GB2498567A

GB2498567A - Cover for an electronic device

Info

Publication number: GB2498567A
Application number: GB201200996A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David John Madden
Original assignee: LAZERBUILT Ltd
Current assignee: LAZERBUILT Ltd
Priority date: 2012-01-20
Filing date: 2012-01-20
Publication date: 2013-07-24
Also published as: GB201200996D0

Abstract

A cover 100, suitable for an electronic device such as a tablet computer or a phone, comprises a circularly knitted outer envelope 1 and a microfibre inner envelope 2 which has a polishing/cleaning effect on a device when it is inserted or removed from the cover 100. A stiffening member 6 is preferably located between the envelopes 1, 2 to provide physical protection for the device. The inner envelope 2 may be replaced by two panels of microfibre material having the same polishing/cleaning effect. The stiffening member 6 may have a plurality of longitudinal ribs 7 formed thereon. Optionally the outer envelope 1 comprises an inner layer and an outer layer of knitted material which is preferably formed from a single tubular section of inverted knitted material.

Description

COVER FOR AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE

This invention relates to covers for electronic devices.

Examples of such devices are mobile telephones, music players of various kinds, including MP3 players, personal digital assistants (PDAsJ, tablet computers, digital cameras, portable gaming devices etc. Many such devices have display screens which are often touch-sensitive.

WO-A-2004/05623l discloses a knitted cover for a delicate object, for example a mobile telephone. The cover may have an interior lining, specifically stated to have a protective cushioning, humidifying or non-slip effect.

GB-A-2450474 discloses a knitted cover for an electronic device, the cover having a microfibre lining which has a polishing/cleaning effect upon movement of a device relative thereto.

Whilst the knitted covers referred to above are convenient and attractive in use, they have shortcomings as regards the protection they afford devices with which they are used.

The present invention provides a cover for an electronic device, the cover comprising an outer envelope of knitted resiliently stretchable flexible material defining an interior space to receive the device and having an opening through which the device can be introduced into the interior space, at least a portion of the surface of the interior space being formed from a microfibre lining material which has a polishing and/or cleaning effect on the device upon movement of the device relative thereto, a stiffening member being located between the microfibre lining material and a portion of the outer envelope over which the microfibre lining material extends.

The cover of the present invention therefore provides enhanced protection against physical shocks for a device received in the cover. The protection is advantageously provided for a display screen part of a device.

Conveniently, the stiffening member is of plastics material, such material being inexpensive, water-proof and easy to mould in high volume.

Advantageously, the stiffening member is ribbed, to provide increased resistance to bending of the stiffening member in one direction, i.e. on an axis substantially orthogonal to the ribs.

The ribs preferably extend in the direction of reception of a device into the interior space, allowing smooth, uninhibited insertion of an object (e.g. electronic device) into the cover.

Advantageously, the stiffening member is arcuate in section transverse to the direction of reception of a device into the interior space, enabling the stiffening member to conform closely to a curved outer surface of an object placed within the cover.

Preferably, the micro! ibre material is a fabric formed from fibres or filaments of one denier 10.1111 tex)or less.

In other words, 9000m of such fibres or filaments have a mass of 1 gram or less. Such fabric has superior cleaning properties.

Preferably the fabric of the microfibre material is warp knitted. All warp-knitted fabrics are resistant to runs and relatively easy to sew by machine.

The fibres or filaments from which the fabric of the microfibre material is formed are preferably composed of an 80%/20% blend of polyester and polyaznide. Advantageously, the fibres or filaments are of triangular cross-section and consist of a polyamide core and a polyester overlayer, such a composition providing fibres having improved cleaning properties and resistance to soiling.

Advantageously, the outer envelope is knitted, preferably by circular knitting, to minimise the number of required seams or joining of pieces of fabric. Circular knitting allows production of a continuous tube of material that can be cut into pieces, each piece for a respective cover in a production process for producing many such covers, thereby reducing manufacturing cost.

Conveniently, an inner envelope of microfibre material which is located in the interior space provides the said polishing and/or cleaning effectS Advantageously, the inner envelope is pleated and/or of resiliently stretchable material, thereby providing an inner envelope which is elastic and therefore capable of conforming closely against an object within it.

in other embodiments the cover includes at least one panel of microfibre material extending over at least part of the surface of the interior space to provide the said polishing and/or cleaning effect. This results in less microfibre material being used to manufacture the cover, whilst still providing the desired cleaning function.

Preferably, a respective panel of microfibre material extends over at least part of each of two confronting major surfaces of the outer envelope. This provides cleaning of a particular portion of the surface of an object placed within the cover, whichever way round the object is inserted into the cover. For example, a display screen of a mobile phone or music player will be reliably cleaned in this way.

Conveniently, the panel(sJ extend over substantially all of the surface of the interior space. This ensures that at least a major portion of the object's surface is cleaned.

