Patents by Inventor Timothy W. Scales

Timothy W. Scales has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11381892
    Abstract: An enclosure may be provided with a housing. The housing may have an opening that separates and joins along a seam. A magnetic closure may have a pair of mating flexible magnetic members such as flexible rings or strips that run along the seam. Magnetic-field shunts may be provided in the flexible magnetic members. Multiple magnetic elements may be formed along the length of each magnetic member to form a multipole permanent magnet. Magnetic attraction may be varied along the lengths of the magnetic members and may be varied as a function of the separation between opposing magnet members. A magnetic clasp may be provided on the housing. The magnetic clasp may have attracting magnets to help close the opening in the housing. Protruding clasp portions may be formed from flexible material and may have embedded magnets configured to repel each other to facilitate use of the clasp.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy W. Scales, Kodiak D. Burke, Linda D. Benavente-Notaro, Nicholas R. Trincia, Benjamin A. Stevenson, Clayton McCoy, Donald L. Olmstead, Hao Zhu, William H. Chui, Jack Pickup
  • Patent number: 10814589
    Abstract: An item may be formed from layers of material such as leatherboard layers. A leatherboard layer may include fibrous natural material such as leather or paper embedded in polymer. Portions of the leatherboard layer can be locally modified by incorporation of filler material with desired properties. The filler material may include magnetic particles, conductive particles, or other material. By incorporating the filler material in localized portions of the leatherboard layer, integral electrodes or magnets may be formed. The leatherboard layer may also include embedded circuitry. Items such as enclosures and other items may be formed from the leatherboard layer. The leatherboard layer in an item may include locally modified regions such as magnet regions that are configured to form a closure or other structures that interact with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy W. Scales, Whitney D. Mattson, Benjamin A. Stevenson, Linda D. Benavente-Notaro, Nicholas R. Trincia, William H. Chui, Hao Zhu
  • Publication number: 20180335801
    Abstract: An electronic device can include an actuator unit with a button, where the actuator unit requires application of at least a threshold actuation force to an accessible surface of the button. The electronic device may also include a tactile compensation unit that is in physical communication with the actuator unit. The tactile compensation unit is rendered operable when a triggering magnetic element forms a magnetic circuit with the triggering unit, such that the tactile compensation unit operates to maintain the activation of the actuator unit using no more than the threshold actuation force.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2017
    Publication date: November 22, 2018
    Inventors: Timothy W. SCALES, Charles W. WERLEY, Hao ZHU
  • Patent number: 10074469
    Abstract: An oblique angle polarized magnet includes a rectangular magnetized permanent magnet having a grain direction, an attraction surface, and a magnetic primary field line that is orthogonal to the grain direction but non-orthogonal to the attraction surface. The oblique angle polarized magnet may be used in a magnetically positioned apparatus, such as a tablet computing device cover operable as a stand for the tablet computing device. The magnetically positioned apparatus may be configured to assume a position where first and second magnets are oriented in a non-parallel orientation such that the first and second surfaces of the magnets oriented at an acute angle with respect to each other. The magnets may facilitate the position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy W. Scales, Hao Zhu, Samuel G. Smith
  • Publication number: 20170352459
    Abstract: An oblique angle polarized magnet includes a rectangular magnetized permanent magnet having a grain direction, an attraction surface, and a magnetic primary field line that is orthogonal to the grain direction but non-orthogonal to the attraction surface. The oblique angle polarized magnet may be used in a magnetically positioned apparatus, such as a tablet computing device cover operable as a stand for the tablet computing device. The magnetically positioned apparatus may be configured to assume a position where first and second magnets are oriented in a non-parallel orientation such that the first and second surfaces of the magnets oriented at an acute angle with respect to each other. The magnets may facilitate the position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2016
    Publication date: December 7, 2017
    Inventors: Timothy W. Scales, Hao Zhu, Samuel G. Smith
  • Publication number: 20170235339
    Abstract: A case for a portable electronic device, the portable electronic device having a housing that carries a first magnetic element capable of forming a first magnetic circuit through the housing with a magnetic element external to the portable electronic device capable of securing together the housing and the external magnetic element. The case can include a body having a bottom wall and side walls that combine to define a recessed region suitable for retaining the portable electronic device and a second magnetic element located at a position corresponding to the external magnetic element such that when the portable electronic device is carried in the recessed region, the second magnetic element forms a second magnetic circuit through the body with the external magnetic element that is capable of securing together the case and the external magnetic element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2016
    Publication date: August 17, 2017
    Inventors: Timothy W. SCALES, William M. PETERS, Edward W. WONG, Zhiqiang JIN, James A. STRYKER, Yoonhoo JO, David F. MALLARD, Colin M. WANG
  • Patent number: 9733669
    Abstract: A case for a portable electronic device, the portable electronic device having a housing that carries a first magnetic element capable of forming a first magnetic circuit through the housing with a magnetic element external to the portable electronic device capable of securing together the housing and the external magnetic element. The case can include a body having a bottom wall and side walls that combine to define a recessed region suitable for retaining the portable electronic device and a second magnetic element located at a position corresponding to the external magnetic element such that when the portable electronic device is carried in the recessed region, the second magnetic element forms a second magnetic circuit through the body with the external magnetic element that is capable of securing together the case and the external magnetic element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy W. Scales, William M. Peters, Edward W. Wong, Zhiqiang Jin, James A. Stryker, Yoonhoo Jo, David F. Mallard, Colin M. Wang
  • Publication number: 20150044527
    Abstract: A battery cell core is hermetically sealed inside a casing, with conductive paths formed in the casing that individually connect cell subsets of the core to a battery management circuit for detecting individual failing cell subsets and for changing the battery output voltage by forming series/parallel connections between the cell subsets. In one version, the casing has a metal can with an opening of the can being sealed by a non-conductive cap that is sealed and bonded along its periphery to the can walls. In one aspect, the cap has edge metallization along its periphery where it is sealed to the can walls. In another aspect, the conductive paths are formed in the non-conductive cap. Various other embodiments are also described and claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2014
    Publication date: February 12, 2015
    Inventors: Bernd J. Neudecker, Brian C. Menzel, Gregory A. Springer, Shawn W. Snyder, Timothy W. Scales, Victor William Santini