CROSS REFERENCE TO PRIOR APPLICATIONS:

This application claims priority from United States application serial number

698,495 filed April 26, 1991 which is a continuation-in-part to application serial number

594,390 filed Oct. 1, 1990.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to wrist rests and particularly to a wrist rest support for use with devices including the key board of a computer and a computer "mouse" during the use of which the user is exposed to repetitive motion stess.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years the growing use of keyboards such as used with personal computers has led to ailments that afflict a large number of office personnel. These ailments include aching shoulders and neck and particularly problems with the wrists and hands known as caipal tunnel syndrome. Carpal tunnel syndrome is tingling, numbness and loss of strength of the hands and wrists resulting from long hours of repetitive motion with the hands and fingers such as typing at the keyboard or manipulating a

"mouse". In view of these problems, a number of devices have been disclosed which are intended to support the hands and wrists while typing and to absorb the troublesome vibrations generated by the typing action.

A forerunner of these devices is disclosed in U. S. Patent 2,694,026 to

Johnson for a pad of thick firm felt laminated to a thin rubber mat. However, this device was intended solely to support typewriters and other office equipment and made no

provisions for supporting the user's wrists. Furthermore, since the device provided direct support only for the machine (not the wrists), design of the pad composition, i.e., thick firm felt laminated to a thin sheet of rubber, was predicated strictly for that purpose. The purpose of the thick felt is to absorb the vibrations whereas the sponge rubber laminated to the bottom (and in some cases to the top) of the felt is intended to prevent slippage of the machine.

U. S. Patent 4,621,781 to Springer is for an adjustable metal base that supports both the keyboard and a foamwrist support. "The support means, i.e., the base plate, preferably includes stop means, e.g., a flange abutting the work surface on which the keyboard rests to prevent sliding movement of the forearm rest. — The cushion comprises a self skinning urethane pad which comprises an outer skin 25 and an inner foam material 26 secured to the backing plate. "

"Self skinning urethane pad" refers to the property of molded foams to develop a skin of higher density than than the interior of the cast foam during the molding process. The slin develops because the surface region of the foam in the mold cools at a greater rate than the interior of the foam. Such a skin developed as part of foam is not comfortable to the skin of the user since it is a region of stiff hard plastic.

U. S. Patent to Scantlebury is for a safety crashpad that includes hardware for attachment of a pad to the dashboard of a vehicle. The pad includes an outer jacket 28 which encloses foam rubber. The pad is not designed for use as a wrist support so that selection of the composition of the pad is not based on a consideration of comfort on repeated contact but is designed to protect against tearing, puncturing, rupturing, etc.

-5- Therefore. the pad includes a "resilient body that is preferably closely enveloped in a jacket

28 of any highly flexible yet tough fabric such as a light weight canvas textile that may be rubberized to make it better capable of withstanding an explosive burst of air if forced out of the cells of the sponge rubber material of the body when the latter is subject to a compressive blow. "

U. S. Patent 4,938,439 to Fried discloses an automobile accessory "defined by four planar surfaces and one nonplanar surface arranged to form two wedge shaped ends positioned perpendicular to one another and a rigid support member secured to the resilient body member. When the thin wedge send is inserted between seats of the automobile, the accessory serves as an arm rest and when the wide end wedge of the rest is placed between the users leg and car door, the accessory serves as a lap tray. The accessory is not configured to function as a wrist rest support for a computer user.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide a wrist rest suppoπ to an operator typing on the keyboard of a computer.

It is another object that the wrists be maintained in a neutral or unflexed position and that vibration from typing be deadened in order to avoid stresses that lead to repetitive motion disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome and stiffness of the neck and shoulders.

It is another object that means be provided for supporting the users wrists at a height above the keyboard which is most suitable for the user, depending on his/her size.

It is another object that the feel of the support against the wrists be comfortable in that vibrations from the keyboard not be transmitted from the keyboard through the

-4- support to the wrists and that the device be soft to the touch of the user's wrists.

It is another object that the device be readily installed under (or removed from) the standard keyboard.

It is another object that the construction of the device be inexpensive.

These and other objects will be apparent to the reader after reading the following description and studying the drawings.

This invention is directed toward a wrist rest support having sections of different thicknesses in which one section is under the keyboard of the computer and the second section extends away from the the key board to where the user may support his wrists while typing. The wrist rest section is specially contoured to support the wrists in a manner that eliminates stresses leading to repetitve motion stress syndrome. According to one embodiment, a portion of the wrist rest section is detachable providing that a wrist rest may be selected and attached to a base pad that is best suited to the size of the user. The composition of the support is selected to minimize vibrations emanating from the keyboard. Antistatic properties are conferred on the support to prevent destruction of valuable data or programs by inadvertent contact with magnetic recording disks. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

Fig. 1 shows one embodiment of this invention in perspective using fabric as a base pad.

Fig.2 shows in perspective a second embodiment of the invention in which the riser is permanently attached to the base pad.

Fig. 3 shows in perspective a third embodiment of the invention in which the

riser is detachable from the base pad.

