EP0504359B1

EP0504359B1 - A protective jacket, in particular for remote control units for televisions, video recorders and other instruments for personal and professional use

Info

Publication number: EP0504359B1
Application number: EP91917742A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Loris Meliconi
Original assignee: MELICONI SpA
Current assignee: Meliconi SpA
Priority date: 1990-10-16
Filing date: 1991-10-16
Publication date: 1996-02-21
Anticipated expiration: 2011-10-16
Also published as: ES2044823T1; DE69117278D1; ATE134456T1; EP0504359A1; IT9004915U1; IT9004915V0; ES2044823T3; WO1992007372A1; IT224920Z2

Abstract

A protective jacket, in particular for remote control units for televisions and video recorders, and other instruments such as telephones, calculators and alarm clocks, which jacket has an elastically deformable structure due to the presence of alternated thick antishock sections (1a) and elastically extendable thin sections (1b) of material; said jacket being able to house instruments of different shapes and dimensions thanks to its elastic capability.

Description

The invention relates to a protective anti-shock jacket for the protection of remote control units for televisions or video recorders, as well as for other instruments such as calculators, telephones, alarm clocks, measuring instruments etc.

Background Art.

The present invention is derived from a jacket already available on the market, produced and sold by the same Applicant, and known in Italy as the "guscio tv" ("tv shell"), object of the Italian Patent no. 1,208,461, and it is studied to overcome the limitations of the DE U 8905589, which is considered to represent the most relevant prior art, that discloses a protective jacket provided longitudinally only of thin sections with a certain transverse elasticity, only to facilitate the introduction of a corresponding remote control unit inside the jacket.

Disclosure of the Invention.

The aim of the present invention is to provide a jacket structured in such a way as to be considerably elastic so that it can be used to house units of differing sizes and shapes, while maintaining its antishock properties.
This aim has been attained by a protective jacket having the features of claim 1. The jacket is structured in such a way that sections of material of some considerable thickness, which provide the antishock function by being capable of absorbing the effect of shocks due to, for example, the instrument's being dropped, are alternated with sections of thinner and elastically extendable material, such that the said jacket is within its extension capacities, elastically extendable lenghtwise, widthwise and heightwise, in relation to the varying dimensions of the instruments to be protected.
The characteristics of the present jacket will better emerge from the description which follows, which is of some preferred embodiments here described in the form of non-limiting examples, and accompanied by the drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows the jacket in an isometric projection;
Figure 2 shows a section of the jacket of fig. 1, in enlarged scale;
Figures 3 and 4 show a possible embodiment of the jacket, and in particular fig. 4, in enlarged scale with respect to fig. 3, shows a particular arrangement of the elastically extendable sections;
Figure 5 shows an embodiment of the jacket in which the elastically extendable sections are exploited as in fig.4;
Figures 6, 7 and 8 show respectively the views from above, laterally and from below of a further embodiment in which a t.v. remote control unit is inserted;
Figures 9 and 10 show sections along axes IX and X respectively of the embodiment of figs. 6 to 8.

Substantially, the present jacket has the form of a case 1 into which a remote control unit 2 can be introduced, for example through an end opening 3 envisaged at one of the ends of the case 1. Said end opening 3 in conformity with Italian Patent no. 1,208,461 can be temporarily enlarged by elastic deformation of its perimeter edges, to allow the unit 2 to pass inside, and then to hold firm said unit 2 internally to prevent its accidentally sliding out.
Alternatively to the above, the unit 2 may be inserted into the jacket through the top opening 4 envisaged on the upper face 5 of the jacket, said top opening 4 obviously being of the opportune dimensions and as before with the end opening 3, the edges of the top opening 4 being temporarily able to enlarge by elastic deformation. In such a case, the end opening 3 may not be necessary at all, for example in the case of instruments such as calculators or measuring instruments. The end opening 3 will however be necessary in the protective jacket for remote control units, since the signals emanating from such units must pass out to the television or similar.
The case 1 can be realised by pressing in a foamed material, for example in polyeurethane. Other materials, however, may also be used in the pressing, such as rubber or anyway an elastomer.
The case 1 has, relative to its top and bottom and sides, a particular structure in which sections 1a of good thickness and able to absorb blows resulting from bumps or falls, thanks to the characteristics of the material used, are intercalated by thin very elastic sections 1b (see for example figs. 2 and 4).
With a structure of this kind, the case 1 is easily extendable lengthwise, widthwise and heightwise. The case 1 can thus be adapted to the shape of the remote control unit or instruments of varying dimensions and shapes, however staying within the extension capacities of the case 1.
The case 1 in the embodiment of figs. 3, 4 and 5 has said thin sections 1b, at least on its larger sides (ie. top and bottom), v- or bow-shaped between the thick sections 1a. Said thin sections 1b can also have a bow-shape in the extendable direction of the case of which they are part. A conformation of this kind is very effective for the envisaged aim.
The jacket, in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 5, can have its thick sections 1a concentrated around the edges of the said jacket, and the thin sections 1b arranged all over the surfaces of the sides of the case 1 and comprising a continuity of connected v-shapes forming an overall bellows-pattern. The sides of the case 1 can be open, as in fig.5, or closed. In this last case, the said closed sides have the same characteristics as the said thin sections 1b.
In figs. 6 to 10 an embodiment of the invention is illustrated in which the thick sections 1a, are concentrated around the edges and intermediate areas of the sides and of the bottom surface of the case 1 and are interconnected by thin sections 1b comprising straight elements with cylindrical or prismatic structure, arranged with their relative axial development according to the two extendable dimensions of the face of which they are part.
In this embodiment, the remote control unit 2 or the other instrument to be protected can be introduced through one of the end openings 3, usable also for the passage of the emitted signals, or through the top opening 4 envisaged on the top surface. On the bottom surface, battery hatches are easily reachable thanks to the spaces left uncovered by the case 1.

Claims

A protective jacket, in particular for products such as remote control units for televisions and video recorders and for other personal or professional instruments, wherein all the walls of the said jacket have thick sections (1a) able to absorb the effects due to bumps or falls, intercalated with elastically extendable thin section (1b) such that the said jacket is, within its extension capacities, elastically extendable lengthwise, widthwise and heightwise in relation to the varying dimensions of the instruments to be protected.
A protective jacket as in claim 1, wherein said thin sections (1b) have a v-or bow-shaped structure and develop in a bow shape or bellows shape in the respective direction of extension.
A protective jacket as in claim 1, wherein said thin sections 1b form a sort of elastically extendable bellows.
A protective jacket as in claim 1, wherein said thin sections 1b comprise straight elements with a cylindrical or prismatic structure, arranged with their relative axial elastic development according to the two extension dimensions of the wall of which said thin sections 1b are part.
A protective jacket as in claim 1, wherein said thick sections 1a are concentrated around the edges and intermediate areas of the side and lower face of the jacket itself.