Releaseable hardhat mount for speaker/mike

• US 20030128838A1
• Filed: 01/07/2002
• Published: 07/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Golden West Communications, Inc
• Original Assignee: Golden West Communications, Inc
• Inventors: Roose, Chris, Lenz, Vernon C.
• Granted Patent: US 6,904,147 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/430
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/05 specially adapted for use on head, throat or breast

Abstract

A hardhat mount assembly (12) is provided for mounting a speaker device (14) on a hardhat (10), that allows adjustment of the speaker device position to allow the worker to choose a comfortable position. The mount assembly includes an inner mount part (50) for mounting on the hardhat, a linkage (100) having an upper end pivotally connected to the inner mount part and a lower end pivotally connected to the speaker device, both pivot connections having pivot axes extending in forward and rearward directions. One inner mount device includes a pair of wings (52, 54) with Velcro (74) on their inner surfaces that attach to Velcro pads (80, 82) that have been mounted with contact adhesive on a side of the hardhat. Another inner mount device includes a pair of plates (210, 212) with adjacent edges (214, 216) hinged together and distant ends (220, 222) that can be latched together to clamp a sweatband (202) of the hardhat lining between them. Another inner mount device (130) has a U-shaped part that straddles a thickened lip (132) at the side of a hardhat, and has at least one screw (150) that screws against the hardhat at a location adjacent to the stepped thickness of the hardhat lip.

Claims

1. A speaker hardhat mount assembly for mounting a speaker device on a hardhat that has front and rear hardhat ends and opposite hardhat sides, comprising:

an inner mount part for mounting on one of said sides of the hardhat, said inner mount part having a pivot connection part;

said speaker device having a frame with a pivot connection part;

a linkage that connects said pivot connection parts;

said linkage having at least a first link and having opposite linkage ends each pivotally connected about a pivot axes to the pivot connection part of said inner mount part and to the pivot connection part of said frame;

said pivot axes each extends primarily in forward and rearward directions, whereby to enable fine adjustment of the height, angle and orientation of the speaker device with respect to the ear of a wearer of said hardhat.

2. The assembly described in claim 1 wherein:

said linkage includes a plurality of links that are all of about the same length.

3. The assembly described in claim 2 wherein:

said links each have a pair of pivot axes at their opposite ends, the pivot axes of each pair being spaced apart by about one inch.

4. The assembly described in claim 1 wherein:

said linkage includes a single link forming said opposite linkage ends, said single link having pivot axes at said opposite ends that are spaced by between 0.5 inch and 2 inches.

5. The assembly described in claim 1 wherein:

said inner mount part includes a pair of rigid plates with upper and lower horizontally-extending edges, a hinge that pivotally connects a first of said pairs of horizontal edges and a latch that locks a second of said pairs of horizontal edge together when they are pivoted together, whereby to enable rapid mounting about a liner band of the hardhat.

6. The assembly described in claim 1 wherein:

said inner mount part includes a pair of wings for lying against a side of the outside of the hardhat, said wings having proximal ends that merge and distal ends that are spaced apart, with one distal end lying forward and above said merged proximal ends and the other distal end lying rearward and above said merged proximal ends.

7. The assembly described in claim 6 wherein:

said inner mount part includes a tab that extends downwardly from the merged proximal ends of said wings.

8. The assembly described in claim 1 wherein the hardhat has a rim with a lip and wherein:

said mount part of said inner mount includes U-shaped part with a pair of parallel plates having adjacent first sides and a base that joins said plate first sides to form a gap between the plates that is open except at said first sides;

at least one fastener that clamps the hardhat rim lip against one of said plates.

9. The assembly described in claim 1 wherein:

said inner mount device includes a rotation joint that connects said mount part to said pivot connection part thereof, said rotation joint allowing pivoting of said pivot connection part about a rotation axis that is perpendicular to said pivot axes.

10. A speaker/mike hardhat mount assembly for mounting a speaker device on a hardhat that has a hard shell with front and rear shell ends and opposite shell sides wherein the hardhat also has a flexible band lying primarily in said shell, comprising:

a pair of rigid plate members with adjacent and nonadjacent pairs of horizontal edges, a hinge that pivotally joins said adjacent pair of horizontal edges about a horizontal pivot axis to allow said plates to pivot to a closed position wherein they directly face each other;

said pair of plates forming a latch at the nonadjacent pair of horizontal edges, that locks said nonadjacent edges together when said plates pivot to said closed position, whereby to lock said plate members together and clamp the flexible band between them;

a first of said plate members has a plate lug; and

including

a linkage having a first end pivotally connected to said lug and having a second end for connecting to the speaker device.

11. The assembly described in claim 10 including said hardhat and said speaker device, wherein:

said speaker device has a frame with a frame lug;

said plates lie on opposite sides of the band of the hardhat;

said linkage first end is pivotally connected to said plate lug about a first axis that extends in forward and rearward directions, and said linkage has a second end that is pivotally connected to said frame lug about a second axis that is parallel to said first axis.

12. The assembly described in claim 11 wherein:

said linkage includes a single link having a length of about one inch between said first and second axes.

13. A speaker hardhat mount assembly for mounting a speaker device on a hardhat that has a hard shell with an outside surface and with front and rear shell ends and opposite shell sides, including:

an inner mount part having a pair of elongated wings for lying against a side of the outside surface of the shell, said wings having proximal ends that merge and distal ends that are spaced apart, said distal ends lying above said merged proximal ends, and said inner mount device having a lug extending from substantially said merged proximal ends;

said speaker device being held on an end of a linkage that is pivotally coupled to said lug.

14. The assembly described in claim 13 wherein:

said inner mount part includes a downward tab part that extends downward from said merged proximal ends.

15. The assembly described in claim 13 wherein:

said wings have inner surfaces that are concavely curved, whereby to conform to the hardhat.

16. The assembly described in claim 13 including said hardhat, and wherein:

said wings have inner surface for facing the hardhat and have Velcro on the inner surfaces; and

including

a pair of Velcro pads adhesively attached to one of said hardhat sides at locations to attach to said Velcro on said wings.

17. A speaker hardhat mount assembly for mounting a speaker device on a hardhat that has a hard shell with front and rear shells ends and opposite shell sides, wherein said shell sides form lips of stepped greater thickness along a rim at each side, comprising:

an inner mount part having a U-shaped region forming a pair of parallel plates that can closely straddle said lip at one of said shell sides and forming a base that joins said plates, said inner mount part having a lug with a through hole, said lug extending from said base, and a first of said plates having at least one threaded hole;

a screw threadably engaged with said threaded hole to press against a location on the shell adjacent to the step;

a linkage that includes at least one link, said linkage having a first end pivotally connected to said lug at said lug hole and a second end forming a pivot joint for pivotal connection to the speaker device.