Patent Publication Number: US-2007098204-A1

Title: Speaker unit and bracket for attaching speaker

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a speaker unit and a bracket for attaching a speaker to a vehicle such as a motor vehicle and a vessel.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      The vehicle such as the motor vehicle and vessel is equipped with a speaker to output various types of sound information, for example, refer to JP,2003-63316,A (referred to DOC-1).  
      The speaker unit of DOC-1 has a speaker, a bracket, and a spacer. The bracket is tube shaped and engages an outer circumference of the speaker. The spacer is tube shaped and engages an end of the bracket. The spacer and bracket are arranged coaxially.  
      The speaker unit of DOC-1 is attached to a board of the motor vehicle. The speaker outputs the sound information from several audio apparatuses equipped in the motor vehicle and vessel.  
      The speaker of DOC-1 is attached to the spacer selected from different spacers depending on a type of the motor vehicle. Accordingly, the number of the spacers increases.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      An object of the present invention is to provide a speaker unit with a reduced number of parts and a bracket for achieving the reduction of the parts.  
      According to a first object of the present invention, a speaker unit includes a speaker main body, and a holding portion disposed on the speaker main body for attaching the speaker main body to one structure.  
      According to a second aspect of the present invention, a bracket for attaching a speaker includes a speaker holder for holding a holding portion disposed on a speaker main body, and an attaching portion to be attached to another structure. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a first embodiment of a speaker unit of the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is another exploded perspective view of the speaker unit of  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 3  is a front view of a speaker main body of the speaker unit of  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 4  is a side view of the speaker main body of  FIG. 3 ;  
       FIG. 5  is a rear view of a bracket of the speaker unit of  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 6  is a sectional view taken along section VI-VI of  FIG. 5 ;  
       FIG. 7  is a sectional view taken along section VII-VII of  FIG. 5 ;  
       FIG. 8  is a rear view showing the speaker main body attached to the bracket of  FIG. 5 ;  
       FIG. 9  is a perspective and sectional view taken along section IX-IX of  FIG. 8 ,  
       FIG. 10  is a second embodiment of the present invention and a perspective view showing a speaker directly attached to another board;  
       FIG. 11  is a rear view of the another board of  FIG. 10 ;  
       FIG. 12  is a sectional view taken along section XII-XII of  FIG. 11 ; and  
       FIG. 13  is a sectional view taken along section XIII-XIII of  FIG. 11 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      An embodiment of the present invention is explained by referring to  FIGS. 1-13 . Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a speaker unit  1  includes a speaker main body  2  and a bracket  3  for attaching the speaker main body  2 . The speaker unit  1  is attached to a dashboard  4 , hereafter referred to as board, of the motor vehicle, or general structure.  
      The board  4  is made of an insulating synthetic resin and formed in a plate shape. The board  4  has a bracket retainer  5 , which has a board circular bore  6 , guide walls  7 , a pair of holding guide walls  8 , and a pair of holding walls  9 .  
      The board circular bore  6  is through the board  4  and has an inner diameter almost same as that of an outer diameter of a bracket main body  21 . The guide walls  7  are upstanding from parts of an inner edge of the board circular bore  6  and curved along the inner edge thereof and have a radius of curvature almost same as a radius of the bracket main body  21 .  
      Each of the holding guide walls  8  are symmetrically disposed with respect to the center of the board circular bore  7  and has a pair of outwardly extending walls  10  and a pair of arched walls  11 . The pair of the outwardly extending walls  10  each are disposed separately and extending radially from edges of the guide walls  7 . Each arched wall  11  is connected to edges of the pair of the outwardly extending walls  10  and has a radius of curvature almost same as that of an outer edge of a holding piece  33  of the bracket  3  described below.  
      Each holding wall  9  is connected to each holding guide wall  8  and symmetrically disposed about the center of the board circular bore  6 . The holding walls  9  are disposed parallel to the board  4  with a distance and extending toward the center of circular bore  6 . Each holding wall  9  has a half of a length of each arched wall  11  and connected to one of the guide wall  7  so as to sandwich the holding piece  33  of the bracket  3  between the board  4  and the holding wall  9  and hold the bracket  3  to the board  4 .  
      In order to hold the speaker unit  1 , the bracket main body  21  is positioned inside the guide walls  7  and the holding pieces  33  are positioned inside the holding guide walls  8  through openings near the holding walls  9 . The bracket  3  is turned about an axis P to sandwich the holding pieces  33  between the holding walls  9  and the board  4 . The bracket retainer  5  disposed on the board  4  holds the bracket  3 , or the speaker unit  1 .  
      As shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the speaker main body  2  has a speaker  12  and a speaker cover  13 . The speaker  12  has a magnetic circuit and a diaphragm to generate a sound by vibrating the diaphragm with a signal current.  
      The speaker cover  13  is made of a synthetic resin and formed in an annular shape and has a cover main body  14  and a holding portion  15 . The cover main body  14  engages an outer circumference of the speaker  12  and receives the speaker  12 . The cover main body  14  has connecting beams  16 . The connecting beams  16  connect an inner edge  17   a  of an opening  17  of the cover main body  14  and prevent a foreign material from entering into the cover main body  14 . The inner edge  17   a , as shown in  FIG. 9 , has a slope gradually separating away from the axis P toward an outside of the speaker cover  13 , or the board  4 .  