Advantageously, the panel(s) is/are pleated and/or of resiliently stretchable material, to allow them to conform closely against the surface of the object placed within the cover.

Preferably, the cover is of a generally rectangular shape and has its opening extending along one of its shorter sides.

Advantageously, the outer envelope is formed from a resiliently stretchable material to provide a snug fit around a device received in the interior space. This provides improved frictional grip between the cover and an object placed within it, helping to prevent dislodging of the object out from the cover.

Preferably, the outer envelope comprises an inner layer and an outer layer of knitted material, this configuration providing extra protection of an item within the cover against shock, pressure or impact. Such a double layer has a further advantage that it can accommodate a stiffening member between the two layers, as will be described further below.

Advantageously, the outer envelope is formed from a single tubular section of inverted knitted material. To achieve this, one end of the tubular section can be fed towards the remainder of the tubular section and within it thereby inverting a portion of the tubular section within another portion thereof. Preferably the knitted material is circularly-knitted.

Preferably, after such inversion, the two ends of the tubular section are adjacent to each other and are attached together e.g. by sewing. This makes manufacturing of the cover easier in that the inner end (of the inner layer) should be fixed to the outer layer otherwise it could move down inside the outer layer, and sewing is made easier if the ends are adjacent to each other. Another advantage is that extra cushioning and elastic grip force are provided along the whole length of the double-layer outer envelope.

Preferably, the stiffening member is located between the inner layer and an outer layer of knitted material, this configuration providing further protection for an item enclosed by the cover due to the resilience of the stiffening member providing mechanical shielding of the enclosed item.

An advantage of locating the stiffening member between the inner and outer layers of knitted material is that the two knitted layers are relatively robust (more robust than the microfibre material) and are therefore suitable for locating the stiffener which is made of relatively rigid material.

Another advantage is that the inner layer of knitted material serves as padding or cushioning between the stiffening member and any item (e.g. mobile phone) held within the cover, thus holding the microfibre material against the item with a more even pressure distribution and providing better contact between the microfibre material and the item, which improves both the cleaning function and the holding function provided by the microfibre material.

The stiffening menter is, by means of its location between the two layers, well isolated from a user and from an external surface (e.g. a table top or chair) and from the enclosed/received item or device, by cushioning layers in the form of the knitted layers. The microfibre material or lining (inner envelope 2) may be relatively thin and flimsy and therefore less suitable for properly locating the 5tiffener or for providing protection of the item against contact with objects outside the cover.

Optionally, the microfibre lining is preferably attached inside the double thickness of knitted material, so that the microfibre lining cannot be pulled out from the outer envelope when the item held in the cover is removed from the cover.

Typically this nticrofibre lining is sewn inside the double thickness of knitted material to provide an easy attachment, and possibly providing a more reliable attachment method than other attachment methods e.g. gluing.

Preferably, the cover includes means for at least partially closing the opening.

Conveniently, the closing means comprises an elasticated portion of the outer envelope extending around the opening.

Alternatively, the closing means comprises a drawstring extending around the opening.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the drawings of this

specification. In the drawings:

figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a cover according to the invention, shown somewhat schematically, figure 2 is a sectional view on the line 11-11 of figure 1.

figure 3 is a view corresponding to figure 1 of another cover according to the invention, figure 4 is a sectional view on the line IV-IV of figure figure 5 is a perspective view of a stiffening member of the covers of figures 1 to 4 shown separately from the covers, and figure 6 is a sectional view of a cover comprising a stiffening member located between an inner layer and an outer layer of knitted material.

The cover shown in figure 1 has an outer envelope 1 and an inner envelope 2. Each is generally rectangular in plan as seen in figure 1 and has an open mouth 3, 4. The envelopes are joined together around the mouths, for example by stitching (not shown). Both envelopes taper towards their respective mouths, the outer envelope the more so to provide a slanting shoulder 5 as can be seen in figure 1. The slanting shoulder 5 can be formed by elastication of the knitted material, for example by incorporation of elastic threads.

The elasticated shoulder serves to retain an electronic device in the cover.

Instead of or in addition to the elastication, the shoulder may be fitted with a drawstring which may be long enough to act as a neck or wrist loop. The drawstring may be partially external, for decorative effect.

As an alternative to elastication, one or more press-studs (for example a press-stud type tab which fastens over the opening), or one or more inter-engaging touch-and--close fasteners are employed in other embodiments. A suitable touch-and-close fastener can be for example a magnetic fastener or a hook-and-loop closure such as Velcro(TM). A fold-over tab may be included as a projection on the outer envelope, the tab having a mating fastener on it to mate with an opposing fastener on another part of the outer envelope.

The tab may be formed as a projecting part of the outer envelope that projects outwards from the opening of the cover.

