Samsung Invents New Gear Hinge for Future 2-Display Devices

A little over a year ago we covered a Samsung patent application that related to a killer smartphone with a dual display form factor. It's a design they've been working on since 2009 if not earlier, as have others in the industry. Such designs would appeal to multitaskers, ebook readers and for those who like to play a lot of video games, watch a lot of movies or who just enjoy having a larger display to surf the net with. The snags associated with this kind of product coming to market are twofold. Firstly, the dual displays in this kind of smartphone have to be thin enough so as to not appear bulky or heavy. Secondly, the spine hinge of such a device has to be just right so that the book-like device could open and close smoothly at all times. A new Samsung patent published  by the US Patent and Trademark Office recently, once again illustrates that they're still hard at work at advancing this all-important hinge.

Samsung's latest hinge invention could apply to a wide range of portable devices including but not limited to a cellular phone, a notebook computer, a smart phone, a PDA, a game machine or the like, and more particularly to a gear hinge device that provides two parallel hinge axes for opening and closing opposed portions of a folder type portable apparatus by rotation about two parallel axes.

Samsung's invention is intended to provide a stable opening/closing movement (a smooth opening/closing movement) of a dual-axis hinge device that is inexpensive to manufacture and implement.

http://www.patentbolt.com/2013/07/samsung-invents-new-gear-hinge-for-future-2-display-devices.html