Clamping means for an articlesupporting boom

April 7, 1964 _G. cagen 3,128,352

CLAMPING MEANS FOR AN ARTICLE-SUPPORTING BOOM

Filed Jan. 25, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1

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April 7, 1964 g. cagen 3,128,352

CLAMPING MEANS FOR AN ARTICLE-SUPPORTING BOOM

Filed Jan. 25, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2

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ATTOZfdEY

3,128,352

Patented Apr. 7., 1364

United States Patent Office

3,128,352

CLAMPING MEANS FOR AN ARTICLESUPPORTING BOOM

George Cagen, Brooklyn, N.Y., assignoir to RoanweB Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York

Filed Jan. 25, 1962, Ser. No. 168,711

Claims. (Cl. 179—156)

The present invention relates to a clamping device for 10 adjustably attaching an article-supporting boom to a supporting means and particularly for clamping a boom of the type used to hold a microphone or the like adjacent to the mouth of a person so as to hold such microphone boom at an adjustable position on a supporting means 15 comprising a head-engaging member.

It has now been common to support a microphone or the like in front of the mouth of a person who is to speak into it and to support the boom which particularly holds the microphone in an adjustable manner so that it 20 may be located in front of the speaker’s mouth or alternatively so that it may be moved to and held in an operative position, for example, above his head and out of his line of vision, such devices being useful whether or not the microphone is used in conjunction with receiving devices 25 such as one or more earphones carried by a headband or the like. These devices are useful not only for telephone operators, for example, but also for persons having to do with television or radio broadcasting, pilots and other personnel in aircraft and many other situations which will 30 suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

Due to the known differences between different people, it is practically necessary that the microphone boom in such an arrangement shall be adjustable in various ways, preferably angularly about a securing clamp of some kind 35 located adjacent to the wearer’s ear and preferably also with the boom slidable with respect to that clamp and with the adjustment capable of being fixed in some suitable way during ordinary use. These adjustments combined with at least one pivotal adjustment intermediate 40 the length of the boom give substantially universal adjustability which is desirable in use.

If it were required, as has been necessary with certain prior art devices of this general character, that the several adjustments be individually fixable, then such a device would be quite complicated and in fact undesirably so. On the other hand, if a single adjustment be provided, as has also been done in certain prior art devices, and all the various adjustable provisions be loosened and tightened at the same time respectively, then the proper ₅₀adjustment of the device and the desired use thereof is again difficult if not unattainable.

The present invention provides a particularly advantageous combination of apparatus, wherein substantially universal adjustability is provided, coupled with the abil- ₅₅ity to remove the boom and its clamping means bodily and as a unit assembly without complete disassembly of the several portions thereof, so as to reattach this assembly, for example, on the opposite side of a wearer’s head, if that be desired, or to attach the assembly as a unit gQ to the head support on another person. It is preferable, and is provided in accordance with the present invention, that all these different adjustments and the bodily removal of the clamping assembly including the boom from the support may be controlled by a single adjusting means θ~ such as a rotatable thumbscrew member.

As a further feature of the present invention, it is provided that when the rotatable thumbscrew member is tightened to its tightest adjusted position, the boom is locked against all movement with respect to· its clamp and with respect to the support upon which the clamping means is mounted. When the thumbscrew member is loosened by a first increment, the boom and an article held thereby, such as a microphone, may be rotated about the axis of the thumbscrew member, for example, to move the microphone between an operative position in front of the mouth of a user and a position above such user’s forehead or above his head and out of his line of vision. By a next increment of loosening the thumbscrew member, the same rotative adjustment may be made and, in addition, the boom may be slid longitudinally thereof with respect to the thumbscrew member and associated clamping means in a direction substantially diametrically of the axis of said thumbscrew member. With a still further increment of rotative movement of the thumbscrew member in a direction unscrewing it, the clamping means including the thumbscrew member and associated parts and the boom and the microphone carried thereby may be bodily removed as a unit assembly, all without complete disassembly of any of the parts of the assembly, so as to permit the assembly to be clamped to another supporting means with the boom held appropriately in an adjusted position by retightening the thumbscrew member.

