Adjustable height keyboard support
Patent No. US7950338 (titled "Adjustable height keyboard support") on Feb 11, 2008. The application was issued on May 31, 2011.
What is this patent about?
’338 is related to the field of ergonomic office equipment, specifically portable workstations designed to transition between sitting and standing heights. The background context involves the physiological strain and reduced blood flow associated with prolonged sitting, necessitating a stable, height-adjustable platform that can support a keyboard and mouse on top of an existing desk without requiring permanent installation or complex mechanical actuators.
The underlying idea behind ’338 is a nested scissor linkage geometry that allows for a high degree of vertical travel while maintaining a near-flush profile when collapsed. By utilizing two U-shaped tubular frames that pivot against one another, the invention creates a stable, four-point support system that keeps the keyboard surface perfectly horizontal throughout its entire range of motion, relying on a simple mechanical interlock rather than springs or gas struts.
The claims of ’338 focus on a dual-plate assembly interconnected by a pair of U-shaped leg structures that are pivotally joined at a central axis. The upper support plate features a notched retention mat on its underside, which acts as a multi-position rack for one of the leg connectors. This allows the user to manually set the height by slotting a transverse bar into specific grooves, while the opposite ends of the legs remain anchored to the rear edges of the top and bottom plates.
In practice, the device functions as a stand-alone portable riser. The bottom plate provides a wide footprint for stability on a desk, while the upper plate includes an integrated armrest for ergonomic support. The height is adjusted by lifting the front edge of the keyboard plate to disengage the cylindrical tie bar from the notched mat, sliding it to a new position, and letting gravity lock it back into a groove. This manual ratcheting mechanism provides a wide range of discrete height settings to accommodate different user statures.
This design differentiates itself from prior monitor stands or adjustable desks by its low-profile nesting capability and portability. Because the U-shaped members are sized to fit within one another, the entire unit can collapse to a thickness roughly equal to the diameter of the support tubing. Unlike permanent desk conversions, this invention provides a stable, non-tilting platform that can be easily moved or stored, specifically optimized for the spatial requirements of a keyboard and mouse interface.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical Landscape
In the late 2000s when ’338 was filed, ergonomic workstation accessories were typically implemented using fixed-height risers or mechanical arms that required permanent mounting to desks or walls. At a time when office furniture commonly relied on static surfaces or complex integrated pneumatic systems for height adjustment, providing a stable and portable interface for peripheral input devices was often restricted by the weight and footprint of the support hardware. Hardware constraints made the creation of a stable, high-elevation platform non-trivial, as maintaining structural rigidity without permanent anchoring often resulted in bulky or non-collapsible designs that were difficult to reposition within a standard workspace.
Prosecution Position
The invention addresses the technical problem of providing a portable, high-range vertical adjustment for keyboards and mice without requiring attachment to a desk. The architectural solution utilizes a stand-alone base plate connected to a support plate via a specific scissor linkage comprising two U-shaped components joined by horizontal tie bars. This structure achieves a technical effect of increased stability and simplified height selection through the integration of parallel ridges and notches on the underside of the support plate, which releasably engage a tie bar. This configuration enables a rapid shift between seated and standing heights while maintaining a compact, non-integrated form factor that can be placed on any existing flat work surface.
Claims
The patent contains a total of 14 claims, with claims 1, 11, and 13 serving as the independent claims. These independent claims focus on the mechanical configuration of an adjustable keyboard support featuring upper and lower quadrilateral plates connected by a scissor-like arrangement of pivoting leg structures, where the height is adjusted via a notched retention mat located on the underside of the upper plate. The dependent claims serve to further define specific structural details, such as the tubular or cylindrical shape of the leg components, the nested relationship of the legs in a collapsed position, the specific alignment and dimensions of the support plates, and the precise positioning of the notched adjustment mechanism.
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US7950338
- Application Number
- US12028957A
- Filing Date
- Feb 11, 2008
- Publication Date
- May 31, 2011
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO , Google Patents