Patents Examined by Jennifer Gordon
  • Patent number: 8109447
    Abstract: A valve for a combustion spray gun. An apparatus includes a torsion element rotatable relative to a housing of the combustion spray gun to a charged position. The apparatus also includes a biasing element applying a force to the torsion element, which force urges the torsion element to move a valve core to an off position. The apparatus further includes an engagement mechanism configured to selectively engage and hold the torsion element in the charged position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Sulzer Metco (US) Inc.
    Inventors: Robert F. Savill, Jr., Mark F. Spaulding, James K. Weber, Richard A Zapke
  • Patent number: 8104109
    Abstract: A movable floor system for a swimming pool, including a structural platform comprising a horizontal frame designed to support a finished covering, the platform being designed to be installed in a cavity acting as the swimming pool. The system includes a lifting mechanism, a plurality of parallel crossmembers fixed within a layer formed by the frame of the platform; and a plurality of carrier pulleys located along outer lateral edges of the frame, the carrier pulleys designed to accommodate a platform-driving cable. The lifting mechanism further includes: a driver; a shaft; first and second drive pulleys situated at the ends of the shaft designed to take at least one platform-driving cable; an attachment to secure at least one cable in the cavity; and means for actuating the drive shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Inventor: Frédéric Juracek
  • Patent number: 8100153
    Abstract: According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a float valve apparatus including: a housing including: a partition wall dividing an internal space into lower and upper spaces and having an opening therein; a ventilation pipe communicating the upper space with an outside; a valve seat formed at the opening; and a communication hole communicating the lower space with the outside; a float that is valve vertically slidably movable in the lower space and that upwardly floats in accordance with liquid flowing thereinto to open and close the opening; an upward urging spring urging the float valve from the housing toward the opening; and a support spring disposed inside the upward urging spring to support the float valve to not contact with a bottom surface of the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignee: Piolax Inc.
    Inventor: Nobuhiro Hirata
  • Patent number: 8096332
    Abstract: The filler neck includes a neck tube body having a fuel passage a guide member for guiding the fuel gun and a recirculation passage that connects the fuel tank and the neck tube body through a passage separate from the fuel passage, and that directs fuel vapors inside the fuel tank into the fuel passage. The neck tube body includes a housing chamber a primary connector section and a secondary connector section connected to the housing chamber and defining part of the recirculation passage. The guide member is a member that is housed in the housing chamber and includes a guide section for guiding the fuel gun into the fuel passage and a passage-defining section formed in the guide section, and partly defining the recirculation passage inside the housing chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Hagano
  • Patent number: 8056830
    Abstract: A shower head designed to produce a consistent, wide diameter spray of water under both high and low water pressure conditions. The shower head includes a spinner tube mounted inside a cylindrical-shaped nozzle body. The upper segment of the spinner tube is held in a central location inside the nozzle body by a fixed cassette assembly. The middle and lower segments of the spinner tube extend below the cassette assembly and are bent outward and axially offset from the upper segment and from each other so that the spinner tube is able to spin freely inside the nozzle body. Mounted inside and over the upper end opening of the nozzle tube is an adapter with a longitudinally aligned threaded cavity formed on one end. The adapter includes a water orifice that delivers water from the shower head fixture tube to to the spinner tube. Disposed between the adapter and the upper end of the spinner tube is a flat washer with a narrow water orifice that delivers a narrow, high velocity stream of water to the spinner tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2011
    Inventor: Jeff M Pedersen
  • Patent number: 8051884
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device for combining two components. A first container accommodates the first component, which is liquid, and a second container accommodates a second, solid or liquid component under negative pressure. A body is provided with a first holder for the first container, in the region of the closure of the latter, and with a second holder for the second container, in the region of the closure of the latter. Displaceable means for piercing the closures are provided within the body. In the case of such a device, the invention provides that the body has two slides mounted in a displaceable manner in it, wherein each slide accommodates a cannula for piercing the respective closure, the cannulas are connected, in the region of their ends directed away from the closure, to an element which connects the cannulas in a liquid-tight manner, and actuating means are provided for moving the slides in the direction of the closures for the purpose of piercing the closures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2011
    Assignee: CSL Behring GmbH
    Inventor: Uwe Reuter
  • Patent number: 8037905
    Abstract: A method is provided for filling an enclosure with an ignitable mixture of gases. The enclosure has an outer wall comprising an exterior surface, an interior surface, and a fill aperture extending therethrough. The method comprises delivering a predetermined amount of pressurized combustible gas into the enclosure through the fill aperture, delivering a first predetermined amount of pressurized inert gas into the enclosure through the fill aperture at a first pressurization rate, delivering a second predetermined amount of pressurized inert gas into the enclosure through the fill aperture at a second pressurization rate, welding a sealing member to the outer wall of the enclosure by a welding process to form a weld operable to seal the fill aperture and to permit the enclosure to store pressurized gas therein. The first pressurization rate allows the first predetermined amount of pressurized inert gas to mix with the predetermined amount of pressurized combustible gas to form an ignitable mixture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Autoliv Development AB
    Inventors: John P. Sparkman, Charles M. Woods, William H. Phipps
  • Patent number: 8037906
    Abstract: An apparatus designed to fill multiple water balloons and other water-based toys at the same time is herein disclosed. The apparatus takes the form of a large stand approximately thirty-four (34) inches high and twenty-four (24) inches wide made using polyvinylchloride (PVC) piping and fittings. The apparatus is supported across the bottom using two (2) “T”-shaped legs, also made of PVC pipe. A water connection to a standard garden hose is provided on one (1) leg near the bottom. Four (4) angled valves are provided across a top portion, such that up to four (4) users can use the apparatus simultaneously to refill water-based toys such as squirt guns or water balloons. When finished at each station, each user can easily turn off an individual valve, thus avoiding the wasting of water.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Inventor: Edward J. Grillo
  • Patent number: 8038081
    Abstract: A mobile power washer includes a heater module that is displaceable from an operative position, beneath a vented panel, to an access position enabling easy servicing or replacement of the module. The module includes a heater and a heat exchanger for heating water drawn from tanks for delivery at high pressure through a spray gun attached to a hose. A buffer tank is provided for retaining water heated by the heater for mixing with cold water from the tanks prior to further heating in the heat exchanger and delivery from the spray gun.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Brendon Limited
    Inventor: Robert John Hendy
  • Patent number: 7980484
    Abstract: An anti-slabbing device pivotally coupled above a material conveyor and configured to drop down onto material conveyed and further configured so as to vibrate the leading edge of the material as it reaches the end of the conveyor to create a more consistent flow of material from the end of the conveyor down onto a spinner for distributing the material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2011
    Assignee: Highway Equipment Company
    Inventors: Michael J. Podoll, Bruce Penning, David P. Beck