Patents Examined by Jim Calve
  • Patent number: 6119911
    Abstract: A staple wire cutting element (4) is mounted displaceably on a stapling device (1) in which staple wire segments are shaped into a staple and driven into a sheet stack. A control lever (8) that is in engagement with a radial cam unit (6) engages the cutting element (4). The radial cam unit (6) is driven via an overrunning clutch (10), one end of which has a gear (11) which is fixed to the radial cam unit (6) and engages into a gear (5b) of a stepping motor (5). The other end of the overrunning clutch (10) has a gear (12) which is fixed to a transport wheel (13) for staple wire transport. A gear (27), which is mounted displaceably along its rotation axis and is mounted rotatably about the same rotation axis as the gear (5a), engages into the gear (12). The gears (5b, 27) are equipped at their sides facing one another with tooth sets (28).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2000
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Helmut Funk, Joachim Buck, Juergen Ries, Gert Scheufler
  • Patent number: 6105686
    Abstract: The invention relates to an arrangement in connection with a hydraulically operated impact device, such as a breaking apparatus. The impact device includes a percussion piston, conduits for feeding pressure fluid into and out of the impact device, and a pressure accumulator. According to the inventive idea, the pressure accumulator is formed as an annular structure surrounding the percussion piston. It consists of sleeve-shaped pressure chambers that are separated by a sleeve-like diaphragm arranged between a frame and a sleeve. The pressure chambers are formed such that the inner circumference of the sleeve placed around the frame and the outer circumference of the frame are provided with recesses opposite one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2000
    Assignee: Tamrock OY
    Inventor: Ilkka Niemi
  • Patent number: 6105687
    Abstract: A portable power tool comprises a housing (10), a motor, a handle (11), and a connection device for fixed connection of a terminal end of a flexible power supply line (16), wherein a support device (17) is mounted on the housing (10) for supporting the power supply line (16) at a support point (A) located at a certain distance from the terminal end (15) of the line (16), which support device (17) is swivelled relative to the housing (10) about a first axis (x--x) substantially coinciding with the longitudinal direction of the power supply line (16) at the terminal end (15) of the latter and about a second axis (y--y) extending perpendicularly to the first axis (x--x) as well as to the longitudinal direction of the power supply line (16) in the support point (A). Between its terminal end (15) and its support point (A), the power support line (16) is routed in a free loop (19) large enough to avoid a detrimental sharp bending thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2000
    Assignee: Atlas Copco Tools AB
    Inventor: Gunnar Christer Hansson
  • Patent number: 6098865
    Abstract: A device and method for driving a first point of a double-pointed staple into a first board surface of a first board and a second point of the staple into a second board surface of a second board, the board surfaces intersecting at a junction where they define an included angle of less than 180.degree.. The invention involves an alignment structure, having first and second abutment surfaces, a staple delivery channel, and a driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2000
    Inventor: Glen J. Tebo
  • Patent number: 6089331
    Abstract: A device for rotating tools on an axis which is not parallel to the rotational axis of a rotational driving source. Bevel gears and other mechanical means redirect forces from a rotational driving source, such as a portable rechargeable screwdriver, into forces capable of rotating tools to perform tasks on an axis not parallel to the rotational axis of the driving source. A rigid housing encloses most of the mechanical means for redirecting forces. A preferred embodiment comprises an adapter kit including a plurality of connectors for connecting the housing of the device to a plurality of differently sized powered driving sources. A method is also described in which tools may be rotated on an axis not parallel to the rotational axis of the rotational drive source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2000
    Inventor: Joseph T. Christ
  • Patent number: 6082468
    Abstract: A replaceable, flexible and resilient grip is slidably fitted over a generally cylindrical handle portion of a power hand tool housing. In one embodiment, for use with a pistol grip housing with a separable end cap, the grip has a flange which is clamped between the end cap and the barrel of the housing and has lugs which fit in recesses in the barrel and end cap. The grip also has a strap portion which fits between the trigger and the barrel and a flange which fits in a groove adjacent to the barrel. In another embodiment, the tool has an air exhaust port adjacent to the handle portion and the grip defines an exhaust air passage alongside the handle portion, the grip being held in place by a retaining plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2000
    Assignee: Snap-on Tools Company
    Inventors: Daniel S. Pusateri, James R. Brehm
  • Patent number: 6079604
    Abstract: An improved escapement mechanism is provided including a reciprocating nesting block which periodically advances a rivet or other fastener to a delivery tube. The escapement mechanism includes a cover plate mounted to the housing and secured in place by a pair of locating pins and a thumb screw assembly which makes removal of the cover plate very simple. The nesting block is provided with an elongated slot which is engaged by a head portion of an end fitting attached to drive rod of a drive mechanism. The sliding engagement of the end fitting with the elongated slot of the nesting block provides for easy changeover to other nesting blocks as well as improved maintenance and cleaning.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2000
    Assignee: Emhart, Inc.
