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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.

Maybe you should actually read the patent application before you make gratuitous comments. It will cover prior art and describe the exact patentable claims they are making.
 
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).

Impressed for find another metals guy on here.

Yes, technology goes that far back where any claims to the alloy rights are public domain. However, most IP these days in metals are process patents on how to manufacture it economically. I don't see anything original in the application here. My guess is it will be shot down for prior artwork.
 
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... :)

Do you even have one?Mine works great.An no, people wouldn't buy it if it was as bad as it was made out to be.

If it is that hard / scratch resistant, then what will it do to other surfaces such as watch crystals?

Obviously it will vaporize them on contact.
 
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?

ugh....I literally shake my head at people like you who are so ignorant.

But hey, lets just let Apple go ahead and proceed with these techniques without applying for a patent. They release the products anyway, and then some no name company swoops in and patents this procedure, next thing you know they're suing Apple for IP infringement.

Quit being such an idiot. This is how the world works. And don't act like Apple is the only company in the world that patents things. Jesus Christ.

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.

Oh look, another genius. Try reading next time. Ya know, the words are there for a reason. Maybe you'd actually understand the patent if you took the time to read it, instead of being an obnoxious idiot.
 
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.

Nitriding the surface won't insulate the antenna band.
 
Useless

Oh look, another genius.
Right.

Try reading next time.
I did, and you did not.

Ya know, the words are there for a reason.
Really? I got the impression, that you like to write too much useless stuff.

Maybe you'd actually understand the patent if you took the time to read it, instead of being an obnoxious idiot.
It describes an industrial application, not a new manufacturing technology. I do not see, that Apple can obtain a patent for such trivial stuff.

Oh, and calling others idiots, without knowing their background qualifies you as one of the most serious discussion partners on MR. Yeah-in your dreams.

:)
 
I think it's hilarious how the protectors sound like they're scratching the iPhone4 more than without.

This seems to happen with all cases and all devices. Grit gets between the device and the case, has nowhere to go, and continues to scratch the crap out of the device ad infinitum.

Then throw in a bad design element, like the lens slider on Griffin's Clarifi case, and watch how much damage a case can really do to a device. :mad:
 
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?

Now if this was a "software patent" style patent, then some company would have got a patent for making material scratch resistent by making it harder or covering it with something harder or doing anything else that makes it harder to scratch. Without giving you any clue in the patent how to actually do it. And then they would sue anyone who makes something scratch resistent, including Apple, without having actually ever produced anything scratch resistent themselves. But they wouldn't use the word "scratch resistent", they would use some terms that makes it impossible for any engineer to figure out that this patent has anything to do with scratches. The same patent would apply to making the glass on your watch scratch resistent, or your leather shoes.
 
Steel is mostly Iron (Fe). Try to anodize it and you get rust :)

Kind of my point. Anodized aluminum is kind of a yellowish color unless you used an intentionally-colored anodizing compound. By the patent writeup, this particular nitriding process leaves the steel bright and clear, not colored. This is also why I felt the process might help to insulate the band from amplification/attenuation from skin contact. I'll admit I've not worked with nitrided steel (that I know of) but I have helped build thousand-ton stainless steel reactor vessels. Welding that stuff is a real son-of-a-gun!
 
By the patent writeup, this particular nitriding process leaves the steel bright and clear, not colored. This is also why I felt the process might help to insulate the band from amplification/attenuation from skin contact.

If you read the patent, there is a polishing stage after nitriding which possibly brings the stainless steel back to it's normal bright finish.

A finished nitride layer is formed by performing at least one finishing operation on the initial nitride layer. The at least one finishing operation removes at most about 10% of the initial nitride layer.
 
Minor scuffs can actually be taken off the stainless steel band by using a pencil eraser. It worked twice for me :)
 
If you read the patent, there is a polishing stage after nitriding which possibly brings the stainless steel back to it's normal bright finish.

... and color? A previous poster wrote that the conventional nitriding process turned the steel brown. If you're polishing all the nitride off to make it clear again, do you still get the benefit?

I'm not saying I know anything about the nitride process, but I know that anodizing aluminum can't help but color it. I had to use it often enough to prevent corrosion on aircraft wings.
 
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The process described here (nitriding, salt bath, very thin ceramic coating) sounds very similar to Kolene's QPQ process. This is fantastic for surface hardness and scratch resistance, but leaves a grey or black color, not always uniform. Doing this color free sounds impossible.. The ceramic coating would have to be clear. That would be an accomplishment.
 
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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!

You have an excellent point on nitriding stainless steel...can't be left out on the rain!
 
scratch resistant SS and titanium has already been invented... like 4 years ago

DLC COATING...... used on tons of Citizen Atessa watches, regular house keys cannot scratch it.

check out this guy trying to scratch up his watch

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f7/looking-hardened-watch-why-dlc-rocks-74924.html

Is a brass key really a benchmark? Brass is a very maleable and soft metal, the only softer metal I can think of is lead, maybe gold and mercury (a liquid at room temperature, but I digress). Stainless is a lot harder to work with.
 
Neato. I noticed on quite a few of my friend's iPhones that the bumpers seem to cause more scratches than a "naked" iPhone. Although I'm sure a bumper might minimize damage if you drop your iPhone.
 
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