The embodiments herein relate generally to clothing accessories.
Prior to the disclosed invention, portable microphones were mounted to a police officer's epaulet or front of shirt. As a result, some officers could not be heard well because they kept the microphone on one's shoulder. Further, officers had to turn their head to talk toward the microphone, which took one's eyes off of one's focal point, which could be dangerous. If an officer could not use one's hands, for instance when using both hands with a suspect or if injured, the officer could not activate the microphone. Additionally, the shoulder mounted microphone came with a cord of sufficient length to choke the officer if the cord was engaged by a suspect. In a fight, foot pursuit or strenuous activity, the microphone would become detached and was useless. The present invention solves these problems.
A microphone holder is configured to join a microphone to a shirt. The microphone holder has a back panel configured to fit within one of a set consisting of: a concealable vest and an outer carrier. A top panel is smoothly connected to the back panel. The top panel further comprises a top window. The top window is adapted to receive a clip on the microphone. A front panel is smoothly connected to the top panel. The front panel is offset from the back panel in order to fit over the shirt.
In some embodiments, the back panel is joined to one of the set consisting of: the concealable vest and the outer carrier; with a hook and loop fastener. In some embodiments, the top window is arranged to be ⅞ inch by ½ inch.
The detailed description of some embodiments of the invention is made below with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein like numerals represent corresponding parts of the figures.
By way of example, and referring to
Back panel 12 lies in back panel plane 20. Front panel 18 lies in front panel plane 22. Back panel plane 20 intersects front panel plane 22 at an angle that when measured from back panel plane 20 toward front panel plane 22 is in a range of 15 to 45 degrees. Preferably, the angle is about 30 degrees.
There are two general contexts where microphone holder 10 would be used in conjunction with shirt S and radio R as shown in
An armor plate carriers with Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment (MOLLE) attachments can have microphone holder 10 attached by attaching the loop fastener to the front of back panel 12. Then, weaving microphone holder 10 to through the MOLLE webbing and securing microphone holder 10 by attaching the hook fastener to the exposed loop fastener attached to holder 10
Because of these relatively narrow uses, there is a limited variety of dimensions that can be effective. Microphone holder 10 can be made from a piece of metal, plastic including the thermoplastic acrylic-polyvinyl chloride materials manufactured under trade name KYDEX® or acrylic-polyvinyl chloride manufactured under the trademark IPK® that is seven inches by one inch and is rectangular, top window can 16 be arranged to be ⅞ inch by ½ inch. These dimensions are critical to accommodate a clip on the back of the microphone so that the microphone cord is away from the user's head. Further, the microphone can now be activated with the human user's chin, providing a hands free mode to a push to talk technology. Once the piece of metal has been punched, the piece of metal can be bent with a metal break. After that, the metal piece can be smoothed, coated with paint and dried.
Persons of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate that numerous design configurations may be possible to enjoy the functional benefits of the inventive systems. Thus, given the wide variety of configurations and arrangements of embodiments of the present invention the scope of the invention is reflected by the breadth of the claims below rather than narrowed by the embodiments described above.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/267,907 filed on May 1, 2014. That application in turn claims priority to provisional patent application U.S. Ser. 61/818,105 filed on May 1, 2013. The entire contents of all of these applications are herein incorporated by reference.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61818105 | May 2013 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14267907 | May 2014 | US |
| Child | 14697485 | US |