Apple's Project Titan is one of Apple's most secretive long-term projects that relates to reinventing vehicles for the electric car era where semi-autonomous and fully autonomous vehicles will be common. Some of the advancements that Apple is making were important enough for 2 Chinese nationals have been arrested trying to leave the U.S. with Apple schematics and photos of sensitive new inventions.

Patently Apple has created a Project Titan patent archive that contains over 50 inventions thus far. I'm amazed at the scope of the inventions as it appears that there's nothing that Apple isn't trying to reinvent for future vehicles and today's granted patent is another example of this. Today's granted patent covers a new way to apply next-gen laminated glass windshields and other windows in a vehicle.

In Apple's patent background they note that laminated glass, or safety glass, is traditionally formed by bonding either a polyvinyl butyral (PVB) or ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) interlayer between two layers of glass. A thin film or layer of PVB or EVA can be placed between two layers of glass, a vacuum can be applied to remove air from between the various layers, and then heat and/or pressure can be applied to bond the layers together, for example, using an autoclave.

Laminated glass can be used to dampen sound transmission and increase the level of safety in architectural and automotive applications, for example, to deter shattering of windows during a hurricane or dampen sound entering through the windows of a passenger compartment of a vehicle.

Traditional fastening systems for laminated glass include edge-style frames and c-shaped or u-shaped clamps that surround panes of laminated glass as well as spider-style fittings attached to bore-based fasteners configured to position the corners of multiple pieces of laminated glass adjacent to each other. More elegant fastening solutions are needed to minimize visibility of the fastening system.

Apple's Project Titan related invention relates to glass fastening systems, sealing systems, and support structures.

In some examples of fastening systems, fastener portions are embedded between glass panes during a glass lamination process. In other examples of fastening systems, fastener portions are adhered to exterior surfaces of glass panes or magnetically attracted to each other through glass panes.

In examples of sealing systems, seals are partially embedded within or encapsulated around edges of laminated glass portions, either during or after the lamination process. In examples of support structures, transparent, ductile support bodies extend between overmold portions to capture and support laminated glass portions.

The glass fastening and sealing systems described below can be implemented in automotive applications, for example, to increase the transparent area of glass surfaces in a vehicle such as the windshield, door windows, backlight, or roof.

Embedded fasteners can be used to attach laminated glass directly to underlying body structure, such as an A-, B-, or C-pillar in a vehicle. Embedded or encapsulated seals can be used to abut portions of laminated glass, for example, at a door window to a windshield or a backlight interface, allowing more of the interface to be transparent. Supporting laminated glass portions within a transparent, ductile body can also increase the transparent area of various glass vehicle surfaces.

Apple's patent FIG. 7 Below shows a top view of a juncture for two portions of laminated glass including one type of fastening system; FIG. 8 shows an exploded sectional view of a fastener for clamping the two portions of laminated glass of FIG. 7; and FIG. 9 shows a top view of a sealing juncture for two portions of laminated glass with at least one portion movable in respect to the other portion.

Apple's granted patent 10,562,274 was originally filed in Q1 2017 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.