The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 09, 2003
Filed:
Aug. 01, 2002
Jim Tiemens, Laguna Nigel, CA (US);
Bacou-Dalloz USA Safety, Inc., San Diego, CA (US);
Abstract
An earplug includes a body of soft elastomeric material such as a soft resilient foam for insertion in the ear canal, and a stiffener of more rigid material than the body. The stiffener is in the form of a tube rather than a solid rod, so while the stiffener is resistant to column-like collapse, it is easily radially compressed to facilitate compression of the body as it enters the ear canal. The stiffener tube can be filled with soft resilient foam material, to block the passage of sound through the tube. The tubular stiffener can have a slot extending parallel to the length of the stiffener, to allow soft foam material to flow into the tube to fill it, as the foam material that surrounds the tube is molded. Such molding can be accomplished by extruding foam material while the tubular stiffener passes with the extruded foam through the extrusion head.