Fig. 4 is a partial end view showing the relation of the height of the riser to the tops of the keys on the keyboard.

Fig. 5a and 5b are partial end views of a wrist support for a work station with a front extension.

Fig. 6 shows a foam lift that is placed between the bottom of the keyboard and the base pad thereby avoiding transmittal of vibrations from key punching up through the fingers. BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION:

The following detailed description illustrates the invention by way of example, not by way of Umitation of the principles of the invention. This description will clearly enable one skilled in the art to make and use the invention and describes an embodiment which I believe is the best mode for carrying out the invention.

Turning now to a discussion of the drawings, there are shown in fig. 1, 2 and 3 perspective views of three embodiments of this invention.

All three embodiments include a resilient base pad having a device support section 12 on which the keyboard or "mouse" is placed, continuous with a wrist support section 14. In all three embodiments, the entire base pad is placed on a table or desk top. Therefore the need for an additional rigid support which may extend away from the desk top such as described in the prior art is eliminated and greater economy of construction is achieved.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the base pad is a sheet of fabric 16

wrapped around a foam slab 18 so as to provide a thick wrist rest section 13 (the section of fabric WTapped around the foam) from which extends the all fabric section 12 on which the keyboard is placed. This design is the least expensive embodiment and is most appealing in locations such as schools where a large number of wrist rests must be purchased and cost is an important consideration. In the embodiments shown in figs. 2 and 3, the support includes a base pad 17 that is positioned under the entire bottom area of the keyboard and extends from in front of the keyboard to provide a base on which a riser

15 is placed thereby providing the wrist rest section 13.

As shown in fig. 3, the greater thickness of wrist rest section 13 can be achieved by a permantent attachment of riser 15 to section 14 of the base pad. Permanent attachment of the riser 15 to the base pad can be accomplished using any one of several techniques such as molding the entire base pad with riser 15 in one place or by gluing a riser to section 14 of the bse pad. Permanent attachment of the riser 15 is desireable when it is intended to avoid such inconveniences as misplacement of the riser.

Fig. 3 shows another embodiment in which a riser 15 is nonpermanently attached to section 14 using "hook and eye" patches 19 on the interface between the base pad and riser 15. Hook and eye patches in the context of this specification should be taken to mean opposing surfaces of fabric which detachably adhere to one another by virtue of a "hook" texture comprising one of the surfaces and an "eye' texture comprising the other surface. This well known material is sold under the tradename VELCRO.

Fig. 4 shows a cutaway elevated side view illustrating that in all of the embodiments, wrist rest section 13 on which the wrists are supported is higher than the

tops 21 of the keyboard 20 supported on device support section 12. This difference in height serves two purposes.

First it provides a positioning stop for the key board so that the pad does not slide undere the keyboard such as can otherwise result from the vibrations of the typing if there were no step.

Secondly, the height of the wrist support above the keyboard has been carefully selected as a result of a study by the inventors in consultation with medical specialists in the field which show that supporting the wrists in this position maintains n angle between the wrist and hand while typing which minimizes strain on the wrists thereby preventing repetitive motion strain syndrome. A bevel 23 on the top leading edge of the wrist rest section 13 further minimizes wrist strain. The detachable riser 15 shown in fig. 3 offers several advantages.

One advantage is that every user can have his/her personal riser 15 which he/she may attach to the base pad when he/she uses the keyboard and retrieves when he/she is finished. This is a particularly valuable advantage for workers in health centers, schools and other public institutions where it is desired to minimize the spread of viral disease (cold, influenza, etc.) by contact. It is well known that viral diseases are spread by depositing the viruses on surfaces by sneezing or coughing after which, another person picks up the virus contact of the contaminated surface with his hands.

In the embodiments of fig. 2 and 3, the base pad 17 is preferably a flexible foam. The foam should have intermediate firmness in order to be most effective in absorbing vibrations from the keyboard. There are numerous types of foam on the market.

e.g. jubber, urethane, polyester, and each of these foams can be formulated in a manner to possess the degree of intermediate firmness required to deaden vibrations from the keyboard.

In the embodiment of either fig. 2 or 3, the foam used in the risr may have a hardness which is firm and different than the hardness of the foam of the base pad which is selected to be intermediate firm. The firmness of the base pad is selected to dampen vibrations of the typing operation through the fingers while the firmness of the wrist rest pad is selected for comfort according to the desires of the user.

Another feature of the invention incorporated to deaden direct transmission of vibrations from the keyboard through the fingers is the positioning of a lift 27 between the keyboard and pad as shown in fig. 6. The triangular shape of the lift ensures that only the top edge of the lift is in contact with the keyboard and this construction has been found to very strongly dampen vibrations from the keyboard.

The two features of the lift together with a base pad extending entirely under the device marks a major improvement over devices of the prior art where the keyboard is in direct contact with a metal base of a tray extension.

