1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to acoustical intensifying horns, and more specifically to disposable cups or receptacles that are readily converted to megaphones.
2. Description of the Related art
At many diverse public events, such as political rallies, religious gatherings, award ceremonies, and entertainment events, audience participation is important to the success of the event. Through their participation, the audience can provide an ambiance conducive to a superior presentation. Furthermore, in entertainment, audience involvement is often closely related to the entertainment value. This ambiance may actually stimulate the performers to a better performance.
At sporting events, the audience encourages their favorite players or teams by shouting or chanting. This participation adds greatly to the event, and is often encouraged. In particular, at football games, basketball games, and other similar events, cheerleaders may actively direct the audience in cheers. These cheers help motivate the teams to perform at their very best level.
Nevertheless, when the size of the audience increases, each individual voice becomes harder to hear, and audience members often shout until they become hoarse or lose their voice. While each individual audience member is shouting, due to the lack of directional nature of the shout, surrounding audience members are often exposed to sounds of far greater magnitude than the performers. While this uproar is a part of the ambiance, it is also desirable for audience members to be able to focus sound more directly to the performers. Fans cup their hands to help provide direction to the voice, but the amount of improvement attained is minimal.
There are a number of devices which have been designed to help a person to focus and amplify the human voice, known as megaphones. An example of a megaphone is found in U.S. design Pat. No. 271,968 by Segan et al. Unfortunately, megaphones that include electronic amplification of the voice produce sounds deafening to adjacent audience members and so are unacceptable for use in an audience. Because the events are also frequently crowded with audience members, there is also insufficient space to set the horns down when they are not in use.
A number of horns have been designed that use only mechanical shapes to focus sound waves from the human voice and thereby provide directional amplification. These horns provide much advantage over cupping one's hands, while still not creating a deafening volume level. Nevertheless, these horns suffer from the drawbacks of requiring transport into and out of the event, and space to be set down when not in use.
Several inventors have proposed combining the megaphone into other devices, such as food and beverage receptacles, that are also commonly found at the public events. By combining the megaphone with food and beverage receptacles, the megaphone need not take up any additional space which would otherwise be reserved for the audience. Vail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,066 and Des. Pat. No. 283,772; Muller et al in U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,363; and Everson in Des. Pat. No. 275,438 each illustrate combined drinking cups and megaphones. Nevertheless, these devices have not gained wide acceptance at public events. One issue, related more to the event security, is the uncontrolled nature of the beverages or liquids which may be brought into the event. Another issue, related to the financial success of events, is the potential loss of revenue by the concessionaires. Yet another issue arises from individuals within the audience, who are required to transport the container into and out of the event, and then clean and store the container until needed again at some future date. Unfortunately, all too often the container remains unwashed in a vehicle trunk, prone to growth of very unpleasant microorganisms and infestations.
Mueller, III in U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,012 attempts to address several of these issues by illustrating a convertible megaphone and beverage cup holder. The Mueller device takes the form of a reuseable wrap which may hold a beverage cup, act as a megaphone, and then be laid flat when not in use. Since the Mueller construction adds materials and expenses without providing the actual functionality of a cup, the Mueller construction is designed for re-use and still requires undesirable storage and transport to and from the event.
Several alternative receptacles have been devised to provide the benefit of a megaphone without the attendant disadvantage of transport into and out of the event, and storage until the next event. Wheeler in U.S. Pat. No. 2,507,843 illustrates a popcorn or peanut holder folded from paper or cardboard stock. This food container has a perforation near the frustoconical tip which allows a person to tear off the tip, thereby converting the container to a megaphone. Similarly, Smith in U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,795 describes a frustoconical paperboard container for popcorn or peanuts, which, after the food is consumed, may be folded back to a megaphone construction. While both the Wheeler and Smith devices offer much simplicity, audience members do not always indulge in dry food. In fact, most frequently when food is purchased, beverages are also. However, the opposite is not true--many people purchase beverages without purchasing food products. Furthermore, at many events ice cream, snow cones and other frozen food is sold and is prone to melting, thereby requiring a liquid tight container. Therefore, the Wheeler and Smith inventions will not serve the greatest numbers of audience.
DeBoer addresses a number of the aforementioned limitations by disclosing in U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,218 a resin impregnated or thermoplastic cup. Due to the plastic content, the cup is liquid impervious. A small fracture line is provided in the bottom which allows a person to remove the bottom and convert the cup into a megaphone. Unfortunately, DeBoer's fracture line requires the use of high resin content, formed by blow-molding or injection molding. This type of cup is not biodegradable, and is somewhat more expensive than a similar paper cup. In addition, plastic containers frequently are more expensive and difficult to print to, and the fracture line is relatively difficult to control and initiate.
In addition to the aforementioned patent documents, many additional patents illustrate the construction of paper receptacles more generally. Among these are Poole et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,000; Sanz et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,431; and Howes in U.S. Pat No. 5,076,433. Each of the aforementioned patents are incorporated herein by reference for their respective teachings.