Patent Application
20110091053
The present invention relates to a vibratory plate, an electro-acoustic converter, manufacturing method of the vibratory plate and a molded body.
Products made with natural woods have various uses, such as household furniture and interior illuminations. Recently, natural woods are also used for casings for home electric appliances and material for speakers. As interior circumstances directed to natural environment provides a space with calm and comfort, the importance of wooden products has become more common.
It is known that the physical property of a wood depends on its direction (i.e. anisotropic nature). For instance, in the application of wood for a vibratory plate, a standing wave becomes difficult to occur in comparison with vibratory plates made of paper or resin since the propagation velocity of sound in the fiber direction of wood differs from that in the other directions. Also, the wood has superior characteristics of high sonic speed, great rigidity and Young's modulus in comparison with paper or resin and great internal loss and small density (light weight) in comparison with metals etc. As the adoption of wood for audio equipments would allow an acquisition of both natural sound inherent in the wood and effect of appearance accompanied with improved visual quality, the use of wood as materials for vibratory plates etc. has received attention in recent years.
As an example of a vibratory plate utilizing wood, there is disclosed a technique of processing the vibratory plate by a thin sliced veneer (refer to e.g. Patent Documents 1 and 2). To prevent an occurrence of cracks on a curved surface of the sliced veneer, the Patent Documents 1 and 2 consist in impregnating a sheet, which consists of a paper and a wood glued together, with lubricant agent in order to soften the wood, thereby preventing the occurrence of cracks when press-forming the sheet.
More specifically, wood softened with softening agent (e.g. Japanese sake or the like) is shaped with pressure and subsequently subjected to temporary forming while evaporating moisture from the wood. To stabilize the shape of wood furthermore, it is carried out to impregnate the wood with thermo-setting resin and thereafter, high-temperature press forming is performed several times.
In the technique of performing impregnation or high-temperature press forming on the wood several times, however, there is a case of improving the productivity with difficulty because of its production requiring time and cost. In addition, as the softening agent may have a limit in its softening action, there is the possibility of producing a crack in wood when processing a body of shape with great curvatures. For instance, in case of utilizing wood for a relatively-small and thin vibratory plate, such as earphone and headphone, it is necessary to make the vibratory plate thinner and process it to a shape with a large curvature or a complicated shape. In this view, it has been desired to study the processing technique furthermore.
To reduce the thickness of a vibratory plate thereby allowing it to be processed to a shape with a large curvature or a complicated shape, it is contemplated to reduce the thickness of a wooden sheet. However, in case of adopting the method disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 as a processing technique for a vibratory plate using such a thinned wooden, thermo-setting resin impregnated in the wooden sheet may exude on the side of a molding die at press forming, causing an adhesion to the molding die. As a result, the productivity may be reduced.
In addition, if the wooden sheet is impregnated with thermo-setting resin sufficiently, then the weight ratio of resin to the whole vibratory plate gets increased since the wooden sheet is covered, on its surfaces and overall inside, with resin. Consequently, when a wooden sheet impregnated with resin is utilized for the vibratory plate, there is the possibility that the characteristics of resin comes into existence greatly, so that advantageous properties inherent in the wood (acoustic characteristics) is provided with difficulty.
In consideration of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a vibratory plate, an electro-acoustic converter, a manufacturing method thereof and a molded body, which enable the plate to be weight-saved and processed to a shape with great curvatures or a complicated shape with ease and which can present advantageous properties inherent in the wood more effectively.
In order to attain the above object, one aspect of the present invention resides in the provision of a vibratory plate comprising: a first layer containing a fiber material and having a first surface and a second surface opposing the first surface; a second layer containing a sliced natural wood in the form of a single sheet having a thickness less than 140 μm, the second layer having a third surface arranged on the second surface, a fourth surface opposing the third surface and a gap formed between wood fibers of the natural wood containing a through-hole penetrating from the third surface to the fourth surface; and a resin part provided in the first layer and the second layer to join the first layer and the second layer adhesively, wherein the resin part is arranged in the wood fibers and the gap of the second layer so that a fill ration of the resin part on the fourth surface gets smaller than a fill ration of the resin part on the third surface.
