Support sleeve
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flexible cords or cables often move out of the desired position, leading to potential damage or obtrusiveness, and existing solutions for securing them are not always effective.
Innovation Solution
A flexible support sleeve made of knit fabric with integrated male touch fastener elements and adhesive, allowing for secure attachment to a support surface and cable management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If flexible cords or cables are left unrestrained, then they maintain flexibility and ease of movement, but they move to undesired positions and become obtrusive or damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a flexible support sleeve made from knit fabric that can be wrapped around cables to hold them in desired positions. The knit fabric provides a flexible enclosure that maintains cable flexibility while preventing movement to undesired positions, directly resolving the contradiction between cable flexibility and position stability.
2Strength
If a support sleeve is made entirely of hook material, then it provides strong fastening, but the selvedge edge becomes engageable and causes unwanted attachment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different properties to different regions of the support sleeve. The main body of the sleeve uses hook material for strong fastening, while the selvedge edge is specifically designed without hooks to prevent unwanted attachment. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between providing strong fastening and enabling controlled attachment.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the knit fabric sheet is bonded along its entire edge, then it provides continuous support, but it prevents the selvedge from being void of male touch fastener elements
Solution Approach 1:
The adhesive bonding is applied selectively rather than uniformly across the entire edge. The adhesive is applied to the knit fabric sheet in regions that do not interfere with the selvedge area, providing continuous support where needed while maintaining the hook-free zone at the edge for reliable fastener element distribution.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The sleeve effectively holds cables in place, preventing damage and maintaining a neat appearance by using a combination of knit fabric loops and male touch fasteners with adhesive backing.
Implementation Method 1
The strip of resin includes resin impregnating the fabric sheet to form a base
Implementation Method 2
A strip of adhesive is disposed on a second side of the flexible support sleeve, at least partially underlying the strip of resin
Implementation Method 3
Each male touch fastener element has a stem extending from and contiguous with the base and a head disposed at a distal end of the stem and overhanging the base to form a crook for engaging the loops of the knit fabric sheet to form a releasable fastening
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
A flexible support sleeve (10,56,66) includes a knit fabric sheet (26) with loops (42) of fibers on a fastening face (28), a strip (30) of resin overlaying a portion of the fastening face along one edge, with a strip of adhesive (48) disposed along the same edge on an opposite side. The strip of resin includes male touch fastener elements (34) configured to engage the loops of the knit fabric sheet. The strip of resin has a selvedge (44) coterminous with the edge of the flexible support sleeve and void of male touch fastener elements, such that the selvedge of the base is not engageable with the loops of the knit fabric sheet. The strip of adhesive is wider than the strip of resin, such that the adhesive strip underlays all of the discrete male touch fastener elements of the strip of resin.