Patents Represented by Attorney Frank H. Kremblas, Foster, Millard & Pollick Foster
  • Patent number: 5787344
    Abstract: An arrangement of an area covering, cellular radio communication network having cell regions which can be, contiguously replicated without interference. A central transceiver station is coupled to a base station controller and has a plurality of decentral transceiver stations surrounding and coupled to the central transceiver station. Groups of adjacent decentral transceiver stations are grouped in respective cell areas. All of the decentral transceiver stations in each cell area are allocated the same transmission frequencies, but the frequencies of each cell area are different from the other cell areas in the cell region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 28, 1998
    Inventor: Stefan Scheinert
  • Patent number: 5781160
    Abstract: A radio antenna formed in a vehicle window is coupled with a radio apparatus using an RF transformer having a primary winding connected between the antenna/heating element and the vehicle body and a secondary winding connected between the vehicle body and the radio apparatus. Preferably, the transformer also has a third winding which connects to a second antenna/heating element terminal for completing the electrical supply current circuit through the heating element. The primary winding and third winding are wound with identical turns and connected so the electrical heating current flowing through each winding generates a flux equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the other to cancel the flux resulting from the heating current and thus prevent saturation of the transformer. Shunting capacitors cause RF currents through the primary winding and third winding to be equal in magnitude and in phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 14, 1998
    Assignee: The Ohio State University
    Inventor: Eric K. Walton
  • Patent number: 5775273
    Abstract: A free piston internal combustion engine having improved valve timing. A pair of oppositely disposed combustion chamber passageways extending between the combustion chamber and the earth's atmosphere, each have a combustion chamber valve for controlling the passage of gas through the passageways. The combustion chamber valves are essentially simultaneously opened and closed to permit independent variation and control of the compression ratio, expansion ratio, and stroke of the engine. When the valves are opened, the combustion chamber is purged or supercharged with combustion supporting air, and closed to initiate compression. Variable control of the piston positions at which the valves are opened and closed permits the engine to operate at a high efficiency over a broad range of power output loading conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 7, 1998
    Assignee: Sunpower, Inc.
    Inventor: William T. Beale
  • Patent number: 5762205
    Abstract: An electrically conductive support rack comprising a frame for supporting a plurality of hooks on which workpieces are hung for being transported through a finishing system. A pair of vertical channel beams support a plurality of removable, horizontal crossbars by means of a plurality of support members which are removably mounted to the vertical channel beams. Each support member comprises a resilient wire having an upper hook portion, removably engaging small crossbeams in the vertical channel beams, the wire extending laterally out from the vertical channel beam and then turning downwardly and back into the channel beam to seat resiliently against the top of a second crossbeam of the channel beam. A connector structure, including a brace member, rigidly holds the vertical channel beams transversely to an upper, horizontal crossbar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 9, 1998
    Assignee: Production Plus Corporation
    Inventor: Walter E. Davitz
  • Patent number: 5753474
    Abstract: The instant invention describes a process for the manufacture of butanol and like volatile organic compounds by fermenting carbohydrates, mainly polysaccharide, with micro-organisms which convert carbohydrates into mainly butyric acid and other acids. The acids are subsequently transferred to the solventogenesis production stage using a different strain of bacteria which continuously produces butanol and like volatile organic compounds, via a multistage fermentation process that is stable, high yielding (weight product per unit weight carbohydrates) and productive (faster throughput). By employing one microbe (the first) in the major pathway to produce the acid of choice specifically and faster, and provide for another microbe (the second) with the unique property to convert the acid to a solvent, carbohydrates are not wasted on ancillary product. The unique advantage of the second microbe is that it has the capability of converting acids into solvents (solventogenesis).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 19, 1998
    Assignee: Environmental Energy, Inc.