Another aspect of the present invention resides in the provision of a method of manufacturing a vibratory plate, comprising the steps of: impregnating a first layer with resin, the first layer containing a fiber material and having a first surface and a second surface opposing the first surface; drying the first layer impregnated in the preceding step; preparing a second layer containing a sliced natural wood in the form of a single sheet having a thickness less than 140 μm, the second layer having a third surface, a fourth surface opposing the third surface and a gap formed between wood fibers of the natural wood containing a through-hole penetrating from the third surface to the fourth surface, and further arranging the third surface of the second layer on the second surface of the first layer; supplying the first layer and the second layer with water thereby to soften them; adhesively joining the first layer and the second layer through the resin by hot-pressing the first layer and the second layer softened in the preceding step so that the second layer is filled with the resin in the first layer; and molding the first layer and the second layer adhesively joined in the preceding step into a vibratory-plate shape, wherein the adhesively joining step consists in filling the wood fibers and the gap of the second layer with the resin in the first layer so that a fill ration of the resin on the fourth surface of the second layer gets smaller than a fill ration of the resin on the third surface.
The other aspect of the present invention resides in the provision of a method of manufacturing a vibratory plate, comprising the steps of: impregnating a first layer with resin, the first layer containing a fiber material and having a first surface and a second surface opposing the first surface; drying the first layer impregnated in the preceding step; preparing a second layer containing a sliced natural wood in the form of a single sheet having a thickness less than 140 μm, the second layer having a third surface, a fourth surface opposing the third surface and a gap formed between wood fibers of the natural wood containing a through-hole penetrating from the third surface to the fourth surface, and a fourth layer containing a sliced natural wood in the form of a single sheet having a thickness less than 140 μm, the fourth layer having a fifth surface and a sixth surface opposing the fifth surface and a gap formed between wood fibers of the natural wood containing a through-hole penetrating from the fifth surface to the sixth surface, and further arranging the fifth surface of the fourth layer on the first surface of the first layer; supplying the second layer, the fourth layer, and the first layer with water thereby to soften them; on condition of overlapping the third surface of the second layer softened in the preceding step and the second surface of the first layer softened in the preceding step on each other and also overlapping the fifth surface of the fourth layer softened in the preceding step and the first surface of the first layer softened in the preceding step on each other, adhesively joining the first layer, the second layer and the fourth layer through the resin by hot-pressing the first layer, the second layer and the fourth layer softened in the preceding step so that the second layer and the fourth layer are filled with the resin in the first layer; and molding the first layer, the second layer and the fourth layer adhesively joined in the preceding step into a vibratory-plate shape, wherein the adhesively joining step consists in: filling the wood fibers and the gap of the second layer with the resin in the first layer so that a fill ration of the resin on the fourth surface of the second layer gets smaller than a fill ration of the resin on the third surface; and filling the wood fibers and the gap of the fourth layer with the resin in the first layer so that a fill ration of the resin on the sixth surface of the fourth layer gets smaller than a fill ration of the resin on the fifth surface.
The other aspect of the present invention resides in the provision of a molded body comprising: a first layer containing a fiber material and having a first surface and a second surface opposing the first surface; a second layer containing a sliced natural wood in the form of a single sheet having a thickness less than 140 μm, the second layer having a third surface arranged on the second surface, a fourth surface opposing the third surface and a gap formed between wood fibers of the natural wood containing a through-hole penetrating from the third surface to the fourth surface; and a resin part provided in the first layer and the second layer to join the first layer and the second layer adhesively, wherein the resin part is arranged in the wood fibers and the gap of the second layer so that a fill ration of the resin part on the fourth surface gets smaller than a fill ration of the resin part on the third surface.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a vibratory plate, an electro-acoustic converter, a manufacturing method thereof and a molded body, which enable the plate to be weight-saved and easily processed to a shape with great curvatures or a complicated shape with neither producing any crack in its wood part nor adhering to a molding die at forming and which can present advantageous properties inherent in the wood more effectively.
a) is a plan view of a vibratory plate in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
a) is a plan view of a vibratory plate in accordance with the modification of the embodiment of the present invention and
a) to 7(i) are explanatory views showing a manufacturing method of the vibratory plate in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below, with reference to drawings. In the following descriptions about the drawings, identical or similar elements are indicated with the same or similar reference numerals, respectively. The following embodiment is illustrative of a device and a method for embodying a technical idea of the present invention. Thus, the technical idea of the present invention is not intended to specify the structures of constituents, their arrangement, etc. as follows.
—Molded Body—
A molded body 1a in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention contains fiber materials and includes a base material layer (first layer) 3 having a first surface and a second surface opposing the first surface, a surface layer (second layer) 2 containing natural wood sliced into a sheet so as to have a thickness less than 140 μm and having a third surface on the second surface and a fourth surface opposing the third surface, and a resin part 4 provided in both the base material layer 3 and the surface layer 2 to join the base material layer 3 to the surface layer 2 adhesively.
