Method of forming a housing for an electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9710017-B2
Application number	US-201314083811-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 19, 2013
Priority date	Jan 31, 2011
Publication date	Jul 18, 2017
Grant date	Jul 18, 2017

Abstract

A portable computing device is disclosed. The portable computing device can take many forms such as a laptop computer, a tablet computer, and so on. The portable computing device can include at least a single piece housing. The single piece housing can be machined from a single billet of material, such as a billet of aluminum. The single piece housing can include ledges with a surface receiving a trim bead and a cover. Corner brackets can be attached to the single piece housing to improve the damage resistance of the housing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a housing for an electronic device using a single billet of material comprising:
machining the billet to form an exterior surface of the housing, the exterior surface including a curved surface and a substantially flat bottom surface;
machining the billet to form an interior cavity, a portion of the billet that defines the interior cavity being substantially flat and parallel to the substantially flat bottom surface;
machining the billet to form interior sidewalls including ledges that extend from the interior sidewalls, the ledges including a surface, approximately parallel to the flat bottom surface, for receiving a cover; and
forming an opening extending through the interior sidewall to the curved surface, the opening configured pass sound generated by an internal audio element.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
machining the billet to form support shelves for attaching corner brackets to the housing; and
bonding and electrically grounding the corner brackets to the housing, wherein the corner brackets include a surface for receiving a corner portion of the trim bead and the cover, the surface aligned with and at approximately same height as the surface on the ledges.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the corner brackets include a castellation pattern.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein a width of the ledges varies around a perimeter of the interior cavity.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: removing a portion of the ledges to allow a component to be installed proximate to the interior sidewalls in the interior cavity.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the component is a switch with a controlling portion extending through an opening in the interior sidewall to allow access to the controlling portion from the exterior surface of the housing.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining computer numerical control cutting paths for at one of the machining operations.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said operation of determining computer numerical control cutting paths for at one of the machining operations utilizes local relative dimensions.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said operation of machining the billet to form interior sidewalls including ledges that extend from the interior sidewalls further comprises utilizing a local thickness of the interior sidewalls to determine a machining path.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising at least one interior attachment or alignment point.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one interior attachment or alignment point comprises at least one aperture.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one interior attachment or alignment point comprises at least one raised column.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one interior attachment or alignment point is configured to receive at least one fastener.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing excess material from the billet.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the excess material is removed from underneath at least one of the ledges.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the opening is formed by machining into the curved surface portion in a direct proximately normal to the surface.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing at least a portion of a corner region of at least one of the ledges.

18. A method of machining a single billet of material to form a housing for an electronic device, comprising:
shaping an exterior surface of the billet to include a curved surface and an integral bottom surface;
removing material from the billet to form an interior cavity, a portion of the billet that defines the interior cavity includes a flat portion parallel to the bottom surface;
forming ledges that are configured to receive a trim bead and a cover, extend from interior sidewalls surrounding the interior cavity, and are parallel to the flat portion; and
forming an opening in the curved surface to allow sound generated by an internal speaker to exit through the housing.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the opening in the curved surface is formed by cutting a hole.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising forming an interior to exterior cut-out in the billet.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein the opening in the curved surface is formed by machining in a direct proximately normal to a surface of the ledges.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Mcclure Stephen R
• Corbin Sean S
• Ternus John P
• Gibbs Kevin D
• Franklin Jeremy C
• Kibiti Elvis M
• Raff John
• Henry Jules B
• Rappoport Benjamin
• Wright Derek W
• Utterman Erik A
• Yu Ming
• Peterson Carl R

Classifications

• Y10T29/49002

  Electrical device making · CPC title

• G06F1/1633 Primary

  Constructional details or arrangements of portable computers not specific to the type of enclosures covered by groups G06F1/1615 - G06F1/1626 · CPC title

• H01Q1/42

  Housings not intimately mechanically associated with radiating elements, e.g. radome · CPC title

• H01Q1/243

  with built-in antennas · CPC title

• G06F1/1626 Primary

  with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs] · CPC title