5390 results about "Soft materials" patented technology

A protective case for handheld devices with improved protection characteristics, durability, convenience of use, and functionalities without compromising aesthetics. The protective case includes a “glove” or “skin” piece of a softer material that substantially covers and grips the entire back of the electronic device, by wrapping over the edge of the electronic device (without obscuring the display / touch screen on the front of the device). One or more separate complementary frame pieces, braces and the like made of a hard material are attached over the glove piece, extending over a substantial area of the glove piece, thereby creating a robust interlocking hybrid structure. Openings are provided in the protective case to allow for user interaction with the device, including access to the interfaces (e.g., screens, buttons, sockets, etc.) provided on the device.

A method for forming a platen useful for forming nanoscale wires for device applications comprises: (a) providing a substrate having a major surface; (b) forming a plurality of alternating layers of two dissimilar materials on the substrate to form a stack having a major surface parallel to that of the substrate; (c) cleaving the stack normal to its major surface to expose the plurality of alternating layers; and (d) etching the exposed plurality of alternating layers to a chosen depth using an etchant that etches one material at a different rate than the other material to thereby provide the surface with extensive strips of indentations and form the platen useful for molding masters for nano-imprinting technology. The pattern of the platen is then imprinted into a substrate comprising a softer material to form a negative of the pattern, which is then used in further processing to form nanowires. The nanoscale platen thus comprises a plurality of alternating layers of the two dissimilar materials, with the layers of one material etched relative the layers of the other material to form indentations of the one material. The platen is then oriented such that the indentations are parallel to a surface to be imprinted.

A powered, gyroscopically balanced unicycle device to be used while standing, having leg contact surfaces which are made of a yielding, slightly soft material whose mild friction against the user's legs allows stable, precise control of the device without restraining the legs in any way. In one embodiment a single hubless wheel is driven by a friction drive mechanism which transmits torque from a motor through a drive wheel positioned below the foot platforms and in contact with the inner rim of the wheel. Various structures are provided for supporting the wheel and keeping it in place as it spins; absorbing small vertical movements of the wheel to prevent them from being transmitted to the foot platforms; enabling folding of the foot platforms; and facilitating carrying of the device by hand. Other embodiments are described and shown.

A protective case for handheld devices with improved protection characteristics, durability, convenience of use, and functionalities without compromising aesthetics. The protective case includes a “glove” or “skin” piece of a softer material that substantially covers and grips the entire back of the electronic device, by wrapping over the edge of the electronic device (without obscuring the display / touch screen on the front of the device). One or more separate complementary frame pieces, braces and the like made of a hard material are attached over the glove piece, extending over a substantial area of the glove piece, thereby creating a robust interlocking hybrid structure. Openings are provided in the protective case to allow for user interaction with the device, including access to the interfaces (e.g., screens, buttons, sockets, etc.) provided on the device.

A multiple lumen catheter having a soft, tapered multiple lumen distal tip for insertion into a body vessel. One of the lumens is sized to pass over a guidewire such that the catheter can be inserted into the body vessel using the Seldinger technique. At least one medical implement lumen is used for placement or positioning of a biomedical sensor or other medical implement. For example, at least one optical fiber passing through the medical implement lumen may transmit and receive light at the distal tip for measuring oxygen saturation of the blood. The catheter may have a cylindrical catheter body to which the soft distal tip attaches. The soft tip reduces the possibility of vessel or tissue puncture and abrasion. The tip is constructed of a soft plastic or pliable material that yields easily when force is applied. For example, the tip may be made of a softer material than the catheter body, or if made of the same material, the tip can be configured with thinner walls or a higher air-to-material ratio cross-section. Various geometrical configurations and combinations of materials can be used to decrease the flexible resistance of the tip to an applied load. One particular useful application for the catheter of the present invention is as a central venous catheter equipped with fibers for measuring oximetry. The fibers extend to the distal end of the tip and are preferably secured therein with minimal adhesive so as to limit the stiffness added to the tip. One particular useful construction is to secure the fibers within the medical implement lumen using adhesive only along a length of between about 0.5–3.5 mm.

A physiological data measuring apparatus and a measuring strip are disclosed. The apparatus includes a measuring body and a measuring strip. The measuring body reads, displays and records a physiological signal. The measuring strip has a containing space for accommodating the measuring body and includes conducting metals for measuring and transmitting the physiological signal to the measuring body, wherein the conducting metals constitute a set of paired conducting metals that are wrapped by a soft material of the measuring strip. The soft material forms the containing space and two wings, and a pair of conducting metals are disposed at the bottom of the containing space and penetrates through the soft material to form two contact points, and another pair of conducting metals is disposed at the two wings outside the containing space to form a third contact point. The strip includes at least one adhesive for attaching a live organism.