For the surface layer 2, there is employed a material obtained by slicing a pure natural wood into a piece of sheet. Needle leaf trees or broad leaf trees are available as the natural wood. Especially, in case of considering acoustic characteristics (propagation velocity, internal loss) as materials for the vibratory plate, there are advantageously employed broad leaf trees, for example, beech, linden, oak, cherry, zelkova serrata, Japanese cherry, lauan, birch, maple, etc. Among these trees, the broad leaf trees, such as birch and linden, are particularly preferable as the material for the vibratory plate since their sonic speeds are larger than those of the other materials.
For needle leaf tree, there are employed pine, cedar and cypress advantageously. In view of effective utilization of wood resource and environment, it is more preferable to employ thinned woods, such as cedar. Otherwise, woods described in e.g. Japanese Patent Publication Laid-open No. 2004-254013 may be used for the vibratory plate.
The surface layer 2 can be produced by applying a cutter blade onto a log wood in rotation, namely, “Katsura stripping”. The surface layer 2 may be manufactured by slicing a cross-grain lumber or a straight-grain lumber.
In case of using the broad leaf tree for the surface layer 2, it is desirable to use a sap wood rather than using a heart wood. The sap wood has the characteristics of being splinterless at molding due to its fine texture and therefore, it is especially preferable for a vibratory plate requiring a certain level of strength (rigidity) and durability.
For the manufacturing of a molded body having a three-dimensional profile with great curvatures or a complicated three-dimensional profile, it is desirable to produce an ultrathin sheet with use of an ultra-smoothing wood planer. As the ultrathin sheet exhibits great light transmission properties, as described with
The surface layer 2 includes cellular tissues (wood fibers) 21 containing conduits or temporal conduits of a natural wood and gaps 22a formed in the cellular tissues 21 and therebetween, the gaps 22a being discontinuous in a cross-section direction of
For instance, for the surface layer 2 of this embodiment, if a birch material is sliced so that a resultant sheet has a thickness less than approx. 80 μm, the length of the through-hole 22b appearing on the surface layer 2 becomes less than approx. 500 μm at the longest. In consideration of the rate of area of the through-holes 22 to the whole surface area of the surface layer 2, however, even if several through-holes 22 of 500 μm in length are formed on the surface layer 2, the profile of a sheet as the surface layer 2 of the embodiment could be maintained sufficiently since a surface layer's area consisting of the wood fibers 21 joined to each other is larger than the surface layer's area of the through-holes.
It is noted that the fiber density of a wood is not always constant because it is a product of nature. Therefore, for instance, if making the thickness of a birch material less than 50 μm, the wood fibers 21 gets scattered in some locations of the surface layer 2, so that the sheet configuration cannot be maintained. Although the most appropriate thicknesses for various wood materials are different from each other with respect to each material due to differences in largeness of their wood fibers 21, it is preferable that the thickness of the surface layer 2 generally ranges between 50 μm to 140 μm, more preferably, 80 μm to 120 μm.
Consequently, the surface layer 2 can be formed, between the wood fibers 2, with several through-holes 22b penetrating both surfaces of the surface layer 2 while maintaining the sheet configuration as the surface layer 2 (see
Fibrous materials, such as Japanese paper and nonwoven fabrics, are used for the base material layer 3 advantageously. For the nonwoven fabrics having high strengths, there are recommended “gampi (traditional Japanese paper made from the fiber of plant species of Diplomorpha sikokiana)”, Manila fiber, “kozo (paper mulberry)” and so on. As for the thickness of the base material layer 3, one has only to select a material or a thickness providing a strength required for the molded body 1a, appropriately. Even when manufacturing the molded bodies 1a having different thicknesses, one has only to change the thickness of the base material layer 3 only. Thus, as a natural wood sheet similar to the above-mentioned material is available for the surface layer 2, the custody control of natural wood sheets is simplified. In addition, by making the thickness of the base material layer 3, for example, between 10 μm and 15 μm, it is possible to attain the weight saving of the molded body and also possible to improve the light transmission property of an integrated body obtained by laminating the base material layer on the surface layer 2.
