Surface embedded collapsible support

• US 20030213886A1
• Filed: 05/14/2003
• Published: 11/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Jean Gilbert
• Original Assignee: Jean Gilbert
• Inventors: Gilbert, Jean
• Application Number:
  US10/437,023
• Publication Number:
  US 20030213886A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 248/454
• CPC Class Codes: A45C 11/00 Receptacles for purposes not provided for in groups A45C1/00-A45C9/00 specially adapted for toiletry or cosmetic equipment A45D29/20, A45D44/18; travelling sewing kits A45F3/48
• CPC Class Codes: A45C 2011/002 for portable handheld communication devices, e.g. mobile phone, pager, beeper, PDA, smart phone
• CPC Class Codes: A45F 5/00 Holders or carriers for hand articles; Holders or carriers for use while travelling or camping
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 23/044 only foldable
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/10 around a horizontal axis F16M11/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 13/005 integral with the apparatus or articles to be supported
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 2200/08 Foot or support base
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1607 Arrangements to support accessories mechanically attached to the display housing G06F1/1603, G06F1/1605 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/166 related to integrated arrangements for adjusting the position of the main body with respect to the supporting surface, e.g. legs for adjusting the tilt angle
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1633 Protecting arrangement for the entire housing of the computer

Abstract

A collapsible support allowing tilting or elevating an object and embedded into the object surface thus becoming an integral and complementary part of it. The support which is characterized by its thinness makes it appropriate for integration into small portable objects such as calculators and personal digital assistant and to objects having an articulated cover such as a ring binder or an agenda, without affecting significantly the physical properties of the objects such as its shape and its robustness nor its simplicity or manufacturing cost. It is made up of a rigid mobile part, that alternatively combines the roles of support and that of peripheral structure, and of a flexible band that are attached together and to the remainder of the peripheral structure of the object by three articulations. The support may be formed as an integral one-piece, one shot, injection molding of a plastics material.

Claims

1. A collapsible support allowing tilting or elevating an object, which is folded up and dissimulated into the surface of the object, comprising:

a rigid or semi-rigid generally plane and rectangular mobile part that serves as support and which, when the support is folded up, is embedded into the surface of the object to become part of it;

wherein the mobile part is attached to the object by an articulation located between a linear section of the contour of the mobile part and the corresponding linear section internal to the framework formed by the region where the mobile part is embedded, thus giving the mobile part a liberty of rotation around the articulation axis;

that rotation being limited in a direction by a flexible band whose end is attached to the mobile part by another articulation parallel to the preceding one, and whose other end is attached to another linear section internal to the framework by a third articulation parallel to the two preceding ones; and

that rotation being limited in the other direction by a physical constraint on which the mobile part come up against, thus limiting the rotation of the mobile part to an orientation making this mobile part coplanar to the surface of the object.

3. The collapsible support as claimed in 1 wherein the flexible band is made up of two rigid parts attached together by an articulation parallel to the three other articulations described in claim 1.

4. The collapsible support as claimed in 1 wherein the flexible band is made up of a rigid part and of a flexible material part attached together by an articulation parallel to the three other articulations described in claim 1.

2. The collapsible support as claimed in 1 wherein the flexible band is made up of a flexible material.

5. The collapsible support as claimed in 1 wherein the flexible band is dissimulated flatly under the mobile part when the support is folded.

6. The collapsible support as claimed in 1 wherein the mobile part internal face includes a notch sized to fit the flexible band when the support is folded.

7. The collapsible support as claimed in 1 wherein the flexible band is folded back up to the back of the object surface to maintain the collapsible support in its folded position.

8. The collapsible support as claimed in 7 wherein the back of the object surface includes a cavity sized to fit the flexible band.

9. The collapsible support as claimed in 1 integrated to the surface, to the case or to the lid of a calculator, a pocket computer, a portable audio device or a similar article.

10. The collapsible support as claimed in 1 integrated to the cover of a ring binder, an album, a book, a portfolio or a similar article having a rigid or semi-rigid articulated cover.

11. The collapsible support as claimed in 10 wherein the mobile part integrates the continuation of one or all the articulations of the cover.

12. The collapsible support as claimed in 11 wherein the flexible band is split vertically in two parts over the folding region of the cover.

13. The integration of a number of collapsible supports as claimed in 1 to a single object.

14. The collapsible support as claimed in 10 wherein the mobile part, the flexible band, its articulations and the object surface to which they are integrated are formed as an integral plastics molding.

15. The collapsible support as claimed in 14 wherein the plastics material is selected from the group offering the necessary flexibility and consisting of polypropylene and a copolymer of butadiene and styrene.

16. The collapsible support as claimed in 1 wherein printing or embossed information are displayed on the external surface of the mobile part.

17. The collapsible support as claimed in 1 wherein a small pocket being able to contain a paper sheet is attached to the external surface of the mobile part.

18. A collapsible support allowing tilting or elevating an object comprising:

a rigid or semi-rigid generally plane and rectangular mobile part that serves as support and which, when the support is folded up, settle flatly on the surface of the object;

wherein the mobile part is attached to the object by an articulation located between the mobile part and a generally rectangular extremity that sticks to the object surface, thus giving the mobile part a liberty of rotation around the articulation axis;

that rotation being limited in a direction by a flexible band whose end is attached to the mobile part by another articulation parallel to the preceding one, and whose other end is attached by a third articulation parallel to the two preceding ones to another generally rectangular extremity that sticks to the object surface; and

that rotation being limited in the other direction by the object surface.

20. The collapsible support as claimed in 18 wherein the flexible band is made up of two rigid parts attached together by an articulation parallel to the three other articulations described in claim 18.

21. The collapsible support as claimed in 18 wherein the flexible band is made up of a rigid part and of a flexible material part attached together by an articulation parallel to the three other articulations described in claim 18.

19. The collapsible support as claimed in 18 wherein the flexible band is made up of a flexible material.

22. The collapsible support as claimed in 18 wherein the flexible band is dissimulated flatly between the mobile part and the object surface.

23. The collapsible support as claimed in 18 wherein the flexible band is dissimulated flatly externally to mobile part.

24. The collapsible support as claimed in 18 wherein the mobile part includes one or many articulations.

25. The collapsible support as claimed in 24 wherein the flexible band the flexible band is split vertically in two parts over its folding region.

26. The collapsible support as claimed in 18 wherein the mobile part, the flexible band, its extremities and its articulations are formed from a single plastics strip.

27. The collapsible support as claimed in 18 wherein the mobile part, the flexible band, its extremities and its articulations are formed as an integral plastics molding.

28. The collapsible support as claimed in 26 or 27 wherein the plastics material is selected from the group offering the necessary flexibility and consisting of polypropylene and a copolymer of butadiene and styrene.

29. The collapsible support as claimed in 18 wherein printing or embossed information are displayed on the external surface of the mobile part.

30. The collapsible support as claimed in 18 wherein a small pocket being able to contain a paper sheet is attached to the external surface of the mobile part.