Acoustic wave generating apparatus and method Number:7,402,922 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) owispatent

Title: Acoustic wave generating apparatus and method

Abstract: A tactile wave generating apparatus and method to generate amplified low frequency waves which are then transmitted as tactile waves into a structure and/or to a persons anatomy. There is a housing in which is positioned a drive section that in turn comprises a magnet section that moves upwardly and downwardly as an inertial mass, two coils on opposite sides of the magnet and two flux path return plates for the coils. Each coil comprises upper and lower longitudinally aligned generally linear coil portions which drive the magnet section upwardly and downwardly. The magnet section is supported by upper and lower interconnecting sections that resiliently resist the up and down motion of the magnet section and restrain the magnet section to move up and down within close tolerances.

Patent Number: 7,402,922 Issued on 07/22/2008 to Springer,   et al.

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Inventors:	Springer; Jeffery T. (La Honda, CA), Kirschman; James L. (El Dorado Hills, CA), O'Neill; Robert M. (Oxford, MS), Sandoval; Conrad P. (Roseville, CA), Young; Joseph B. (Paducah, KY)
Assignee:	Renaissance Sound LLC (El Dorado Hills, CA)
Appl. No.:	11/294,097
Filed:	December 5, 2005

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Related U.S. Patent Documents

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	Application Number	Filing Date	Patent Number	Issue Date
	60633924	Dec., 2004
	60709425	Aug., 2005

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Current U.S. Class:	310/15 ; 310/36; 335/209; 335/238; 381/396
Current International Class:	H02K 41/00 (20060101); H04R 25/00 (20060101); H04R 9/06 (20060101)
Field of Search:	310/12,15,36 335/209,222,229,238,285 381/396

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References Cited [Referenced By]

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U.S. Patent Documents

2751573	June 1956	Millington
3416804	December 1968	Christie
3452836	July 1969	Carsello
3582875	June 1971	Van Wambeck
3648999	March 1972	Bauer
3984707	October 1976	McClintock
4064376	December 1977	Yamada
4259653	March 1981	McGonigal
4385210	May 1983	Marquiss
4680492	July 1987	Tamura
4710656	December 1987	Studer
4792978	December 1988	Marquiss
4827163	May 1989	Bhate et al.
4924123	May 1990	Hamajima et al.
4937481	June 1990	Vitale
5187398	February 1993	Stuart
5231336	July 1993	Van Namen
5341054	August 1994	Tal
5424592	June 1995	Bluen
5894263	April 1999	Shimakawa
5896076	April 1999	van Namen
5999633	December 1999	Imai
6256397	July 2001	Komatsu
6600399	July 2003	Tandafir
7078832	July 2006	Inagaki et al.
2003/0142845	July 2003	Miyamoto et al.

Primary Examiner: Nguyen; Tran
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Jones, Tullar & Cooper, PC

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Parent Case Text

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RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority benefit of U.S. Ser. No. 60/709,425 filed on Aug. 19, 2005, and U.S. Ser. No. 60/633,924, filed on Dec. 6, 2004, with the entire disclosure of both of these being incorporated herein by reference.

