TEPZZ_98957B_T

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EP 1 298 957 B1

EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION

(12)

(45) Date of publication and mention

of the grant of the patent:
10.12.2014 Bulletin 2014/50

(51) Int Cl.:

H04R 7/20 (2006.01)

(21) Application number: 02022201.4

(22) Date of filing: 01.10.2002
(54) Loudspeaker
Lautsprecher
Haut-parleur
(84) Designated Contracting States:
DE FR GB

Suzuki, Takashi
Tendo-shi,
Yamagata-ken 994-0012 (JP)

(30) Priority: 01.10.2001 JP 2001304862

(74) Representative: Popp, Eugen et al
(43) Date of publication of application:
02.04.2003 Bulletin 2003/14

Meissner, Bolte & Partner GbR

Widenmayerstrasse 47
80538 Mnchen (DE)

(73) Proprietors:
Pioneer Corporation
Kanagawa 212-0031 (JP)
Tohoku Pioneer Corporation
Tendo-shi,
Yamagata-ken (JP)

(72) Inventors:

(56) References cited:

WO-A-02/058433

US-B1- 6 176 345

PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 1998, no.

04, 31 March 1998 (1998-03-31) -& JP 09 327088
A (MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC IND CO LTD), 16
December 1997 (1997-12-16)

EP 1 298 957 B1

Ando, Tomiaki
Tendo-shi,
Yamagata-ken 994-0012 (JP)

Note: Within nine months of the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent in the European Patent
Bulletin, any person may give notice to the European Patent Office of opposition to that patent, in accordance with the
Implementing Regulations. Notice of opposition shall not be deemed to have been filed until the opposition fee has been
paid. (Art. 99(1) European Patent Convention).
Printed by Jouve, 75001 PARIS (FR)

EP 1 298 957 B1

Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
[0001] The present invention relates to a loudspeaker
used as audio equipment, in particular to a loudspeaker
having an edge at an outer periphery of a diaphragm,
wherein an outer end of the edge is attached on an attaching surface which is formed at the inside of an outer
peripheral rim of a speaker frame.
[0002] The present application claims priority from
Japanese Application No. 2001-304862.

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Description of the Related Art

[0003] A conventional loudspeaker for reproducing
music or the like has a basic structure as shown in Fig.
4. Fig. 4a is a top plan view, and Fig. 4b is a sectional
view taken along a line x-x of Fig. 4a. In Figs. 4a and 4b,
a magnetic circuit 1 comprises a magnet 2, a lower plate
3, and an upper plate 4. In the magnetic circuit 1, a gap
between magnetic poles is formed between the upper
plate 4 and a center pole 5 which stands straight from a
center position of the lower plate 3. A coil bobbin 6 which
sets a voice coil 7 by winding is located so as to arrange
the voice coil 7 within the gap between the magnetic
poles. A center cap 8 is mounted upon an upper end of
the coil bobbin 6. At the vicinity of the upper end of the
coil bobbin 6, a center portion of a diaphragm 9 is fixed.
An annular edge 12 is connected with an outer periphery
of the diaphragm 9. The diaphragm 9 is attached on an
upper portion of a speaker frame 10, which is provided
on the upper plate 4, through the edge 12.
[0004] On the upper portion of the speaker frame 10
is formed an outer peripheral rim 10a, which has an attaching surface 10b inside it. At the outer end of the edge
12 is formed an outer end portion 12a, which is mounted
on the attaching surface 10b as a part of the speaker
frame 10. The outer end portion 12a is pressed down
onto the attaching surface 10b by a gasket 13, which is
also attached onto the attaching surface 10b, so as to be
airtightly attached onto the attaching surface 10b.
[0005] In addition, one end of a damper 11 is connected
with the coil bobbin 6, and the other end thereof is supported by a damper supporting section 11a, which is connected with the speaker frame 10, so that the voice coil
7 can be accurately held within the gap between the magnetic poles of the magnetic circuit 1.
[0006] In such a configured loudspeaker, the coil bobbin 6 is oscillated according to driving signals supplied
to the voice coil 7. The diaphragm 9, which is supported
by the damper 11 and the edge 12 having a function of
suspension, is oscillated by the oscillation of the coil bobbin 6, thereby reproducing sound based on sound signals
supplied to the voice coil 7.
[0007] In the conventional loudspeaker as mentioned

