CA1123945A - Vibration alarm device - Google Patents
Vibration alarm deviceInfo
- Publication number
- CA1123945A CA1123945A CA330,137A CA330137A CA1123945A CA 1123945 A CA1123945 A CA 1123945A CA 330137 A CA330137 A CA 330137A CA 1123945 A CA1123945 A CA 1123945A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- signal
- vibratory
- alarm
- detector
- vibratory mechanism
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G08—SIGNALLING
- G08B—SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
- G08B3/00—Audible signalling systems; Audible personal calling systems
Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
The invention provides means whereby alarm or signal devices such as alarm clocks, telephones, smoke detectors and fire alarms may be detectable by people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The alarm or detector is connected by wires or other signal transmission means to a vibratory device which is powered to oscillate in response to a signal. The vibratory apparatus may be worn or placed beneath the pillow of a person who is hard of hearing and the vibrations are detected instead of the noise of a customary bell or alarm.
The invention provides means whereby alarm or signal devices such as alarm clocks, telephones, smoke detectors and fire alarms may be detectable by people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The alarm or detector is connected by wires or other signal transmission means to a vibratory device which is powered to oscillate in response to a signal. The vibratory apparatus may be worn or placed beneath the pillow of a person who is hard of hearing and the vibrations are detected instead of the noise of a customary bell or alarm.
Description
~.~2.~ 5 This invention relates to improvements in audible alarm or si~nal devices such as telephones, alarm clocks, or smoke detectors and fire alarms. More particularly, -this invention relates to improvements designed to make these alarms or signals useful to -those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Many devices of common everyday household usage depend on a signal to alert the owner or user to respond to its functioning. For instance, people rely on an audible bell to notify them o~ a-call on the telephone; smoke detectors sound an audible sound when they detect fire or combustion;
and alarm clocks use the noise o~ a bell or buzzer to awake people from sleep at a pre-set time.
As common and reliable as these ~evices are for most people, they are almost useless to people who are deaf or hard of hearing since the signal designed for people of average hearing cannot be heard by these people. In fact, reliance on the audible signal device is so much taken for granted that the failure of deaf people to respond to them is a largely unforeseen danger and handicap~
Visual signals are not commonly found and are a limited improvement since they require that the owner or would be recipient of the signal be awake and be able to constantl~
vasually check the device for the expected s1gnal.
It is therefore the object of this inventio~ to provide an alarm or signal device which may be activated by a telephone, clock, smoke detector or similar device, but which will alert people who cannot hear the usual type of auditory signal such as a bell or buzzer.
In the course of arriving at this invention, I have discovered that such alarms or signals can generally be detected by the hard of hearing by means of the vibrations which are usually associated with such devices. Thus, partially deaf persons (some of whom are able to use telephone by virtue of a special hearing aid adapted to their phones) may detect a telephone ring by touching it with their hands. This, however, requires that they anticipate a phone call and wait for it with their hand on the telephone. This is an inconvenience at best and mainly ineffective and totally inapplicable to alarm clocks and smoke de~ectors. It certainly is not a satisfactory solution when a person is sleeping.
I have discovered, however, that deaf or partially deaf people can detect vibrations and in some cases develop a highly acute sense for detecting this Eorm of stimula on which they must rely.
I have further conceived that vibrations caused by bell-like devices such as are activated by a telephone or alarm clock, if activated under a person's pillow,~will enable them to detect the alarm or telephone call even at night when wearing a hearing air is impossible or undesirable and when visual signals are of no useO
Since many devices such as telephones, electric cloc~s and smoke detectors are run on or activated by electrical signals, it is possible to use the electrical signal to trigger or activate a detectable vibration signal in a device placed under a person's pillow or against their wrist.
Thus, alarms or signals which are normally audible to most people can he made detectable by people who are deaf or partially deaf by means of this inventlon-in which an alarm signal device comprising means adapted to emit vibrations, means to power said vibration emission means, a source of ?45 alarm signal; means conveying said alarm signal to said vibratory device to trigger the activation of same. Thus, in accordance with this invention, a telephone or alar~ clock may be connected by means of electric wires which convey an electrical impulse upon activation of the telephone or the alarm so that this impulse may activate the vibratory emission device. Such vibratory device might be placed ~or instance under a person's pillow or taped to their wrist.
The nature of this invention will be better understood by the following description of one embodiment with reference to the drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a pictorial schematic representation of an embodiment of the present invention in which an alarm clock is a source of signal transmitted by wires to a vibratory device under a person's pillow;
Figure ~ illustrates one type of oscillatory device which could be used to emit vibrations; and Figure 3 illustrates an alternative device which 2a may be used to emit vibrations.