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Claims

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The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus adapted to transmit low frequency tactile waves into a structure and/or to a person's body, said apparatus comprising: a) a mounting section comprising at least a housing defining a chamber, said housing having a longitudinal axis, a transverse axis and a vertical axis; b) an inertial section comprising at least a generally longitudinally aligned magnet section mounted in said chamber for movement upwardly and downwardly from a neutral location, said magnet section having upper and lower pole portions, with each pole portion comprising oppositely positioned, generally longitudinally aligned pole side surface portions; c) a coil section comprising two laterally spaced coils mounted to said housing and located in said chamber on opposite sides of said magnet section, each coil having upper and lower generally longitudinally aligned coil portions and first and second end connecting coil portions connected between first and second end portions, respectively, of the generally longitudinally aligned coil portions, each generally longitudinally aligned coil portion being located next to a related one of said pole side surface portions when the magnet section is at its neutral position; d) an interconnecting section comprising upper and lower interconnecting subsections, said upper subsection having a first operative connection to said mounting section and a second operative connection to an upper portion of the inertial section, said lower subsection having a first operative connection to said mounting section and a second operative connection to a lower portion of said inertial section, said interconnecting section being constructed and arranged to permit vertical up and down movement of said magnet section as part of the inertial section and to restrict rotational movement of said magnet section about any of said longitudinal, transverse and vertical axes and restrict movement of said magnet section in a direction having either or both of a transverse or a longitudinal alignment component so as to restrict movement of said magnet section to vertically aligned up and down movement, said interconnecting section being resiliently connected to said inertial section to locate said magnet section in the neutral position and to resiliently urge said magnet section toward the neutral position; whereby when the coils are simultaneously energized with a signal, substantially uniform and equal electromagnetic forces are created along the length of the magnet section on opposite sides thereof to cause up and down cyclical movement of the magnet section as at least part of the inertial section, with the interconnecting section applying resilient forces to move the magnet section back toward its neutral position while maintaining consistent orientation of the magnet section and minimizing any deviation from vertically aligned up and down movement.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said coil section comprises two generally vertically aligned return path members which are located on opposite sides of the magnet section, each return path member being adjacent to, and extending between, the upper and lower generally longitudinally aligned coil portions of an adjacent one of the coils to form a flux path between the upper and lower generally longitudinally extending coil portions.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said inertial section is arranged to further comprise an upper and/or lower tuning member or members, with said magnet section and said tuning member of members each comprising at least part of said inertial section with the mass of said inertial section being centered relative to a vertical plane generally coincident with said longitudinal axis.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of said interconnecting subsections comprises two oppositely located longitudinally extending housing connecting portions, a central longitudinally aligned connecting portion, and two interconnecting portions connecting to and extending between the central connecting portion and the housing connecting portions, said apparatus being arranged so that with the magnet section in its neutral position, the two housing connecting portions and the central connecting portion are located in substantially the same horizontal plane.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said housing comprises an upper housing section, a lower housing section, and a middle housing section, the upper and lower housing sections each having side walls space transversely from the longitudinal axis and from each other at a greater distance, and the middle housing section having side walls spaced transversely from the longitudinal axis and from each other by a lesser distance, the upper and lower interconnecting subsections being located in, respectively the upper and lower housing sections, and the magnet section, the coil section and the return path members being located in the middle housing section.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein said coil section further comprises two generally vertically aligned return path members which are located on opposite sides of the magnet section, each return path member being adjacent to, and extending between, the upper and lower generally longitudinally aligned coil portions of an adjacent one of the coils to form a flux path between the upper and lower generally longitudinally extending coil portions, each of said coils being in sufficiently close contact with its related return path member so as to be in heat exchange relationship with its return path member, said return path member being in sufficiently close contact with an adjacent one of the side walls of the middle housing section so as to be in heat exchange relationship therewith, so that the path members and the side plates of the middle housing section function as a heat sink for the coils.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein each of said interconnecting subsections comprises two oppositely located longitudinally extending housing connecting portions, a central longitudinally aligned inertial connecting portion, and two interconnecting portions connecting to and extending between the central connecting portion and the housing connecting portions, said intermediate connecting portions being structured with respect to one another to restrict any movement of the magnet section having longitudinal and/or transverse alignment components, but resiliently resist with substantially equal force vertical movement of the magnet section to properly position the magnet section within close tolerances in its upward and downward path of travel.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein each of said two interconnecting portions comprises a plurality of cross members which are spaced longitudinally from one another, and which connect between the central connecting portion and the two housing connecting portions, each of these cross members having a vertical thickness dimension which is sufficiently small to permit resilient up and down motion of the cross members, and a width dimension that is substantially greater than the depth dimension to resist any longitudinal or transverse movement of the cross members.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein at least some of said cross members have a rigid connection to either its related housing connecting portion or the central longitudinally aligned inertial connecting portion so that said at least some of said cross members function in a cantilevered manner in a resilient resisting up and down motion of the inertial section.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein each interconnecting subsection has its housing connecting portions and the central longitudinally aligned inertial connecting portion positioned in substantially the same horizontal plane.

11. A method of providing a low frequency tactile waves to be transferred into a structure and/or a person's body, said method comprising: a) providing a mounting section comprising at least a housing defining a chamber, said housing having a longitudinal axis, a transverse axis and a vertical axis; b) providing an inertial section comprising at least a generally longitudinally aligned magnet section and mounting said magnet section in said chamber for movement upwardly and downwardly from a neutral location, with said magnet section having upper and lower pole portions, and with each pole portion comprising oppositely positioned, generally longitudinally aligned pole side surface portions; c) providing a coil section comprising two laterally spaced coils, and mounting said coils in said housing on opposite sides of said magnet section, with each coil having upper and lower generally longitudinally aligned coil portions and first and second end connecting coil portions connected between first and second end portions, respectively, of the generally longitudinally aligned coil portions, and positioning each generally longitudinally aligned coil portion so as to be located next to a related one of said pole side surface portions when the magnet section is at its neutral position; d) interconnecting said inertial section to said mounting section by means of an interconnecting section comprising upper and lower interconnecting subsections, operatively connecting said upper subsection, by making a first operative connection to said mounting section and a second operative connection to an upper portion of the inertial section, operatively connecting said lower subsection by making a first operative connection to said mounting section and a second operative connection to a lower portion of said inertial section, with said interconnecting section being constructed and arranged to permit vertical up and down movement of said magnet section as part of the inertial section and to restrict rotational movement of said magnet section about any of said longitudinal, transverse and vertical axes and restrict movement of said magnet section in a direction having either or both of a transverse or a longitudinal alignment component so as to restrict movement of said magnet section to vertically aligned up and down movement, said interconnecting section being resiliently connected to said inertial section to locate said magnet section in the neutral position and to resiliently urge said magnet section toward the neutral position; e) energizing the coils simultaneously to generate substantially uniform and equal electromagnetic forces along the length of the magnet section on opposite sides thereof to cause up and down cyclical movement of the magnet section as at least part of the inertial section, with the upper and lower interconnecting subsections applying resilient forces to move the magnet section back toward its neutral position while maintaining consistent orientation of the magnet section and minimizing any deviation from vertically aligned up and down movement.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said method further comprises positioning vertically aligned return path members on opposite sides of the magnet section, so that each return path member is adjacent to, and extending between, the upper and lower generally longitudinally aligned coil portions of an adjacent one of the coils to form a flux path between the upper and lower generally longitudinally extending coil portions.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said method further comprises providing each of the interconnecting subsections with two oppositely located longitudinally extending housing connecting portions, also providing a central longitudinally aligned connecting portion and two interconnecting portions connecting to and extending between the central connecting portion and the housing connecting portions, said method further comprising arranging the two housing connecting portions and the central connecting portion to be located in substantially the same horizontal plane when the magnet section is in its neutral position.