Interconnection elements for electronic components, exhibiting desirable mechanical characteristic (such as resiliency, for making pressure contacts) are formed by using a shaping tool (512) to shape an elongate core element (502) of a soft material (such as gold or soft copper wire) to have a springable shape (including cantilever beam, S-shape, U-shape), and overcoating the shaped core element with a hard material (such as nickel and its alloys), to impart to desired spring (resilient) characteristic to the resulting composite interconnection element. A final overcoat of a material having superior electrical qualities (e.g., electrical conductivity and / or solderability) may be applied to the composite interconnection element. The resulting interconnection elements may be mounted to a variety of electronic components, including directly to semiconductor dies and wafers (in which case the overcoat material anchors the composite interconnection element to a terminal (or the like) on the electronic component), may be mounted to support substrates for use as interposers and may be mounted to substrates for use as probe cards or probe card inserts. The shaping tool may be an anvil (622) and a die (624), and may nick or sever successive shaped portions of the elongate elements, and the elongate element may be of an inherently hard (springy) material. Methods of fabricating interconnection elements on sacrificial substrates are described. Methods of fabricating tip structures (258) and contact tips at the end of interconnection elements are also described.

A motion restoring prosthesis to be interposed between the ends of two bones adjoining a mammalian appendage or spinal joint is formed of two components with the components having inner cooperating articulating surfaces and outer bone engaging surfaces. At least one of the components has an inner section made of relatively hard, stiff material defining one or the articulating surfaces and an outer section made of a softer material defining the bone engaging surface. The softer material having a hardness / stiffness characteristic compatible with the bone to reduce stress shielding and more evenly distribute the forces from the articulating surfaces to the associate bone interface.

The present invention provides a container with double lids, which has a container body, a lid unit to close an open top of the container body, a locking flap provided on either of the container body and the lid unit, and a locking protrusion provided on a remaining one of the container body and the lid unit to lock thereto the locking flap. The lid unit of the container of the present invention includes a locking lid which is made of a soft material and has a predetermined shape to correspond to an edge of the open top of the container body, with an opening provided at an inside part of the locking lid, and a rim-shaped receiving part provided on a lower end of the locking lid to receive therein the edge of the open top of the container body; and an observing lid. The observing lid includes a cover plate to be placed in the opening of the locking lid, and a coupling part extending outward from an edge of the cover plate and to be inserted into the receiving part of the locking lid. Therefore, the container of the present invention allows a user to observe contents of the container through the observing lid, thus being convenient to the user. Furthermore, because the locking lid may be variously colored, the container of the present invention provides the double lids of two tones of color, thus enhancing the appearance thereof.

The receiver unit includes a receiver body, a housing containing this receiver body, a cord connected to the receiver body, and a cord protector for protecting the cord. The cord protector is a plate-like member having a substantially rectangular shape, and includes an engaging portion and a semicircular portion. The cord protector is formed of soft material such as urethane rubber having Shore hardness of about A90, and its wall thickness is set to be 0.3 to 0.6 mm (0.5 mm, for example).

Expandable surfaces made from sheet materials with slits distributed on the surface of sheet material where the surfaces expand by application of force along or / and across the surface of sheet material. The unexpanded surfaces are flat sheets, or closed surfaces like cylinders, spheres, tubes, or custom-designed organic shapes marked with pre-formed or post-formed slit designs. The expanded surfaces can be single units or modules which can be attached to one another through various means. The sheet materials range from hard surfaces like metals, to softer materials like papers and plastics, or pliable materials like fabrics, rubbers, synthetic surfaces or bio-surfaces. The slits are arranged in patterns ranging from periodic, non-periodic to irregular designs. The slits can be straight, bent, curved or irregularly shaped with even or uneven spacing. Slitting can be achieved by digital cutting or punching devices like laser-cutting, water-jet cutting, digital punching, automated dies, etc. or pre-formed when casting the sheet material. Force can be applied manually with tools or through the use of machines and special set-ups. Applications range from architectural surfaces, walls, ceilings, panel systems, structures and sculpture. On a smaller scale, applications include containers, packaging material, fabrics and human wear. On micro- to nano-scale, applications range from expandable surfaces for gauzes, band-aids, stent designs, skin grafts, semi-permeable membranes and micro-filters for various industries including purification of fluids and chemical substances.

An oral care implement with a soft tissue cleanser is provided to effectively cleanse the soft tissue of the mouth with comfort and a reduced risk of injury to the user. In one construction, a projection is formed of a combination of a hard material and a soft material. The hard material provides good stability for cleaning debris from the tongue or other tissue while the soft material provides comfort and a reduced risk of injury.