    Inventors: David J. Banducci, David S. Calkins
  • Patent number: 6079504
    Abstract: A drill rig is provided which has a mobile trolley having a telescopically extendible post for locking it in position relative to the hanging wall in an underground mine. The post supports in articulated manner, at least one and generally two vertically and laterally spaced drill booms adjustable in position at least within limits relative to the height of the post. A third drill boom may operatively be supported by the trolley itself in a lower-most position. The trolley is preferably supported on driven wheels and the drills, post, and any drive motors are preferably hydraulically driven by high pressure water.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2000
    Assignee: Northam Platinum Limited
    Inventor: John Robert Kendall
  • Patent number: 6076720
    Abstract: A stapler includes a base having a first end portion and a second end portion, a first staple magazine having a first end portion pivotally connected with the first end portion of the base and a second end portion formed with a closed face and containing a staple ejection slot on the bottom portion thereof, a second staple magazine received in the first staple magazine and having a first end portion connected with the first end portion of the first staple magazine and a second end portion, a plurality of first staples each slidably mounted on the second staple magazine and received in the first staple magazine, a plurality of second staples each slidably received in the second staple magazine, and a pressing cap having a first end portion pivotally mounted on the first end portion of the base and a second end portion formed with a staple ejector which can be moved to align with the staple ejection slot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2000
    Inventor: Jinn-Yi Deng
  • Patent number: 6076615
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a multi-linked working boom for a working machine which carries at the other end a hydraulically maneuverable and hydraulically driven working equipment, where the boom comprises a first pair of link arms which is connected to the working machine and a second pair of link arms which is jointed to the first pair of link arms via a link arm-forming support member, which is intermittently fixable against a support foundation by means of the first pair of link arms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2000
    Inventors: Knut Dalland, Ingvar Osen
  • Patent number: 6076616
    Abstract: A tool having an operating element that is driven by an integrated power drive for the percussive, pounding or vibratory loading of a material to be worked, in particular a tamper, a vibration plate or a vibration roll for ground compaction or a hammer for breaking and/or drilling operations, can be guided using a handle. This handle is actively vibration-damped by at least one actively controlled or regulated compensation element, which counteracts the transmission of a vibration to the handle and which, depending on the vibration that can be transmitted to it and is produced in and/or on the tool, produces a compensating force and/or movement in the potential vibration transmission path from the location of production of the vibration to the handle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2000
    Assignee: Wacker-Werke GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Edith Kramp, Rudolf Berger, Thomas Maurer
  • Patent number: 6073705
    Abstract: There is provided a power-driven striking tool including: a casing; a tool holder rotatably supported inside the casing and having a front end to which a tool bit is attached; and an operating member fitted around the tool holder and exposed to the outside of the tool so as to be manually slidable in the axial directions of the tool holder and integrally rotatable with the tool holder. The operating member is biased rearward by a compression spring along the axis of the tool holder into contact with the casing. The tool further includes first teeth provided on the operating member where it comes into contact with the casing and second teeth provided on the casing where it comes into contact with the operating member. When the operating member is brought into contact with the casing, the first and second teeth engages each other to prevent the operating member and thus the tool holder from rotating relative to the casing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2000
    Assignee: Makita Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuyoshi Shibata, Masaaki Uchida
  • Patent number: 6065661
    Abstract: Standard tag attaching fasteners in continuous strip form are intermittently moved toward an attacher along a guide track which gradually changes shape from planar to semicircular. The T-bars are feed to the attacher, which is mounted upright on a base. At the same time, each paddle, in turn, having traveled along the guide, is oriented in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the needle, at a location in alignment with but spaced from the needle. A tag or hook, previously removed from a stack by a moveable arm with a vacuum head, is in place over the needle. A portion of the article is situated between the needle and the fastener filament, with the needle in an opening or recess of the article. Upon actuation of the apparatus, the paddle is clamped in position and driven toward the needle such that the paddle is penetrated by the needle. The attacher then ejects the T-bar which lodges on the far side of the paddle, securing the ends of the fastener together to form a closed loop around the article.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2000
    Inventors: Steven J. Kunreuther, Ronald L. Meyers
  • Patent number: 6065662