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Description

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a tactile wave generating apparatus and method, and more particularly to generating amplified low frequency waves which are transmitted as tactile sound into a structure and/or to a person's anatomy. Further the present invention relates to a system where the low frequency tactile waves may be transmitted to the person's body while the full audible waves are being transmitted to the person.

b) Background Art

Electroacoustic transducers such as loudspeakers for use in music or movie soundtrack reproduction are well known. In traditional prior art sound reproduction systems, large, powerful speakers move large amounts of air to permit a listener to feel the low frequency of sound. Listeners enjoy live concerts, in part, because they want to feel the sound pressure upon their bodies.

In recent years, one of the more important trends in the audio industry is that of "tactile sound" which may be described as "vibro-acoustic" or "vibro-tactile" stimulation. With tactile sound the realism of the listening experience can be enhanced by transmitting tactile waves into the person's body. For example, this could be done by vibrating the listener's seating surface of a chair or other furniture or structures. These tactile waves are able to be sensed within the person's body to add another dimension to the person's listening experience.

The initial application of these devices were as sub woofer replacements or sub woofer augmentation devices. The addition of higher frequency material began to demonstrate the potential of wider bandwidth devices and the associated additional dimensions that vibro-tactile stimulation brings to the overall experience. There are many parameters that need to be evaluated when designing and/or selecting a vibro-technical device for inclusion in music and/or an entertainment system. For example, bandwidths, efficiency and power handling need to be understood. These parameters can play a big role not only in the device selection but in the amplifier selection as well.

It is well understood in the loud speaker industry that sufficient bandwidths (i.e., flat frequency response with sufficient low frequency and high frequency limits) is critical for high fidelity reproduction. Vibro-tactile devices, like loud speakers, are devices that must be properly designed to refine the required bandwidth for accurate response.

It is with these and other considerations being kept in mind that the design of the embodiments of the present invention were created.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view showing the apparatus of an embodiment of the invention being mounted in its operating position attached to a platform of a seat of a chair;

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view of a first embodiment, taken generally along line 2-2 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 3 taken generally along a longitudinal axis, and showing cross sections at different locations located in the four quadrants of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view showing only one coil of the coil section of this embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of one of the interconnecting frame subsections of the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 shows the interconnecting frame section of FIG. 5 in an isometric view;

FIG. 7 is a partially exploded isometric view of the first embodiment of FIGS. 2-6;

FIG. 8 is a isometric view of the housing of the apparatus of FIG. 7, with one of the end covers being removed for purposes of illustration;

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view of the apparatus of a second embodiment, with a cross section being taken perpendicular to the longitudinal axis;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a view taken from the same viewing location as in FIG. 10, showing one coil of the coil section;

FIG. 12 is a plan view taken along line 12-12 of FIG. 9, illustrating an interconnecting section of the first embodiment;

FIG. 13 is an isometric view of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a second design of an interconnecting section of the second embodiment;

FIG. 15 is an isometric view showing the mounting structure of the second embodiment;

FIG. 16 is an plan view of yet another design of a positioning section which could be used in either of the first or second embodiments; and

FIG. 17 is a sectional view which is substantially the same as FIG. 2, but with the numerical designations removed and certain dimensional relationships being illustrated.

EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

1) A First Embodiment

a) General Description of the First Embodiment

A first embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 1-8 and is arranged to transmit low frequency acoustic waves into a structure, such as a chair, so that these waves are transmitted into a person's body.

It is believed that a better understanding of this first embodiment will be obtained by first describing the main components of the wave generating apparatus 10 of the first embodiment, and then providing a rather brief description of how this apparatus 10 functions in its operating position where it is mounted to a structure such as a chair 12, as shown in FIG. 1. Then this will be followed by a more detailed description of this first embodiment.

The first embodiment of the acoustic wave generating apparatus 10 of the present invention will now be described more generally with reference to FIGS. 2 through 8. Reference will first be made to FIG. 2, which is a cross sectional view of this apparatus 10 of the first embodiment taken approximately at line 2-2 of FIG. 3.

In this first embodiment of the apparatus 10, in terms of function most all of the components of this embodiment will be part of either a mounting section 14 or an inertial section 16. These two sections 14 and 16 are operatively connected to one another by an interconnecting positioning and force transmitting section 18 in a manner that the inertial section 16 reciprocates relative to the mounting section 14.

The mounting section comprises a housing 20, which is shown attached to the chair 12 to transmit to the seat of the chair 12 the inertial forces generated by the relative reciprocating motion between the inertial section 16 and the mounting section 14. (For convenience, in the following text the interconnecting positioning and force transmitting section 18 will simply be referred to as the interconnecting section 18).

The relative reciprocating movements of the sections 14 and 16 is accomplished by means of a drive section 22 which comprises two main components, namely a coil section 24 that is fixedly mounted in the housing 20 as part of the mounting section, and a magnet section 26 which is a major part of the inertial section 16. To facilitate the description of this first embodiment, the apparatus 10 will be considered as having a longitudinal axis 28 (FIG. 3), a transverse axis 30 (FIG. 2) perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 28, and a vertical axis 32 which is perpendicular to both the longitudinal axis 28 and the transverse axis 30.

The terms "upper" and "lower" shall be used in this text for convenience of description, with the understanding that in actual practice, the apparatus 10 could be positioned in different orientations where the apparatus 10 could be at an inverted orientation, or in a lateral orientation, etc.

