Patent Publication Number: US-2004052396-A1

Title: Stretchable tube equipped microphone

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] This invention relates to a stretchable tube equipped microphone.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] A microphone, irrespective of a desktop style often used in meetings or a mobile ear-carrying style attached to ears, is more or less affected in reception capability according to a user&#39;s stature or using posture or body configuration.  
       [0003] As indicated in FIG. 1, an upright supporter  12  of a prior desktop microphone is usually made of a rigid metallic tube or a bendable soft tube and is fixedly and pivotally jointed to an acoustic head  11  and a base  13  of the microphone, respectively. A switch  14  is disposed on the base  13 . In such a constitution, the supporter  12  cannot be stretched or shrinked freely at will so that a taller user cannot help but speak to the head  11  of the microphone in a bow posture, or, on the contrary, the platform has to be heightened up for a shorter one. The inconvenience is resulted because the supporter  12  is unadjustable that would likely provide a poor reception quality of the head  11  and could consequently even make a user suffer from an ache in waist and back after use for a long time. In the event a redundant meeting is held under a poor reception quality of the head  11 , the attendants are liable to get distracted or misunderstand the speaker&#39;s original meaning to hence eventually devalue the meeting.  
       [0004] The same situation also happens to an ear-carrying style microphone. As shown in FIG. 2, a strip of metal is commonly adopted for making a head frame  24 , which is provided at one side with a loop portion to be hung on a user&#39;s ear. Further, there are respective clamping portions arranged on two ends of the frame  24 , and under the clamping portion at the same side with the loop portion, a lateral supporter  22  is extended out to support an acoustic head  21  at its other end. The major disadvantage of such an arrangement is that since the lateral supporter  22  is a stationary and unstretchable supporter designed for holding appropriately the acoustic head  21  at an optimum position close to a user&#39;s face for sound collection, it cannot make full use of the acoustic head  21  because of the unadjustable lateral supporter  22 .  
       [0005] In view of abovesaid defects, a stretchable tube equipped microphone of this invention is provided for solving the problems in the prior arts by substituting a two-piece stretchable tube for the metallic head frame in order to facilitate the vertical adjustment of the acoustic head or the adjustment of the ear-carrying style microphone. Moreover, a stretchable electric cord is disposed in the stretchable tube for cooperation purpose.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006] The primary object of this invention is to provide a stretchable tube equipped microphone, in which a supporting shaft is a two-piece stretchable tube composed of an upper tube and a lower tube, in which the upper tube has a smaller diameter than that of the lower tube; the upper tube is a hard copper tube having a stretchable structure comprising a plurality of stretchable segments to be pulled to stretch arbitrarily, while the lower tube is a bendable soft tube such that an acoustic head could be adjusted to a desired height and angle for easy use. Besides, an electric cord is formed in helical manner so as to cooperate with the stretchable tube for adjustment.  
       [0007] Another object of this invention is to provide a stretchable tube equipped microphone, which under a clamping portion at the same end of a hook, a lateral supporter is extended out to support an acoustic head at its other end so that the stretchable tube can always provide an optimum length of the lateral supporter according to a user&#39;s head configuration for a closer approach to the user&#39;s face and mouth for enhancing the sound collection effect of the microphone.  
       [0008] For more detailed information regarding advantages or features of this invention, at least an example of preferred embodiment will be fully described below with reference to the annexed drawings. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0009] The related drawings in connection with the detailed description of this invention to be made later are described briefly as follows, in which:  
     [0010]FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the structure of a prior desktop microphone;  
     [0011]FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the structure of a prior ear-carrying microphone;  
     [0012]FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the microphone structure of this invention;  
     [0013]FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional exploded view of the microphone structure of this invention; and  
     [0014]FIG. 5 shows an application example of this invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     [0015] As shown in FIG. 1, a generic prior desktop microphone is composed of an acoustic head  11 , a metallic supporting shaft  12 , and a base  13 , in which the supporting shaft  12  is connected fixedly with the head  11  and the base  13 , respectively. In FIG. 2, which shows the structure of a prior ear-carrying microphone, a head frame  24  has a clamping portion  26  at each of its two ends to be fixed on a user&#39;s head laterally, in which one clamping portion serves as an earphone  23 , and a lateral bracket  22  thereof with a fixed length is extended to joint with an acoustic head of microphone  21 . It is therefore known from FIGS. 1 and 2 that the acoustic head  11 / 21  unadjustable in the structure of prior microphones would surely affect the acoustic effect, more or less.  
     [0016]FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the microphone structure of this invention. In FIG. 3, a stretchable tube equipped microphone of this invention mainly comprises an acoustic head  11 , a supporting shaft  31 , and a base  51 . The supporting shaft  31  is designed in form of a two-piece stretchable tube including an upper tube  311  and a lower tube  313 , in which the diameter of the upper tube  311  is slightly smaller than that of the lower tube  313 . The upper tube  311  further comprises a plurality of segments of hard copper tube, which is unbendable but extendable vertically, while the lower tube  313  is bendable. The upper tube  311  is in connection with the acoustic head while the lower tube  313  with the base  51 . The upper tube  311  has a stretchable layer structure for providing an optimum height of the acoustic head  11  on the top of the supporting shaft  31  according to a user&#39;s stature.  
     [0017] In FIG. 4—a three-dimensional exploded view of the microphone structure of this invention, an electric cord  32  concealed in the supporting shaft  31  is formed in helical manner for stretch purpose.  
     [0018]FIG. 5 shows an application example of this invention. In FIG. 5, a supporting shaft  31  is substituted for the lateral bracket  22  of the prior ear-carrying microphone. The supporting shaft  31  is structured as a two-piece stretchable tube having an upper tube  311  and a lower tube  313 , in which the upper tube  311  further comprises a plurality of segments of hard copper tube, which is unbendable but extendable vertically, while the lower tube  313  is bendable; the diameter of the upper tube  311  is slightly smaller than that of the lower tube  313 ; the upper tube  311  is in connection with an acoustic head while the lower tube  313  with an end of an earphone  23  in an ear-carrying microphone. The supporting shaft  31  might be adjusted for an optimum position of an acoustic head  21  according to a user&#39;s head configuration and tightness the user feels fit. An electric cord  25  passing through the supporting shaft  31  and connected also with the acoustic head  21  is arranged in helical form so as to stretch or shrink together with the supporting shaft  31 .  
     [0019] In the above described, at least one preferred embodiment has been described in detail with reference to the drawings annexed, and it is apparent that numerous variations or modifications may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope thereof, as set forth in the claims below.