Patents Examined by Kevin McHenry
  • Patent number: 6651865
    Abstract: A position-, speed- and force-controllable chip accessing apparatus comprises a fixing seat, a rotational direction moving device, a linear direction moving device, and a position sensing device, characterized in that a flexible positioning means is provided at a proper central site of said fixing seat and is screw fixed with said rotational direction moving device; one side of said rotational direction moving device is coupled with said linear direction moving device, while the other side of said rotational direction moving device is coupled with said position sensing device screw; and that by measuring with a speed sensor and a position sensing device on said linear direction moving device, the control of the force, speed and moving distance can be achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2003
    Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
    Inventors: Story Huang, Szu-Hui Lee, Yvonne Chang, Hung-I Lin, Jia-Bin Hsu, Chun-Hsien Liu
  • Patent number: 6648059
    Abstract: A method for detecting a roller failure at a roller in a continuous casting machine having a plurality of rollers arranged in a row and rotatably supported in bearings for transporting material produced in the machine involves determining a radial target load value exerted by the material on a roller, measuring the actual load value on at least each second roller in the row of rollers, comparing the measured actual load value with the determined target load value, detecting a possible divergence between the actual load value and the target load value, and establishing the presence of a roller failure upon detection of such divergence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2003
    Assignee: Aktiebolaget SKF
    Inventor: Håkan Lindgren
  • Patent number: 6648208
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a joint between metal and a ceramic substrate for a high temperature sensor. First, a predetermined hole is formed in the ceramic substrate to serve as a joint portion. A bonding layer is preferably disposed on the ceramic substrate to form on the inner surface and the surrounding portion of the hole. Next, the hole is filled with a supporting metal. Then, a conductive layer is formed on the supporting metal and the bonding layer. A metal signal conductive frame is then formed on the conductive layer. Next, a welding spot is formed through the metal signal conductive frame, the conductive layer and the supporting metal at the joint portion by a welding process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2003
    Inventors: Leu-Wen Tsay, Ren-Kae Shiue
  • Patent number: 6644537
    Abstract: Manufacturing method for bonded electroforming metallic mold, including steps of: 1. preparation of metallic material 2. preparation of electroforming metallic plate and plastic mold core and electroforming substrate; 3. preparation of power supply; 4. forming of electroforming deposited film; and 5. final-shaping. In order to significantly shorten the electroforming time and firmly connect with the steel material of the mold, the steel material of the mold and the electroforming article are simultaneously electrically connected to the cathodes of power supplies. So, the electroforming metal is simultaneously deposited on both sides to quickly achieve the desired thickness of the electroforming metallic plate. By the metal-to-metal bonding force, the electroforming metallic plate and the steel material of the mold are firmly connected with each other. Also, the electroforming metallic plate keeps having the original cast pattern and is tightly combined with the steel material of the mold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2003
    Assignee: Taiwan Green Point Enterprise Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shao Chen Chiu, Hsiharng Yang, Chi Feng Cheng
  • Patent number: 6640874
    Abstract: A riser sleeve apparatus (10) for preparing and insulating a passage (14) within which molten metal is accumulated prior to its movement into a mold cavity which includes an inner surface (12) which longitudinally extends between a first end (16) and a second end (18) wherein the inner surface bounds the passage. The riser sleeve further includes an annular lip (20) which is positioned adjacent the second end and extends inward into the passage. When the riser sleeve is positioned about a plug of a pattern, the annular lip deforms to seal the passage at the second end. A process for forming a cast metal article using said riser sleeve apparatus. A process for forming the riser sleeve apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2003
    Assignee: American Metal Chemical Corporation
    Inventors: Jay A. Vorndran, John E. Gotheridge
  • Patent number: 6640873
    Abstract: An exothermic weld mold assembly for forming conductor to conductor welded connections. The exothermic weld mold assembly includes a crucible section having a U-shaped reaction chamber with exothermic material therein, and a mold section having a plurality of flat vertical exterior surfaces with holes drilled perpendicularly through the flat surfaces. A weld chamber is centrally located within the mold section, the weld chamber and the reaction chamber being communicably connected by a vertically extending tap hole. The holes are outfitted with guide sleeves projecting outwardly from the weld chamber. Conductors to be welded are inserted into the weld chamber through the guide sleeves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2003
    Assignee: Thomas & Betts International, Inc.