A soft absorption stem for an electronic cigarette is provided, comprising a sleeve, a cigar liquid tank disposed inside the sleeve, an atomization device and a liquid guiding component. The sleeve is made of soft material; a plurality of venting slots is extended axially from one end of the sleeve to the other end thereof and disposed on an inner wall of the sleeve; the sleeve includes a mouthpiece end and a connection end; a suction hole communicating with the venting slots is provided on the mouthpiece end; smoke produced by atomization of the atomization device flows out of the sleeve from the venting slots across the suction hole. The electronic cigarette makes the user more comfortable when holding the sleeve in hand and containing in mouth, having more compact internal construction, having unique smoke path, and having increased cigar liquid storage capacity.

The invention of this application relates generally to intravenous (IV) infusion of drugs to patients, and more particularly to aspects of an IV infusion system comprising an infusate cassette and an infusate container. The present invention provides a drug infusion cassette that incorporates a strong vial spike that may be non-metal, a means for sheathing the spike when it is not in use, an anti-free flow device, and other beneficial features such as an air entrainment lockout mechanism, quality assurance tags, stopcocks made of soft materials and means of securing tubing to the cassette with a minimum of individual parts. The drug cassette can be used with an automated spiking mechanism comprising a motorized vial holder that holds a vial. The spike remains sheathed if the drug cassette is not fully engaged with a mating surface of devices such as a pumping unit or a sedation and analgesia delivery system.

The present invention provides electronic circuits, devices and device components including one or more stretchable components, such as stretchable electrical interconnects, electrodes and / or semiconductor components. Stretchability of some of the present systems is achieved via a materials level integration of stretchable metallic or semiconducting structures with soft, elastomeric materials in a configuration allowing for elastic deformations to occur in a repeatable and well-defined way. The stretchable device geometries and hard-soft materials integration approaches of the invention provide a combination of advance electronic function and compliant mechanics supporting a broad range of device applications including sensing, actuation, power storage and communications.

A walking brace for immobilizing and / or protecting the lower leg of a patient comprises a leg portion adapted to fit substantially around the lower leg of a patient and a sole portion that fits beneath the patient's foot. The sole portion is provided with a dual layer of resilient shock absorbing material disposed along its bottom surface. The dual layer comprises an upper layer of a relatively softer material and a lower layer of a relatively more durable material. The dual layer can provide good shock absorbency but can be made thinner to provide a lower profile. In another aspect of the invention, the walking brace is provided with one or more inflatable air cells to provide adjustable therapeutic pressure to the leg and the leg portion of the brace is in the form of a rigid shell provided with a protruding region for receiving the air cell outlet associated with each air cell such that the air cell outlet is directed toward the front of the walking brace for easy access by the user. In yet another aspect of the invention, the rigid shell member of the leg portion is provided with one or more longitudinal slits that allow expansion of the leg portion to accommodate an enlarged lower leg portion of a patient. The expanded leg portion can accommodate users with enlarged lower limbs, such as those suffering from severe edema.

A multiple lumen catheter having a soft, tapered multiple lumen distal tip for insertion into a body vessel. One of the lumens is sized to pass over a guidewire such that the catheter can be inserted into the body vessel using the Seldinger technique. At least one medical implement lumen is used for placement or positioning of a biomedical sensor or other medical implement. For example, at least one optical fiber passing through the medical implement lumen may transmit and receive light at the distal tip for measuring oxygen saturation of the blood. The catheter may have a cylindrical catheter body to which the soft distal tip attaches. The soft tip reduces the possibility of vessel or tissue puncture and abrasion. The tip is constructed of a soft plastic or pliable material that yields easily when force is applied. For example, the tip may be made of a softer material than the catheter body, or if made of the same material, the tip can be configured with thinner walls or a higher air-to-material ratio cross-section. Various geometrical configurations and combinations of materials can be used to decrease the resistance of the tip to an applied load. One particular useful application for the catheter of the present invention is as a central venous catheter equipped with fibers for measuring oximetry. The fibers extend to the distal end of the tip and are preferably secured therein with minimal adhesive so as to limit the stiffness added to the tip. One particular useful construction is to secure the fibers within the medical implement lumen using adhesive only along a length of between about 0.5–3.5 mm.