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above, an attaching screw section 14 for attaching the

speaker frame 10 onto a baffle plate or the other housing
is formed on the attaching surface 10b of the speaker
frame 10. The gasket 13 has a notch 13a which corresponds to the attaching screw section 14. An outer peripheral surface of the gasket 13 is abutted to an inside
of the outer peripheral rim 10a of the speaker frame 10,
thereby positioning the edge 12 which is fixed by the gasket 13.
[0008] According to such a structure of the speaker, a
size of the speaker frame 10 can be set by making the
best use of a speaker setting area on a baffle plate or
the other housing since the attaching screw section 14
is provided inside the outer peripheral rim 10a of the
speaker frame 10. However, since the gasket 13 is provided inside the outer peripheral rim 10a of the speaker
frame 10 to fix the edge 12, an outer diameter L formed
by the edge 12 and the diaphragm 9 is restricted by a
width of the gasket 13. As a result, an inside area of the
speaker frame 10 can not be effectively utilized as an
oscillation area formed by the diaphragm 9 or the like. In
other words, since an outputted sound pressure level of
the speaker is in the relation of function with the oscillation
area, the conventional structure of loudspeaker has any
problem that it is difficult to obtain the enough level of the
outputted sound pressure which corresponds to the inside area of the speaker frame 10.
[0009] Further, since the gasket 13 is used for positioning and fixing the outer end of the edge 12 in this
case, the number of parts are increased to cause a costup.
[0010] JP 09 327088 and US 6,176,345 disclose loudspeakers in which edge portions are attached to an outer
periphery of the diaphragms of the loudspeakers. Neither
of these documents discusses forming the outer end portion of the edge of the diaphragm with an inwardly tapering wedge-shaped profile. WO 02/058433 is considered
with regard to only the novelty of the present invention,
and discusses a loudspeaker and diaphragm therefor.
The edge of the diaphragm in this document does not
extend from the tapered surface of the wedge-shaped
portion at a position radially inward of the outer peripheral
surface of the wedge shaped outer end portion.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] The present invention provides an apparatus in
accordance with independent claim 1. Further preferred
embodiments are given in the dependent claims.
[0012] The present invention has been proposed in order to settle the abovementioned problems. An object of
the present invention is to provide a loudspeaker which
can obtain enough level of outputted sound pressure by
means of effectively utilising the inside area of the speaker frame as the oscillation area, and which can reduce
the number of parts by the non-use of a gasket.
[0013] According to the first aspect of the invention,
there is provided a loudspeaker comprising a diaphragm;

EP 1 298 957 B1

an edge attached to an outer periphery of the diaphragm;

