Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Patent Application Discloses Process for Creating Scratch-Resistant Stainless Steel

Seems like prior art would eliminate any patent granting here, unless it is the _way_ in which the steel is being bathed.

But if it takes 1.5 hours, I would have a hard time imagining how that would work on the shop floor with literally thousands of iPhone cases taking a bath for that long.
 
If this technology truly is scratch resistant, I would love to see it applied to mainstream appliances like refrigerators. And if it is scratch resistant I would assume it's also better at repelling dirt. But I'm not a Scratchologist. :)
 
I wonder if this might have a side effect of reducing attenuation? They may be increasing durability and creating a better antenna. I'm not acknowledging Antennagate by the way. The iPhone 4 clearly has a superior antenna, but it doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.
 
This makes me worry, though, because nitriding stainless steel lowers it corrosion resistance. If it improves the scratch resistance while also possibly resolving the antenna, great, but if you can't go near the beach or a pool, good luck!
 
ericinboston said:
If this technology truly is scratch resistant, I would love to see it applied to mainstream appliances like refrigerators. And if it is scratch resistant I would assume it's also better at repelling dirt. But I'm not a Scratchologist. :)
Click to expand...

Maybe a record would last forever with a nitride coating? :D
 
mtimberg said:
This makes me worry, though, because nitriding stainless steel lowers it corrosion resistance. If it improves the scratch resistance while also possibly resolving the antenna, great, but if you can't go near the beach or a pool, good luck!
Click to expand...

Maybe they are going to follow Microsoft's lead. iPhone 5: Now in brown!

I wonder if liquid metal might improve this?
 
iMule said:
Eventually, I used both my iPhone 3G and 3GS without cases and the chrome bezel had less dings than the stainless steel band on the iP4. Ridiculous how Apple's bumper has scuffed mine up so bad. I take extra care of it. It sucks for selling it next summer.
Click to expand...

Mine got really scuffed by the bumper, I don't know if it was the bumper material or stuff getting under it, but either way it made a mess (of mine and my wife's)

I got fed up of it looking bad so I polished the steel band, (with duraglit/brasso) and it looks really nice, just susceptible to fingerprints. I don't use the bumper anymore and it's not suffered at all, though I am nervous of dropping it.
 
Brinkman said:
I love how they go above and beyond what any other electronics manufacturer would do.
Click to expand...
Too bad Apple so busy on stuff like this, they don't have time to check their work before shipping a phone with such a crappy antenna.

But hey... people will buy anything from Apple no matter how bad it might be... :)
 
dernhelm said:
Seems like prior art would eliminate any patent granting here, unless it is the _way_ in which the steel is being bathed.

But if it takes 1.5 hours, I would have a hard time imagining how that would work on the shop floor with literally thousands of iPhone cases taking a bath for that long.
Click to expand...

They do it with cheese and wine. And that is a lot longer.

Besides, I don't think they care about that. It takes more then 20 minutes to cut the glass for an iPhone. They have over a 1000 CNC machines hollowing out MacBook Pro casings. That probably takes some time too.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

OllyW said:
iSamurai said:
I'm pretty sure this method is described in many engineering textbooks already... I thought that was an odd move because practically every mechanical engineer knows this method of surface hardening...
Click to expand...

Nitriding has been around for years, we use TiN and TiCN coatings on our press tools at work but they alter the colour of the base metal.
Click to expand...

I actual like that gold like color. It would make for a great Mac Book AIR coating.
 
Somebody remind me why one of the wealthiest companies in the world needs to file patents? Oh right, to stifle competition and punish innovation. What else are patents for these days?
 
BlueRevolution said:
Somebody remind me why one of the wealthiest companies in the world needs to file patents? Oh right, to stifle competition and punish innovation. What else are patents for these days?
Click to expand...

No. They need to do it for mutually assured destruction type reasons. It helps keep big companies from suing each other most of the time. It also is one less thing an "IP Holding Company" can sue them for.