As indicated earlier in this text, this embodiment of the apparatus 10 is designed to generate acoustic waves and transmit these directly into a structure, such as a seat platform 33 of the chair 12. In FIG. 10, the apparatus 10 is shown as having the housing 20 of the mounting section 12 directly connected to the bottom panel of a seat platform 33 of a chair 12. In this first embodiment the low frequency acoustic wave is generated by transmitting an amplified low frequency audio signal (e.g. 40 to 45 Hz) into the coil section 24 of the drive section 22, causing a relative oscillating movement (i.e. back and forth movement) of the inertial section 16 relative to the mounting structure 14 which in turn causes the acoustic wave to be transmitted directly into the chair seat as shown in FIG. 1. At the same time, there can be a speaker (shown schematically at 34) or earphones transmitting audible musical sound waves to the listener, and the low frequency acoustic waves can coincide with those of the audible musical sound waves. The effects of this will be discussed later in this text.

Also, present analysis indicates that the apparatus 10 is able to generate and transmit (in addition to a lower frequency base waves) tactile and/or acoustic waves up to 300 or possibly up to even 600 Hz or higher. More specifically the frequencies could range from a base frequency (e.g. 40 to 45 Hz) upwardly in 5 Hz increments (i.e., 50 Hz, 55 Mz, etc.) up to the 600 Hz level (or possibly higher). Also, the fundamental or base frequency could vary from 40 to 45 Hz downward in 5 Hz increments to even about 20 Hz.

b) A More Detailed Description of the First Embodiment

To begin now, the more detailed description of the apparatus 10 of this first embodiment, reference is again made to FIG. 2, and also to FIG. 7. It can be seen that in cross section the housing 20 has a main housing section 35 which has what can be described as an exaggerated hour glass configuration or an I beam configuration, and is made up of three sections, namely, upper and lower housing sections 36 and 38 of a greater width dimension, and a middle section 40 having a lesser width dimension. The upper and lower housing sections 36 and 38 are identical (or substantially identical) to one another, so the following description of the upper housing section 36 is meant to apply as well to the lower housing section 38.

The upper section 36 of the housing structure 20 has a top plate 42 which has an overall rectangular platform configuration and two rectangular side plates 44 extending downwardly from lateral outside edges of the upper plate 42. The lower edges of the side plates 44 each connect to inwardly extending transition plates 46 that have an inward and moderately downward slope. The lower housing section 38 of the housing 20 likewise has a bottom plate 42, the side plates 44, and the inwardly and moderately upwardly sloping transition plates 46, so that the lower section 38 is a mirror image of the upper section 36.

The middle housing section 40 comprises two rectangular intermediate vertically and longitudinally aligned parallel middle side plates 48 having upper and lower edge portions which join to, respectively, the inner edge portions of the upper transition plates 48 and to the inner edges of the lower transition plates 46.

The housing structure 20 also comprises two end plates 50 which may be substantially identical to one another and which are positioned at opposite ends of the main housing section 35. These can best be seen in FIG. 7. For purposes of illustration, one of the two end plates 50 is shown as being separated from the housing structure 12. The second end plate 50 is connected to the opposite end of the housing structure 10 and only two edge portions 52 and 54 can be seen. The two end plates 50 each have four corner located openings 56 to match with corner openings 57 of the housing section 35, so that the end plates 50 can be joined to the end portions of the main housing section 35 by connecting screws, bolts or other connectors.

The housing 20 of the mounting section 14 can be made of metal, plastic or some other material as a rigid unitary structure, such as being made by being machined, molded, extruded, caste and/or made of components welded, bonded, or otherwise joined to one another.

The aforementioned coil section 24 comprises two coils 58 which are positioned on opposite sides of the magnet section 26. As can be seen in FIG. 4, each coil 58 is fixedly connected to the interior surface 60 of one of two rectangular magnetically permeable return path steel plates 62 that are in turn connected to the interior surfaces of the side plates 48 of the middle housing section 34 of the housing 20. These plates 62 are also considered to be part of the coil section 24 and are thus also part of the mounting section 14. The two coils 58 are (or may be) identical, and each has a "racetrack" configuration, where there are upper and lower longitudinally aligned linear parallel middle coil sections 64 and 66 respectively, with the adjacent end portions of these two coil sections 64 and 66 being connected by oppositely positioned end coil portions 68 which in this embodiment are with 180.degree. curves with the coil sections 64 and 66 having a straight line configuration. Each of these coils 58 has multiple windings, and each winding can be made in the form of a flat ribbon of an electrically conductive material which is coated by a suitable insulating material and which is wound in layers to form the "racetrack".

The aforementioned magnet section 26 comprises a rectangularly shaped magnet 70, upper and lower pole plates 72 and 74, respectively, fixedly connected to the upper and lower surfaces of the magnet 70, and upper and lower tuning members in the form of rectangular tuning blocks 76 and 78 positioned against and fixedly connected to the upper and lower surface of the pole plates 74 and 76, respectively. These tuning blocks 76 and 78 may be made of brass.

The configuration of the magnet 70 is a rectangular prism having parallel side surfaces 80, parallel end surfaces 82, and parallel upper and lower surfaces 84, with each of these surfaces 80, 82, and 84 having a rectangular configuration, with adjoining surfaces meeting at a right angle. The tuning blocks 76 and 78 each have the configuration of a right angle rectangular prism, having parallel side surfaces, parallel bottom and top surfaces, and parallel end surfaces 86 (the side surfaces and upper and lower surfaces not having numerical designations simply for the purpose of illustration so that the drawings do not become too cluttered with numerals). The end surfaces 86 of the tuning blocks 76 and 78 extend a moderate distance beyond the end surfaces 82 of the magnet 70.

