Patents Examined by James J. Bell
  • Patent number: 6251808
    Abstract: An abrasive metal and fiberglass cleaner and polish article comprises a substrate presenting an abrasive surface and being capable of absorbing and retaining a fluid, and a metal and fiberglass cleanser absorbed in the substrate, the cleanser being an oil-in-water emulsion comprising a solvent, a surfactant, an oxidation removing agent, an emulsifier, and a carrier, whereby cleansing action is achieved by the emulsion, and abrasive cleansing action is achieved by the abrasive surface of the substrate. The substrate can comprise a cloth-like towel. A plurality of such towels are packaged into a re-sealable, flexible, vinyl pouch, removed one at a time, as necessary, to accomplish the complete cleaning task.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2001
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works, Inc.
    Inventors: Edward S. Rose, Raymond G. Wile
  • Patent number: 6159574
    Abstract: A laminated support for pressure-relief including an upper layer of visco-elastic foam, a middle layer of visco-elastic foam having a greater hardness, and a bottom layer of highly resilient polyurethane foam. These layers are sandwiched between two layers of reticulated filter polyurethane foam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2000
    Assignee: Fagerdala World Foams AB
    Inventors: Dag Landvik, Michael B. Allaway
  • Patent number: 6147017
    Abstract: The present invention relates to industrial fibers and products made therefrom and more specifically to industrial polyester fibers and products made therefrom. The fibers comprise a synthetic melt spun polymer having a relative viscosity about 24 to about 42, a denier of about 4 to about 8, a tenacity of about 6.5 grams/denier to about 9.2 grams/denier, and a sinusoidal shaped cross section normal to a longitudinal axis of the filament, the cross section having an aspect ratio of about 2 to about 6.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2000
    Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
    Inventors: Robert Francis Fastenau, Mark Ashley Short
  • Patent number: 6140260
    Abstract: A felt for use in a papermaking machine includes a woven base fabric and a batt layer for supporting the paper web. A flow control layer is interposed between the base fabric and the fibrous batt layer, to impede rewetting of the paper web as the paper web exits a press nip of the papermaking machine. The flow control layer is formed of a porous hydrophobic material. Pressure exerted by the press nip forces water from the paper web through the batt layer and the flow control layer into the base fabric. When the pressure is relieved, the hydrophobic properties of the flow control layer impede back-flow of water to the batt layer and thence to the paper web, thereby impeding rewetting of the web. The flow control layer is preferably formed of a spunbonded filamentary nylon material which is non-circular in cross-section, such as tri-lobed/triangular, and which may be treated with an hydrophobic chemical composition to enhance hydrophobic properties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2000
    Assignee: Appleton Mills
    Inventors: Michael Carl Johnson, Gary Vernon Schultz
  • Patent number: 6100207
    Abstract: Disclosed are head bands comprising a sliver of spontaneously wettable staple fibers. The fibers are of an irregular, grooved shape in cross section and are lightly bound together to permit easy separation into suitable lengths for head bands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2000
    Assignee: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Leron R. Dean, Robert J. Bobalik, F. Henry Dillow
  • Patent number: 6086950
    Abstract: The absorbent sheet comprising at least hydrophilic fibers and thermally fusible bonding fibers or a strengthening assistant, and a superabsorbent polymer is characterized in that:the superabsorbent polymer is not present on an absorbent surface of the absorbent sheet for absorbing liquid but distributed inside the absorbent sheet, and is adhered and fixed to the hydrophilic fibers constituting the absorbent sheet;the superabsorbent polymer is spread at an amount of 5 to 300 g per 1 m.sup.2 of the absorbent sheet; andthe absorbent sheet has a thickness of 0.3 to 1.5 mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2000
    Assignee: Kao Corporation
    Inventors: Kazumichi Masaki, Yoshihito Kubota, Eichi Ichikawa, Mari Kaganoi, Minoru Nakanishi, Mitsugu Hamajima, Yasuhiro Yamamoto, Hironori Kawasaki, Tetsuya Kusagawa
  • Patent number: 6077597
    Abstract: An interactive thermal insulating system of the present invention includes at least three layers. The first layer is a high density layer comprising a substrate is coated with a polymer binder in which a plurality of microspheres containing a phase change material are dispersed. The second layer is a low density fibrous mesh in which individual fibers contain a plurality of microspheres containing a phase change material dispersed therein. A third layer is a flexible substrate. The fibrous mesh is sandwiched between the coated layer and the third layer. The layers are bonded together by stitching at regular intervals, lamination, or other methods of connection. Most preferably, the phase change materials contained in the microspheres include paraffinic hydrocarbons.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2000