      The holding portion  15  is utilized for attaching the speaker main body  2  to another dashboard  18 , referred to another board, or generally one structure, shown in  FIG. 10 . The holding portion  15  has a speaker guide wall  19  and a pair of holding pieces  20 . The speaker guide wall  19  is curved along an outer edge of the cover main body  14  and extended therefrom  14  toward the boards  4  and  18 .  
      The pair of the holding pieces  20  are disposed on an outer circumference of the cover main body  14  and symmetrically each other about the axis P.  
      The bracket  3  is formed with an insulating synthetic resin and has the bracket main body  21 , a speaker holder  22 , an attaching portion  23 , and a connecting beam portion  24 . The bracket main body  21  has a circular disk  25  configulating a bottom thereof and a circumferential wall  26 , which is upstanding from an outer edge of the circular disk  25  and facing to the speaker main body  2 . The circular disk  25  has a circular bore  27  at the center thereof. An inner diameter of the circular bore  27  is almost same as an outer diameter of the speaker main body  2 . As shown in  FIG. 9 , an inner edge  27   a  of the circular bore  27  is sloped about and away from the axis P toward the board  4 . When the speaker main body  2  is attached to the bracket  3 , the speaker main body  2  is exposed through the circular bore  27 .  
      The speaker holder  22  has bracket guide walls  28 , a bracket guide groove  29 , and a pair of holding portions  30 . The bracket guide walls  28  are upstanding from the inner edge  27   a  of the circular bore  27  toward the speaker main body  2  and curved along the inner edge  27   a . The bracket guide groove  29  is opposed to the bracket guide wall  28  with respect to the circular bore  27  and has a recess formed in a surface of the circular disk  25  facing to the speaker main body  14 . The bracket guide groove  29  is formed in an inner end portion of the circular disk  25  and curved along the inner edge  27   a.    
      The pair of holding portions  30  are opposed each other about the circular bore  27  and have vertical segments  31  upstanding from the circular disk  25  toward the speaker main body  2  and parallel segments  32  extending inwardly from ends of the vertical segments  31 . The holding portions  30  sandwich and hold the holding pieces  20  of the speaker main body  2  between the parallel segments  32  and the circular disk  25 .  
      The speaker holder  22  positions the speaker main body  2  to the bracket guide walls  28  and guides the speaker guide wall  19  to the bracket guide groove  29 . When the speaker main body  2  is thus rotated about the axis P, the holding pieces  20  are interposed between the parallel segments  32  and the circular disk  25  so that the holding portion  15  of the speaker main body  2  is attached to the speaker holder  22  as shown in  FIGS. 8 and 9 .  
      The attaching portion  23  has the pair of holding pieces  33  as shown in  FIGS. 1, 2  and  5 . The pair of holding pieces  33  are disposed symmetrically each other about the axis P and upstanding from an outer edge of the bracket main body  21  facing to the board  4  and extended along a circumference direction.  
      The pair of holding pieces  33  are interposed between the holding walls  9  of the bracket retainer  5  and the board  4  so that the attaching portion  23  is attached to the bracket retainer  5  or the board  4 .  
      The connecting beam portion  24  has a plurality of straight beams  34  arranged radially with an equal angle about the axis P and a central circular disk  35  disposed at the center of the circular bore  27 . The plurality of straight beams  34  connect the central circular disk  35  with the inner edge  27   a  of the circular bore  27 . The connecting beam portion  24  prevents the foreign material from entering into the bracket  3  through the circular bore  27 .  
       FIGS. 10-13  show a second embodiment of a speaker unit  1  to be attached to the another board  18 . The another board  18  described above has an on-board speaker holder  36  as shown in  FIGS. 10-13 . A configuration of the on-board speaker holder  36  is same as that of the speaker holder  22  of the bracket  3  so that like portions are provided with like reference numerals.  
      A speaker main body  2  of the speaker unit  1  is directly attached to the on-board speaker holder  36  with a holding portion  15  without utilizing the bracket  3 .  
      The speaker main body  2  is attached to the board  4  with aid of the bracket  3  and is also directly attached to the another board  18 . The direct attachment of the speaker main body  2  to the another board  18  reduces a number of parts of the speaker unit  1 . When the speaker main body  2  can not be directly attached to the board  4 , the first embodiment is effective.  
      Since the bracket  3  has the speaker holder  22  and the attaching portion  23 , an increase of the number of parts for attaching the speaker main body  2  to the several boards  4  is prevented.  
      The connecting beam portion  24  prevents the foreign material from contacting the speaker main body  2  and prevents the speaker main body  2  from damaging.  
      The slope of the inner edge  27   a  of the circular bore  27  provides the sound without an interference of the board  4 .  
      The structures of the embodiments of the present invention are intended to the dashboards  4  and  18  of the motor vehicle but not limited thereto. The speaker main body  2  can be attached to any part other than the dashboards and also to structures other than the motor vehicle.  
      The embodiments of the speaker unit and the bracket for attaching the speaker are only exemplary and not limited thereto. Any modification and alternative are within the scope of the present invention.