Patent Publication Number: US-8113906-B2

Title: Air blown noisemaker

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     In general, the present invention relates to noisemakers that operate by having air blown into the noisemaker. More particularly, the present invention relates to the structure of such noisemakers and assemblies where such noisemakers are encased in a housing. 
     2. Prior Art Description 
     The prior art is replete with novelty devices that are designed to make noise. Once class of such novelty devices is the noisemaker with a vibrating membrane. A kazoo is an obvious example of a noisemaker that uses a vibrating membrane. In a kazoo, air is directed past a flat membrane. The passing air causes the membrane to vibrate and the membrane to create noise. Noisemakers with vibrating membranes typically make pleasant low frequency sounds that are not shrill to the human ear. 
     A problem associated with many prior art noisemakers that contain vibrating membranes is that the volume of the noise that can be created is limited. If a person blows into a prior art noisemaker too hard, the rush of air tends to displace the membrane and prevent the membrane from vibrating at all. Consequently, if a person blows too hard into the noisemaker, instead of making a louder noise, the noisemaker fails to make noise at all. 
     If it is desired to make very loud noises, noisemakers with vibrating membranes are typically not used. Rather, noisemakers such as whistles are used that produce noise without a membrane. The problem associated with whistles and similar devices is that the frequency of the noise is high and the sound of the noise tends to be shrill and painful to the ears, especially when at a high volume. Accordingly, whistles are good for use by referees and lifeguards that need to be quickly heard in a loud environment. However, no one would want to sit next to a person in a stadium who was blowing a whistle just to cheer and make noise. 
     During sporting events, many fans cheer and make noise. Many fans bring noisemakers to help them cheer. Noisemakers with vibrating membranes are typically not used they produce noise that is too soft. Whistles are not commonly used because the whistle is too shrill and offends surrounding fans. Furthermore, whistles are often prohibited because they confuse the players who my think the whistle sound came from an official. 
     Noisemakers have been invented that utilize vibrating membranes. Such noisemakers are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,116 to Gyorgy, entitled Horn For Sports fans, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,064 to Gyorgy, entitled High Acoustic Output Horn. A problem associated with such noisemakers is one of manufacturing cost. In such prior art noisemakers, two separate tube must be concentrically assembled. The membrane must then be attached to the concentric tube assembly with a separate collar. As such, the noisemaker has many parts and requires a large amount of hand assembly during manufacture. This makes such prior art noisemakers expensive and poorly suited for sport event give-aways and promotions. 
     A need exists for a noisemaker that is specifically designed to meet the needs of a cheering fan, wherein the noisemaker makes a noise that is very loud, but has a low frequency that is not shrill and painful to surrounding fans. A need also exists for such a noisemaker that is very inexpensive so that it can be given away or sold cheaply at large sporting events. Lastly, a need exists for such a noisemaker that is small and simple to operate so that a fan can use the noisemaker while seated in a stadium. 
     These needs are met by the present invention as described and claimed below. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a noisemaker assembly that produces a loud low frequency sound when air is blown into the assembly. The noisemaker includes an annular horn body having a top surface, a bottom surface, an inner wall, an outer wall and a groove disposed in between said inner wall and said outer wall. The groove is open at the top surface of said horn body. The horn body is injection molded and requires no assembly. 
     A tubular mouthpiece is provided that extends into the horn body. The mouthpiece defines a conduit that directly communicates with the groove inside the horn body. In this manner, when air is blown into the mouthpiece, that air passes into the groove within the horn body. 
     A membrane is placed over the horn body so that the membrane covers the top of the groove. The membrane is configured to directly engage the horn body without any secondary attachment parts. When air is blown into the groove, the air slips past the membrane from inside the groove. This causes the membrane to vibrate and generate a loud, low-frequency noise. 
     The horn assembly can be held within a housing. The housing has perforations to enable sound energy from the horn assembly to escape from the housing. The housing is preferably shaped as a sports ball. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the following description of an exemplary embodiment thereof, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a novelty noisemaker; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Although the present invention can be configured into many sound generating devices, such as a foghorn or a pneumatic alarm, the present invention is especially well suited in forming a novelty noisemaker for personal use. Accordingly, the present invention is illustrated and described being embodied as a novelty noisemaker in order to set forth the best mode contemplated for the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  in conjunction with both  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , a novelty noisemaker  10  is shown. The noisemaker  10  is operated by blowing air into the noisemaker  10 . The noisemaker  10  is provided with a tubular mouthpiece  12  to facilitate the blowing of air into the noisemaker  10  by the user&#39;s mouth. 
     The tubular mouthpiece  12  is coupled to a horn body  14 . The horn body  14  is an annular structure that surrounds a central horn hollow  17 . The horn body  14  is comprised of a cylindrical outer wall  16  and a generally cylindrical inner wall  18 . An annular groove  20  is disposed in between the outer wall  16  of the horn body  14  and the inner wall  18  of the horn body  14 . The horn body  14  has a closed bottom surface  22  in between the outer wall  16  and the inner wall  18 . Accordingly, it will be understood that the annular grove  20  is defined on three sides, by the outer wall  16 , the inner wall  18  and the bottom surface  22 . The horn body  14  has an open top  24 . It will therefore be understood that the annular groove  20  can be accessed through the open top  24  of the horn body  14 . 
