Patent Publication Number: US-2007098201-A1

Title: Earplug type earphone

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      This invention relates to an earplug type earphone comprising a front cover, a rear casing, a plug, a signal line, and a signal line supporting member, and the earplug is connected to a fixed pillar of the back cover, so that the earplug is substantially an eccentric structure for adjusting the wearing tightness, and the back cover can be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise with respect to the front cover, such that the bias structure of the fixed pillar back cover is disposed proximate to the lower left side or lower right side to fit the user&#39;s left and right ears and enhance the practical use of the earphone.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      In a traditional earplug type earphone, the body of the earphone comprises an ear pad to be plugged into the user&#39;s ear and a casing for containing a speaker, so that when the earphone is used, the whole earphone is plugged directly into the user&#39;s ear according to the shape of the ear pad, and the speaker is attached to the user&#39;s ear hole, so that the sound produced by the speaker will be transmitted directly into the user&#39;s ear and thus achieving the hearing effect.  
      Since the prior art earplug type earphone directly installs the speaker inside the ear pad, therefore it is necessary to wear the ear pad onto the user&#39;s ear for the use of the earphone. However, the size of the speaker is limited by the volume of the ear pad, and it is unable to adopt a larger speaker having a better base effect, and thus such prior art will affect the base performance of the overall earphone. Furthermore, the casing and the speaker have to match with the ear pad which comes with a circular design, particularly the speaker directly transmits the sound from the surface of the ear pad, and the speaker cannot achieve the effect of collecting sound, and thus the performance of the sound quality will be poor and awkward.  
      As to the structure of the sound generator of the prior art earplug type earphone, the output section of the sound generator is usually made of a hard material, and thus it is necessary to install a sponge cover to wrap the sound generator.  
      Since the material and thickness of a sponge cover is relatively weak and small, the material wrapped onto the output section of the sound generator will be embedded into the user&#39;s auditory tube, and the porous sponge material will adhere dirt or germs. The dirty sponge cover cannot be removed easily for cleaning, and thus making the repeated uses of the sponge cover unlikely. Furthermore, the material of the sponge cover cannot be fixed easily, and the sponge cover may be loosen or even embedded into or separated from the ear. Such traditional way of installing the sponge cover onto the earphone cannot provide a good protection for its application.  
      To overcome the existing shortcomings of the prior art products and make their application more convenient and practical, the inventor of the present invention based on years of experience on related area and aimed at the foregoing shortcomings to conduct researches and developments and maximize the practicability of the present invention, and finally invented an improved earplug type earphone structure.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The primary objective of this invention is to provide an earplug type earphone comprising a front cover, a back cover, an earplug, a signal line, and a signal line support member. The earplug is connected to a fixed pillar with an eccentric design disposed at the back cover, so that the eccentric structure of the earplug allows a user to adjust the wearing tightness. Furthermore, the back cover can be turned clockwise or counterclockwise with respect to the front cover, so that the fixed pillar with the eccentric design at the back cover can be set to the lower left side or the lower right side to fit the user&#39;s left and right ears and enhance the utility of the earphone.  
      To make it easier for our examiner to understand the objective of the invention, its structure, innovative features, and performance, we use a preferred embodiment together with the attached drawings for the detailed description of the invention.  
      Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2  for the earplug type earphone in accordance with the present invention, the earphone  10  comprises a front cover  20 , a back cover  30 , an earplug  40 , a speaker  50 , a signal line  61 , a signal line support member  60 , and a decorative plate  70 .  
      The front cover  20  is a circular casing having a circular latch flange  21  around the external periphery of the circular casing, and the front cover  20  includes a circular groove  22  disposed at the side of the latch flange  21 , and the groove  22  includes a plurality of fixing members formed by two fixed protrusions  23 , and the front cover  20  includes a hollow slot  24 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 3 , the back cover  30  is a circular casing having a fixed pillar  31  with an eccentric design, and the fixed pillar  31  includes a stairway rod penetrating its middle, and the back cover  30  includes a plurality of raised dots  32  disposed and fixed on one side of the back cover  30 .  
      The earplug  40  is a cylindrical sleeve made of a soft material (preferably a silica gel material), and the circumferential surface of the earplug  40  comes with a streamlined curved design, and the earplug  40  is sheathed and fixed onto the pillar  31  of the back cover  30 .  
      The signal line support member  60  includes a signal line  61  penetrating its middle and the signal line  61  is connected to the speaker  50 , and the signal line support member  60  is embedded into the slot  24  at the bottom of the front cover  20  by the arc latch member  62  at the top of the front cover  20 , and a decorative plate  70  is attached on the external side of the front cover  20 , and the front cover  20  is connected to the back cover  30 , such that the positioning raised dots  32  of the back cover  30  are latched and fixed into the groove  22  of the front cover  20  by the fixing component formed by two positioning protrusion  23  to form an integral structure. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  is a schematic view of the internal structure of a back cover of the present invention;  
       FIGS. 4 and 5  are schematic views of turning the back cover according to the present invention; and  
       FIGS. 6 and 7  are schematic views of the practical use of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      To make it easier for our examiner to understand the objective of the invention, its structure, innovative features, and performance, we use a preferred embodiment together with the attached drawings for the detailed description of the invention.  
      The present invention integrates the foregoing components into a whole earplug type earphone as shown in  FIG. 4 , and the back cover  30  of the earphone  10  is disposed at the lower left side of the external side and fixed to the fixed pillar  31  with an eccentric design, and the earplug  40  is sheathed and fixed onto the fixed pillar  31  of the back cover  30 , so that the earplug  40  is eccentric with respect to the back cover  30 . Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the back cover  30  includes a plurality of positioning raised dots  32  disposed on one side of the internal edge. The positioning raised dots  32  are latched and fixed into the groove  22  of the front cover  20  by a positioning component formed by two positioning protrusions  23 . A user can apply a slight force to turn and adjust the back cover  30 . The fixed pillar  31  of the back cover  30  is disposed on the lower left side with an eccentric design, so that the user can turn the back cover  30  counterclockwise, and the fixed pillar  31  of the back cover  30  drives the earplug  40  to be installed from the left lower side with an eccentric design and turned to the lower right side with an eccentric design as shown in  FIG. 5 . As we know that human ears are symmetrically on the left and right sides, the earplug  40  of the invention can be turned and adjusted clockwise or counterclockwise by the back cover  30 , so that the earplug  40  can be installed on the lower left side or lower right side with a bias design to fit the structure of the left and right ears of the user and enhance the utility of the product.  
      Further, the earplug  40  of the invention adopts a bias design and takes the structure of human ears into consideration. Referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7  for the practical use of the present invention, the earphone  10  is turned slightly forward when the earphone is plugged into an ear (as shown by the arrow direction in  FIG. 7 ) and fixed onto the external edge of the ear. Such eccentric design allows the earphone  10  to be turned clockwise or counterclockwise when a user wears the earphone  10 , and thus the earphone  10  will moves eccentrically with the ear hole as the center, and the earplug pushes the cartilage of the acoustic labyrinth of the external ear, so as to fit different ears of different sizes. The earphone  10  can be secured into the ear, and the user can turn the earphone  10  to different angles to achieve the most comfortable and pressure-free wearing. This design also can provide an airtight contact between the earphone  10  and the ear to provide the best sound performance for the earphone  10 . In summation of the above description, the present invention not only has innovative improvements on its space configuration, but also maximizes the performance and enhances the performance than the conventional structure and further complies with the patent application requirements.  
      While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.