STETHOSCOPE HEADSET

• US 3,772,478 A
• Filed: 12/27/1971
• Issued: 11/13/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/1971
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Edwin Joscelyn, John P. Mccabe
• Original Assignee: Edwin Joscelyn, John P. Mccabe
• Inventors: McCabe, John P., Joscelyn, Edwin
• Primary Examiner(s): Cooper, William C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Olms, Douglas W.
• Application Number:
  US05/212,262
• Time in Patent Office: 687 Days
• Field of Search: 179/1ST,17R,114R,115R,182R,156R,156A,1G
• US Class Current: 381/67
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/02 Stethoscopes acoustic details thereof G10K11/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1016 Earpieces of the intra-aural type
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/345 for loudspeakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/0335 Earpiece support, e.g. headbands or neckrests for monophonic headphones H04R1/105

Abstract

A stethoscope headset formed from a pair of arcuate housing arm members pivotably coupled at one end thereof. Each of the housing arm members is formed with a chamber adjacent said one end thereof dimensioned for receipt of an electro-acoustic transducer and a channel extending through each of said housing arm members providing communication between said chamber and the other end of said arm members. A sound conducting tube extends at least from said chamber through said channel and projects out of the other end of said arm members, an earplug being mounted on a projecting end of each of said sound conducting tubes.

Claims

1. A stethoscope headset comprising a pair of arcuate rigid housing arm members, each of said housing arms members being formed at one end thereof with an end coupling portion positioned in overlapping facing relation with the end coupling portion of the other of said housing arm members, each of said housing arm members being formed with a thickened region adjacent said end coupling portion defining a chamber, a wall of said thickened region being formed with an aperture therethrough providing access to said chamber from outside of said housing arm members, each of said housing arm members being further formed with a channel therethrough extending from said chamber to the other end thereof;

means coupling the respective end coupling portions of said housing arm members for relative pivotable displacement with said other end of said housing arm members in substantial facing relation;

said coupling means including ratchet means mounted for cooperative engagement on each of said end coupling portions for the stepwise relative pivotable displacement of said arm members;

a flexible sound-conducting tube mounted within each of said channels extending from at least said chamber and projecting from said other end of said housing arm member, each of said housing arm members being formed so that the regions of each of said channels adjacent the ends of said housing arm members spaced from said end coupling portions are shaped so as to incline the projecting ends of said sound conducting tubes forwardly from the plane of the headset relative to the head of the user of said headset; and

earplug means mounted on said projecting end of each of said sound conducting tubes.

2. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 1, wherein said ratchet means includes teeth projecting from each of said overlapping facing portions and means for biasing said teeth in cooperative engagement.

3. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 1, wherein the ends of each of said housing arm members spaced from said end coupling portions are inclined toward said end coupling portions so that said projecting ends of said sound conducting tubes incline downwardly and forwardly relative to the head of the user of said headset.

4. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 1, wherein each of said sound conducting tubes extend through said chamber and said aperture in said thickened region of its respective housing arm member;

and jack means coupled to the respective ends of said sound conducting tubes projecting outside of said housing arm members through said apertures.

5. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 1, including an electro-acoustic transducer means positioned in each of said chambers, said sound conducting tube being coupled to the output of said transducer means;

and lead means coupled to the input of said transducer means and extending out of each said housing arm member through said aperture in said thickened region thereof.

6. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 5, wherein said sound conducting tube is formed with an inner diameter of about 0.075 - 0.11 inch.

7. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 5, including jack means coupled to the lead means associated with each of said transducers, said jack means including a pair of jack pins, one of said pins being coupled to each of said lead means, insulating body means encapsulating adjacent portions of each of said jack pins and lead means, and connecting wall means, said connecting wall means having a sinuous transverse cross-section for permitting the relative transverse displacement of said pin jacks.

8. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 5, wherein said electro-acoustic transducer means includes a housing having an aperture therethrough defining said transducer output;

an electromagnetic transducer mounted within said housing and having an axial pole piece definIng the output thereof;

a diaphragm member positioned intermediate said transducer output and said electromagnetic transducer, said diaphragm member being formed from a thin sheet of grain oriented polyester having a thin metal disc mounted centrally thereon in substantial alignment with said pole piece, said diaphragm member having at least one annular ridge formed by said thin sheet substantially concentric with said metal disc; and

positioning ring means mounted within said housing for positioning said diaphragm member and electro-magnetic transducer in spaced relation within said housing.

9. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 8, wherein said positioning ring means is formed with a channel of relatively small cross-section extending from the region intermediate said electro-magnetic transducer and said diaphragm member to the region within said housing on the opposed side of said electro-magnetic transducer for providing a controlled leak from said first-mentioned region.

10. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 8, wherein said diaphragm member is formed with two of said annular concentric ridges.

11. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 5, wherein said electro-acoustic transducer means includes a housing formed with a sound-conducting passage extending to the outside of said housing and defining thereat the output of said transducer means;

a woofer electro-acoustic transducer mounted in said housing and having an outlet positioned for applying an acoustic signal to said sound-conducting passage;

a tweeter electro-acoustic transducer mounted within said housing and having an output positioned for application of an acoustic signal to said sound-conducting passage;

said lead means connecting said woofer and tweeter electro-acoustic transducers in parallel at their respective inputs.

12. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 11, wherein said housing is formed with a transverse bore providing communication between said sound-conducting passage and the outside of said housing, said bore being dimensioned to define a tuning port for substantially smoothing the response versus frequency characteristics of said transducer means.

13. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 12, wherein said transverse bore, and said woofer and tweeter electro-acoustic transducers being selected so as to provide a respeonse versus frequency characteristics which rolls off at about 3 to 6 db per octive from about 200 Hz.

14. A stehtoscope headset as recited in claim 11, wherein said housing is formed with a bore interconnecting said soundconducting passage and the outside of said housing, said bore being adapted to receive a sound-conducting tube for the application of a further audio signal to said transducer means.

15. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 5, including potentiometer means mounted within each of said chambers, each of said housing arm members being formed with a further aperture therethrough in the region of its respective chamber, said potentiometer means being formed with manual adjusting means extending through said further aperture, said lead means coupling said transducer means and said potentiometer means in series for the manual adjustment of the volume of the audio output of said transducer means.

16. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 1, wherein one of said end coupling portions is formed with a first transverse wall and the other of said end coupling portions is formed with a second transverse wall in overlapping spaced relation to said first transverse wall, said first transverse wall having an aperture therethrough;

and including microphone means positioned in the space between said first and second transverse walls and having an input face projecting through said aperture in said first transverse wall.

17. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 16, wherein said second transverse wall is formed with an aperture therethrough, said microphone means having a housing formed with a radial flanGe dimensioned for engagement against the outer surface of said first transverse wall, said microphone means housing also being formed with a projecting stub extending through said aperture in said second transverse wall, said coupling means including means for engaging said stub and said second transverse wall for retaining said housing arm members in pivotable coupling with said microphone means housing serving as the axis of pivoting thereof.

18. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 5, wherein one of said end coupling portions is formed with a first transverse wall having an aperture therethrough, the other of said end coupling portions being formed with a second transverse wall in spaced overlapping relation to said first transverse wall;

and including potentiometer means positioned within the space between said first and second transverse walls and having control means projecting through said aperture in said first transverse wall; and

lead means operatively coupling said potentiometer means with each of said electro-acoustic transducers for the control of the signal applied thereto.

19. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 18, wherein said potentiometer means includes two separate potentiometer winding means, said control means including two separate controls, one of said separate controls being operatively coupled to each of said potentiometer winding means.

20. A stethoscope headset as recited in claim 18, wherein said second transverse wall is formed with an aperture therethrough, said potentiometer means including a housing formed with a radial flange positioned for engagement with the outer surface of said first transverse wall, said potentiometer means housing being formed with a projecting stub extending through said aperture in said second transverse wall, said coupling means including means for engaging said stub and said second transverse wall for coupling said housing arm members together with said potentiometer means housing defining the axis of pivoting thereof.