Detailed features of a preferred embodiment of the present invention are disclosed hereinafter and are the subject of the appended claims. This preferred embodiment is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in elevation of the clamping device embodying the present invention associated with a microphone boom and adjustably securing it to an earphonecontaining shell, which is held in place around the ear of a user by a suitable headband;

FIG. 2 is a view on a somewhat larger scale of the clamping means showing its relation to the earphone shell;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view in elevation on substantially the same scale as FIG. 2 of the lower portion of the earphone shell with the clamping means and microphone boom completely removed therefrom;

FIG. 4 is a view on a further enlarged scale and in vertical section substantially on the line 4—4 of FIG. 2, showing the internal construction of the clamping means of the present invention and its relation to the U-shaped clamp member which is secured to the earphone shell;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view substantially in horizontal section, taken on the line 5—5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is an exploded view in perspective of the clamping means, and a portion of the microphone boom showing the parts in the order in which they are assembled together and illustrating the construction of certain of the parts. In this figure the parts shown below are intended to be in prolongation of the lower right portion of the parts shown above.

While the invention is broadly applicable to a clamping means for adjustably attaching any article-supporting boom to a supporting means, it is illustrated and will be described herein in its application to adjustably clamping a microphone boom to a supporting means which comprises an earphone shell held in place by a headband and including an earphone through which the wearer may receive in addition to talking into a microphone, the arrangement being that either the microphone, or the earphone, or both, may be used.

From the point of view of the present invention, the supporting means is illustrated as an earphone shell 1®, which is carried by a headband 11 and is provided with suitable cushioning means, not shown in detail, so that it may be positioned and supported about the ear of a person without undue discomfort even though such person may be called upon to wear the apparatus for long periods of time. The details of construction of the shell 10 or of the headband 11 per se form no parts of the present invention. What is important to the present invention is that the shell 10 shall have secured thereto

3,128,352 a U-shaped bracket 12, FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, which may be secured to the shell 10 by rivets 13 or any other equivalent means. The bracket 12 has a raised inwardly directed flange portion 14 having substantially parallel inner guideway parts 15 terminating in shoulders 16.

Also secured to the shell 10 by some of the rivets 13 or the like is a cross member 17 having a central aperture 18 therein for a purpose which, will be set forth in detail hereinafter.

Arranged to be secured to the bracket 12 and held against inadvertent movement therefrom by the aperture 18 on the cross member 17 is a clamping assembly, the parts of which are shown in exploded perspective in FIG. 6 and which serves to position and hold in adjusted positions a microphone boom 19 including a pair of substantially parallel portions 26. The clamping assembly comprises a stud member generally indicated at 21 having an enlarged head portion 22 having an outside shape formed as a surface of revolution. Said stud member is further provided with an internally threaded diametrically slotted stem portion 23, the slot being indicated at 24 and serving for a purpose hereinafter described. The threads in this portion are indicated at 25. Arranged to be threaded into the stud member 21 is a thumbscrew member generally indicated at 26 and comprising an outer shell part 27 having an outwardly threaded bolt portion 28 integral or rigid therewith, and an inner shell part 29, which in use is preferably fixed in the outer part 27 in any suitable way. The threaded bolt portion 28 is arranged to be screwed into the threads 25 of the stud member 21 when the parts are all completely assembled together. The arrangement is such, as hereinafter more particularly described, that when these parts 26 and 21 are tightly threaded together, all the parts will be locked in position as aforesaid. When this threading together is eased off by successive increments, various adjustments may be made also as hereinabove set out.

In order that the various parts of the clamping assembly shown in FIG. 6 may not be completely disassembled from each other when this action is not particularly desired, the stud member 21 is provided on the innermost end of its stem portion 23 with an outwardly extending flange 30. This flange in assembling the parts must pass inside the hollow space between the parts 27 and 29. As shown, the member 29 has at its smallest diameter portion an inwardly open annular groove 31 within which is located a split spring ring 32, the latter having its ends spaced from one another and having a normal position or unstrained diameter such that force is required to expand the ring 32 to move the flange 30 through and past the position of this spring ring. Thus, when the stem portion 23 extends past the position of the spring ring 32, so that the flange 39 is located in the hollow space between the parts 27 and 29 as shown, for example, in FIGS. 4 and 5, the spring ring 32 tends to grip the sides of the stem portion 23 and to prevent the stud member 21 moving wholly away from the thumbscrew member 26 due to the engagement between this spring ring 32 and the flange 39. This is so even though the threaded bolt portion 28 is wholly unscrewed from the threads 25 of the stud portion 21, so that all parts hereinafter described which are located between the stud portion 21 and the thumbscrew member 26 are retained against inadvertent bodily removal or disassembly by this resilient connection. However, upon the application of sufficient force, the stud member 21 can be bodily removed from the thumbscrew member 26 by reason of the flange 30 spreading the spring ring 32 resiliently and within its elastic limit sufficiently so that the thumbscrew member 26 may be bodily removed from the stud member 21 and all the intermediate members hereinafter described may be disassembled.