    Inventor: David Edward Ramey
  • Patent number: 5754137
    Abstract: Process for taking action on productive lands, in particular for spreading or removing substances or other objects onto or from patches of soil and/or for surveying patches of soil, in particular pertaining to agricultural productive areas, with a telecommunicating locating system, preferably operating with the aid of satellites, and a working vehicle with a data processing device in which, in communication with the locating system, positional data for the working vehicle are ascertained and stored in real time by the positional data of the working vehicle being processed further in the data processing device during the operational action, in real time in each case, to give the path of the working vehicle traversed within the productive land, and the path being continuously indicated visually by means of an output medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 19, 1998
    Inventor: Georg Durrstein
  • Patent number: 5749226
    Abstract: A microminiature Stirling cycle engine or cooler is formed utilizing semiconductor, planar processing techniques. Such a Stirling cycle thermomechanical transducer has silicon end plates and an intermediate regenerator. The end plates are formed with diaphragms and backspaces, one end plate forming the expansion end and the opposite end plate forming the compression end, with the regenerator bonded in between. A control circuit apparatus is linked to the diaphragms for controlling the amplitude, phase and frequency of their deflections. The control circuit apparatus is adapted to operate the transducer above 500 Hz and the passages and the workspace, including those within the regenerator, expansion space and compression space, are sufficiently narrow to provide a characteristic Wolmersley number, which is characteristic of the irreversibilities generated by the oscillating flow of the working fluid in the workspace, below substantially 5 at the operating frequency above 500 Hz.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 12, 1998
    Assignee: Ohio University
    Inventors: Lyn Bowman, Jarlath McEntee
  • Patent number: 5739424
    Abstract: The device is an electrically insulating tube which is rigidly mounted between the ends of two dissimilar metal pipes. Longitudinally spaced, annular electrodes are mounted in grooves formed in the cylindrical interior wall. The electrodes are electrically connected to the fluid within the chamber. The chamber is defined by the interior walls of the pipes and the tube. A current source is electrically connected to the electrodes, for generating a current between the electrodes, creating an ohmic potential drop in the fluid that minimizes the potential shift of the pipes from that naturally existing in the absence of the dissimilar metal couple. Sensors sense the naturally existing potential of the pipes for varying the current between the electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 14, 1998
    Assignee: CC Technologies Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventor: John A. Beavers
  • Patent number: 5728178
    Abstract: A hollow, rigid guide tube has a bend nearer to one end than the opposite end. The bent end of the guide tube is inserted through an animal's mouth and esophagus, and into its stomach. The bent end is pressed against the interior of the animal's stomach by manipulating the opposite end which extends out of the animal's mouth. A needle is pushed through the animal's skin and into the stomach end of the guide tube. A fiber is passed through the needle and into and through the whole guide tube. The fiber then extends from outside the animal's abdomen through the stomach wall, through the esophagus and out the animal's mouth. The guide tube and needle are removed and a gastrostomy tube is fastened to the mouth end of the fiber and is pulled into the stomach sidewall in the conventional manner. The guide tube preferably has an outwardly flared surface at one end and has an annular disk attached near the opposite end of the tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 1994
    Date of Patent: March 17, 1998
    Assignee: The Ohio State University
    Inventors: C. A. Tony Buffington, John V. Mauterer, Sarah K. Abood
  • Patent number: 5715693
    Abstract: A refrigeration system having a modulatable compressor and a Rankine cycle refrigeration circuit having at least two evaporators. The flow rate of the compressor is modulated in response to the sensed temperature of the masses being cooled, and the control circuit switches valves to control the refrigerant flow path and modulates the flow rate of the compressor to optimize the efficiency of the refrigeration system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 1996
    Date of Patent: February 10, 1998
    Assignee: Sunpower, Inc.
    Inventors: Nicholas R. van der Walt, Reuven Z. Unger
  • Patent number: 5684490
    Abstract: A radar highway motor vehicle guidance apparatus for guiding a land vehicle along a roadway using a forward looking, lateral position sensing, monopulse tracking radar guidance apparatus which transmits radar pulses forward of the vehicle. The pulses are reflected back to the vehicle by a stripe distributed along the roadway. The stripe is a frequency selective surface which generates retro-reflective grating lobes at an operating frequency of the tracking radar. Operating the radar at two frequencies allows the radar to look at regions spaced at two different distances from the front of the vehicle. Highway related information may be encoded in the frequency selective surface by variations in the shape or dimensions of the frequency selective stripe morphology in order to modulate the reflected signal with highway information which is then also detected at the radar receiver. Target discrimination is enhanced by using pseudo random codes and matching antenna polarization with stripe polarization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 4, 1997
    Assignee: The Ohio State University
    Inventors: Jonathan D. Young, Lee W. Henderson
  • Patent number: 5655910
    Abstract: Educational devices using process-oriented methods are disclosed to prepare pre-school/school children, and teenagers for keyboarding. The devices include dual sets of hand/digit/phalange representations with indicia mounted thereon to provide pictorial and/or alphanumeric representations of a keyboard of arbitrary form and content. Such representations with indicia are adaptive to the growth and development, and preferences of the learner whether in the form of wearable devices embodied as gloves/digit-portions/rings, or non-wearable devices embodied as software-generated screen-displayed images, or as hardware implementations spanning planar and three-dimensional structures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 12, 1997
    Inventor: Farideh Troudet
  • Patent number: 5656140
    Abstract: An electrochemical remediation apparatus comprising a cylindrical tank having a plurality of vertical anodes suspended downwardly from a dome-shaped lid and positioned around the circumference of the tank spaced radially inwardly from the inner sidewalls of the tank. A single cathode is positioned at the axis of the cylindrical tank and removably mounted to the lid. A cylindrical metal ion permeable membrane is positioned between the anodes and the cathode. A plurality of nozzles spaced circumferentially around the tank directs pressurized fluid into the tank at a direction having radial, axial and circumferential components. A mixture of water, acid and contaminated earth consisting of approximately 50% contaminated earth is poured into the region between the membrane and the tank sidewalls. The mixture is incubated and fluidized, and contact between metals in the mixture and the anodes causes the metal contaminants to act as sacrificial anodes and thereby to ionize.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 12, 1997
    Assignee: Chamberlain Ltd., Inc.