In Figure 1/ an electric alarm clock is illustrated at 2 which is plugged into outlet 4 by a cord 6 in a conventional way. Within the clock, not illustrated, as is commonly found, there is timing device adapted to activate a bell or buzzer when the time set on the alarm control is reached. In accord-ance with this invention, the alarm mechanism, which i.5 electric-ally powered and activated, is connected by wires 8 to a vibrat-ing device 10 placed under the pillow of a bed 12 nearby.
As presently conceived, the electrical signal employed in the alarm clock (or a telephone or smoke detector) to activate and power the bell or buxzer will be picked up and transmitted by the wires 8 to the vibrating alarm 10 which, upon activation by the electrical signal, will set up a vibratory motion by means of an oscillating weight or lever which will cause the device to vibrate. This vibration under the pillow of a person sleeping will be sufficient to awake or alert them even through they are able to hear an audible dial or buzzer, or read a~visual signal, and even when they are not wearing a hearing aid.
The vibrating device 10 might be made in a variety of conventional ways such as illustrated i.n.Figure 2 in which : a lever is pivoted at 14 and has a weight 16 on the opposite end. The lever is biased in one direction by a spring such as : 18 against which the lever can be swung in the opposite direction by means of an electrical-magnetic coil 20. Thus, an alternating or intermittent electrical signal to~.~the electrical~magnetic -~ device will cause the lever and the attached weight to swing back and forth and by virtue of the mass of the weight 16 will set up a vibration in the device which can be detected by the sense of touch of a person who is not able to hear an audible signal.
Alternatively,. a device such as illustrated at Figure 3 shows a magnetic core 22 positioned within the coils of an electrical w:inding 24 which will cau.se the maynet to be thrust in one direction when current is passed through the winding of the coil. By alternating the current or by using a spring biased means 26 such as in Figure 2, the magnetic core which has a certain weight may be made to travel back and forth~
: setting up an oscillating or.vibratory motion within the device illustrated.
~ 12.~,9~S
The vibratory device may have its own batter~v to provide the activating power to cause the oscillating motion and would thus rely only on a signal to activate it. On the other hand, it may use the power generated by the signal source such as a clock or telephone to provide the activating power to cause the emission of vibrations. The choice depends on the details of the design which can be readily arrived at by anyone skilled in the trade. rr Where the device has its own battery power, it relies only on the transmission of-a signal from the original source such as the telephone or the clock to initiate the vibration when the alarm is set off or the telephone rings.
While the invention is presently conceived, it would be desirable if it were capable of being placed under a person's pillow, since this would leave the person free of any connection with the device, but would still maintain a certain contact between the vibratory source and the person's skin to effect the detection of the vibration. Other arrangements might be employed which would be more readily detectable. For instance, a device could be strapped to a person's wrist subject only to the limitation that the person would have to be connected by wires to the telephone or alarm clock creating some limit-ation and movement or discomfort therebyO
Conceivably, a more sophisticated and expensive device might be employed in which the vibratory or oscillating device would be covered by its power source and activated without a wire connection by means of a receiver capable of receiving audible signals such as a bell or buzzer and trans-forming them into an electrical signal to initiate and activate the vibratory device.
Whatever the details of the mechanism, a useful alarm device helpful to the deaf or hard of hearing may be constructed by providing a vibratory mechanism, such as illustrated herein, in which a mass is adapted to oscillate in response to some power means such as electrical stimulation of an electro-magnet to energize the vibratory mechanism. The power means energizing the vibratory mechanism may be responsive to a signal conveyed by signal transmission means such as an electrical wire from a detector means which is responsive to some predetermined condition such as a telephone call, smoke, fire or a pre-set time and alarm clock and capable of emitting a signal to activate the power means and energize the vibratory mechanism.
It will, of course, be recognized that many variations in the details of the design of such a device might be employed by those skilled in the art without departing from the inventive concept of this invention~
.
Many devices of common everyday household usage depend on a signal to alert the owner or user to respond to its functioning. For instance, people rely on an audible bell to notify them o~ a-call on the telephone; smoke detectors sound an audible sound when they detect fire or combustion;
and alarm clocks use the noise o~ a bell or buzzer to awake people from sleep at a pre-set time.
As common and reliable as these ~evices are for most people, they are almost useless to people who are deaf or hard of hearing since the signal designed for people of average hearing cannot be heard by these people. In fact, reliance on the audible signal device is so much taken for granted that the failure of deaf people to respond to them is a largely unforeseen danger and handicap~
Visual signals are not commonly found and are a limited improvement since they require that the owner or would be recipient of the signal be awake and be able to constantl~
vasually check the device for the expected s1gnal.
