SUPPORT POUR SOURIS D'ORDINATEUR

SUPPORT FOR COMPUTER MOUSE

Abrégé français

Un support pour souris d'ordinateur (tapis pour souris) comprend, disposée sur une feuille inférieure en mousse, au moins une mince couche colorée de liquide contenue entre deux feuilles positionnées sur la feuille inférieure et soudées l'une à l'autre par leurs bords de manière étanche aux liquides. La mince couche colorée de liquide est visible à travers les feuilles transparentes. Etant donné que le liquide ne remplit pas entièrement l'espace disponible, il se répartit constamment, formant des motifs à stries qui se modifient à chaque fois que l'on actionne la souris, ce qui donne un aspect optiquement intéressant au tapis pour souris.

Abrégé anglais

A support for computer mouse (mouse pad) has at least one thin coloured liquid
layer arranged on a bottom foam plate and enclosed between two foils arranged
on the bottom plate and welded together in a liquid-tight manner at their
edges. The thin coloured liquid layer may be seen through the transparent
foils. Since the liquid does not completely fill the available space, it is
constantly redistributed, forming ever-changing streaked patterns every time
the mouse is actuated, and giving to the mouse pad an optically interesting
optical appearance.

Revendications

CLAIMS
1. A support device for a computer mouse comprising a
lower foil (1) made of foam material onto which a carrier
layer (2) has been laminated and including, disposed above
the carrier layer (2), a transparent upper foil (3) which
is welded continuously along the edge (8) to the carrier
layer (2) and the lower foil (1), characterized in that the
carrier layer (2) is arranged liquid-tight and that between
the carrier layer (2) and the upper foil (3) a coloured
liquid is provided, with the liquid volume being less than
the available space volume.
2. A support device for a computer mouse comprising a
lower foil (1) made of foam material onto which a carrier
layer (2) has been laminated and including, disposed above
the carrier layer, a transparent upper foil (3) which is
welded continuously along the edge (8) to the carrier layer
and the lower foil (1), characterized in that the carrier
layer (2) is arranged liquid-tight, that between the
carrier layer (2) and the upper foil (3) at least one
transparent partitioning foil (4, 5) is provided, which along
the edge (8) is continuously welded together with the lower
foil (1), the carrier layer (2) and the upper foil (3), and
that between the carrier layer (2) and the partitioning
foil (4), between the partitioning foil (5) and the upper
foil (3) and optionally between the partitioning foils (4,
5) in each case a coloured liquid is situated, with the
liquid volumes being less than the available space volume.
3. A support device for a computer mouse comprising a
lower foil (1) made of foam material onto which a carrier
layer (2) has been laminated and including, disposed above
the carrier layer (2), a transparent upper foil (3) which
is welded continuously along the edge (8) to the carrier

layer (2) and the lower foil (1), characterized in that
between the carrier layer (2) and the upper foil (3) at
least two partitioning foils (4, 5) are provided, of which
at least the uppermost one(s) (5) is/are transparent and
which are welded together continuously along the edge (8)
as well as to the lower foil (1), the carrier layer (2) and
the upper foil (3), and that at least between the
partitioning foils (4, 5) one coloured liquid is provided, with
the liquid volumes being less than the available space
volume.
4. A support device as claimed in claim 3, characterized
in that the cavity between adjoining partitioning foils (4,
5) is subdivided into at least two regions by a
liquid-tight welding seam (6) between the two partitioning foils
(4, 5), each region being occupied by its own coloured
liquid.
5. A support device as claimed in claim 1, characterized
in that the upper foil (3) is provided on its underside
with a pictorial and/or written imprint in reversed mirror
image form.
6. A support device as claimed in claim 1, characterized
in that the liquid is a pure vegetable oil.
7. A support device as claimed in claim 6, characterized
in that cosmetics are admixed to the vegetable oil for
colouring purposes.

Description

21 ~4754
Description
A support device for a computer mouse
The invention relates to a support device for a computer
mouse, a so-called mouse pad, comprising a lower foil made
of foam material onto which a carrier layer has been lami-
nated and including, disposed above the carrier layer, a
transparent upper foil which is welded continuous~y along
the edge to the carrier layer and the lower foil.
Such support devices are used for the convenient actuation
of the computer mouse. The mouse or the mouse device is
moved to and fro by the user on the support device, causing
the ball of the mouse to roll over the upper foil. The
lower foil of foam material holds the support device on the
working surface, causes the ball to roll smoothly and damps
the vibrations which arise during the actuation of the keys
of the mouse.
The support devices are frequently provided with pictorial
and/or written illustrations in order to enhance their
appearance or to make them serve as an advertislng means.
The invention is based on the object of providing a support
device for a computer mouse which has a particularly at-
tractive appearance.
This object is achieved in accordance with the invention in
various modifications, based on the same solution concept,
by the support devices for a computer mouse as character-
ized in claims 1, 2 and 3.
The solution concept in accordance with the invention is to
provide at least one thin coloured liquid layer below the
transparent top foil in which the liquid, as it occupies
the available space only incompletely, is distributed in a

