Patent Review: Rotary Transducer with Improved High-Frequency Output

This article examines an important patent filed in 2014 by F. Bruce Thigpen (Tallahassee, FL) and granted in June 2016. Appearing both as the inventor and assignee, Thigpen describes a rotary sound transducer having an improved output at higher frequencies. Thigpen has been working on this type of device for more than a decade and has advanced what was already a very difficult engineering achievement, to a more sophisticated structure that apparently raises the general performance and high frequency limits beyond what was thought possible with this architecture. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, July 2017.

Following a recent exchange with loudspeaker designer and inventor John J. Gaudreault, we decided to revisit the very original Planar-Pivot (Planot) Transducer, and make available the two related articles that were published by Voice Coil in its May 2011 edition, and the respective Patent Review by James Croft published in the August edition of that same year. Hoping this will inspire some commercial implementations of this interesting concept, available for licensing.

This edition focuses on Adhesive Joints and Cone Treatments and includes a special report on the latest new material options available and an updated directory of Adhesives, Coatings, and Sealant Providers. In our Spotlight article, Dan Knighten discusses the “Practical Measurement of Bluetooth and Lightning Headphones,” and in Test Bench, Vance Dickason discusses the new B&C Speakers DE990TN compression driver and Wavecor’s new SW168WA01 6.5” woofer. That and much more now available.