Thermo-setting resins, for example, resol-type phenolic resin, epoxy resin, urethane resin, etc. are used for the resin part 4 advantageously. The resin part 4 intrudes into fiber interiors (gaps) of the base material layer 3 in dispersion. In addition, the interiors of the wood fibers 21 of the surface layer 2 and both the gaps 22a and the through-holes 22b formed between the wood fibers 21 are filled up with the resin part 4. In this way, the base material layer 3 and the surface layer 2 are adhesively joined through the resin part 4 so as to form one body.
Although the detailed description will be given by the later-mentioned manufacturing method, the resin part 4 comprises resin layers which are obtained by firstly preparing the base material layer 3 impregnated with resin in advance and successively hot-pressing the layers 2, 3 so that the resin in the base material layer 3 gradually permeates the gaps 22a, 22b in the surface layer 2. Thus, in the definition of one surface of the surface layer 2 in contact with the base material layer 3 as a third surface and another surface of the layer 2 opposite to the third surface as a fourth surface, the fill ration of resin in the resin part 4 decreases gradually as advancing from the third surface of the surface layer 2 toward the fourth surface.
According to the cross-sectional observation of the molded body 1a of this embodiment, it is desirable that the fill ration of resin of the fourth surface of the surface layer 2 is less than 60%, more preferably, between approx. 10% and approx. 50%, supposing that the fill ration (ratio by weight) of resin of the third surface of the surface layer 2 is equal to 100%.
If the fill ration of resin of the fourth surface of the surface layer 2 is more than 60%, then the resin intruding into the gap 22b appears on the side of the fourth surface of the surface layer 2a, so that the whole fourth surface of the surface layer 2 might be covered with the resin part 4. As a result, there is the possibility that the resin part 4 on the whole fourth surface adheres to a molding die during the press working, so that processed goods are cracked or broken. Otherwise, there is the possibility that artificial brilliance comes into existence since the whole fourth surface is covered with the resin part 4, so that an appearance brought by using a natural wood as it is cannot be acquired.
Despite the fill ration of resin of the fourth surface of the surface layer 2 being more than 60% (e.g. approx. 70%), it is not impossible to mold the molded bodies 1a in small quantity. However, when the number of pressing operations increases with commercial production, cured resin becomes apt to adhere to a molding-die surface, so that resulting adhesives may exert an influence on the final profile of the molded body 1a. In addition, as the sticking of the molded body 1a to the mold surface tends to take place, there is a case that resulting merchandises are broken.
Hitherto, three-dimensional wood products having curved profiles have been manufactured by carving out pure woods. Further, in manufacturing “curved-surface” shaped wood products with small curvatures, such as cylindrical bodies, it has been attempted to reduce the processing cost and the usage of woods by a method of applying a thinly-sliced plate (sliced veneer) to a surface of a plastic casing, for example.
However, the method of carving out pure woods is nonproductive because its processing requires a lot of time and wood materials. In addition, as such a large consumption of wood materials causes a mass generation of machined woodchips, the same method is undesirable environmentally.
Furthermore, under the condition that the thickness of a wood material generally referred to as “sliced veneer” falls within the range of 150 μm to 500 μm, it is not preferable in view of process yield and processing accuracy to slice the wood material into pieces having a thickness less than 140 μm. On the other hand, if pressing a wood material having a thickness more than 140 μm into a shape with sharp curved surfaces or a complicated shape, then cracks are produced in the pressed wood material.
There is disclosed a method of preventing an occurrence of cracks at a curved-surface processing by laminating multiple composite sheets, each of which consists of a thinly-sliced wood sheet and a nonwoven fabric containing adhesive resin, on each other (Japanese Patent Publication Laid-open No. 5-83792). In this method, however, if the number of adhesive layers is increased, then the weight of a resulting lamination gets increased due to the weight of increased adhesive agent. In addition, as the laminating of multiple wood sheets induces a strength differential depending on the fiber direction of wood, cracks are easy to occur and it is difficult to mold a three-dimensional shape having a great curved-surface profile.
To the contrary, the molded body 1a of this embodiment includes the surface layer 2 consisting of a natural wool having a thickness less than 140 μm and the resin part 4 embedded in the gaps existing in the surface layer 2 and the base material layer 3 to make them adhere to each other integrally. Consequently, as the molded body is provided with a lightweight and high-strength structure in spite of its surface of natural wood, it is possible to process the molded body to a shape with great curvatures or a complicated shape with ease.