and a speaker frame. An outer end portion of the edge
is attached upon an attaching surface formed at an inside
of an outer peripheral rim of the speaker frame, the outer
end portion being formed with a generally wedge-shaped
inwardly tapering cross-sectional profile from the outer
periphery surface of the edge. Further, an outer peripheral surface of the wedge-shaped outer end portion is
allowed to abut on the outer peripheral rim of the speaker
frame to perform positioning of the edge, and wherein
the edge extends away from the tapered surface of the
wedge-shaped outer end portion at a point which is radially inward of the outer peripheral surface of the wedgeshaped outer end portion.
[0014] According to the second aspect of the present
invention, there is provided a speaker including the first
aspect, further comprising an attaching screw section of
the speaker frame provided on the attaching surface,
wherein the outer end portion has a thicker wall portion
than a thickness of a screw head of the attaching screw
section, and a notch for avoiding the attaching screw section.
[0015] According to such a construction, the present
invention performs the following function.
[0016] According to the first aspect of the present invention, the outer end portion, which is provided at an
outer end of the edge, is formed with a direction to the
inside from the outer most periphery of the edge, and is
attached onto the attaching surface of the speaker frame.
Thus, the outer periphery of the edge is allowed to approach the outer peripheral rim of the speaker frame as
much as possible, thereby enlarging an outer diameter
composed of the diaphragm and the edge to the maximum of the speaker frame. Consequently, the inside area
of the speaker frame is effectively utilized as the oscillation area, so that enough level of outputted sound pressure can be secured.
[0017] In addition, since the outer peripheral surface
of the outer end portion of the edge is allowed to abut on
the outer peripheral rim of the speaker frame to perform
the positioning of the edge, the positioning according to
a gasket is unnecessary, and then the number of parts
can be reduced.
[0018] According to the second aspect, in addition to
the above function, a size of the speaker frame can be
set largely by making the best use of a speaker setting
area on a baffle plate or the other housing since the attaching screw section is provided inside the outer peripheral rim of the speaker frame. Further, the inside area of
the speaker frame can be effectively utilized as the oscillation area.
[0019] Also, since the outer end portion formed at the
outer end of the edge has a wall thickness thicker than
the screw head of the attaching screw section, and the
notch formed for avoiding the attaching screw section,
the attaching screw can be prevented from exerting influence to the oscillation of the edge. In addition, according to the desired wall thickness of the outer end portion

of the edge, the outer end portion can be bonded onto

the attaching surface of the speaker frame, so that the
same airtightness as one of gasket can be secured.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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[0020] These and other objects and advantages of the

present invention will become clear from the following
description with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

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Fig. 1a is a top plan view for showing a construction

of a loudspeaker according to one embodiment of
the present invention;
Fig. 1b is a sectional view as taken along a line A-A
of Fig. 1a;
Fig. 2 is a sectional view as taken along a line B-B
of Fig. 1a;
Fig. 3 is an explanatory view for comparing the embodiment of the present invention with the conventional loudspeaker;
Fig. 4a is a top plan view of the conventional speaker;
and
Fig. 4b is a sectional view as taken along a line x-x
of Fig. 4a.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

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[0021] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be explained referring to the drawings. The
same reference numerals will be used to the same portion
as one of the conventional example to omit the same
explanation. Fig. 1a is a top plan view as an explanatory
view for showing a construction of a loudspeaker according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1b is
a sectional view taken along a line A-A of Fig. 1a.
[0022] In this embodiment, a center portion of a diaphragm 20 is fixed at the vicinity of an upper end of a coil
bobbin 6, while an outer periphery of the diaphragm 20
is connected with an annular edge 21. At an outer end
of the edge 21 is formed an outer end portion 21A for
attaching the outer end of edge upon an attaching surface
10b, which is formed at an inside of an outer peripheral
rim 10a of a speaker frame 10.
[0023] The outer end portion 21A is integrally formed
with the edge 21 by a pressurized forming of, for example,
urethane or rubber, and has a desired wall thickness,
wherein it is formed with a direction to the inside from the
outer most periphery of the edge 21. A depth surface of
the outer end portion 21A is bonded onto the attaching
surface 10b of the speaker frame 10, and an outer peripheral surface 21a thereof abuts on the inside of the
outer peripheral rim 10a of the speaker frame 10.
[0024] According to such a construction, the outer periphery of the edge 21 can be provided adjacently to the
outer peripheral rim 10a of the speaker frame 10, thereby
enlarging an outer diameter L formed by the diaphragm