As long as the system exists, companies have to participate in it. You can complain about poor regulation and how it can be manipulated. If it can be manipulated then everyone has to exploit the system or it isn't fair. Kinda like how residents of Marshall, Texas manipulate it for their personal gain (by stimulating their local economy with law firms and visiting lawyers). There will always be those who are hurt more then others by these rules though. Wish someone would do something about it. I'm not sure if Obama will take an interest in it because he belongs to the lawyers union.
 
roland.g said:
And people are concerned as to who is going to take over for Steve.
Apple will most assuredly clone him every ten years with a decade younger and disease free duplicate. Maybe they already have. :eek:
Click to expand...

Or cover him in a nitride layer.
 
MarkCollette said:
I think it's hilarious how the protectors sound like they're scratching the iPhone4 more than without.
Click to expand...

Yeah real fing funny:mad:

Had my phone since launch day and had it in a incase cover. NOT A SINGLE SCRATCH!!!

Got free piece if crap bumper, put it on for the last month of use and my phone is scratched to hell. Seriously when I go to Idiot bar this weekend to bitch about my Macbook Pro they f'd up last time in for repair(another long story) I am really going to ruin some ones day over the stupid bumper.

I seriously doubt they are using this super special process on the phone frame currently out. It looks as if it's just powder coated or anodized....and not very well at that.
 
all i know is that my iphone 4, due to the stupid apple bumper has many scratches on the band. the dirt gets in and it scratches it WTF. but i took it out about a week ago and from general use i see no added scratches.
 
Methinks if this is already on the band, we shouldn't be seeing the antenna issues we are. I believe this nitride layer would also act as an insulator as well, which makes me believe it's how Apple intends to eliminate that problem as well as keep the steel looking new.

wizard said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)



I actual like that gold like color. It would make for a great Mac Book AIR coating.
Click to expand...

I believe you're thinking of anodizing. Works great on aluminum, not sure how well it would work on steel.
 
If it is that hard / scratch resistant, then what will it do to other surfaces such as watch crystals?

nospeed411 said:
Yeah real fing funny:mad:

Had my phone since launch day and had it in a incase cover. NOT A SINGLE SCRATCH!!!

Got free piece if crap bumper, put it on for the last month of use and my phone is scratched to hell. Seriously when I go to Idiot bar this weekend to bitch about my Macbook Pro they f'd up last time in for repair(another long story) I am really going to ruin some ones day over the stupid bumper.

I seriously doubt they are using this super special process on the phone frame currently out. It looks as if it's just powder coated or anodized....and not very well at that.
Click to expand...

jaw04005 said:
I had zero scratches until I used Apple's stupid bumper case.
Click to expand...

Where are you putting your iPhone+bumper if you are getting all those scratches from all that hard crud you are collecting?
 
A patent for this "invention" --> *ROTFLMAO*

SJ & his engineering teams should visit a local library. You can read very thick and old books there, which describe the manufacturing of nitrided steel.

I've a forty years old book (1969) here, which describes the manufacturing and applications of nitrided steel. Maybe i should try to get a patent in the U.S. for "my great invention" of nitrided steel.

One day, SJ will patent your sweat, and will claim he invented it.

CFreymarc said:
Good luck guys! Material science patents are totally out of your league.

There are tens of thousands of publicly funded material science research projects trying to mix every elemental combination to make a better material. Most innovative material science formulas never see the light of day based on cost of manufacture. There are military and aerospace materials that would make any laptop bulletproof (literally) if you are willing to spend the extra money on them.

I bet if you search German or American material science university doctorate projects, you will find something very similar to this done in the last thirty years.
Click to expand...

Nitriding is much older:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitriding#History

The source says 1920, and i've another source which says that nitrided steel was also used in WWII for certain military applications (engines, ammunition, et cetera).

The process is so simple, that you can do it in a small home laboratory (of course with low quality results).
 
read the abstract

Read the abstract and it appears that Apple is patenting the method rather than the idea of nitriding stainless steel per se. In other words, they are arguing that their application/method of nitriding is novel enough to warrant patent protection.

The first sentence reads:

"A cost effective system, method and apparatus adapted to provide a nitride layer on stainless steel used for the manufacture of consumer electronic products."

This is akin to the patenting of the use of a pre-existing drug/molecule for a novel application.

While the inventors of the drug still own the patent on the molecule, others may argue novel use beyond the scope of the original application. In this way, they can patent the use/method and not the actual compound.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back