Further, as the resin part 4 permeating the surface layer 2 of the molded body 1 has a fill ration of resin reduced gradually as advancing from the third surface toward the fourth surface (That is, the fill ration of the resin part 4 on the fourth surface of the surface layer 2 is smaller than that of the resin part 4 on the third surface.), the permeation of the resin part 4 onto the whole fourth surface of the surface layer 2 is relatively small. Therefore, the baking of the resin part 4 onto the molding die at the press working is suppressed to improve the workability. In addition, since the occurrence of artificial brilliance on the surface layer 2 is suppressed, it is possible to provide the molded body with an appearance like a natural wood. When shaping the molded body 1a of
Again, the molded body 1a of this embodiment has a structure where the resin part 4 intertwines with the base material layer 3 and the surface layer 2 since the resin part 4 is dug from the base material layer 3 into the surface layer 2, so that they are joined to each other strongly. Therefore, comparing with the conventional composite sheet consisting of multiple layers adhering to each other through resin films, the molded body 1a is hard to exfoliate and tear owing to its strength increased by dipping of the resin part 4.
(1st. Modification)
As shown in
There is no limitation as for the material of the reinforced layer 5. For instance, paper, cloth, plastic, metal plate, etc. are available as the material. In case of using as a vibratory plate, the thickness of the reinforced layer or its material has only to be determined in consideration of the weight of the vibratory plate. Preferably, a polymer film made of e.g. polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, etc. is used as the reinforced layer 5. As the surface layer 2 transmits light through the intermediary of resin component embedded in the gap 22 between the wood fibers 21, the transmission quantity of light gets increased in comparison with a thick sliced veneer having almost no gap 22b. In addition, owing to the interposition of the thin base material layer 3 between the surface layer 2 and the reinforced layer 5, it is possible to improve the adhesive strength furthermore. Also in
(2nd. Modification)
As shown in
Material and constitution substantially similar to the surface layer 2 of
As the resin part 4 is embedded in the gaps of the surface layer 2a, the base material layer 3 and the back layer 2b by hot press, the molded body is improved in strength. As for the surface layer 2a and the back layer 2b, the usage of wood can be reduced by adopting a wood material having a thickness less than 140 μm.
By the hot press process, the molded body 1c of
Owing to the woods on both sides of the molded body 1c, their beautiful grain on both sides exhibits the same body as if it were a thin natural wood while maintaining such a strong three-dimensional shape. For the demands of strengthening the three-dimensional shape of the molded body 1c further, it can be handled by increasing the content of resin in the resin part 4 or the thickness of the base material layer 3, so that there is no need of increasing the usage of wood. This means that the molded body is good for the environment.
—Vibratory Plate—
As shown in
As shown in
For appropriate characteristics of a speaker having the vibratory plate 7a, it is necessary to enlarge its piston moving region by enhancing the natural vibration frequency of the vibratory plate 7a. For this purpose, there is required the physical property of a vibratory-plate material having a high propagation velocity (sonic speed), that is, a high value of Young's modulus/density. Further, the regenerative frequency characteristic has to be more flattened by suppressing resonance peaks due to the natural vibration frequency. In this view, there is required the physical property of a vibratory-plate material having a large internal loss.
As utilized as musical instruments, wood is characterized by its high propagation velocity and large internal loss. The vibratory plate 7a of this embodiment has a high sonic speed and a large internal loss due to the usage of wood material on the surfaces. In addition, owing to the resin part 4 permeating the interior side of the surface layer 2a and the back layer 2b, the strength as the vibratory plate is enhanced with increased rigidity. Moreover, since the wool material having a thickness less than 140 μm is utilized, the vibratory plate 7a can be provided with reduced thickness and weight. Still further, with an enhanced degree of freedom in molding, it is also possible to adopt a vibratory-plate structure with reinforcing ribs.
From
(Modification)
In this modification, as shown in
On the contrary, wood has anisotropic characteristics depending on the fibrous direction, that is, the wood strength in the fibrous direction is larger than the strength in the nonfibrous direction. Accordingly, if making the longitudinal direction of an ellipse shape perpendicular to the fibrous direction of wood, then a strength differential caused by such a non-symmetrical shape can be cancelled by a strength differential by wood's anisotropic characteristics, allowing the vibratory-plate strength to be well-balanced despite its ellipse configuration. Accordingly, since the deflection of a vibratory plate vibrated as a speaker is reduced, the acoustic characteristics become favorable.