In the preferred embodiment, fabric 16 is laminated to at least the top surface and sides of the foam pad. The fabric i6 is illustrated in fig.2 and 3 by being partially cutaway from the underlying foam base pad 17 and foam riser 15. The fabric can be laminatd to the foam surface using, e.g., any one of a number of sprayed contact cements that are on the market.

The fabric 16 serves four purposes.

One purpose is that it improves the appearance of the support. Foams are available in only a limited number of solid colors, generally black, cream or grey. The fabric 16 laminated to the foam in this invention can be selected from a wide range of colors and designs to match the surroundings and convert the workplace to a more attractive area.

Furthermore, it is an additional embodiment that the fabric can be embossed such as wiith a personalized message to add an even more congenial and attractive atmosphere to the workplace whereas foam is not readily decorated.

The second purpose of the fabric is to make the wrist support more comfortable to the touch or feel of the skin. A fabric having the feel similar to felt as cover for the foam is the preferred choice for this invention because it has a "cozy" feeling on the bare wrists.

By covering the foam with a fabric, the user has both the sensation of resilient support from the pad and a felt-like feeling against the skin in contrast to, either a thick felt pad where there would be insufficient resiliency or a pad that is entirely foam which would not feel as comfortable against the skin.

The third purpose of the fabric laminated surface is to provide a better wearing surface than can be provided by a number of other types of surfaces such as felt or foam. Foam surfaces can fragment since foam does not inherently have the tensile strength that characterizes the fabric of choice. Felt surfaces tend to form woolen balls on its surface after being rubbed for several working days.

We presently believe that the best material for the application of this

invention is a knitted fabric having a nap and a composition that is ten percent polyester and

90 percent acetate. This fabric is sold under the trade name ROBE VELOR by New

York Fabrics, a chain of stores one of which is located on Blossom Hill Rd. in San Jose,

Calif.

The fourth reason for laminating a fabric to the foam base is that the fabric can be readily made permanently antistatic. This is a very valuble embodiment since, otherwise, data and/or programs stored on magnetic memory disks can be erased if the disk is inadvertently laid on a wrist rest that is not antistatic.

The fabric covering the pad can be rendered antistatic acording to a process developed by the inventors which is an embodiment of this invention. According to this method, the cloth is dipped into an antistatic solution and allowed to dry. The antistatic solution is an aquaous emulsion of a polymer such as polyvinyl chloride or polyvinyl acetate and a quarternary amine (typically ten parts polymer to one to four parts quarternary amine _. ) in sufficient water base to thoroughly saturate the fabric. There are products on the market such as antistatic sprays that are used in the laundry room on clothes that can be applied to the wrist support and application of these alternative antistatic solutions are an embodiment of this invention. However, the preferred treatment is the one suggested supra because of its permanent character.

Generally speaking, foam is covered with vinyls and other plastic sheet coverings for some applications such as for automobile dash boards (see Background) where the selection of the the laminating material is for a different application such as protection against crashes and does not anticipate the uses and requirements of the present

invention. Fabric is also used to cover foam to provide seat cushions for furniture.

However, in contrast to the present invention, the practice is not to permanently laminate the fabric to the foam. In this application, lamination of the fabric to the foam is done in order that the wrist rest be readily deformed and then resume its original shape without tearing or straining the foam or fabric when the furniture is in use.

Although the principles of the invention have been applied to the situation of a user typing on a keyboard, it will be recognised that these same principles apply to supporting the wrist while using related devices such as the "mouse" that is used with personal or laptop computers. The wrist support for a mouse board will be smaller and the area of the base pad is moved has a composition that is more amenable to rolling the ball of the mouse on its surface while the user is supporting his wrist on the wrist support section of the pad. For this application, the riser may be the fabric covered construction described above whereas the base pad on which the mouse is rolled may be covered with a vinyl

(which is harder than fabric) or even a solid board of rigid plastic.

The riser would be attached to the base board using VELCRO as described above.

As shown in the partial view of fig. 5a and 5b, some computer work stations have a metal extension 22 out from in front of the keyboard that have a ledge 25. Some of these ledges are broad as shown in fig. 5b and some are narrow as shown in 5a. Although these extensions have ledges 25 that are intended to provide support for the wrists, workers find the shelves uncomfortable after periods of use because the shelves are hard. An embodiment of this invention is a fabric covered extension contoured to the ledge and

having the same structural features as described in the foregoing paragraphs.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY In the foregoing paragraphs, several embodiments have been described which meet the objects of the invention. These embodiments provide comfortable support fot the wrists in positions which avoid the ocurrence of repetitive motion stress in the wrists and shoulders. The problem of avoiding spread of viral diseases has also been satisfactorily addressed. The embodiments also provide for improved personal reaction to working in the working place by constructions that are amenable to attractive decorations and promoting the personal comfort of the user. The principles of the invention are also applicable to a other uses such as providing wrist support when operating a computer "mouse" or a laptop computer.

It should be noted that various modifications within the scope of the invention can be made by one of ordinary skill without departing from the spirit thereof. We therefore wish our invention to be defined by the scope of the appended claims and in view of the specification if need be.