Apple has been awarded a patent for a shock-absorbing rubber coating that will help protect fragile components such as the glass display of an iPhone.
U.S. Patent No. 8,248,777, entitled “Viscoelastic Material for Shock Protection in an Electronic Device,” was officially awarded to Apple by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday. The filing, discovered by AppleInsider, describes a “boundary element” that can deform in response to impacts to a device.
The invention is credited to Christopher Prest, and was first filed with the USPTO in September of 2008. The patent describes placing elastic material around components to partially absorb the impact of an object being dropped or hit.
“An electronic device may be surrounded on all sides by material operative to absorb a shock to the electronic device component,” the invention reads.
The ideal material would have dominant elastic properties in a “large impact scenario,” for example, an iPhone being dropped from a great distance. The materials viscous properties would be dominant in a “small impact scenario,” such as smaller drops.