    Inventors: John H. Oesterle, Kenneth D. Hughes
  • Patent number: 5642622
    Abstract: A refrigerator having a heat pump mounted within the insulated portion of the refrigerator cabinet which is cooled by the heat pump. The heat pump is a Stirling cycle or Rankine cycle heat pump, is used to cool the interior of the refrigerator cabinet, and is mounted in an insulated housing to limit the transfer of heat from the heat pump into the refrigerator cabinet. A heat transporting conduit connects the heat pump to an exterior heat exchanger mounted outside the refrigerator cabinet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 1, 1997
    Assignee: Sunpower, Inc.
    Inventors: David M. Berchowitz, Dale E. Kiikka
  • Patent number: 5640773
    Abstract: A safety system for power chain saws including two flanges which are mounted on a hand guard frame on the left and right sides. The flanges point toward the rear and trigger the chain brake in the event of the hand slipping laterally and impacting with sufficient force. A further safety system includes a hand lever which is attached to the handle. This mechanism permits starting up of the saw only if the hand lever is pressed against the grip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 24, 1997
    Inventor: Reinhold Haertlein
  • Patent number: 5642088
    Abstract: A reciprocating magnetic body support structure for a linear motor or a linear alternator is claimed. The body comprises a cylindrical, metallic support sleeve having a plurality of longitudinal slots evenly spaced around the circumference of the sleeve. An equal number of magnet segments is mounted to the sleeve extending over at least a portion of the associated slot and attaching to the wall of the sleeve on both sides of the associated slot. The longitudinal slots preferably extend completely through the sleeve from near one longitudinal end of the sleeve to near an opposite longitudinal end of the sleeve. The sleeve is preferably stainless steel or titanium, but should, regardless of metal, have a high resistivity, i.e., above 50 micro ohms per centimeter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 24, 1997
    Assignee: Sunpower, Inc.
    Inventor: Reuven Unger
  • Patent number: 5632619
    Abstract: A face bow for receiving and transferring a model jaw to a jaw articulator in the correct spacial orientation relative to a patient's skull and jaw hinge axis. The face bow has a curved transfer member for surrounding a patient's face and a guide column releasably secured to the transfer member for carrying an adjustable bite fork. The transfer member has an elongate, centering groove and the guide column has an adjusting projection which is perpendicular to the guide column for engagement in the centering groove.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 27, 1997
    Inventor: Michael H. Polz
  • Patent number: 5626618
    Abstract: An apparatus for aiding in the treatment of cardiac arrest patients which includes a flexible tube having an elongated bladder attached between its opposite ends and a stomach bladder attached to its distal end. Each bladder has a conductive portion which serves as an electrode. Wires are embedded in the sidewall of the tube and connected to each electrode. Passageways formed in the sidewall of the tube and fluid-conveying tubes connected thereto form a fluid path through which a saline solution or a gas passes to fill the bladders. The tube is positioned so that the stomach bladder lies in the fundus of the stomach and the esophageal bladder lies in the posterior to the heart. The stomach bladder is filled and moderate countertraction is applied. Then the esophageal bladder is filled. The esophageal bladder serves as a platform by expanding and hardening the esophagus behind the heart. The heart is then compressed between the sternum and the hardened esophageal bladder, thus enhancing artificial circulation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 1993
    Date of Patent: May 6, 1997
    Assignee: The Ohio State University
    Inventors: Kevin R. Ward, Charles G. Brown, Roger R. Dzwonczyk
  • Patent number: 5592073
    Abstract: A common and inexpensive integrated 555 timing circuit is used to vary the timing of triac firing pulses in response to a control voltage. A trigger pulse generator generates a pulse at each zero cross-over of an AC line. This pulse initiates a variable, one shot pulse generator which generates a rectangular pulse. The rectangular pulse terminates following a time interval which is controlled by the magnitude of a control input signal. A pulse forming circuit generates a triac firing pulse at the termination of the rectangular pulse from the one shot pulse generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 7, 1997
    Assignee: Sunpower, Inc.
    Inventor: Robert W. Redlich
  • Patent number: 5591091
    Abstract: The club length and club frequency attributes of each of a plurality of golf clubs in inventory are obtained and the data are arranged in a two dimensional array. The golfer's swing frequency for a test club of a particular test club length is measured. An inventory club is selected, from the inventory array having substantially the same length as the test club and having the closest frequency to the golfer's swing frequency of any inventory club in that array of that length.This process can be employed for one or more clubs. Alternatively, only a few club lengths can be tested to obtain swing frequencies for those clubs. The swing frequencies of any intermediate, untested club lengths are interpolated by standard numerical analysis or obtained by plotting the data points and connecting them with a curve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 7, 1997
    Inventor: Lloyd E. Hackman