Lateral sliding adjustable earplug
First Claim
1. An earplug with a body that has an axis and a passage extending parallel to its axis, that has a body front sealing portion that fits in and seals to the walls of a human ear canal, and that has a body rear portion that lies outside the ear canal, wherein:
- said body rear portion has a slot that extends in a lateral direction which is primarily perpendicular to said axis and that intersects said passage; and
includinga blocking member with a hole, said blocking member being moveable along said slot between an unblocking position wherein at least part of said hole is aligned with said passage so said blocking member does not completely block said passage, to thereby allow sound to flow from the environment and through said passage to the ear canal, to a blocking position wherein said hole is completely out of alignment with said passage and said blocking member blocks said passage to prevent almost all sound in the environment from reaching the ear canal.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An earplug has an earplug body (12) with a front sealing portion (20) that seals to a person'"'"'s ear canal, a body rear portion (22) that lies out of the ear canal, and a passage (26) that extends along the body axis and that allows environmental sound to flow into the ear canal when the passage is not blocked. The body rear portion has a lateral slot (30), and the earplug includes a blocking element (14) that is laterally (L) slidable along the slot. The blocking element can slide between a first position (14A) wherein a hole (32) in the element is not aligned with the passage to prevent sound from reaching the ear canal, and a second position (14B) wherein the hole is aligned with the passage to allow sound to reach the passage.
24 Citations
9 Claims
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1. An earplug with a body that has an axis and a passage extending parallel to its axis, that has a body front sealing portion that fits in and seals to the walls of a human ear canal, and that has a body rear portion that lies outside the ear canal, wherein:
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said body rear portion has a slot that extends in a lateral direction which is primarily perpendicular to said axis and that intersects said passage; and
includinga blocking member with a hole, said blocking member being moveable along said slot between an unblocking position wherein at least part of said hole is aligned with said passage so said blocking member does not completely block said passage, to thereby allow sound to flow from the environment and through said passage to the ear canal, to a blocking position wherein said hole is completely out of alignment with said passage and said blocking member blocks said passage to prevent almost all sound in the environment from reaching the ear canal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An earplug that has an earplug body with a front sealing portion that fits into a person'"'"'s ear canal and seals to it, said earplug body having an axis and having a passage extending therealong, and having a mechanism for selectively blocking and unblocking said passage, wherein:
said earplug body is an integrally molded member with a slot therein, and said mechanism comprises a blocking member that is slideably disposed in said slot to slide between first and second positions therein, said blocking member having an opening that is aligned with said passage in said first position to pass sound from the environment through said passage to the ear canal, and that is fully out of alignment with said passage in said second position to block sound. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. An earplug with a body that has an axis and a passage extending substantially along its axis, that has a body front sealing portion that fits in and seals to the walls of a human ear canal, and that has a body rear portion that lies outside the ear canal, including:
means in said body rear portion for blocking and unblocking said passage, including an element that has a hole and that is moveable between blocking and unblocking position wherein said hole is respectively aligned and not aligned with said passage, with said element projecting a first distance from a first side of said body rear portion in said first position of said element and projecting less than said first distance from said first side in said second position. - View Dependent Claims (9)
Specification