Grip and Protective Casing for Cellular Telephone

The invention relates to hand-held telecommunication products, such as cellular telephones, and concerns a removable grip and protective casing specially adapted for use therewith.

Hand-held telecommunication products, such as cellular telephones or radios are in widespread use. These portable devices typically have a smooth plastic molded housing which is held with one hand during use. The housing has a front operational face with sensorial features with which the user interfaces, such as a mouthpiece, speaker or earpiece, and push buttons, an opposed back face, and housing walls between the front and back faces. The design of the devices and the housing material involved can make grippability problematic, and also make the devices prone to becoming scratched or scratching the surfaces on which the device is set. In order to curb such instances, a previously known accessory item sold for use with cellular telephones or other electronic telecommunication products has been a leather case or "boot" designed for a glove-like fit on the product housing, overlying, in whole or in part, both faces and the walls of the product. Such boots require some free space on the front face of the product which can be covered over by the boot material. Such boots are difficult for the user to remove, if desired.

The present invention is directed to a detachable grip and protective casing made of elastomeric material, such as rubber, constructed to fit over only the back face and sides of a cellular telephone device, or other telecommunications product. The casing is formed with at least one securement member for fitting in a recess on the product housing. One such securement member is in the form of a flap having prongs for force-fit engagement in the jack recess on an end of the phone. The flap is pivotable, thereby enabling the operator to unlock the casing and then continue pulling the casing off the phone until it is completely removed.

The casing is formed on its exterior surface with finger recesses to improve grippability. By virtue of the grippability of the product being improved, the user is better able to operate the device with only one hand, that is, holding the device with the fingers and activating the buttons with the thumb of the same hand.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the casing invention in use with a portable, cellular telephone.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the exterior surface of the casing invention.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the casing invention as applied on the cellular telephone.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional, side view of the casing invention as applied on the cellular telephone.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the lines V--V of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the lines VI--VI of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a top view of the casing as applied to the cellular telephone.

FIG. 8 is a bottom view of the casing as applied to the cellular telephone.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing the interior surface of the casing.

With reference to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a hand-held, portable cellular telephone 10 of typical construction, having a front operational face with a push button area 11 and display screen 12 disposed between an earpiece 13 and mouthpiece 14. The telephone 10 is generally box-shaped having a smooth back face (not shown), an upper end wall from which a collapsible antenna 15 extends, a pair of opposed side walls with a bank of connector holes 16 formed in one such side wall, and a bottom end wall 17 containing a typical rectangular-shaped jack recess (not shown). The telephone 10 is formed with a bracket 18 which protrudes from the side wall and onto which may be latched a wrist strap 19, such as shown here, for carrying the telephone during periods when not in use.

The telephone 10 is fitted with a grip and protective casing 20 made of elastomeric material, such as rubber. As further apparent from the figures, the casing 20 is generally formed by a base B and a continuous wall surface W which is upstanding from the base. The casing 20 has an open top. The casing 20 serves to cover the entire backface of the telephone and partially its side walls and end walls, but avoids overlying any surface on the front face. The casing construction and material serves to prevent scratching of the telephone device, in addition to scratching of surfaces the telephone is set on, and also serves to cushion the telephone against impact when it is set down. Additionally, as shown in FIG. 2, the exterior surface of the casing base B is formed with a series of finger receiving recesses 21 disposed to enable the user to reliably grip the telephone contained by the casing 20, and thereby leave the user's thumb free to activate the buttons, while supporting the telephone with only one hand.

With reference to FIGS. 3 and 7, it will be seen that the casing 20 is formed with cut-outs and cut-aways to provide exposure therethrough or therealong of such side wall and end wall fixtures as the antenna 15, the bracket 18, and the bank of connector holes 16.

The casing 20 is specially constructed such that the individual user can personally secure the casing to his cellular telephone, and likewise remove the casing as desired. The cellular telephone 10, as is typical, has its housing formed from two front and back pieces fitted together across a longitudinal parting line which runs along the side walls and end walls of the telephone. At the parting line, a recess area 22, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, is formed on the telephone housing. The back piece of the telephone housing is thus wholly contained within the casing 20, and the upstanding surfaces of the casing 20, which serve to cover the side walls and end walls of the telephone 10, are formed with an inwardly projecting securement member 23 which fits in the recess 22 along the parting line on the telephone. The securement member 23 may be in the form of a continuous protuberance corresponding for engagement into a likewise continuous recess formed on the telephone housing. However, in accordance with the preferred embodiment, individual protuberance members 23a, 23b, 23c, and 23d are formed at intervals along the interior of the upstanding wall surface W of the casing 20 to support the casing on the telephone by virtue of their engagement in the parting line recess 22.

Also for securement of the casing 20 to the cellular telephone 10, the upstanding wall surface of the casing 20 is provided with a further upstanding extension piece in the form of a flap 24 which is formed with locking prongs 25. As shown in FIGS. 3-5 and 8-9, the flap 24 is made of the same elastomeric material as the remainder of the casing 20. The flap 24 is pivotable relative to the upstanding wall portion of the casing to which it is attached by virtue of a relatively thinned or weakened section of the elastomeric material which serves as a hinge line 26.

The locking prongs 25 are formed on a plate 27 suitable affixed to the interior wall surface of the flap 24 and project outwardly therefrom. The prongs 25 are situated on the plate 27, such that they frictionally engage the side wall surfaces of the jack recess on the cellular telephone 10 and thus serve to lock the casing to the telephone housing. The prongs 25, as well as the plate 27, may be made of metal. However, the prongs 25 are resilient, such that their press-fit in the telephone jack recess is also detachable with pressure.

The casing 20 thus can be readily fitted onto a device, such as the cellular telephone 10, by the user himself, and also selectively removed, as desired.

The base surface of the casing 20, in which the finger recesses 21 are formed is also preferably provided with ribbing 28 upstanding from the interior surface of the base. The ribs 29 are preferably arranged in a cross-hatched pattern facing the back face of the telephone housing. The various rib heights are sized such that the distal ends 30 of the ribs makes everywhere smooth surface contact with the back face of the telephone housing. The ribbing 28 serves to provide a further cushion effect between the exterior of the casing 20 and the back face of the telephone housing.

Although the invention has been described above particularly with respect to the preferred embodiment, it will be understood that the present disclosure has been made by way of example and that modification and variations still within the spirit of the invention are possible in light of the above teachings and would be considered within the ambit of this invention. For example, the casing may be made of an elastomeric material other than rubber, or the telecommunications device to which the grip and protective casing is affixed may not be limited to a cellular telephone.