In other embodiments, the elastication and the closure means may be dispensed with altogether and the resilience of the outer envelope relied upon instead to retain the device in the cover.

Put another way, the elastication is optional for these embodiments at least because the grip' or holding force provided by contact between the cover/sock and the item received by the cover is sufficient to hold the item (e.g. mobile phone or other electronic device) in place within the cover.

As will be evident from figure 2, the cover has the shape of a rather elongate ellipse in transverse section.

The outer envelope 1 is knitted, for example from cotton, wool, elastane or polyamide yarn, or a yarn comprising one or more of these. In this particular embodiment, the knitting is circular so the envelope is a continuous tube without longitudinal seams. Alternatively, the envelope may be formed by folding a single piece of material and thereby have two seams, either both side seams or one a side seam and one an end seam. In other alternatives, the envelope is formed from two or more pieces of knitted material joined by appropriate sewn seams.

One particular advantage of the knitted construction described is that it facilitates the formation of articles having bright and varied colours, attractive colours and distinctive markings.

The inner envelope 2 is formed from a microfibre material, in this case a fabric which is warp knitted from fibres which are formed from filaments which are an BO%/20% blend of polyester and polyaiuide and have a linear mass density of 1 denier or less. The inner envelope is formed by folding a single piece of material in half and joining the folded halves together by sewing along one longitudinal side edge and at the end opposite the mouth. In other embodiments, the inner envelope 2 is formed from two or more pieces joined together by sewing.

The cover shown in figures 1 and 2 consists further of a stiffening member 6 which is shown separately from the cover in figure 5 of the drawings. The location of the stiffening member 6 is shown in dashed lines in figure 1 of the drawings and in section in figure 2.

Referring now to figure 5, the stiffening member 6 is a rectangular piece of plastics material, for example acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) or thermoplastic polyurethane (TN)) of suitable thickness and dimensions in plan to suit those of the cover. The dimensions in plan are conveniently approximately those of the device to be received by the cover.

The stiffening member has a shallow arcuate shape in section and is formed with series of longitudinal ribs 7, as shown in figure 5. The ribs 7 serve to strengthen the stiffening member 6, particularly against bending transverse to the direction in which the ribs extend. Although three ribs 7 are shown in figure 5, a smaller or larger number may be provided according to the degree of stiffness or flexibility required. Figure 1 shows six ribs.

As can be seen in figures 1 and 2, the stiffening member 6 is located between the outer and inner envelopes 1, 2 and is secured between the outer and inner envelopes 1, 2. In one embodiment the stiffening member is dimensioned to fill the space allocated to it, thus avoiding any need to fix the stiffening member in place. In another embodiment glue may be used to fix the stiffening member to the knitted material of the cover or sock. In another embodiment, the stiffening member may be sewn in place by stitching or stapling, thus providing possibly a more reliable or more permanent fixing.

The cover shown in figures 3 and 4 has an outer envelope Identical to that shown in figures 1 and 2. The cover differs from that of figures 1 and 2 in that the inner envelope 2 of figure 1 is replaced in figures 3 and 4 by two rectangular panels 12a, 12b, of the microfibre material. The panels 12a, 12b are secured to the inner surfaces of the outer envelope 10 by adhesive (not shown). They could be sewn instead, or in addition. If the outer envelope 10 is formed by circular knitting, the envelope may be inverted (i. . a turned inside-out) e.g. during manufacture, to facilitate attachment of the panels 12a, l2b. Clearly, although manufacture of the cover in a factory is preferred, the cover may be provided as a kit including the panels 12a, 12b separately and the panels can be secured to the outer envelope by a user The cover shown in figures 3 and 4 also includes a stiffening member 16 which is substantially identical to the stiffening member 6 of figure 1 and is located between the panel 12a and the adjacent Inner surface of the outer envelope 10.

Figure 6 shows a cover 600 comprising an outer envelope comprising a double thickness of knitted material forming an inner layer 1A and an outer layer 18. Also shown is an inner envelope 2, which preferably comprises microfibre material. A stiffening member 6 is located between the inner layer 1A and outer layer 18.

It should be understood that although the presence of the stiffening member is preferred, in situations in which the cover may provide adequate protection without the stiffening member, the outer envelope 1 may still comprise a double thickness 1A, 19 of knitted material forming an inner layer 1A and an outer layer 18, but the stiffening member may be absent.

The outer envelope comprises a double thickness of knitted material that is formed from a single tubular section of knitted material (preferably circularly-knitted). To achieve this, one end of the tubular section is fed towards the remainder of the tubular section and within it thereby inverting a portion of the tubular section within another portion thereof. This method results in two layers, one inside the other and continuous with one another at a common end (i.e. looped).

According to an embodiment, after such inversion, the two open ends of the tubular section are adjacent to each other, facing in the same direction, and are attached together e.g. by sewing.