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puddle-like pattern, with this distribution and accordingly
the appearance changing in a substantially random manner by
the actuation of the computer mouse. This affords a very
interesting appearance to the support device, in particular
in combination with a non-invariable imprint of pictorial
and/or written illustrations onto which the at least one
puddle-like liquid layer is optically superposed.
In the support device according to claim 1 a liquid layer
is provided which is enclosed between the liquid-tight
carrier layer and the upper foil.
In the support device according to claim 2 at least two
liquid layers are provided, more particularly between the
liquid-tight carrier layer and a partioning foil, between a
partitioning foil and the upper foil, and optionally be-
tween adjoining partitioning foils.
In the support device according to claim 3 a liquid layer
is each provided between adjoining partitioning foils and
optionally in addition between the upper partitioning foil
and the upper foil. In this context the carrier layer need
not be liquid tight. Moreover, this solution alternat vely
serves as a starting point for the modification accordlng
to claim 4 in which at least one liquid layer is subdivided
quasi-vertically into two regions in the vertical dimen-
sion, each containing its own coloured liquid, which pro-
vides particularly interesting optical effects. Liquid-
tight welding seams between the adjoining partitioning
foils are used for the subdivision into these regions.
These welding seams specifically do not extend to the
carrier layer or the upper foil. A welding seam extending
along the surface constituting the upper surface would
interfere with the rolling action of the ball of the mouse.
If a welding seam were to extend to the carrier layer the
manufacturing conditions would cause along that location a
compression of the lower foil of foam material, resulting

21 ~4754
'
in an unattractive appearance and likewise possibly inter-
fering with the rolling action of the ball.
Any pictorial and/or written imprint is preferably applied
pursuant to claim 5, which offers the advantage that the
imprint will not be scratched and no dye pigments will soil
the ball of the mouse.
Pure vegetable oil was found suitable for the coloured
liquid(s). If damage to the mouse pad were to give rise to
leakage and the emergence of liquid, persons will not be
subjected to any hazards e.g. by toxidity. Moreover, vege-
table oil does not evaporate through the foil or carrier
layer so that the optical effect of the liquid(s) and
thereby the durablity of the mouse pad is ensured in the
long run.
Preferably, cosmetics are admixed to the vegetable oil for
colouring purposes so that likewise no hazards to persons
arise from the dye stuff if such persons were to come into
contact with any liquid emerging from a damaged mouse pad.
All foils and layers of the support device according to the
invention are preferably manufactured of PVC and are ac-
cordingly ~uily recyclable.
In the following the invention will be explained in closer
detail with additional advantageous details with reference
to two embodiments illustrated schematically, wherein:
Fig. 1 shows a top view of a support device for a com-
puter mouse;
Fig. 2 shows a partial cross section through the support
device according to fig 1;
Fig. 3 shows a top view onto a different support device
for a computer mouse;

21 94754
Fig. 4 shows a partial cross section through the support
device according to fig 3;
The support device according to figures 1 and 2 comprises a
lower foil 1 of PVC foam material onto which a liquid-tight
carrier layer 2 of PVC has been laminated. A transparent
upper foil 3 (likewise of PVC), the upper surface of which,
in a manner not illustrated, is slightly roughened in order
to provide a reliable rolling action of the ball of the
mouse, is provided on top of the carrier layer 2. A trans-
parent partitioning foil 4 is provided between the carrier
layer 2 and the upper foil 3. All foils and the carrier
layer are welded together continuously in a liquid-tight
manner all around along the edge 8 of the rectangular
support device.
Between the carrier layer 2 and the partitioning foil 4 a
coloured liquid is provided. Likewise a coloured liquid of
a different colour is provided between the partitioning
foil 4 and the upper foil 3. The liquids are composed of
commercially available pure vegetable oil to which cosmetic
substances have been added as dye stuff. For this purpose
the respective liquid is applied onto the lower layer or
foil without any additional confirming means and subse-
quently the upper foil is superposed and welded onto it.
This is immediately possible because of the viscosity of
the vegetable oil. For reasons of clarity the liquids are
not illustrated as such in fig 2. In those cases the amount
of liquid has been selected in such a way that the space
available is not filled entirely. In the case of mouse pads
of average size the space between two foils or layers
contains about 0.022 1 of liquid, and in the case of larger
mouse pads this amount may also be 0.025 1. This results in
the liquid becoming distributed in a puddle-like pattern,
with the puddle-like pattern changing continuously during
the rolling action of the ball of the mouse thereover.

21 94754
Accordingly, the puddle-like patterns 9 indicated in fig 1
merely represent a momentary condition.
The support device illustrated in figs. 3 and 4 corresponds
essentially to that according to figs. 1 and 2. However,
there are provided two liquid-tight partitioning foils 4
and 5 made of PVC providing a facility to enclose coloured
liquid between the carrier layer 2 and the lowermost parti-
tioning foil 4, between the partitioning foils 4 and 5 as
well as between the uppermost partitioning foil 5 and the
upper foil 3. In addition, the two partitioning foils 4 and
are interconnected by a liquid-tight welding seam 6
extending in an irregular linear pattern over the surface
of the support device and subdividing the cavity between
the two partitioning foils 4 and 5 into two regions, each
of which may be filled with its own liquid of different
colour. This permits the creation of a multitude of colour
effects. Any pictorial and/or written imprint is applied in
reversed mirror image form to the underside of the upper
foil 3, resulting of course also in a superpositioning of
the optical effects generated by the puddle-shaped liquid
layers with the imprint.

Dessin représentatif