The two pole pieces, 72 and 74, each have the overall configuration of a rectangular prism, except that each corner portion of the pole pieces at its end locations has a cutout to form the two end portions 88 of each pole piece 72 and 74 of a reduced width dimension that is less than the width dimension of the main middle portion 71 of the magnet 70 (see FIG. 2 where the transverse surfaces at the base of the end portion 88 are designated 90, and also FIG. 7).

However, the middle section 91 of the pole pieces 72 and 74 which extend between the end portions 82 of the magnet 70 have a width dimension moderately greater than that of the magnet 70 so that the side surfaces 92 of middle portions 91 of the pole pieces 72 and 74 extend laterally a short distance beyond the side surfaces 80 of the magnet 70. Thus, these side surface portions 92 of the middle portions of the upper and lower pole pieces 72 and 74 define upper and lower longitudinally extending flux gaps 94 (see FIG. 2) which are positioned so that when the magnet section 26 is in its middle neutral position, the side surface portions 92 of the middle portions pole pieces 72 and 74 are centered relative to the upper and lower middle coil sections 64 and 66. These flux gaps 94 are in large part occupied by the longitudinally aligned coil portions 64 and 66.

The side surfaces 96 of the two tuning blocks 76 and 78 are vertically aligned with the side surfaces of 80 of the magnet 70, and the end surfaces 86 of the tuning blocks 76 and 78 are transversely and vertically parallel to the end surfaces of the pole pieces 72 and 74.

The magnet 70, the pole pieces 72 and 74, and the tuning blocks 76 and 78 are stacked one on top of the other as shown in FIG. 2 so that these are all in vertical alignment with each other, and centered along the longitudinal axis.

As can be seen in viewing FIGS. 3 and 7, the transversely and laterally aligned end surface portions 82 of the magnet 70 and the transversely aligned corner surface portions 90 of the pole pieces 72 and 74 lie in the same transverse vertical plane and terminate a short distance longitudinally inwardly from the location (indicated by the line 102) in FIG. 3 where the end curved coil end portions 68 of the two coils 58 join integrally to the upper and lower straight coil sections 64 and 66. Also, as can be seen in FIG. 2, the lateral outer side surfaces 92 of the main middle portions 91 of the two pole pieces 72 and 74 are positioned a short distance beyond the side surfaces 80 of the magnet 70 to form the upper and lower relatively narrow gaps 94 in which the upper and lower longitudinally aligned coil sections 64 and 66 are located.

As can be seen in FIG. 2, the magnet section 22 is in a neutral center position so that the two pole plates 72 and 74 are positioned at the mid height of, respectively, the upper and lower intermediate straight coil sections 64 and 66.

The aforementioned interconnecting positioning and force transmitting section (now referred to as the "interconnecting section 18") comprises upper and lower interconnecting subsections in the form of interconnecting frames 104, (see FIGS. 5 and 6). These upper and lower frames 104 are (or may be) identical (or substantially identical to one another), except for being mirror images of one another. Accordingly, the following description of the upper frame 104 is intended to apply to the lower frame 104.

Each of the interconnecting frames 104 can be considered as having a longitudinally aligned lengthwise center axis 106 which is spaced vertically from, and vertically aligned with, the main longitudinal axis 28 and a transverse axis 107. Each frame 104 comprises a pair of longitudinally aligned housing connecting portions in the form of connecting edge members 108, a center longitudinally aligned magnet connecting portion in the form of a connecting member 110, and two intermediate connecting portions 111, which are on opposite sides of the lengthwise center axis in the form of a plurality of cross members 112. These members 108, 110, and 112 can be made as a single integral molded plastic piece.

Each of the housing connecting edge members 108 comprises a longitudinally extending connecting flange or rib 114 which has a vertically aligned width dimension moderately greater than the thickness of its adjacent cross member 112, so as to have upper and lower portions forming upper and lower elongate raised portions relative to the cross member 112. Each side plate 44 of the housing 20 has formed at an inner surface a longitudinally aligned slot 116 (see FIG. 2), which has a "T" shaped cross section so as to have an expanded interior portion and a narrower longitudinal gap. Thus, when the flange or rib 114 is aligned with its related slot 116 and slid into engagement, the flange or rib 114 is retained in its slot 116.

The magnet connecting member 110 has two connecting end portions 118, with each end portion 118 having a flattened moderately recessed upper surface portion 120 with a through opening 122 extending downwardly from the flat recessed surface portion 120 (see FIG. 2) to receive a screw or bolt 124. The head 126 of the screw or bolt 124 (see FIG. 2) presses against the surface portion 120, with the shank 128 extending through the opening 122 and through openings made in the end portions of the pole pieces 72 and 74 and of the tuning blocks 76 and 78 (see FIGS. 2 and 7). There is a fastener 130 at the lower end of the screw or bolt 124. Thus, the two bolts 124 at opposite end portions 86 of the pole pieces 72 and 74 and of the tuning blocks 76 and 78 make a rigid connection of these components with the two magnet connecting members 110 of the interconnecting frames 104, with the magnet 70 sandwiched in the middle, so that these components (i.e. the magnet 20, the pole pieces 72 and 74, the tuning blocks 76 and 78, and the magnet 70 along with the central portions of the frames 104) function as one unit which comprises the inertial section 16.

The cross members 112 are arranged in four transversely aligned pairs which extend transversely between the two housing connecting edge members 108 and the magnet connecting member 110. At the center location of each of these cross members 112, the cross members 112 are fixedly joined to the centrally located magnetic connecting member 110. (As indicated earlier herein, this entire interconnecting subsection 104 can be made as one integral plastic piece molded as a single piece.) Thus, these cross members are anchored at the middle location to function as cantilever beam suspension members for the magnet section 26.