    Abstract: A tacker for a fastener, with which a tacking plunger is drivable by a drive unit and expels the fastener via a muzzle tool, with a switch device comprising a switch plunger, for actuating the drive unit which has a pivotably mounted release lever for actuating the switch plunger, with a contact feeler which can be actuated on placing onto a subject, which is movably mounted on the muzzle tool and which is pretensioned by a spring into the idle position in which it protrudes beyond the muzzle tool, and with a safety device which is arranged between the contact feeler and the switch device and which has a transmission device, for preventing a release of the drive unit when the contact feeler is in its idle position, said safety device comprising a slide element which is movably mounted on the side of the release lever directed towards the switch plunger and which is coupled to the transmission device and is movable with the release lever relative to the transmission device so that in the idle position of the c
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2000
    Assignee: Joh. Friedrich Behrens AG
    Inventor: Marcus Sauer
  • Patent number: 6062455
    Abstract: A cartridge strip magazine for successively feeding cartridges into the breech of a powder-actuated fastener setting tool. When a cartridge in alignment with the breech is fired, the resultant expanding gas acts to propel a drive piston to launch a fastener. The inlet to the breech is provided with a frusto-conical upper entry section and an inwardly offset frusto-conical lower section having the same slope as the upper section. The magazine is molded of a strip of resilient plastic material having a row of noses projecting therefrom, each nose socketing a cartridge and being adapted to nest within the inlet of the tool breech. Each nose is formed with an outer wall having a frusto-conical lower section which when the nose is nested within the breech abuts and conforms to the lower section of the breech, and an outwardly-offset frusto-conical upper section that then abuts and conforms to the upper section of the breech.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Assignee: Anthony C. Giannuzzi
    Inventors: Louis N. Giannuzzi, Anthony C. Giannuzzi
  • Patent number: 6062323
    Abstract: A pneumatic tool includes a housing defining an air inlet and first and second exhaust passages and an air motor fluidly coupled to the air inlet and disposed in the housing. The motor produces exhaust air in operation and is fluidly coupled to the first and second exhaust passages. The tool also includes an exhaust valve carried by housing for selectively opening and closing only the second exhaust passage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Assignee: Snap-on Tools Company
    Inventors: Daniel S. Pusateri, James R. Brehm, Joshua M. Beer
  • Patent number: 6059162
    Abstract: A powder actuated fastener setting tool including a receiver for receiving a portion of a barrel reciprocatable therein between extended and retracted positions, and a substantially enclosed exhaust baffle disposed between the receiver and a muzzle of the barrel when the barrel is in the retracted position for baffling exhaust discharged from the tool during operation thereof. The tool also includes a spring member disposed between a cap fixedly coupled axially to a muzzle of the barrel and the receiver for biasing the barrel in the extended position, and a mechanism for removing exhaust residue from the powder actuated tool during operation thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2000
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
    Inventors: Michael S. Popovich, Edward D. Yates
  • Patent number: 6053260
    Abstract: An underground utility line flagger and marker having an elongated main body having an upper end and a lower-end ground penetrator, a forwardly projecting handle at the upper end at an acute angle to the main body, the ground penetrator having a marker flagstaff-engagement recess at the bottom thereof, and a foot-driven projection on the main body whereby the staff of a marker flag lying on the ground can be inserted into the ground with the flag upright by using the handle to place the engagement recess on the flagstaff and stepping on the peg.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2000
    Inventors: Peter Boon, Jack Bates
  • Patent number: 6053259
    Abstract: A knapsack type working machine has a first frame and a second frame. A prime mover for driving a working instrument is carried on the first frame. The second frame has a back pad and shoulder straps. The first frame and the second frame are separable from each other. The first frame has a locking engagement member. The second frame engages with the locking engagement member and has a pivotal locking member urged by a spring in a direction of engagement with the locking engagement member. By releasing the locking engagement member from engagement with the pivotal locking member, the first frame is separated from the second frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2000
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Atsushi Kojima, Tomomi Nakaya, Makoto Warashina
  • Patent number: 6050347
    Abstract: An in-hole hammer for boring in ground has an elongated hollow housing carrying an internal striking piston in a piston chamber. An exchangeable boring head is threadably connected to the forward end of the housing and the striking piston impacts against the forward wall of the housing defining the piston chamber to transmit forward driving impact energy to the boring head. A boring rod which urges the hammer forwardly and rotates it about the longitudinal axis is connected to the rear end of the housing through a connecting piece non-rotatably fixed, but slidable relative, to the housing so that the axially directed impact energy produced by the striking piston is not transmitted to the boring rod.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2000
    Assignee: Terra AG fuer Tiefbautechnik
    Inventor: Dietmar Jenne