is avoided. 
     Alternatively, the integral lead wire arrangement  323  can be incorporated with a well-made speaker spider  3221 , wherein each pair of lead wires  3221  are adhered to an attaching surface of the attachment member  3231  in a parallelly spaced manner to form the integral lead wire arrangement  323  while the inner end portions  3221 A and the outer end portions  3221 B are extended outwardly from an inner side edge and an outer side edge of the attachment member  3231  respectively. Then, the integral lead wire arrangement  323  is attached onto the speaker spider  3222  by adhering the attaching surface of the attachment member  3231  on the side surface of the speaker spider  3222  so as to attach the attachment portions  3221 C of the lead wires to the side surface of the speaker spider  3222 , while having the inner and outer end portions  3221 A,  3221 B of the lead wires  3221  are outwardly extended from the inner rim  3222 A and the outer rim  3222 B of the speaker spider  3222  respectively. In other words, the attachment portions  3221 C of the lead wires  3221  are spacedly extended between the inner rim  3222 A and the outer rim  3222 B of the speaker spider  3222  so as to integrate with the speaker spider  3222  to move simultaneously. 
     As shown in FIG. 2, the cone  31  of the audio arrangement  30  further comprises a holding element  33  connected around the outer rim  313  of the cone  31  in such a manner that the cone  31  is capable of restoring to a predetermined position after any displacement and is capable of vibrating in corresponding to motion directed by the voice coil  3212  of the induction device  321  of the secure connection system  32 . 
     Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings, the lead wires  3221  of the speaker spider arrangement  322  is connected to the voice coil wires  3213  of the voice coil  3212  in an interior portion of the cone  31  such that no through hole is required to drill on the cone  310  surface and the perfectly intact cone surface allows high quality sound production of the speaker  10 . The speaker spider arrangement  322 , maintain a secure electrical connection of the speaker  10  by connecting the voice coil wires  3213  of the voice coil  3212  to the inner end  3221 A of the lead wires  3221  and by the use of the lead wires  3221  attached on the speaker spider  3222  to connect to the speaker terminal  40 , such that the induction device  321  is securely connected to the speaker terminal  40 . 
     As described above, the concentric waving surface of the spring effect portion  3222 C of the speaker spider  3222  is arranged for providing effective vibration motion of the speaker spider  3222 , wherein the attachment member  3231  is flexible and is capable of fittingly attaching the lead wires  3221  onto the speaker spider  3222  according to the concentric wave surface  3222   s  of the speaker spider  3222  such that the lead, wires  3221  are fittingly and securely attached on the speaker spider  3222  and any relative pulling force between the speaker spider  3222  and the lead wires  3221  is eliminated and smooth vibration of the speaker spider  3222  is possible. 
     Alternatively, it would be apparent to modified the meshed fabric made attachment member  3231  as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 can be substituted by a tape or other similar member. Moreover, the attachment member  3231  can also be modified as affixing two pairs of tubular holders, extending between the inner rim  3222 A and outer rim  3222 B, on the side surface of the speaker spider  3222  so that the lead wires  3221  are capable of penetrating through the tubular holders respectively to hold the lead wires  3221  in position. Besides, the lead wires  3221  are able to be attached to either the top side surface of the speaker spider  3222  (as shown in drawings) or the bottom side surface of the speaker spider  3222 . 
     In view of above, the speaker spider with integral lead wire arrangement substantially achieves the following distinctive features: 
     1. The integral lead wire arrangement provides the speaker spider an enhanced durability, higher sound quality and improved safety. 
     2. The integral lead wire arrangement enables a speaker to be manufactured by less steps in a lower cost while achieving a higher quality in comparison with the conventional speaker structure. 
     3. By equipping the integral lead wire arrangement in a speaker, the relative pulling and pushing force applied to the lead wires, the stretching force occurred between the lead wires and the cone, and/or the relative pulling force formed between the lead wires and the voice coil during vibration are eliminated. 
     4. The speaker spider equipped with integral lead wire arrangement requires no suspending wire for connection to the voice coil and hence any possible unwanted contact or overlapping of the voice coil wires and the lead wires is eliminated. 
     5. The cone surface of the speaker is complete and no hole is required on the cone surface for connecting the voice coil wires of the vice coil and the lead wires to an speaker terminal. 
     6. There is no relative movement between the speaker spider and the lead wires and thus, the smooth vibration of the speaker spider will not be affected by any suspending lead wires behind the cone.