    Assignee: Outlast Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Barbara Pause
  • Patent number: 6034008
    Abstract: This invention relates to improved sheets of flash-spun plexifilamentary film-fibrils useful in fluid microfiltration and sterile packaging. The sheet material suitable for use in microfiltration of liquids has a permeability that causes a pressure drop of less than 21 kPa at a water flow rate per unit area of 12.55 ml/min/cm.sup.2, and that has a filtration efficiency of 99% of dust particulates in the size range of 1 to 2 microns suspended in a stream of distilled water pumped through the sheet material at a pressure differential of 207 kPa. The sheet material suitable for use in sterile packaging that has a Gurley Hill Porosity of less than 15 seconds and a bacteria spore log reduction value of at least 2.5.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2000
    Assignee: E. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company
    Inventors: Hyun Sung Lim, Larry R Marshall, Wazir Nobbee, Jennifer Marie Warren
  • Patent number: 6027483
    Abstract: A web material which exhibits an elastic-like behavior along at least one axis when subjected to an applied and subsequently released elongation. The web material includes a strainable network having at least two visually distinct regions of the same material composition. The first region undergoes a molecular-level deformation and the second region initially undergoes a substantially geometric deformation when the web material is subjected to an applied elongation in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of elongation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2000
    Inventors: Charles W. Chappell, Eugene R. Sorensen, Kenneth B. Buell, John J. Curro, Michele A. Mansfield
  • Patent number: 5994480
    Abstract: A novel resin composite consists of a thermosetting resin or photosensitive resin and a thermoplastic resin and has a quasi-homogeneous compatible structure not only having properties inherent to the thermosetting or photosensitive resin but also exhibiting values of properties higher than those inherent to the thermoplastic resin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 30, 1999
    Assignee: Ibiden Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Dong Dong Wang, Motoo Asai
  • Patent number: 5981020
    Abstract: The present invention includes a foam flame bonded fabric laminate that is wind-resistant, breathable, and supple along with a low cost process for producing it. The apparatus of the present invention comprises a foam bonding agent layered between fabrics or other materials where the foam possesses wind-resistant and breathable characteristics independent of the other layers. The process of the present invention involves two-step foam flame bonding with each step accomplished in a separate pass through a laminating device. In one embodiment, the first step includes lightly exposing a thin polymer foam (such as polyester polyurethane or polyether polyurethane) to a flame without preheating, then pressing it against the inner face of mesh or tricot. The second step includes more vigorously exposing the foam face of the foam-mesh or foam-tricot laminate to a flame, then pressing it against the inner face of a berber, pile, or fleece fabric.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 9, 1999
    Assignee: Harrison Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Derek A. Sutherland, William F. Willard
  • Patent number: 5976995
    Abstract: Compositions useful for imparting durable hydrophilic polymer coatings to polyester, polypropylene or polyethylene fibers or fabrics comprising A) an aqueous dispersion of 1) a hydrophilic copolyester having repeating segments of a polyoxyethylene diester and a polyalkylene diester, and 2) a polypropylene oxide polymer capped on one or both ends with an alkyl or ester group, said polymer having more than 4 propylene oxide units and an average molecular weight of at least about 300; B) a mixture of 1) an organic solvent, 2) a hydrophilic copolyester having repeating segments of a polyoxyethylene diester and a polyalkylene diester, and 3) a polypropylene oxide polymer capped on one or both ends with an alkyl or monoester group, said polymer having more than 4 propylene oxide units and an average molecular weight of at least about 300; C) an aqueous dispersion of 1) a hydrophilic copolyester having repeating segments of a polyoxyethylene diester and a polyalkylene diester, and 2) a polypropylene glycol having an
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 2, 1999
    Assignee: Stepan Company
    Inventor: Charles Francis Palmer, Jr.