It is therefore the object of this inventio~ to provide an alarm or signal device which may be activated by a telephone, clock, smoke detector or similar device, but which will alert people who cannot hear the usual type of auditory signal such as a bell or buzzer.
In the course of arriving at this invention, I have discovered that such alarms or signals can generally be detected by the hard of hearing by means of the vibrations which are usually associated with such devices. Thus, partially deaf persons (some of whom are able to use telephone by virtue of a special hearing aid adapted to their phones) may detect a telephone ring by touching it with their hands. This, however, requires that they anticipate a phone call and wait for it with their hand on the telephone. This is an inconvenience at best and mainly ineffective and totally inapplicable to alarm clocks and smoke de~ectors. It certainly is not a satisfactory solution when a person is sleeping.
I have discovered, however, that deaf or partially deaf people can detect vibrations and in some cases develop a highly acute sense for detecting this Eorm of stimula on which they must rely.
I have further conceived that vibrations caused by bell-like devices such as are activated by a telephone or alarm clock, if activated under a person's pillow,~will enable them to detect the alarm or telephone call even at night when wearing a hearing air is impossible or undesirable and when visual signals are of no useO
Since many devices such as telephones, electric cloc~s and smoke detectors are run on or activated by electrical signals, it is possible to use the electrical signal to trigger or activate a detectable vibration signal in a device placed under a person's pillow or against their wrist.
Thus, alarms or signals which are normally audible to most people can he made detectable by people who are deaf or partially deaf by means of this inventlon-in which an alarm signal device comprising means adapted to emit vibrations, means to power said vibration emission means, a source of ?45 alarm signal; means conveying said alarm signal to said vibratory device to trigger the activation of same. Thus, in accordance with this invention, a telephone or alar~ clock may be connected by means of electric wires which convey an electrical impulse upon activation of the telephone or the alarm so that this impulse may activate the vibratory emission device. Such vibratory device might be placed ~or instance under a person's pillow or taped to their wrist.
The nature of this invention will be better understood by the following description of one embodiment with reference to the drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a pictorial schematic representation of an embodiment of the present invention in which an alarm clock is a source of signal transmitted by wires to a vibratory device under a person's pillow;
Figure ~ illustrates one type of oscillatory device which could be used to emit vibrations; and Figure 3 illustrates an alternative device which 2a may be used to emit vibrations.
In Figure 1/ an electric alarm clock is illustrated at 2 which is plugged into outlet 4 by a cord 6 in a conventional way. Within the clock, not illustrated, as is commonly found, there is timing device adapted to activate a bell or buzzer when the time set on the alarm control is reached. In accord-ance with this invention, the alarm mechanism, which i.5 electric-ally powered and activated, is connected by wires 8 to a vibrat-ing device 10 placed under the pillow of a bed 12 nearby.
As presently conceived, the electrical signal employed in the alarm clock (or a telephone or smoke detector) to activate and power the bell or buxzer will be picked up and transmitted by the wires 8 to the vibrating alarm 10 which, upon activation by the electrical signal, will set up a vibratory motion by means of an oscillating weight or lever which will cause the device to vibrate. This vibration under the pillow of a person sleeping will be sufficient to awake or alert them even through they are able to hear an audible dial or buzzer, or read a~visual signal, and even when they are not wearing a hearing aid.
The vibrating device 10 might be made in a variety of conventional ways such as illustrated i.n.Figure 2 in which : a lever is pivoted at 14 and has a weight 16 on the opposite end. The lever is biased in one direction by a spring such as : 18 against which the lever can be swung in the opposite direction by means of an electrical-magnetic coil 20. Thus, an alternating or intermittent electrical signal to~.~the electrical~magnetic -~ device will cause the lever and the attached weight to swing back and forth and by virtue of the mass of the weight 16 will set up a vibration in the device which can be detected by the sense of touch of a person who is not able to hear an audible signal.
Alternatively,. a device such as illustrated at Figure 3 shows a magnetic core 22 positioned within the coils of an electrical w:inding 24 which will cau.se the maynet to be thrust in one direction when current is passed through the winding of the coil. By alternating the current or by using a spring biased means 26 such as in Figure 2, the magnetic core which has a certain weight may be made to travel back and forth~
: setting up an oscillating or.vibratory motion within the device illustrated.