    Inventors: George Triantopoulos, David Henderson, Jerry Woodward
  • Patent number: 6637641
    Abstract: A circuit board manufacturing system has a paste source, a circuit board processing apparatus, and a controller. The circuit board processing apparatus includes a carrier configured to receive a circuit board having (i) a section of circuit board material and (ii) virgin metallic surface mount pads supported by the section of circuit board material. The circuit board processing apparatus further includes a paste distribution assembly coupled to the carrier and to the paste source. The paste distribution assembly is configured to dispose a paste from the paste source onto a surface of the circuit board. The carrier further includes a surfacing assembly coupled to the carrier. The surfacing assembly is configured to move the paste over the surface of the circuit board to remove a portion of each virgin metallic surface mount pad. The controller is configured to selectively start and stop operations of the paste distribution and surfacing assemblies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2003
    Assignee: EMC Corporation
    Inventors: Stuart D. Downes, Jin Liang
  • Patent number: 6634416
    Abstract: In a continuous-casting plant, the segments of the guide for the casting bar are replaced rapidly, at least in part, using a two-station system, at least one of which stations being mobile, so as to be able to align head on a platform provided with means for hooking and extracting the said guide with the structure containing the guide itself. Once this alignment is obtained, the guide is displaced from one station to the other, its segments are replaced, and the guide is brought back into the original position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2003
    Assignee: Danieli & C Officine Meccaniche S.p.A.
    Inventors: Alfredo Poloni, Massimo Maurizio, Michele Meret
  • Patent number: 6634410
    Abstract: A mold apparatus and method for creating designs on the interior of molds includes a resilient form with an exterior and an interior, with a design formed on the exterior. A rigid support member is removably attached to the interior of the resilient form. A mold pattern, conformed to removably receive the rigid support member and the resilient form in combination, completes the basic elements of the invention. In one aspect of the invention, a passageway in the rigid support member is provided for introducing a gas between the rigid support member and the resilient form. In another aspect of the invention, a vacuum application device is provided for applying a vacuum to the interior of the resilient form.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2003
    Inventors: John H. Wilson, Robert E. Wilson, John T. Wilson
  • Patent number: 6631752
    Abstract: This invention discloses a method of improving the die casting process by the application of the inventor's mathematics and physics stored in a computer to control the injection speed and the timing of the excitation of an intensifier. Using either data from a die surface temperature for a selected location detected by a pyrometer, the last instant before the die is closed, or the alloy-die interface boundary data from a thermocouple, the inventor's equations loaded in a computer calculate and graph the solidification pattern for the casting wall and the quantity of heat remaining in the alloy wall vs. time above the dynamic solidus thereby establishing parameters for control of facets of the injection phase. The unique properties of the boundary's transient temperature during solidification have been shown by the inventor's mathematics to be of vital import to the determination of the solidification pattern used to control injection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2003
    Assignee: DieCast Software Inc.
    Inventor: John W. McDonald
  • Patent number: 6631753
    Abstract: A casting system and method for producing a metal casting is provided. The metal casting can comprise a fine-grain, homogeneous microstructure that is essentially oxide- and sulfide-free, segregation defect free, and essentially free of voids caused by air entrapped during solidification of the metal from a liquidus state to a solid state. The casting system can comprise an electroslag refining system; a nucleated casting system; and a cooling system that cools the metal casting so as to cool a liquidus portion of the metal casting. The metal casting is cooled in a manner sufficient to provide a microstructure that comprises a fine-grain, homogeneous microstructure that is essentially oxide- and sulfide-free, segregation defect free, and essentially free of voids caused by air entrapped during solidification from a liquidus state to a solid state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2003
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: William Thomas Carter, Jr., Mark Gilbert Benz, Robert John Zabala, Bruce Alan Knudsen
  • Patent number: 6629559
    Abstract: A new mold solves problems that arise from differential changes in geometry inherent to casting metal in a ceramic mold, by control of the internal morphology between the surfaces of the mold that face the casting, and that face the external environment. Layered fabrication techniques are used to create a ceramic mold. For example, an internal geometry composed of a cellular arrangement of voids may be created within the mold wall. Structures may be designed and fabricated so that the ceramic mold fails at an appropriate time during the solidification and/or cooling of the casting. Thus, the casting itself is not damaged. The mold fails to avoid rupture, or even distortion, of the casting. A thin shell of ceramic defines the casting cavity. This shell must be thin enough to fail due to the stresses induced (primarily compressive) by the metal next to it and partly adherent to it.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2003
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Emanuel M. Sachs, Won B. Bang, Michael J. Cima
  • Patent number: 6627832