  • Patent number: 5972487
    Abstract: Absorbent structures comprising a continuous matrix of hydrophilic fibers, having dispersed therein particles of a water-insoluble hydrogel, are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 1987
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1999
    Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
    Inventors: Elisabeth Hendrika Duenk, Walter Jakob Fischer
  • Patent number: 5973078
    Abstract: Process for the production of a high tenacity propylene polymer fiber which comprises:spinning fiber from a molten propylene polymer composition consisting essentially of an olefin polymer (I) and a high molecular weight propylene polymer (II) having a branching index less than 1 and melt strength from 5 to 40 cN; said propylene polymer (II) being present in a concentration from 0.1 to 10% by weight with respect to the total weight of the composition; anddrawing the solid fiber thus obtained with a draw ratio greater than 4.5 when the spinning step is continuous and greater than 5 when the spinning step is discontinuous.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1999
    Assignee: Montell North America Inc.
    Inventors: Leonardo Pinoca, Renato Africano, Giancarlo Braca
  • Patent number: 5972806
    Abstract: The present invention relates to absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, panty liners, and incontinence pads. More particularly, the present invention relates to absorbent articles, such as sanitary napkins, that have undergarment covering components (or "side wrapping elements") that automatically wrap the sides of a wearer's panties and provide an alternative to conventional side flaps. The side wrapping elements have at least one zone of extensibility and at a region therein that is stiffer than the zone of extensibility.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1999
    Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
    Inventors: Eric Patton Weinberger, Bruce William Lavash, Robb Eric Olsen, James William Cree
  • Patent number: 5965232
    Abstract: A composite floor covering having an upper layer of a decorative fabric, a dimensionally stabilizing intermediate layer, and an optional lower cushioning layer has at least the upper surface of the decorative fabric coated with a protective polymeric coating in a manner such that the hand of the decorative fabric layer is substantially retained. The materials of the fabric layer, stabilizing layer, and cushioning layer (if provided) as well as the form of attachment therebetween, cooperate to render the floor covering substantially impervious to liquid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 12, 1999
    Assignee: E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc.
    Inventor: Yashavant Vinayak Vinod
  • Patent number: 5955174
    Abstract: A web or film is electrostatically charged by sequentially subjecting the web or film to a series of electric fields such that adjacent electric fields have substantially opposite polarities. Both a method and apparatus are disclosed for charging the web or film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 1995
    Date of Patent: September 21, 1999
    Assignee: The University of Tennessee Research Corporation
    Inventors: Larry C. Wadsworth, Oldrich Jirsak, Peter Ping-Yi Tsai
  • Patent number: 5955183
    Abstract: A system for holding a spiral coil binding assembly formed from a coiled filament and having a plurality of coils with a predetermined pitch. The system comprises a carrier sheet, a plurality of rows of cut-outs on the carrier sheet. The cut-outs in the carrier sheet, or at least some of them, are holding openings which will receive the filament of a spiral coil binding assembly in order to hold the spiral coil binding assembly in place on the carrier sheet. The system also includes mechanism for removing each of the spiral coil binding assemblies from the carrier sheet and directing them to a binding machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 21, 1999
    Assignee: Gunther Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Carl G. Braun
  • Patent number: 5952092
    Abstract: A fibrous structure comprising a fibrous matrix with immobilized surrogate particles, is provided. A labile active substance is selectively deposited on the immobilized surrogate particles. In one embodiment, the surrogate particles are porous and have surface cavities, and the labile active substance is deposited in the pores and surface cavities. In another embodiment, the labile active substance is in attractive association with or attached to the surrogate particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 14, 1999
    Assignee: AQF Technologies LLC
    Inventors: H. Gunter Groeger, Jason R. Malone
  • Patent number: RE36756
    Abstract: Semifinished material consisting of symmetrically-needled glass-fiber mat impregnated with a thermoplastic polymer. The glass mat can be made by, for instance, needling continuous filament web from above and below at the same time with a double needling machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2000
    Assignee: BASF Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Ludwig Wahl, Helmut Vogel