Arranged to be located concentrically with the threaded connection between the threaded member 23 and the internal threads 25 are a pair of clamping members 33 and 34 constituting two of the intermediate members above referred to and which may be of suitable plastic material, affording a desired frictional contact with the parallel portions 20 of the microphone boom 19. Materials which are suitable for use to form the clamping members 33 and 34 are such plastic materials as polyamides such as the trademark material “Zytel,” which is made and sold by E. I. du Pont de Nemours &amp; Co., and known polyfluoroethylenes, as the trademark materials “Kel-F,” which is now made and sold by Minnesota Mining &amp; Mfg. Co., and “Teflon,” which is made and sold by E. I. du Pont de Nemours &amp; Co.

Each of the clamping members 33 and 34 is provided with groove 35 for receiving and grippingly engaging the parallel portions 20 of the boom 19.

In addition, each of the clamping members 33 and 34 is provided with a diametrically disposed groove 36 for receiving a transversely arranged sleeve member 37 housing a conductor cable 38. A central portion of the member 37 is made with a substantially square crosssection as shown at 39, which is received in a portion of each of the large central openings 40 and 41 of the members 33 and 34 respectively, the substantially cylindrical end portions of the sleeve member 37 being received in the grooves 36. In this way the conductor cable 38 is always caused to pass in the same direction through the members 33 and 34 as the parallel portions 20 of the microphone boom, so as to afford uninterrupted electrical connection to the microphone carried by this boom. Movement of the sleeve 37 in a direction longitudinally thereof is prevented by its enlarged square cross-sectional portion shown at 39 being received within the central openings 40 and 41 at the assembled position of the parts. It is further noted in this connection that the diametrical slot 24 in the stem portion 23 of the stud member 21 is provided so that this member may embrace the square portion of the sleeve 37 shown at 39 and project through the holes 40 and 41 so as to permit the bolt portion 28 threading into the internal screw threads 25 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

In the form of the invention shown in the drawings, a metal part 42 is provided having a substantially circular portion concentric with the axis of the bolt portion 28 and threads 25 which is normally arranged to be substantially permanently secured to the clamping member 34 by a pair of integral tab portions 43, which are arranged to extend through apertures 44 in the clamping member 34 and to be bent so as to hold the parts 34 and 42 together as a unit against normal disassembly. The part 42 has an outwardly extending portion 45, the outer end of which is offset in the direction of the axis of the clamp, as shown best in FIGS. 5 and 6, and is arranged to support a plug which is connected electrically to the end of cable 38 which has passed through the sleeve 37 as shown in FIG. 2. Cooperating with the plug 46 is a complementary plug 47 which is connected by a cable 48 to a microphone 49. As shown, the microphone 49 is carried by an outer portion 50 of the boom 19 to which it is pivotally connected at a joint 51. The freedom of swinging movement of the microphone 49 about the pivotal connection and with respect to the boom section 50 is controlled by a suitable screw at 52, FIG. 1. The microphone boom portion 50 is similarly connected to the inner portion of the boom comprising the parallel portions 28 by a joint 53, FIGS. 1 and 2, which is arranged for pivotal movement substantially parallel to the joint 51; and the freedom of swinging movement of the microphone boom portion 50 with respect to that portion comprising the parallel members 20 is similarly controlled by a screw 54, which may be adjusted to control the amount of friction at the joint, and if desired, to lock the boom section 50 to the inner section comprising the parallel members 20.

The part 42 at the center portion thereof has a pair of holes 55 which are similar in their outside substantially

3,128,352 circular contour to the hole 41, but are separated by a diametrical band 56 which is preferably integral with the part 42.