The vertical thickness dimension of the magnet connecting member 110 is substantially greater than that of the cross members 112. The horizontal width dimensions of the cross members 112 are substantially greater than their vertical thickness dimensions so that the cross members 112 are sufficiently resilient to enable the magnet section to move back and forth in a vertical direction and yet provide a sufficient restoring force to bring the magnet section 26 back toward its neutral position, but are highly resistant to any transverse or longitudinal movement.

A pair of wire terminals 132 are mounted at the outside surface portions of the front end of each of the middle side plates 48. Each terminal 132 has an outside connecting location 134 (see FIG. 7) and is retained in its mounted position by means of a connecting screw 136 (see FIG. 7). The wires extending from the terminals 132 to the coils 58 are designated 138. Longitudinally aligned connecting channels 140 (see FIG. 2) are provided in the housing 20 at juncture locations of the side plates 48 and the transition plates 46.

c) Assembly and Operation of the First Embodiment

To assemble the apparatus 10, the magnet section 26 can be assembled by placing the magnet 70, the pole pieces 72 and 74, the tuning blocks 78 and the interconnecting frames 74 in the proper stacked relationship and then connecting these together by means of the screws or bolts 124. Then this assembly can be placed in alignment with the housing 20, and then moved into the chamber 140 defined by the housing 20. The internal wire connections are made between the wire terminals 132 and the coils 58. Then the end plates 50 can be connected to the end portions of the main housing structure 20 and connected by the connecting screws 142 at the sealing openings 56. A sealing gasket 143 can be provided for each of the end plates 50.

The lower plate 42 of the lower housing section 38 has along its outer edges a pair of oppositely positioned laterally extending mounting flanges 144 (see FIG. 4), with each flange 144 being provided with a plurality of connecting openings 146 at evenly spaced locations along its length. To mount the apparatus 10 to a structure, such as the panel 34 of the chair 12, lower plate 42 of the housing 20 is placed against the panel 34 of the chair 12 and then bolts or fastening screws are inserted through the openings 146 to connect the apparatus 10 firmly to the chair panel 34.

With the apparatus 10 assembled, the electrical connections made, and the apparatus 10 connected to the panel 34 of the chair seat, the low frequency amplified signal is transmitted through the terminals 132 to cause the two electric currents to pass through the coils 58. The interaction of the magnetic fields created by the current flow through the coils 58 with the magnetic field of the magnet section 26 to cause the up and down movement of the magnet section 26 along with the entire inertial section 16.

As described previously in this text, the magnet section 26 is normally in the neutral position where the upper and lower middle or intermediate linear coil sections 64 and 66 are centered in the gaps 94 defined by the central portions 91 of the pole pieces 72 with the adjacent portions of the return path side plates 62, with the upper and lower intermediate coils sections 64 and 66 being located in those gaps 94.

Thus, the oscillating electromagnetic force causes the magnet section 26 to move upwardly and downwardly in the chamber 140 defined by the housing 20. The magnet section 26, functioning as part of the inertial mass 16, then oscillates upwardly and downwardly relative to the mounting structure 14 which comprises mainly the housing 20 along with the return path plates 62 and the other components that are fixedly attached to the housing 20.

As the inertial structure 16 moves in an oscillating manner upwardly and downwardly, there is an equal and opposite reaction transmitted from the housing 20 into the chair panel 36. To describe this more specifically, as the magnetic fields in the coils 58 create a force to move the magnet section 26 as part of the inertial structure 16 in one direction, the inertial force generated by the accelerating inertial structure 16 is reacted back through the magnetic field through the coils 58 which are fixedly connected to the return path side plates 62, and this therefore would thrust the mounting structure 14 in the opposite direction.

However, as this is happening, the interconnecting positioning and force transmitting section 18, (called mostly the "interconnecting section 18" in this text), in the form of the interconnecting frame portions 104 are being moved from the neutral position with the cross arms 112 resisting this movement. Since these cross arms 112 are made of a resilient material, there is a spring action by which they are resisting the relative movement of the mounting structure 14 and the inertial structure 16 away from the neutral position.

Then when the current in the coils 58 is reversed, the field created by the coils 58 would exert a force to move the inertial structure 16 and the mounting structure 12 back toward their neutral position relative to one another. Also, the spring action of the cross arms 112 would exert a force to move the mounting structure 14 and the inertial structure 16 back to the neutral position.

Thus, it is apparent the inertial section 16 and the mounting section, coupled with the spring action of the cross members 112 form a spring mass system which would have a resonant frequency. Assuming that the resonant frequency of this spring mass system is approximately the same as (or close to being the same as) the frequency of the amplified audio signal the action of this spring mass system would reinforce the forces created by the drive section 22 made up of the coil section 24 and the magnet 26.

The resultant force of the relative back and forth movement of the inertial structure 16 and the mounting structure 14 is reacted into the panel 33 of the seat of the chair 12. Thus, the panel 34 of the chair 12 will have a back and forth movement along with the housing 20 and the other components of the inertial section, and this results in the tactile wave traveling through the structure of the chair 12.

To discuss another feature of this embodiment of the present invention, as indicated earlier in this text, there are first and second mass selectable brass tuning blocks 76 and 78. By adding or subtracting mass from these tuning blocks 76 and 78, the resonant frequency of the spring mass system can be changed. This could produce benefits in various ways. For example, if the apparatus 10 were used in a specific piece of furniture, such as a chair, the panel or other structure to which the apparatus 10 is mounted may have certain characteristics relative to its mass, resistance to its movement, degree of resilience, etc. This may affect the resisting force provided by the chair or other object to which the apparatus 10 is mounted. Therefore, an adjustment could be made in the mass of these tuning blocks 76 and 78, to optimize the interaction of these components.