A mattress has a main sleep area surrounded by a perimeter trim. Both the main sleep area and the perimeter trim are formed from wire springs contained within pockets of soft material. The wire springs in the sleep area are arranged in honeycomb nested rows. The wire springs of the perimeter trim, which are of different wire construction with different flex characteristic from the wire springs in the main sleep area, are arranged in side by side rows which are not honeycomb nested. In addition, the wire springs of the perimeter trim are pivotally linked directly to one another across the perimeter trim, both widthwise and lengthwise of the mattress which produces an essentially non-feelable flex transition between the perimeter trim and the main sleep area of the mattress.

A mouth brush having a frame with first and second ends defining a longitudinal axis and formed from a solid material such as hard plastic. Conventional tooth brush bristles are mounted on the first end of the frame and extend down to define a first orientation perpendicular to the axis. Soft rubber nubs are mounted on the first end and extend perpendicularly from the axis in all other directions from the first orientation. These nubs are sufficiently soft to gently massage all oral tissue without changing one's toothbrushing routine. The device minimizes exfoliation of tissue layers in the mouth. A second material is also formed on the frame as a handle portion. The handle portion may be a soft material such as soft rubber so as to increase the user's grip when wet with water.

An imaging apparatus includes: an electronic circuit unit (30) including an imaging device (31) to acquire an object image formed by an imaging optical system (20); and a housing member (13) housing the electronic circuit unit (30). The electronic circuit unit (30) includes a thermally-conductive heat transfer member (37) in contact with an outer peripheral surface thereof which is in parallel with a fitting direction of the electronic circuit unit (30) into the housing member (13). The heat transfer member (37) includes a soft material portion (37b) in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the electronic circuit unit (37), and a plate portion (37a) in contact with the soft material portion (37b) and an inner peripheral wall surface of the housing member (13). The soft material portion (37b) is made of a shape-conformable member.

The present invention provides electroactive polymer transducers that produce out-of-plane deflections. The transducers form a set of surface features based on deflection of an electroactive polymer. The set of surface features may include elevated polymer surface features and / or depressed electrode surface features. Actuation of an active area may produce the polymer deflection that creates one or more surface features. A passive layer may operably connect to a polymer. The passive layer may comprise a thicker and softer material to amplify polymer thickness changes and increase surface feature visibility.

A PEFS (Piezoelectric Finger Sensor) acts as an “electronic finger” capable of accurately and non-destructively measuring both the Young's compression modulus and shear modulus of tissues with gentle touches to the surface. The PEFS measures both the Young's compression modulus and shear modulus variations in tissue generating a less than one-millimeter spatial resolution up to a depth of several centimeters. This offers great potential for in-vivo early detection of diseases. A portable hand-held device is also disclosed. The PEF offers superior sensitivity.

A travel pillow has one or more air filters and a body with a soft material coupled to the one or more air filters. The air filters can be powered by a power source located within the pillow. The one or more air filters can have an air intake and an air outflow in communication with an exterior surface of the body. The air filters may be an electrostatic precipitator filter or use a filtering material to clean the air.

Laminated cards with user interfaces are provided. The user interfaces can have enhanced tactile feel. In one embodiment, a card may be constructed to have a dual-layer user interface. In another embodiment, a card may be constructed to include a support structure. In yet another embodiment, a card may include a relatively soft material that covers at least a portion of the user interface. In yet another embodiment, a card may include a user interface that is fluidically coupled to a bladder. In a further embodiment, a card can include any combination of a user interface, which may be a dual-layer user interface, a support structure, a soft material that at least partially covers a user interface, and a bladder.

Laminated cards with user interfaces are provided. The user interfaces can have enhanced tactile feel. In one embodiment, a card may be constructed to have a dual-layer user interface. In another embodiment, a card may be constructed to include a support structure. In yet another embodiment, a card may include a relatively soft material that covers at least a portion of the user interface. In yet another embodiment, a card may include a user interface that is fluidically coupled to a bladder. In a further embodiment, a card can include any combination of a user interface, which may be a dual-layer user interface, a support structure, a soft material that at least partially covers a user interface, and a bladder.

An intraocular lens (IOL) insertion apparatus for implanting IOLs through smaller incisions. The insertion apparatus includes an insertion cartridge that receives the IOL and cooperates with a handpiece. The cartridge includes a longitudinal lumen from a loading chamber to an open distal mouth that gradually narrows in dimension. A push rod having an extremely soft tip thereon urges the IOL through the cartridge and from the open distal mouth. The soft tip is made of low-stimulus material having a minimum ultimate elongation of 400%. Because of the extremely soft material of the tip, the outside diameter of the open distal mouth can be reduced to no more than 2.0 mm, enabling passage through incisions of 2.2 mm or less. The soft tip may be a thermoplastic elastomer having a relatively high elongation and relatively low modulus at elongations of 100-300%.