In the assembled position of the parts, the band 56 will pass through and be located in the diametrical slot 24 of the stud member 21, so that the part 42 will be required to turn with the clamping members 33 and 34; and also the stud member 21 and the thumbscrew member 26 will both turn bodily and as a unit with the clamping members 33 and 34. At the same time, the outwardly extending portion 45 will also turn with these members, so that the plug 46 will always be held centrally of the parallel boom portions 20, rotating therewith about the axis of the clamping means, which is shown as two parts of a broken line in FIG. 6.

Also mounted coaxially of the clamping member between the stud member 21 on the one hand and the thumbscrew member 26 on the other is a part 57, which has a central aperture 58 for surrounding the stem portion 23 of the member 21 and further, serves several other functions as hereinafter set out.

This member serves to cooperate with the enlarged head portion 22 of the stud member 21 in gripping the flange portion 14 as best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 in that it transmits pressure from the part 29 of the thumbscrew member 26 through the clamping members 33 and 34 and the metal part 42. In addition to this, the part 57 is provided with a pair of tab portions 59 arranged on diametrically opposite sides of the hole 58 and adapted in use to serve in part to position the entire clamping assembly with respect to the bracket 12 by bearing against the parallel sides 15 and against the shoulders 16 thereof. These relationships serve accurately to position the clamping assembly with respect to the bracket 12. In addition, the part 57 has a longer laterally extending tab 60 which is also integral therewith and which serves to extend over a part of the bracket 12 as seen at the upper portion of FIG. 4. The combination of the tab portions 59 and 60 cooperating with the bracket 12 serves to prevent rotation of the part 57 about the axis of the clamping assembly, i.e. the screw threaded portions thereof, and thus serves to prevent rotation of a lower or depending end portion 61 of the part 57. This portion 61 is used to grip an end 62 of a braid or the like which is firmly secured to a conductor cable 63 carrying all the conductors to the head set including the microphone 49 and any receiver or receivers therein.

As seen in the several figures, the principal cable 63 which may be suitably connected to any desired telephone means by a plug 64 or the like, is provided with an end or holding branch 62 for holding this cable against mechanical tension, so that physical tension on the cable will not be transmitted to the electrical conducting portions thereon, some of which are included in the conductor cable 38, which carries the connections to the microphone, and the others of which are included in a branch cable 65 connected to a plug 66 for connection to an earphone within the shell 10. This connection may be secured by screws 67 which are arranged to clamp on the conducting members of the plug 66 respectively and secure them against inadvertent dislocation. Furthermore, if it is desired to use a pair of earphones, they may be electrically connected together by conductors within a cable 68 having a plug at its end as shown at 69 and arranged to have its conductors secured in a desired connected position by a pair of screws 70 respectively. It will be understood that the conductor cable 68 passes around over the head of the wearer through the headband 11 and may be similarly connected to an earphone associated with the other ear of the wearer, only the left ear shell and earphone combination being illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

By reason of the interconnection between the tabs 59 and 60 on the one hand with the U-shaped bracket 12 on the other, rotation of the part 57 is prevented, so that it β

is always in a proper position to secure the end of the cable 63 and particularly the braid end 62 thereof irrespective of any adjustments made in the position of the microphone boom and irrespective of any rotation of some of the clamping assembly parts about the axis of the clamping assembly as aforesaid.

Additional means are provided for resiliently preventing inadvertent movement of the clamping assembly away from the U-shaped bracket 12, such means comprising a spring pressed detent, the detent member thereof being shown at 71 and having a knob portion 72 arranged to extend through a center aperture 73 in the stud portions 21 as shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 and to engage in the hole 18 in the cross member 17 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The detent 72 is resiliently urged toward this position by a compression spring 74, which extends between the inside of a counterbored portion of the detent member 71 and a part of the band 56 of the part 42 as shown. Thus, even when the bolt portion 28 is wholly unscrewed from the internal threads 25 and the parts are retained together solely by the interaction of the flange 30 and the spring ring 32, the spring pressed detent 71 will tend to prevent inadvertent movement of the clamping assembly away from the U-shaped bracket 12.

Considering now the functional operation of the means which have been particularly described, it will be understood that when the thumbscrew member 26 is screwed into and fully tightened with respect to the stud member 21 and when the latter is in its operative position as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the microphone boom portions 20 are completely locked in a specific position with respect to the several members shown in FIG. 6 and all are locked and rigid with respect to the shell 10. This may be, for example, with the microphone shown in the position in FIG. 1.

