eunice's blog: Apple patent may mean future unibodies get woven from carbon fiber

Friday, November 19, 2010

Apple patent may mean future unibodies get woven from carbon fiber

Apple patent may mean next-gen unibodies get woven from carbon fiber

Ask any motorsport enthusiast and they'll tell you that there's just something about the way a carbon fiber weave ripples in the sunlight that makes them want to cover every surface of their vehicles with the stuff. It looks like Apple engineer Kevin M. Kenney shares a similar passion, applying for a patent called simply "Reinforced Device Housing" that describes a way for various weaves to be backed by carbon "spine" to provide greater torsional rigidity -- to keep you from twisting it and cracking an LCD. It's hard to deny the images attached to the application look an awful lot like an iPad, but the patent text is rather more broad:

Embodiments may house any number of electronic components. For example, certain embodiments may be used to form the exterior surface of a mobile telephone, a laptop or notebook computer, a tablet computing device, a desktop computer, a television, a stereo receiver, or practically any other electronic device.

Even sporks and shipping containers are mentioned! We've certainly seen the stuff in some pretty interesting places in the past, and now can't wait to see where it shows up next.

Gallery: Apple 'Reinforced Device Housing' patent