Use of the covers described in conjunction with an electronic device will now be described. The device, in this case a mobile telephone dimensioned to fit in the interior space, is introduced into the interior space, the material of the outer envelope 1, 10 preferably stretching during the process. The stretching of the cover over the object results in the microfibre lining 2, 12a, 12b having a polishing and cleaning effect on the device, with the result that any unsightly smears or marks are removed. The same effect is achieved on removal of the device. Further, manipulation or movement of the cover relative to the device will have a similar effect.

Furthermore, the stiffening member 6, 16 provides a considerable degree of physical protection for a device contained in the cover. Advantageously, the stiffening member 6, 16 is located so as to provide particular protection for the part of a device which comprises a display screen.

In a modification of either embodiment described, the inner envelope is pleated and/or formed from resiliently stretchable material.

In a further modification of either embodiment, a second stiffening member 6 or 16 is located between the inner surface of the outer envelope 1, 10 and the outer surface of the inner envelope 2, 12 at the opposite side of the cover.

Claims

<claim-text>CLAIMS: 1. A cover for an electronic device, the cover comprising an outer envelope of knitted resiliently stretchable flexible material defining an interior space to receive the device and having an opening through which the device can be introduced into the interior space, at least a portion of the surface of the interior space being formed from a microfibre lining material which has a polishing and/or cleaning effect on the device upon movement of the device relative thereto, a stiffening member being located between the microfibre lining material and a portion of the outer envelope over which the microfibre lining material extends.</claim-text> <claim-text>2. A cover according to claim 1, in which the stiffening member is of plastics material.</claim-text> <claim-text>3. cover according to claim 1 or 2, in which the stiffening member is ribbed.</claim-text> <claim-text>4. A cover according to claim 3, in which the ribs extend in the direction of reception of a device into the interior space.</claim-text> <claim-text>5. A cover according to any of claims 1 to 4, in which the stiffening member is arcuate in section transverse to the direction of reception of a device into the interior space.</claim-text> <claim-text>6. A cover according to any preceding claim, in which the microfibre material is a fabric formed from filaments of one denier or less.</claim-text> <claim-text>7. A cover according to any preceding claim, in which the microfibre material is fabric formed from filaments or fibres which are composed of an 80% / 20% blend of polyester and polyamide.</claim-text> <claim-text>8. A cover according to any preceding claim, in which the outer envelope is formed by circular knitting.</claim-text> <claim-text>9. A cover according to any preceding claim, in which the lining material is provided by an inner envelope of microfibre material which is located in the interior space and provides the said polishing and/or cleaning effect.</claim-text> <claim-text>10. A cover according to any preceding claim, in which the microfibre material is pleated.</claim-text> <claim-text>11. A cover according to any preceding claim, in which the microfibre material comprises resiliently stretchable material.</claim-text> <claim-text>12. A cover according to any one of claims I to 8, including at least one panel of microfibre material extending over at least part of the surface of the interior space to provide the said polishing and/or cleaning effect.</claim-text> <claim-text>13. A cover according to claim 12, in which a respective panel of microfibre material extends over at least part of each of two confronting major surfaces of the outer envelope.</claim-text> <claim-text>14. A cover according to claim 12 or 13, in which the panel(s) extend over substantially all of the surface of the interior space.</claim-text> <claim-text>15. A cover according to any of claims 12 to 14, in which the panel(s) is/are pleated and/or of resiliently stretchable material.</claim-text> <claim-text>16. A cover according to any preceding claim, which is of a generally rectangular shape and has its opening extending along one of its shorter sides.</claim-text> <claim-text>17. A cover according to any preceding claim, including closing means for at least partially closing the opening.</claim-text> <claim-text>18. A cover according to claim 17, in which the closing means comprises an elasticated portion of the outer envelope extending around the opening.</claim-text> <claim-text>19. A cover according to claim 17, In which the closing means comprises a drawstring extending around the opening.</claim-text> <claim-text>20. A cover according to any preceding claim, wherein contact between the surface of the interior space and the device provides a holding force sufficient to hold the device in place within the cover.</claim-text> <claim-text>21. A cover according to any preceding claim, wherein the outer envelope comprises an inner layer and an outer layer of knitted material.</claim-text> <claim-text>22. A cover according to claim 21, the outer envelope is formed from a single tubular section of inverted knitted material.</claim-text> <claim-text>23. A cover according to claim 22, wherein the two ends of the tubular section are adjacent to each other and are attached together.</claim-text> <claim-text>24. A cover according to any one of claims 21 to 23, wherein the stiffening member is located between the inner and outer layers of knitted material.</claim-text> <claim-text>25. A cover according to any one of claims 21 to 23, wherein the cover does not comprise the stiffening member.</claim-text> <claim-text>26. A cover for an electronic device, the cover being substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings.</claim-text>