2) A Second Embodiment

A second embodiment of an acoustic wave generating apparatus 210 of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 9 through 15. Reference will first be made to FIG. 9, which is a cross sectional view taken transversely across a midsection of this apparatus 210 of the first embodiment.

In this second embodiment of the apparatus 210, there is a mounting section 212 and an inertial section 214, which is positioned in a chamber 215 of the mounting section 212. These sections 212 and 214 are operatively connected to one another by an interconnecting positioning and force transmitting section 216 in a manner that the inertial section 214 reciprocates relative to the mounting section 212 in the chamber 215. (For convenience, as in the description of the first embodiment, in the following text the interconnecting positioning and force transmitting section 216 will simply be referred to as the interconnecting section 216).

As in the first embodiment, the relative reciprocating movements of the sections 212 and 214 is accomplished by means of a drive section 218 which comprises two main components, namely a coil section 220 that is mounted in the mounting section 212, and a magnet section 222 which is a major part of the inertial section 214. To facilitate the description of this first embodiment, the apparatus 210 will be considered as having a longitudinal axis 224 (FIG. 10), a transverse axis 226 (FIG. 10) perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, and a vertical axis 228 which is perpendicular to both the longitudinal axis 224 and the transverse axis 226 (FIG. 9).

As in the description of the first embodiment, the terms "upper" and "lower" shall be used in this text for convenience of description, and in actual practice, the apparatus 210 could be positioned in different orientations such as an inverted orientation, a lateral orientation, etc.

With further reference made to FIG. 9. It can be seen that in cross section the mounting section 212 has what is more of an hour glass configuration, and is made up of three sections, namely, upper and lower sections 230 and 232 of a greater width dimension, and a middle section 234 having a lesser width dimension. The upper and lower sections 230 and 232 are or may be identical (or substantially identical) to one another, so the following description of the upper section 230 is meant to apply as well to the lower section 232.

The upper section 230 of the mounting section 212 has a top plate 236 which has an overall rectangular configuration and two rectangular side plates 238 extending downwardly from lateral outside edges of the upper plate 236. The lower edges of the side plates 236 each connect to inwardly and downwardly sloping transition plate sections 240. The lower section 230 of the mounting section 212 likewise has the bottom plate 236, the side plates 238 and the upwardly and inwardly extending transition plate sections 240, so that the lower section 232 is a mirror image of the upper section 230.

The middle section 234 of the mounting section 212 comprises two rectangular intermediate side plates 242 having upper and lower edge portions which join to, respectively, the lower edge portions of the upper transition plate sections 240 and to the upper edges of the lower transition plate sections 240. Also, the sidewalls 242 of the middle section 234 may have a plurality of laterally and outwardly extending ribs 244 which can function as heat dissipating members or fins. Also, these ribs 244 have the benefit of adding structural strength and stiffness.

As in the first embodiment, the three sections 230, 232 and 234 of the mounting section 212 can be made of metal, plastic or some other material as a rigid unitary structure, such as being made by being machined, molded, extruded or caste and/or made of components welded or otherwise joined to one another. In FIG. 15, the mounting structure 212 is shown in an isometric view, and there is shown an end plate 246 which can be joined to an open end portion of the mounting structure 212. While not shown in FIG. 15, a similar end plate 246 would be connected to the opposite end of the mounting section 212.

The two end plates 246 each have a mounting flange 248 at right angles to the end plate 246, and the mounting flanges 248 can be used to form the section 212 to a bottom panel of a chair such as that shown in FIG. 1. The flanges 248 can be provided with openings 250 by which this connection can be made. Also, the two end plates 246 are shown provided with four corner located openings 252 to match with corner openings 254 of the mounting sections 212 so that the end plates 246 can be joined to the end portions of the mounting structure 212 by screws, bolts or other connectors.

The aforementioned coil section 218 is made up of two coils 256 (see FIGS. 10 and 11), of the coil section with each coil 256 being mounted to the interior surface of one of two rectangular magnetically permeable return plates 258 that are in turn connected to the interior surfaces of the side plates 242 of the middle section 234 of the mounting section 212. The two coils 256 are (or may be) identical and each has a "racetrack" configuration, where there are upper and lower intermediate straight longitudinally aligned coil sections 260 and 262 respectively, with the end portions of these two sections 260 and 262 being connected by oppositely positioned 180 degree curved end coil portions 264. Each of these coils 256 has multiple windings, and each winding could be made in the form of a flat ribbon of an electrically conductive material which is coated by a suitable insulating material that is wound in layers to form the "racetrack".

The aforementioned magnet section 222 comprises a rectangularly shaped magnet 266 and upper and lower pole plates 268 and 270, respectively, fixedly connected to the upper and lower surfaces of the magnet 266. As can be seen in FIG. 10, the lengthwise dimension (the dimension along the longitudinal axis 224) of the magnet 266 and the pole pieces 268 and 270 are the same, and the transversely and vertically aligned end surface portions 272 of the magnet 266 with its pole plates 268 and 270 terminate a short distance inwardly from the location 273 at which the end curved coil portions 264 of the two coils 256 join integrally to the upper and lower straight coil sections 260 and 262. Also, as can be seen in FIG. 9, the lateral outside edges 274 of the two pole plates 268 and 270 are positioned a short distance beyond the lateral flat surfaces 276 of the magnet 266 to form the upper and lower flux gaps 278 at which the upper and lower longitudinally aligned coil sections 260 and 262 are located.