If now it is desired solely to move the microphone into an inoperative position such as above the eyes of the operator and out of his line of vision, by merely rotating the microphone boom members 20 and parts carried thereby around the axis of the clamping assembly and without any sliding movement of the boom portions 20 with respect to the clamping assembly, this may be done by unscrewing the thumbscrew member 26 a first increment with respect to the screw thread 25 of the stud member 21. This amount of the increment aforesaid will be found to be a matter which can be quickly determined by experiment with any one apparatus, but is not necessarily quite the same from one to the next. In any event, the slight unscrewing of the thumbscrew member 26 sufficiently relieves the pressure of the rotatable parts of the clamping assembly against the non-rotatable parts including the part 57 and the bracket 12, so that the parts 26, 33, 34 and 42 and the microphone boom carried thereby may be bodily rotated along with the stud member 21, which must also rotate as the diametrical band 56 of the part 42 passes through the slot 24. This is permitted by the metal-to-metal frictional contact between the stud member 21 on the one hand and the U-shaped bracket 12 on the other and between the parts 42 and 57. At the same time, the frictional gripping action of the clamping members 33 and 34 onto the metal boom portions 20 is sufficient so that the boom 19 is prevented from moving relative to the clamping members 33 and 34. During the rotation of the clamping assembly as aforesaid there is solely rotary relative movement between the stud member 21 and the U-shaped bracket 12 which is ineffective to move the knob portion 72 of the detent 71 out of the hole 18, so that the clamping assembly as an entirety is not bodily moved out of the U-shaped bracket. This permits the rotation of the microphone boom 19 as the sole adjustive movement.

If it is desired to make an adjustment longitudinally of the boom members 20 between these members and the clamping members 33 and 34, so as to adjust the microphone boom toward and away from the mouth of a

3,128,352 wearer, then the thumbscrew members 26 is loosened a second increment, which again can be determined as to amount by a brief trial with any given device. This second increment of unscrewing movement sufficiently relieves the pressure of the clamping members 33 and 34 onto the parallel boom portions 20 so as to permit the sliding of these boom portions along the grooves 35 in addition to the angular movement of the boom previously mentioned. There are no additional relative movements of the several parts permitted under these circumstances.

If it be desired to move the clamping assembly and the boom as a composite assembly wholly away from the U-shaped bracket 12, the thumbscrew member 26 is unloosened a still further increment, but preferably not including a complete unthreading of the bolt portion 28 from the screw threads 25. Under these circumstances the parts shown in FIG. 6 are free to move along the axis of the clamping assembly sufficiently so that the compression of the spring 74 is substantially relieved so as to permit the knob of the detent member 71 to slide over the edge of the aperature 18 in the member 17, as well as relieving any compression or gripping action on the flange portions 14 of the U-shaped bracket 12, so as to permit bodily removal of the entire clamping assembly from the U-shaped bracket. This assembly could, for example, then be positioned on the other ear shell, if desired by the wearer, by suitable changes in the electrical connections, for example, the connection between the conductor cable 65 and plug 66 on the one hand, with the socket means in the earphone or ear shell effected by loosening the screws 67 and connecting it appropriately with the other earphone and shell which is normally equipped with a similar U-shaped bracket and with a similar electrical connection. Alternatively, the entire microphone assembly and clamping assembly including the boom 19, the cable 63 and branch cable 65, may be removed as aforesaid from the earphone and ear shell 1® and from the associated bracket 12 and attached to a corresponding bracket on a head set worn by another person, for example, all without complete disassembly of the clamping assembly itself, incident to the flange 3® being held inside the spring ring 32.

It will be obvious that by a reverse series of operations, including the gradual tightening of the thumbscrew member 26, once the assembly is associated with a desired U-shaped bracket 12, and the microphone boom is appropriately adjusted, the reverse series of securing of the several adjustments ensues.

The microphone boom 2® or the entire microphoneboom assembly may also be removed from the bracket 12 by completely unscrewing the thumbscrew member 26 and applying sufficient force for spring ring 32 to ride over the flange 3®. Reassembly can be performed in the reverse order.

While there is shown and described herein but one specific embodiment of the invention, it is recognized that equivalents will be suggested to those skilled in the art from the foregoing particular disclosure. It is intended that the appended claims shall be construed to include all such equivalents to the extent permitted by the language thereof.