EP 1 298 957 B1

20 and the edge 21 until the superior limit. Thus, since

an area within the speaker frame 10 can be effectively
utilized as an oscillation area, a higher level of outputted
sound pressure can be obtained.
[0025] In addition, the positioning of the edge 21 is performed by making the outer peripheral surface 21a of the
outer end portion 21A abut against the outer peripheral
rim 10a of the speaker frame 10, thereby omitting the
gasket for the positioning, so that the number of parts
can be reduced.
[0026] Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along a line BB of Fig. 1. In this embodiment also, the attaching screw
section 14 is provided upon the attaching surface 10b,
which is inside the outer peripheral rim 10a of the speaker
frame 10, like a conventional speaker. Then, in order to
prevent the screw from exerting influence to an oscillation
portion of the edge 21, the wall thickness of the outer end
portion 21A is made to be thicker than the screw head
of the attaching screw section 14, and also a notch 21b
is formed so as to keep the attaching screw section 14
away from the outer end portion 21A.
[0027] According to this structure, a size of the speaker
frame 10 can be set largely by making the best use of a
speaker setting area on a baffle plate or the other housing
since the attaching screw section 14 is provided inside
the outer peripheral rim 10a of the speaker frame 10.
Additionally, as the result, the inside area of the speaker
frame 10 can be effectively utilized as the oscillation area
formed by the outer diameter L comprising the edge 21
and the diaphragm 20.
[0028] Further, since the outer end portion 21A of the
edge 21 has the desired wall thickness, a depth surface
of the outer end portion 21A can be bonded to the attaching surface 10b of the speaker frame 10 including
vicinities of the notch 21b, so that the same airtightness
as one of gasket can be secured.
[0029] Fig. 3 is an explanatory view for comparing the
embodiment of the present invention with the conventional speaker. In this figure, it is assumed that each diameter of the voice coil 7 is the same between the both
as well as one of the speaker frame 10, and also the
width of the edge 12 is the same as the edge 21, wherein
the left side view shows the conventional speaker, and
the right side view does the present embodiment. As
clearly seen from the figure, the diameter of the diaphragm 20 in the present embodiment is set more largely
than one of the diaphragm 9 in the conventional speaker.
In short, the present embodiment can obtain much larger
oscillation area, namely, higher level of outputted sound
pressure than the conventional speaker.
[0030] While the invention has been described in conjunction with preferred specific embodiment thereof, it
will be understood that this description is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the invention, which is
defined by the following claims.

Claims
1.

A loudspeaker comprising:
a diaphragm (20);
an edge (21) attached to an outer periphery of
the diaphragm (20); and
a speaker frame (10),
wherein an outer end portion (21A) of the edge
(21) is attached upon an attaching surface (10b)
formed at an inside of an outer peripheral rim
(10a) of the speaker frame (10), the outer end
portion (21A) being formed with a generally
wedge-shaped inwardly tapering cross-sectional profile from the outer periphery surface of the
edge (21), wherein,
an outer peripheral surface (21a) of the wedgeshaped outer end portion (21A) abuts on the outer peripheral rim (10a) of the speaker frame (10)
to perform positioning of the edge (21), and
wherein the edge (21) extends away from the
tapered surface of the wedge-shaped outer end
portion (21A) at a point which is radially inward
of the outer peripheral surface (21a) of the
wedge-shaped outer end portion (21A).

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2.

The loudspeaker according to claim 1, further comprising:

an attaching screw section (14) of the speaker
frame provided on the attaching surface;
wherein the outer end portion of the edge has a
wall thickness thicker than a thickness of a screw
head of the attaching screw section, and a notch
(21b) for preventing the attaching screw section
from affecting an oscillation of the edge.

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3.
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The loudspeaker according to claim 1, wherein the

outer most periphery of the edge is located adjacently to the outer peripheral rim of the speaker frame.

Patentansprche
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1.