~ 12.~,9~S
The vibratory device may have its own batter~v to provide the activating power to cause the oscillating motion and would thus rely only on a signal to activate it. On the other hand, it may use the power generated by the signal source such as a clock or telephone to provide the activating power to cause the emission of vibrations. The choice depends on the details of the design which can be readily arrived at by anyone skilled in the trade. rr Where the device has its own battery power, it relies only on the transmission of-a signal from the original source such as the telephone or the clock to initiate the vibration when the alarm is set off or the telephone rings.
While the invention is presently conceived, it would be desirable if it were capable of being placed under a person's pillow, since this would leave the person free of any connection with the device, but would still maintain a certain contact between the vibratory source and the person's skin to effect the detection of the vibration. Other arrangements might be employed which would be more readily detectable. For instance, a device could be strapped to a person's wrist subject only to the limitation that the person would have to be connected by wires to the telephone or alarm clock creating some limit-ation and movement or discomfort therebyO
Conceivably, a more sophisticated and expensive device might be employed in which the vibratory or oscillating device would be covered by its power source and activated without a wire connection by means of a receiver capable of receiving audible signals such as a bell or buzzer and trans-forming them into an electrical signal to initiate and activate the vibratory device.
Whatever the details of the mechanism, a useful alarm device helpful to the deaf or hard of hearing may be constructed by providing a vibratory mechanism, such as illustrated herein, in which a mass is adapted to oscillate in response to some power means such as electrical stimulation of an electro-magnet to energize the vibratory mechanism. The power means energizing the vibratory mechanism may be responsive to a signal conveyed by signal transmission means such as an electrical wire from a detector means which is responsive to some predetermined condition such as a telephone call, smoke, fire or a pre-set time and alarm clock and capable of emitting a signal to activate the power means and energize the vibratory mechanism.
It will, of course, be recognized that many variations in the details of the design of such a device might be employed by those skilled in the art without departing from the inventive concept of this invention~
.
Claims (6)
1. An alarm device for the hard of hearing comprising a vibratory mechanism capable of non-auditory vibratory motion when energized, power means effective to energize said vibratory mechanism in response to a signal, detector means responsive to a predetermined condition and capable of emitting the signal in response thereto, signal transmission means adapted to transmit said signal from said detector to said power means to activate said power means and to energize said vibratory mechanism, said vibratory mechanism being adapted to produce a vibratory motion detectable by the human sense of touch and adapted to transmit same to the anatomy of a person.
2. The invention as claimed in claim 1 in which said vibratory mechanism comprises a mass adapted to oscillate in response to power means which comprises electrical stimulation of an electro-magnet, and said signal transmission means comprises electrically conductive wire.
3. The invention as claimed in claim 2 in which said vibratory mechanism is adapted to rest beneath a pillow, and the vibratory motion thereof is transmitted therethrough.
4. The invention as claimed in claim 2 in which said vibratory mechanism is adapted to be attached adjacent to the body of a person.
5. The invention as claimed in claims 1, 2 and 3 in which said detector is one of an alarm clock, a smoke detector, a fire alarm, a telephone.
6. The invention as claimed in claim 4 in which said detector is one of an alarm clock, a smoke detector, a fire alarm, a telephone.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA330,137A CA1123945A (en) | 1979-06-19 | 1979-06-19 | Vibration alarm device |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA330,137A CA1123945A (en) | 1979-06-19 | 1979-06-19 | Vibration alarm device |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1123945A true CA1123945A (en) | 1982-05-18 |
Family
ID=4114499
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA330,137A Expired CA1123945A (en) | 1979-06-19 | 1979-06-19 | Vibration alarm device |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1123945A (en) |
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP0318637A2 (en) * | 1987-12-02 | 1989-06-07 | VDO Adolf Schindling AG | Transmitter |
| EP2444945A1 (en) | 2010-10-20 | 2012-04-25 | Bellman & Symfon Europe AB | Alerting system and method for hard of hearing or deaf people |
| CN105225390A (en) * | 2015-10-30 | 2016-01-06 | 宁波赛特威尔电子有限公司 | A kind of electronic alarm system |
-
1979
- 1979-06-19 CA CA330,137A patent/CA1123945A/en not_active Expired
Cited By (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP0318637A2 (en) * | 1987-12-02 | 1989-06-07 | VDO Adolf Schindling AG | Transmitter |
| EP0318637A3 (en) * | 1987-12-02 | 1989-11-15 | VDO Adolf Schindling AG | Transmitter |
| EP2444945A1 (en) | 2010-10-20 | 2012-04-25 | Bellman & Symfon Europe AB | Alerting system and method for hard of hearing or deaf people |
| CN105225390A (en) * | 2015-10-30 | 2016-01-06 | 宁波赛特威尔电子有限公司 | A kind of electronic alarm system |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEX | Expiry |