As can be seen in FIG. 9, the magnet section 222 is in a neutral center position so that the two pole plates 268 and 270 are positioned at the mid height of, respectively, the upper and lower intermediate straight coil sections 260 and 262.

The aforementioned interconnecting positioning and force transmitting section (now referred to as the "interconnecting section 216") comprises upper and lower interconnecting subsections 279. These upper and lower subsections 279 are (or may be) identical (or substantially identical), except for being mirror images of one another. Accordingly, the following description of the upper subsection 279 is intended to apply to the lower subsection 279.

Each of these interconnecting subsections 279 comprises a magnet interconnecting section 280 and an interconnecting frame section 282.

Each magnet interconnecting section 280 comprises a magnet connecting plate 284 (see FIG. 9) which is positioned against and connected to the upper surface of the upper and lower pole plates 268 and 270 respectively. Each magnet interconnecting section 280 further comprises a frame connecting plate 286 (see FIG. 9) which is spaced upwardly (or downwardly for the lower magnet interconnection section 280) from its related magnet connecting plate 284. There is a pair of connecting posts 287 (see FIG. 9) for each magnet interconnecting section 280, and these are spaced at opposite end locations of each pair of the magnet connecting plate 284 and frame connecting plate 286.

The interconnecting frame section 282 is mounted into the mounting structure 212 at a location which is near to the connection of the side plates 238 with the upper (lower) transition plate sections 240. There is a downwardly facing shoulder 288 which extends longitudinally at a location spaced moderately below the perimeter portion of the upper and lower plates 36 (see FIG. 9).

Each interconnecting frame section 282 (See FIG. 12) comprises a mounting structure connecting frame portion 290, a magnet connecting frame portion 292, and an interconnecting frame portion 294. The mounting structure connecting frame portion 290 is in the form of a perimeter frame having opposite end portions 296 and side portions 298. The magnet interconnecting frame portions each comprise a longitudinally extended and centrally located elongate connecting plate 300 having a rectangular configuration, and having longitudinally spaced connecting locations shown herein as connecting openings 301 (see FIG. 12) by which a fastener (e.g. a bolt, a screw, etc.) can be made to an upper end of the aforementioned connecting post 288.

The frame interconnecting portion 294 functions as a resilient connection between the mounting section connecting frame portion 290 and the magnet connecting frame portion 292. In this second embodiment, this frame interconnecting portion 204 comprises transversely aligned pairs 302 of connecting arms 304, with each arm having an interconnecting end 306 by which it connects to the magnet interconnection frame portion 292, and an outer end 308 connecting to a related side portion 298 of the perimeter frame interconnecting portion 290. In the plan view of FIG. 12, it can be seen that there are five pairs 302 of the connecting arms 304, being positioned at evenly spaced longitudinally intervals along a major portion of the length of the interconnecting frame 282. In this particular arrangement, the two end portions 296 of the mounting section connecting frame portion 290 are spaced only a very short distance from the two end pairs 302 of connecting arms 304, and as shown in the drawings, there are an additional three pairs 302 connecting arms 304 positioned at the evenly spaced intervals between the two outermost pairs 302. The interconnecting frame section 294 may be made as a single integral structure so that both of the connecting end of the arms 304 have what can be termed as a cantilever connection, so that the arms 304 functions as cantilever beams that are fixedly connected at opposite end portions.

3) Various Arrangements of the Interconnecting Positioning and Force Transmitting Section

FIGS. 13 and 14 show two different arrangements of the interconnecting frame portion 294. The version shown in FIG. 13 is the version which is shown in FIG. 9. In FIG. 13, three of the pairs 302 of connecting arms 304 have both connecting arms 304 in a moderate curved configuration so that three of these pairs of arms 304 are curved to be above a plane occupied by the interconnecting frame 282. The other two pairs 302 of connecting arms 304 curve in a downward curve that extends below the plane occupied by the interconnecting frame 282. Thus, as can be seen in FIG. 13, circled numerical designations are given to each pair 302 of arms 304, beginning with the numeral one at the lower left end of FIG. 13 and continuing on through to the upper right end, as seen in FIG. 13. Three of the pairs are identified by circled numerals 1, 3 and 5, and these have an upwardly curved configuration, while those two pairs of 302 of arms 304 at a location between pairs 1 and 3, and at a location between 3 and 5, respectively, designated by circled numerals 2 and 4 are in a downwardly curved configuration.

These arms 304 are resilient, so that when the magnet interconnecting frame portion 292 is deflected either upwardly or downwardly, these arms 304 function collectively as a balanced spring to maintain the alignment of the magnet section constant and to return the magnet interconnecting frame portion back toward its middle neutral location, as shown in FIG. 9. It will be noted that the spacing of the connecting arms 304 and also the alternating pattern of having the upwardly and downwardly curved arms 304 result in a symmetrical and balanced configuration, so that the interconnecting section 216 is able to reliably position the inertial section 214 so that its alignment orientation is substantially constant, and also so that its resisting force against upward and downward movement acts as a restoring force having a consistent pattern.

FIG. 14 shows an alternative configuration of the interconnecting frame section 282, and components of this alternative configuration will be given like numerical designations relative to the configuration of FIG. 13 with an "a" distinguishing those of this second arrangement.

In this second arrangement, the mounting structure connecting frame portion 290a is substantially the same as the mounting sectio