Lautsprecher, welcher umfasst:

eine Membran (20);
eine Kante (21), welche an einem Auenumfang
von der Membran (20) angebracht ist; und
einen Lautsprecherrahmen (10),
wobei ein uerer Endabschnitt (21A) von der
Kante (21) an einer Befestigungsflche (10b),
welche an einer Innenseite von einem Auenumfangsrand (10a) von dem Lautsprecherrahmen (10) ausgebildet ist, abgebracht ist, wobei
der uere Endabschnitt (21A) mit einem von
der Auenumfangsflche von der Kante (21) im
Allgemeinen keilfrmig nach innen konisch zu-

EP 1 298 957 B1

laufenden Querschnittsprofil ausgebildet ist,

wobei
eine Auenumfangsflche (21a) von dem keilfrmigen ueren Endabschnitt (21A) gegen
den Auenumfangsrand (10a) von dem Lautsprecherrahmen (10) anschlgt, um eine Positionierung von der Kante (21) durchzufhren,
und wobei sich die Kante (21) fort von der konischen Flche von dem keilfrmigen ueren
Endabschnitt (21A) an einem Punkt fort erstreckt, welcher sich radial innerhalb der Auenumfangsflche (21a) von dem keilfrmigen ueren Endabschnitt (21A) befindet.
2.

Lautsprecher nach Anspruch 1, ferner umfassend:

einen Schraubenbefestigungsabschnitt (14)
des Lautsprecherrahmens, welcher an der Befestigungsflche bereitgestellt ist;
wobei der uere Endabschnitt von der Kante
eine Wanddicke hat, welche dicker ist als eine
Dicke von einem Schraubenkopf des Schraubenbefestigungsabschnitts, und eine Aussparung (21b) umfasst, um zu verhindern, dass der
Schraubenbefestigungsabschnitt eine Oszillation von der Kante beeinflusst.

3.

Lautsprecher nach Anspruch 1, bei welchem der uerste Umfang von der Kante angrenzend zum Auenumfangsrand von dem Lautsprecherrahmen angeordnet ist.

2.

une section vis de fixation (14) du cadre de hautparleur prvue sur la surface de fixation ;
dans lequel la partie dextrmit extrieure du
bord prsente une paisseur de paroi plus
paisse que lpaisseur dune tte de vis de la
section vis de fixation, et une encoche (21 b)
destine empcher la section vis de fixation
daffecter une oscillation du bord.

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une surface priphrique extrieure (21 a)

de la partie dextrmit extrieure en forme
de coin (21A) vient en bute contre la collerette priphrique extrieure (10a) du cadre de haut-parleur (10) de faon excuter
un positionnement du bord (21), et dans lequel le bord (21) stend partir de la sur-

Haut-parleur selon la revendication 1, comprenant

en outre :

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Haut-parleur comprenant :
une membrane (20) ;
un bord (21) fix sur une priphrie extrieure
de la membrane (20) ; et
un cadre de haut-parleur (10) ;
dans lequel une partie dextrmit extrieure
(21A) du bord (21) est fixe sur une surface de
fixation (10b) forme lintrieur dune collerette
priphrique extrieure (10a) du cadre de hautparleur (10), la partie dextrmit extrieure
(21A) tant forme avec un profil dont la section
transversale samincit vers lintrieur en gnral
en forme de coin partir de la surface de la
priphrie extrieure du bord (21), dans lequel :

face amincie de la partie dextrmit extrieure en forme de coin (21A) en un point

qui se situe lintrieur de manire radiale
de la surface priphrique extrieure (21 a)
de la partie dextrmit extrieure en forme
de coin (21 A).

Revendications
1.

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3.

Haut-parleur selon la revendication 1, dans lequel la

priphrie la plus extrieure du bord se situe adjacente la collerette priphrique extrieure du cadre
de haut-parleur.

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REFERENCES CITED IN THE DESCRIPTION
This list of references cited by the applicant is for the readers convenience only. It does not form part of the European
patent document. Even though great care has been taken in compiling the references, errors or omissions cannot be
excluded and the EPO disclaims all liability in this regard.

Patent documents cited in the description

JP 2001304862 A [0002]
JP 9327088 A [0010]

10

US 6176345 B [0010]
WO 02058433 A [0010]