EP0441946A1 - Protege-tympans - Google Patents

Protege-tympans

Info

Publication number
EP0441946A1
EP0441946A1 EP90913810A EP90913810A EP0441946A1 EP 0441946 A1 EP0441946 A1 EP 0441946A1 EP 90913810 A EP90913810 A EP 90913810A EP 90913810 A EP90913810 A EP 90913810A EP 0441946 A1 EP0441946 A1 EP 0441946A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
earplugs
plastic
plug
sandwich structure
plugs
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP90913810A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Gerhard Bobertag
Friedrich Müller
Frank Bobertag
Norbert Pinnow
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
SAFETY PATENTVERWERTUNGSGESELLSCHAFT MBH
Original Assignee
SAFETY PATENTVERWERTUNGSGESELLSCHAFT MBH
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by SAFETY PATENTVERWERTUNGSGESELLSCHAFT MBH filed Critical SAFETY PATENTVERWERTUNGSGESELLSCHAFT MBH
Publication of EP0441946A1 publication Critical patent/EP0441946A1/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61F—FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS
    • A61F11/00—Methods or devices for treatment of the ears or hearing sense; Non-electric hearing aids; Methods or devices for enabling ear patients to achieve auditory perception through physiological senses other than hearing sense; Protective devices for the ears, carried on the body or in the hand
    • A61F11/06—Protective devices for the ears
    • A61F11/08—Protective devices for the ears internal, e.g. earplugs

Definitions

  • the invention relates to plastic earplugs.
  • Such hearing protection plugs consist of a cylindrical cotton plug, which is approximately adapted in length and diameter to the human auditory canal.
  • Cotton earplugs have various disadvantages, however, because they easily become dirty and are therefore not reusable, they hardly adapt to the individual shape of the auditory canal when inserted, and their protective effect against noise emissions is relatively low. In contrast, however, there is the great advantage that such hearing protection plugs consist of an inexpensive raw material and are also inexpensive to manufacture.
  • ear protection plugs are used and consumed in large quantities. Since it is a disposable item, so to speak, the creation costs must be kept low in order to find commercial acceptance for a product at all. Because of the disadvantages of cotton plugs, attempts have been made to eliminate them in part and to make multiple use possible by surrounding the cotton with a thin plastic skin. However, such earplugs have a low level of acceptance because of the absorption of the film is made difficult by moisture and when these earplugs are worn the skin of the ear canal begins to sweat.
  • Earplugs made of plastic are washable and can therefore be used several times; in addition, they do not get as easily contaminated from the start as cotton plugs.
  • Open-pore plastic foam has a high moisture absorption capacity, so that the unpleasant sweating feeling that occurs when using plastic films does not occur.
  • earplugs made of plastics are predominantly currently used, namely those in cylindrical form which adapt in length and diameter to approximately the average dimensions of the human auditory canal and which are therefore generally cylindrical.
  • Such plugs are preferably made of delayed-return plastic and are described, for example, in US Patent Application 192,366.
  • earplugs are pressed together in a rolling and kneading manner with the fingers before insertion into the ear canal and can thus be used relatively comfortably, since the plastic in the ear canal only slowly returns to its original shape.
  • the insulating capacity of these plugs is usually quite good and this type of earplug has long been considered an almost ideal solution for average noise levels. It then turned out, however, that by squeezing and kneading the earplug before insertion, contact with the - often not clean - hands is inevitably necessary and that dirt transfer with bacterial or fungal bacteria is thus possible
  • hearing protection plugs made of plastic which are characterized in that the plastic, which does not retard without delay, has no smooth side skin and the plug has a taper in the range of approximately 5-20 °.
  • earplugs can also be produced from plastics which do not delay in retardation, which meet all noise protection and hygiene requirements and which permit industrial mass production.
  • the earplugs according to the invention have a taper in the range of approximately 5-20 ° and a decrease in diameter from approximately 20 to approximately 5, mostly 7 mm, and thus fully cover the variations in the design of the human auditory canal.
  • These plugs are produced using a modified stamping process, with an upper and a lower punch mandrel being assigned to one another in such a way that the deformation of the plastic mat which occurs during stamping can be taken into account.
  • these earplugs do not have a closed outer skin, but at least the side skin consists of the pores cut by the punching and is therefore able to absorb moisture and therefore offers the same wearing comfort as plugs with delayed resilience.
  • the upper or lower base surface can be skinless or have a closed skin, since this generally does not disturb the wearer and has advantages for manufacturing reasons, since the plastic mats used for punching can then be produced in the usual way.
  • the earplugs according to the invention preferably have an edge bead on the side facing the larger cone base, which can be produced using a modified stamping method. This edge bead ensures that the opening of the auditory canal is reliably covered even with different opening diameters, so that the plug can fully fulfill its noise protection function. Due to their shape, the earplugs according to the invention can be conveniently inserted into the ear canal without any manipulation with the hands, they do not create a feeling of pressure, since the diameter decreases and can be adapted to the individual sizes, and there is also no risk of damage slip due to closed side walls. Rather, the plugs are extremely comfortable to wear and prevent the sweating effect due to the cut pores.
  • the foams used can preferably have a sandwich structure in that they are provided in a radial plane with a stiffer intermediate layer or lamella. This can be produced, for example, by a cut-off weld cut in the foam mat used for the production or by the fact that the mat used for the production consists of two different material halves. This enables the layers of the sandwich structure to have different physical properties, in particular different softness and flexural strength.
  • the part of the sandwich structure facing the tympanic membrane preferably has greater flexural rigidity, since this enables particularly comfortable carrying.
  • the lamella created in the sandwich structure by the weld cut or when glued by surface dissolving of the plastic improves the stiffness of the plug and thus the wearing comfort as a zone.
  • the hearing protection plugs in such a way that they give relatively reliable protection against the ingress of water into the ear canal. This may be desirable in certain working conditions, but the main area of application is as a protective plug for swimming and bathing.
  • the base surface facing outwards has a closed skin and, moreover, plastics of relatively high density, as a rule, then become
  • the earplugs in such a way that they have a stiffening, generally centrally arranged axis made of a particularly rigid plastic, which can facilitate the insertion of the plug into the ear canal.
  • Such plugs can be produced by punching a central hole when punching out the section or sections of the plug, which is subsequently provided with a core made of firmer and stiffer plastic.
  • the insertion of the hearing protection plugs according to the invention is so simple and satisfactory that such a stiffening axis is generally not necessary.
  • Fig. 1 shows an earplug according to the invention in side view
  • Fig. 2 shows such a plug with a sandwich structure
  • Fig. 3 shows a longitudinal section through an earplug according to Fig. 2.
  • a hearing protection plug (1) has a plug body (4) with a taper in the range of approximately 5-20 ° and has an outwardly facing end face (2) and an inwardly facing base surface (3).
  • the stopper can have an edge bead (6) which serves to better seal the opening of the auditory canal.
  • the body of the stopper can have a sandwich structure due to a radially extending lamella (5), which connects differently set foams with regard to their softness, flexural strength and density.

