(…) Fasteners of Bulk Amorphous Alloy
In one of the four Apple patents discovered today they state that “It has been argued that it is very difficult to make simple fasteners, particularly for electronic devices, to secure against tampering, because numerous types of attacks are possible. Yet, there is a need for a simple, but effective, permanent or semi-permanent fastener that would at least obviate physical tampering or make the fastener, and possibly the device to which the fastener is attached, non-functional if the fastener has been tampered with.”
So what is this Liquidmetal patent about? Staying in context with what the patent describes as “a need” for this invention, we go deep into the patent filing to find where Apple describes the intended product.
“A fastener is a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together. Fasteners can also be used to close a container such as a bag, a box, an enclosure or an envelope; or they may involve keeping together the sides of an opening of flexible material, attaching a lid to a container or a laptop, etc. Fasteners can be temporary, in that they may be fastened and unfastened repeatedly, or permanent, in that they cannot be removed without destroying the fasteners. The fasteners of the embodiments herein are limited to permanent fasteners.”
Apple’s patent stays in character and is focused on using the term “fastener.” Yet at one discrete point in time Apple breaks from using fastener alone and introduces us to the focus of a security “zipper” as follows: (…)
via Four New Liquidmetal Related Patents Surface in Europe – Patently Apple.