Portable loudspeaker apparatus for use in live performances

• US 4,815,559 A
• Filed: 01/06/1988
• Issued: 03/28/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/1988
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Arant Kleinberg & Lerner
• Original Assignee: Arant Kleinberg & Lerner
• Inventors: Shirley, Manuel
• Primary Examiner(s): Fuller, B. R.
• Application Number:
  US07/141,326
• Time in Patent Office: 447 Days
• Field of Search: 181/144, 181/145, 181/147, 181/148, 181/153, 181/154, 181/199, 381/88-90
• US Class Current: 181/144
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/02 Casings; Cabinets ; Supports therefor; Mountings therein H04R1/28 takes precedence ; attachments for microphones H04R1/08; mounting of transducers in earpieces H04R1/1075
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/323 for loudspeakers H04R1/34 and H04R1/40 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 27/04 Electric megaphones

Abstract

A portable modular loudspeaker apparatus consists of a cabinet containing at least two speakers pointing in different directions so that sound generation patterns of the different speakers tend to diverge. The cabinet is narrower at the back than at the front, and placing two of the cabinets in a side-by-side abutting relationship provides an array of speakers positioned in a generally arcuate pattern. Each cabinet is provided with manual gripping means on a exterior surface to facilitate transport and installation.

Claims

1. A portable modular loudspeaker apparatus which is convenient to transport and to install, and which simplifies the task of obtaining an acoustically correct installation, comprising:

a speaker cabinet which contains at least two speakers which are in fixed locations inside the cabinet, and which have fixed output directions relative to the cabinet and to each other such that each speaker is pointed in a slightly different direction, a sound generation pattern of each speaker then overlaps a sound generation pattern of each adjacent speaker, and as the sound travels away from the location of the speaker cabinet the sound output of each individual speaker tends to diverge from the sound output of each other speaker;

said speaker cabinet having top and bottom walls which are tapered in a horizontal plane, and are narrower at a back than at a front thereof, so that two or more of such speaker cabinets may then be placed in side-to-side, mutually abutting relationship, to provide an array of speakers positioned in a generally arcuate pattern; and

manual gripping means on an exterior surface of said cabinet to facilitate transport and installation, said manual gripping means being so positioned as not to interfere with the side-to-side abutting relationship of two adjacent cabinets.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 which includes two speakers in the same horizontal plane, but whose sound outputs diverge from each other in that horizontal plane.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 which includes two speakers in the same vertical plane, and whose sound outputs diverge from each other in that vertical plane.

4. A portable loudspeaker apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said speaker cabinet contains two horizontal layers of speakers, the outputs of the lower layer of speakers being pointed in a generally horizontal direction and diverging from each other in a horizontal plane, the outputs of the upper layer of speakers being pointed upwardly at an angle of at least a few degrees above the horizontal and also diverging from each other in a horizontal plane.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said speaker cabinet is made of wood, and also includes a horizontal shelf and a vertical divider which divide the interior of said cabinet into four separate speaker compartments.

6. A portable loudspeaker apparatus as claimed in claim 4 wherein each exterior side wall of said speaker cabinet is provided with a recessed hand grip.

7. A portable loudspeaker apparatus as claimed in claim 4 wherein the speakers in said upper layer are vertically aligned above the respective speakers in the lower layer.

8. A portable loudspeaker apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein each exterior side wall of said speaker cabinet is provided with a recessed hand grip.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein two such speaker cabinets, when assembled together in side-to-side abutting relationship, produce a sound output from each speaker cabinet which is directed essentially along one of a plurality of radius line which emanate from a single point.

10. A portable modular loudspeaker apparatus which is convenient to transport and to install for live performances, comprising:

a speaker cabinet made of wood, having flat horizontal top and bottom walls and vertical left and right side walls, each of the top and bottom walls having tapered side edges and being wider at a front edge than at a rear edge, each of the side walls being secured to corresponding side edges of the top and bottom walls and diverging outwardly toward a front of the cabinet by an angle of about 10 degrees, and the front edges of both the top and the bottom walls being tapered to a central apex such that each half of the front edges are perpendicular to corresponding side walls;

said speaker cabinet also having a front wall made of four separate sections including left and right lower sections and left and right upper sections, said lower sections being vertically disposed and secured in abutting and perpendicular relation both to said bottom wall and to respective side walls, said upper sections being sloped rearwardly at an angle of about 10 degrees to a vertical and being secured both to said top wall and to respective side walls, each of said front wall sections having a central opening therein;

a front sound baffle covering all of said openings;

a horizontal wooden shelf and a vertical wooden divider inside said speaker cabinet, dividing an interior thereof into four separate speaker compartments;

a back wall, at least a portion of which is removable, normally covering a back side of said cabinet;

four loudspeakers mounted on a rearward surface of respective sections of said front wall so as to direct sound outputs forwardly through respective ones of said openings,

circuit means extending through said back wall and into the interior of said cabinet and connected to all of said speakers for providing driving power thereto, so that as sound travels away from the location of the speaker cabinet the sound output of each individual speaker tends to diverge from the sound output of each other speaker;

said bottom wall of said speaker cabinet being adapted to be removably positioned upon a flat supporting surface; and

an exterior surface of each side wall of said speaker cabinet having a recessed hand grip for lifting and transporting said cabinet so that two or more of such speaker cabinets may then be placed in side-to-side, mutually abutting relationship to provide an array of speakers arranged in a generally arcuate pattern.

11. Apparatus as in claim 10 wherein all four of said loudspeakers are mid-range speakers and are driven in parallel.