Lobster hinge assembly
AssigneeLenovo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
InventorsJoseph Anthony Holung, Tin-Lup Wong, Bouziane Yebka, Joseph David Plunkett, Philip John Jakes
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus can include a processor; memory accessible by the processor; a first housing that includes a first link end; a second housing that includes a second link end; and a hinge assembly that includes a first link coupled to the first link end via a first axle, a second link coupled to the second link end via a second axle and an intermediate axle that operatively couples the first link and the second link where stop surfaces of the first and second links define a minimum radius of curvature of the hinge assembly.
Claims25
An apparatus comprising:
- a processor;
- memory accessible by the processor;
- a first housing that comprises a first link end;
- a second housing that comprises a second link end;
- and
- a hinge assembly that comprises
- a first link that comprises axially offset first and second portions wherein the second portion of the first link is coupled to the first link end via a first axle having a first axis,
- a second link that comprises axially offset first and second portions wherein the first portion of the second link is coupled to the second link end via a second axle having a second axis,
- an intermediate axle, having a third axis, that couples the first portion of the first link in a side-by-side arrangement to the second portion of the second link,
- wherein the second portion of the first link comprises a shoulder as a first stop surface, wherein the second portion of the second link comprises a tongue as a second stop surface, and wherein the first and second stop surfaces contact to define a minimum radius of curvature of the hinge assembly by an arc that passes through the first, second and third axes.
An apparatus comprising:
- a processor;
- memory accessible by the processor;
- a first housing;
- a second housing;
- and
- a hinge assembly operatively coupled to the first and second housings wherein the hinge assembly comprises a first set of links and at least three axles that couple the first set of links in series, a second set of links and at least three axles that couple the second set of links in series and plates that extend between at least some of the links of the first and second sets of links wherein a set of stop surfaces of the links defines a minimum radius of curvature of the hinge assembly by an arc that passes through axes of the axles and wherein each of the first set of links and the second set of links comprises at least one pair of adjacent links wherein each of the adjacent links comprises two portions and a bridge portion that axially offsets the two portions.
A method comprising:
- defining a minimum radius of curvature for a flexible circuit board disposed in part in a first housing and a second housing via a hinge assembly operatively coupled to the first and second housings wherein the hinge assembly comprises a first set of links and at least three axles that couple the first set of links in series, a second set of links and at least three axles that couple the second set of links in series wherein a set of stop surfaces of the links defines a minimum radius of curvature of the hinge assembly by an arc that passes through axes of the axles and wherein each of the first set of links and the second set of links comprises at least one pair of adjacent links wherein each of the adjacent links comprises two portions and a bridge portion that axially offsets the two portions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.