Landscapes

  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Biomedical Technology (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Biophysics (AREA)
  • Otolaryngology (AREA)
  • Psychology (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Heart & Thoracic Surgery (AREA)
  • Vascular Medicine (AREA)
  • Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Public Health (AREA)
  • Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
  • Manufacture Of Porous Articles, And Recovery And Treatment Of Waste Products (AREA)
  • Headphones And Earphones (AREA)
  • Helmets And Other Head Coverings (AREA)

Abstract

Sont décrits des protège-tympans en plastique. Le plastique reprend immédiatement sa forme et sa dimension initiales, les parois ne sont pas recouvertes d'un film scellé, et le protège-tympans présente un angle de conicité d'approximativement 5 à 20°. Dans des modes préférés de réalisation, les protège-tympans comportent un bourrelet marginal, et le produit alvéolaire utilisé possède une structure en sandwich.
EP90913810A 1989-09-01 1990-08-31 Protege-tympans Withdrawn EP0441946A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE3929060A DE3929060A1 (de) 1989-09-01 1989-09-01 Gehoerschutzstoepsel
DE3929060 1989-09-01

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0441946A1 true EP0441946A1 (fr) 1991-08-21

Family

ID=6388429

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP90913810A Withdrawn EP0441946A1 (fr) 1989-09-01 1990-08-31 Protege-tympans

Country Status (6)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0441946A1 (fr)
AU (1) AU6405890A (fr)
DD (1) DD297553A5 (fr)
DE (1) DE3929060A1 (fr)
WO (1) WO1991003218A1 (fr)
ZA (1) ZA906965B (fr)

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5203352A (en) * 1990-10-16 1993-04-20 Cabot Safety Corporation Polymeric foam earplug
US5811742A (en) * 1997-04-21 1998-09-22 Howard S. Leight And Associates, Inc. Dual earplug
US7600604B2 (en) 2005-02-04 2009-10-13 Hearing Components, Inc. User disposable member for use within the ear canal and methods for manufacturing the same
US7984716B2 (en) 2007-06-22 2011-07-26 Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Inc. Self-conforming sound attenuation earplug
US8113207B2 (en) 2008-08-22 2012-02-14 Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. Self-conforming sound attenuation earplug

Family Cites Families (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2538339A (en) * 1949-09-15 1951-01-16 Mary J Thomas Earplug
GB733542A (en) * 1953-10-16 1955-07-13 Gustav Vilhelm Israel Hultgren Improvements relating to ear protectors
DE1697139U (de) * 1954-10-11 1955-04-21 Lothar Adler Vorrichtung zur schalldaempfung fuer ohren.
US3811437A (en) * 1971-10-26 1974-05-21 Cabot Corp Earplugs
SE410785B (sv) * 1978-05-29 1979-11-05 Gehorschutzcenter Wilhelm Und Forfarande och anordning for tillverkning, utan spanbildning, av rotationssymmetriska massiva kroppar av mjuk elastisk cellplast, t ex horselproppar och liknande
DE3441125A1 (de) * 1984-11-10 1986-05-15 geb. Lieschka Ursula 6054 Rodgau Wascher Gehoerschutzstoepsel
US4774938A (en) * 1987-04-09 1988-10-04 Howard S. Leight & Associates, Inc. Slow recovery earplug with largely impenetrable surface
DE8813002U1 (de) * 1988-10-15 1989-01-19 Bialas, Rudolf, 4300 Essen Gehörschutzstöpsel

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
See references of WO9103218A1 *

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DD297553A5 (de) 1992-01-16
AU6405890A (en) 1991-04-08
DE3929060A1 (de) 1991-03-07
WO1991003218A1 (fr) 1991-03-21
ZA906965B (en) 1991-07-31

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
PUAI Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase

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17P Request for examination filed

Effective date: 19910614

AK Designated contracting states

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Designated state(s): AT BE CH DE DK ES FR GB IT LI LU NL SE

17Q First examination report despatched

Effective date: 19921030

STAA Information on the status of an ep patent application or granted ep patent

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18D Application deemed to be withdrawn

Effective date: 19931110