     A brim overhang  26  is disposed around the outer wall  16  just under the open top  24 . The brim overhang  26  defines a ledge  28  that is used to secure an elastomeric membrane  30  into place, as will later be described. 
     The horn body  14  is a single injected molded piece of plastic. The tubular mouthpiece  12  can be molded as part of the horn body  12 . However, significant tooling costs are saved by gluing the tubular mouthpiece onto the horn body  14  after the horn body  14  is molded. 
     In the shown embodiment, one elastomeric membrane  30  is provided. The elastomeric membrane  30  has a flat central area  32  that is sized to fit over the open top  24  of the horn body  14 . In the shown embodiment, the horn body  14  has a circular shaped top. Accordingly, the flat central area  32  of the elastomeric membrane  30  is also circular so that it can be uniformly stretched over the open top  24  of the horn body  14  without buckling. A thickened peripheral lip  34  extends downwardly from the edges of the flat central area  32 . The thickened peripheral lip  34  enables the electrometric membrane  30  to stretch over the open top  24  of the horn body  14  and engage the outer wall  16  of the horn body  14 , thereby holding the elastomeric membrane  30  into a locked position. The thickened peripheral lip  34  extends over, and engages, the ledge  28  created by the brim overhang  26 . In this manner, the flat central area  32  of the elastomeric membrane  30  is pulled and kept taut over the open top  24  of the horn body  14 . 
     Once the elastomeric membrane  30  is attached over the open top  24  of the horn body  14 , the flat central area  32  of the elastomeric membrane  30  lays flat against both the top of the cylindrical inner wall  18  and the top of the cylindrical outer wall  16 . The flat central area  32  of the elastomeric membrane  30 , therefore, covers the open top  24  of the annular groove  20 , thereby isolating the annular groove  20 . 
     The tubular mouthpiece  12  defines an open conduit  36  through which blown air can pass. The open conduit  36  extends through the outer wall  16  of the horn body  14 . The open conduit  36  of the tubular mouthpiece  12 , therefore, communicates with the annular groove  20  inside the horn body  14 . When the user blows air into the mouthpiece  12 , the air pressure inside the annular groove  20  increases. The annular groove  20  is confined by the inner cylindrical wall  18 , the outer cylindrical wall  16 , the bottom surface  22  and the elastomeric membrane  30  that is stretched taut over the top of the annular groove  20 . The inner cylindrical wall  18 , the outer cylindrical wall  16  and the bottom surface  22  are inflexible solid surfaces through which air cannot pass. Air within the annular groove  20 , therefore, can only escape the annular groove  20  by displacing the elastomeric membrane  30 . 
     When the air pressure within the annular grove  20  becomes great enough to displace the elastomeric membrane  30 , the air passes over the cylindrical inner wall  18  and into the central horn hollow  17 . As the air displaces the elastomeric membrane  30 , the air causes the elastomeric membrane  30  to vibrate. This vibration is directly converted into sound energy. The sound energy is directed both upward and downward away from the flat central area  32  of the elastomeric membrane  30 . 
     In a preferred embodiment, the inner wall  18  of the horn body  14  can be slightly tapered. This shape provides a slight amplification to the sound energy. 
     The horn body  14  is held within a housing  40 . The housing  40  acts as a resonance chamber that resonates with the sound energy, thereby amplifying and adding tonal benefits to the sound energy. The housing  40  is hollow having ribs  42  on its interior that are positioned and sized to hold the horn body  14  in a fixed position within the housing  40 . The ribs  42  are shallow and engage the horn body  14 . In this manner, the elastomeric membrane  30  is not encumbered by the structure of the housing  40  or the ribs  42 . 
     In the shown embodiment, the housing  40  has a clamshell construction, wherein two opposing housing sections  43 ,  44  are joined together along an equatorial joint  46 . The exterior of the housing  40  is preferably shaped as a sports ball or puck. In the shown embodiment, the housing  40  is shaped as a round ball, such as a soccer ball or a baseball. However, it will be understood that the housing  40  can be configured as a football, basketball, helmet, hockey puck or the like. The choice of a housing with a sports theme is described because the noisemaker  10  is particularly well suited for making noise in a stadium during a sporting event. 
     Perforations  48  are cut into the housing  40 . The perforations  48  enable the sound energy from within the housing  40  to exit the housing  40  and be heard by people far away from the noisemaker device. It is preferred that the perforations  48  in the housing be made in two locations. One location is directly above the elastomeric membrane  30 . The other direction is directly below the elastomeric membrane. In this manner, sound energy generated by the elastomeric membrane  30  has a direct path through the perforations and out of the noisemaker  10 . Furthermore, by placing the perforations  48  in two opposite positions, a person grasping the noisemaker  10  will not accidentally cover the perforations  48 . Furthermore, by having the perforations  48  spread across a large area, a person can selectively cover different numbers of the perforations  48 , thereby enabling the user to selectively control the volume of the noisemaker  10 . 
     It will be understood that the embodiment of the present invention that is described and illustrated shows only one exemplary embodiment of the present invention noisemaker. A person skilled in the art can make many alternate embodiments using the same technology. For instance, the horn body can be polygonal in shape, rather than circular. Likewise the shape of the housing can be changed as a matter of design choice. All such variations, modifications and alternate embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention, as defined by the claims.