—Manufacturing Method of Vibratory Plate (Molded Body)—
a) to 7(i) illustrate an example of a method of manufacturing a vibratory plate 7c of the embodiment of the present invention. Note that, as for the molded bodies 1b, 1b, 1c of
First, as shown in
In the surface layer 2 and the base material layer 3 prepared in this way, as shown in
For example, phenol resin as thermo-setting resin is available as the resin solution 12 of
As shown in
As shown in
In succession, the base material layer 3 and the surface layer 2 are exposed in the water-vapor atmosphere to soften them. The expression of “exposing in the water-vapor atmosphere” means that, for example, it is executed to spray vapor or water against the base material layer 3, thereby spraying vapor against the molding die 10. Alternatively, the situation of “exposing in the water-vapor atmosphere” may be created by a method of allowing the base material layer 3 and the surface layer 2 to contain moisture. Considering the processing facility for a molded body with great curvatures, more moisture content in the base material layer 3 and the surface layer 2 would be more preferable since they could be inflated by the moisture.
As shown in
When the surface layer 2 as a natural wood is bent as shown in
Preferably, the press conditions, for example, press temperature, time and pressure condition are adjusted alternately. For instance, when press temperature and time are fixed at 220° C. and 30 sec. respectively, it is preferable to establish a pressure between 0.2 MPa and 1.5 MPa. If the pressure is established more than 1.5 MPa under the above-mentioned condition, too much resin comes to exude over the surface layer 2 and affixes itself to the molding die 10. Consequently, there is the possibility that the molded body cannot be separated from the molding die 10, causing the molded body to be broken. According to inventors' investigation, it is also confirmed that if the pressure is established less than 0.2 MPa, then the resin cannot permeate the inside of the surface layer 2 sufficiently, so that the molded body becomes easy to be deformed after forming. Note that, when the processing temperature is established lower than 220° C., it is desirable to make an upper pressure limit smaller than 1.5 MPa and a lower pressure limit larger than 0.2 MPa so that the resin cannot exude over the entire surface of the surface layer 2.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
According to the method of manufacturing a vibratory plate of this embodiment, as the adhesive integration between the surface layer 2 and the base material layer 3 and their molding operation can be accomplished by hot press at the same time of softening the surface layer 2 with water vapor, the press process is simplified to raise the productivity. Throughout the press process shown in
The example shown in
In the example of
—Electro-Acoustic Converter—
As shown in
The molded bodies 1a to 1c of this embodiment may be used as the vibratory plate 15 of
According to the electro-acoustic converter 100 of
As shown in
The molded bodies 1a to 1c of this embodiment may be used as the vibratory plate 16 of
The vibratory plate 16 includes a center vibratory part having a generally-domical shaped cross section, a circumferential vibratory part arranged over the whole circumference of the center vibratory part and an edge 17 arranged over the whole circumference of the circumferential vibratory part. The edge 17 is fixed to an outer edge of the frame 6. A voice coil 18 is connected to a joint part between the center vibratory part and the circumferential vibratory part of the vibratory plate 16 by adhesive agent or the like. The voice coil 18 is suspended in the gap G arranged between the magnetic pole 41 and the center pole 42.
Similarly to the electro-acoustic converter 100 of
—Lighting Equipment—
The lighting equipment 8 of the embodiment is easy to transmit light since wooded portions on the surfaces of the lamp shades 82 are extremely thin and in addition, small interfiber gaps are present in the wood parts. Accordingly, the lighting equipment of the embodiment can provide a brightness higher than that of a lighting equipment made from conventional Japanese papers or sliced veneers having thicknesses more than 140 μm. In addition, if forming curved surface shapes like the lamp shades 82 of the lighting equipment 8 with the use of the molded bodies 1a to 1c of the embodiment, curved surface shapes can be easily formed with great curvatures without producing any crack or breakage owing to the cushioning action of a gap in the surface layer 2. This means the invention enables lighting equipments to be manufactured with a variety of designs.
Thus, although the present invention is described with reference to the above-mentioned embodiment, it shouldn't be understood that these descriptions and drawings constituting this disclosure partially are limitative to the present invention. Note that the whole specification of Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-146144 filed on Jun. 3, 2008 is incorporated herein by reference. Of course, the present invention is intended to include various embodiments undescribed herein and therefore, various alternative embodiments, examples and operational techniques will be apparent from this disclosure to skill in art.
The present invention is applicable to various products using wood materials, for example, vibratory plates, electro-acoustic converters, lighting equipments, architectural materials, casings for home electric appliances, surface woods for furnishings, etc. and also applicable to manufacturing methods thereof.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-146144 | Jun 2008 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2009/060007 | 6/1/2009 | WO | 00 | 12/2/2010 |
