US2525699A - Telephone hand piece shoulder support - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 10, 1950 J. MALDONADO TELEPHONE HANDPIECE SHOULDER SUPPORT Filed Aug. 26, 1947 l lll'lllllqlll d F'L'LZILSJIHJ,

' I N V EN TOR. J6 SEPf/ A6740 O/VHZP 0 Patented Oct. 10, 1.950

. TELEPHONE HAND PIECE SHOULDER SUPPORT Joseph Maldonado, Los Angeles, Calif., assig'nor to Bert N. Morris (10., Los Angeles, Calif., a

' Application August 26, 1947, Serial No. 770,568

- 1 Claim.

My invention relates to supports for the hand pieces of portable telephones and has for its principal object, to provide a simple, practical and inexpensive support, particularly designed to be readily applied to the conventional telephone hand piece, thereby enabling said user to carry on a telephone conversation with both hands free to handle papers, use a pen or pencil or perform other manualacts or manipulations.

An object of the invention is to provide a telephone support having a block which serves the double function of forming aportion of a clamp I for the handle of the hand phone and as a foundation piece for a shoulder support.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

I Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the support positioned on the shoulder and holding a handpiece in position for use.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevationof the handpiece showing the support applied thereto.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of the central portion of the handpiece with the shoulderengaging arm applied thereto.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a detail section taken on the line 66 of Fig. 2.

Figs. '7 and 8 are sectional views similar to Fig. 5 and showing modified structures.

Fig. 9 is a detail section taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 2'.

Fig. 10 is a cross section similar to Fig. 5 and showing a modified construction.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawing, particularly to Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, It designates the body of a conventional telephone handpiece, II the transmitter at the lower end and I2, the receiver at the upper end.

The supporting member I3 which overlies the shoulder, is formed from a single piece of thin material such as sheet metal, plastics or rubber and said member is curved lengthwise so as to fit snugly on top of the shoulder near the neck, and said member gradually increasing in width towards the free end.

In order that the arm I3 may conform to the shape of the shoulder, said arm is twisted transversely intermediate its ends, so that its outer end portion is inclined approximately fifteen degrees relative to a plane at right angles to the axis of the handpiece IU.

Inasmuch as the arm I3 is formed from sheet metal, plastics or the like, it may be readily bent and twisted by the hands to suit and lit different individual requirements.

In order that the arm [3- may engage the clothing on the users shoulder with abnormal I friction and thereby more firmly maintain its proper position for use, the underface of the outer portion of said arm, may be scored, roughened or may be overlaid with a thin layer of sponge rubber I4, or a sheet of sand or emery paper.

Further, to produce the desired friction or anchorage, the edges of the end portion of the arm I!) may be provided with small serrations I5 as seen in Fig. 9.

The inner end portion of arm I3 terminates in a small rectangular plate I6, which occupies a plane substantially at right angles to the axis of said arm and the sides of said plate and adjacent edges of said arm are bent at right angles to form narrow flanges H.

A block I8 of wood,plastics, rubber or the like,

having on one side a finger I9, with a concave side face I9a which fits the convex rear side of the central portion of handpiece I0, with said finger I9 lying on one of the curved side faces of said handpiece. The block I8 serves somewhat as a saddle, riding on the convex rear portion of the handpiece I0. As shown at I 9 in Fig. 5, one side of the saddle may be longer than the other, although this difference may be less pro nounced as shown in Fig. 7 wherein there is little diiference in length between the two sides of the saddle.

Thus the greater portion of block I8 is offset laterally with respect to the axis of handpiece Ill.

The concave face l9a is slightly inclined crosswise with respect to its length, and as a result, the block I8, when fitted onto the side of the handpiece is tilted so that the end of said block outwardly from the handpiece, is lower than the inner end, thus tending to support the handpiece closer to the side of I the users head. (See Figs. 2 and 4.)

The concave face Illa of the block l8 fits the corresponding portion of the convex periphery of the handpiece I I] and a supplementary portion of the periphery of the handpiece IIJ fits the intermediate portion of a somewhat U-shaped metal strap 20, whereby the block [8 and strap 20 supplement each other in encircling the handpiece. As shown in Figs. 3 and 5, the bight of the strap 20 is substantially fiat to fit the flat front of the handpiece l0. Strap 20 has rearwardly extending legs 2| and 22 which fit the opposite ends of the block 18 at the rear of handpiece Ill. The screw 25 and nut 23 clamp the block l8 and the strap 26 together around the periphery of the handpiece !0. The block 18 thus serves as a portion of the clamp for the handpiece l0, while also serving as a foundation or support for the shoulder strap l3.

Plate l6 and its flanges I! overlie the end portion 22 of strap 20 and to clamp the arm, strap and block to each other and to handpiece H). A tubular nut 23 passes through plate 55, end portion 22 of the strap, into a bore 24, through block I8 and through end portion 2| of the strap, which nut receives the threaded end of a screw 25 which passes through end portion 2| of the strap (see Fig. 6). Thus by manipulating and tightening screw 25, strap 2!], block l8 and arm [3 are rigidly clamped on the central portion of handpiece M, where they do'not appreciably interfere with the proper positioning of the handpiece on the cradle or base of the phone, or with the lifting of said handpiece from 'said cradle.

It is to, be understood that band 26 may be readily adjusted and clamped at any convenient point on handpiece Hi above or below the center thereof,

When in use, the curved arm lies across the shoulder adjacent the neck thus positioning the receiver adjacent the users ear and the transmitter adjacent the mouth, as seen in Fig. 1.

In the modified construction illustrated in Fig. 7, a saddle shaped block 26 is positioned on the inner face of handpiece H3 with a metal strip 2? passing around said block and handpiece and the ends of the strip connected on the side by a screw 28.

In the modified form illustrated in Fig. 8, a two part clamping band comprising metal straps 28a and 20b, passesaround handpiece IE1 and over the ends of block Mia and are clamped to the latter and to the inner end of arm I3 by a screw 30 and tubular nut 3|.

In Fig. 10, block 18 is adjustably mounted on a handpiece ID by means of a strap 33, one end of which overlies finger IS on said block and being secured thereto by means of a screw 34 which passes through one end of said strap, said block and the inner end of arm 13.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a telephone handpiece shoulder support which is simple in structure, inexpensive of manufacture and very effective in performing the functions for which it is intended.

Minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of my improved telephone handpiece shoulder support may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claim.

I claim as my invention:

A shoulder support for a telephone handpiece having a substantially flat front face and a con-' vex rear face, said support comprising a substantially U-shaped strap having an intermediate portion adapted to fit the fiat front face of the handpiece, said strap having rearwardly extending legs adapted to extend beyond the rear of the handpiece, said legs being spaced apart, a block fitting between the outer ends of said legs, said block having a saddle-like concave portion adapted to ride on the rear convex portion of the handpiece, said block and said strap supplementing each other encircling the handpiece, a clamping screw extending through the legs of said strap and through said block for clamping said strap and said block onto said handpiece, a shoulder piece, and means for securing said shoulder piece to said block.

JOSEPH MALDONADO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,250,616 Townsend Dec. 18, I917 1,561,432 Hitchcock Nov. '10, 1925' 2,294,989 Keely Sept. 8, 1942 2,348,138 Latus May 2, 1944

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