    Abstract: A method of welding reinforcement steel bars (rebar) and assembly of fusion-welded rebar into panel assemblies that are self-stabilizing to withstand the rigors of transport to and positioning within construction sites. The rebar welding method generates fusion welds in such a manner that the weld imparts stability and strength to the welded rebar assemblies. The rebar welds permit the assembling of larger and more varied rebar panel configurations without the need for tie wire or other coupling devices. Further, the welded panels allow positioning of large rebar configurations, insuring that the spacing of the individual bars exceeds all required tolerances. The self-stabilizing fusion rebar welding process allows a more efficient, flexible and rapid method of rebar panel construction by using assembly systems on mobilized trailers or at stationary locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2003
    Assignee: Global Steel, LLC
    Inventor: Domenic Vittone
  • Patent number: 6624381
    Abstract: A device for supplying a work station with a strip flexible material unwound from a reel including a transfer plate, driven in a translation motion with a longitudinal horizontal axis, by displacing between a first position for loading the material strip and a second so-called working position. The transfer plate including a first device for immobilising the strip on the plate when the latter is moving from the loading position to the working position. The transfer plate is capable of supporting on its surface the material strip, and the work station including a second blocking device for retaining the free end of the strip, such that the transfer plate return travel from the work position to the loading position generates, by the friction of the strip on the plate, forces tending to spread the part of the strip associated with the work station.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2003
    Assignee: Manufacture de Linge de Maison
    Inventor: Serge Luc Haffner
  • Patent number: 6622774
    Abstract: An investment casting process utilizes rapid cooling during solidification to achieve a desired final microstructure. A molten high temperature aluminum alloy is poured into a ceramic shell mold. The ceramic shell mold is then lowered into an oil bath held in a quenching tank to rapidly cool the molten material. Thus, solidification takes place quickly via rapid extraction of the latent heat of the metal by the quenching oil bath. The rapid solidification achieves a uniform fine microstructure in an as-cast component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2003
    Assignee: Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation
    Inventor: Shihong Gary Song
  • Patent number: 6622902
    Abstract: A nozzle device of a surface mounting device including a holder mounted and adhered closely to socket shafts by an elastic force of elastic members connected to both ends of the socket shafts, and a holder shaft formed on the bottom surface of the holder is disclosed. The nozzle device further includes a nozzle having a moving member assembled to the inside of the holder shaft, and moved in an upward or downward direction due to a pressure of air flown through the holder shaft, for picking up or placing a parts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2003
    Assignee: Mirae Corporation
    Inventor: Jong Won Kim
  • Patent number: 6622778
    Abstract: A method for the direct production, from molten metal, of scale-free thin metal strip. Hot thin metal strip exiting a continuous caster system is directed to a reducing chamber wherein a reducing gas reduces strip surface oxides while the cast metal strip is at an elevated temperature from retained heat from the molten metal. A cooling unit following the reducing chamber is used to cool the strip to a temperature below about 150° C. prior to exposing the strip to an oxidizing atmosphere. In various embodiments of the invention, strip thickness is reduced with use of hot and cold rolling mills and the scale-free surface of the strip is coated with protective coatings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2003
    Assignee: Danieli Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Stephen L. Feldbauer
  • Patent number: 6619375
    Abstract: In a casting roll for a thin strip casting plant, comprising an essentially cylindrical core (1), a mantle (2) of copper or a copper alloy optionally being provided with at least one outside layer (5), an internal cooling system (4) as well as an adjusting means (8, 17, 20) for adjusting the outline of the casting roll in its front-end regions (7), the adjusting means for the purpose of levelling out thermally caused crowns with the aid of constructively simple means has in each front-end region of the casting roll a supporting disk (17) adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the casting roll and engaging a ring (8) radially surrounding the supporting disk (17) and abutting the mantle (2) from the inside in its front-end regions, which ring is fixedly attached with regard to the core (1) in the longitudinal direction of the casting roll (Fig.).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2003
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH
    Inventors: Gerald Hohenbichler, Armin Schertler, Thomas Reiter, Günther Staudinger
  • Patent number: 6619371
    Abstract: During a casting operation a teeming ladle is moved relatively horizontally in the X direction and vertically in the Z direction and pivoted about rotational axis A. Thus it becomes possible during automatic casting always to maintain the theoretical fulcrum of the spout about which the teeming ladle is pivoted while maintaining a safety margin between the teeming ladle and the mold at the lowest possible position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2003
    Assignee: Hubo Engineering GmbH
    Inventor: Fritz Lauper
  • Patent number: 6619535
    Abstract: Provided is a construction including a stage having a suction hole for sucking an electronic component and fixing the same in position and position regulating suction hole for sucking an electronic component when the electronic component is regulated in position, a position regulating pawl for positioning the electronic component on the stage and a position regulating suction force control section capable of controlling a position regulating suction force when the electronic component is regulated in position on the stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2003
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Makoto Imanishi, Takahiro Yonezawa, Shinji Kanayama, Ryoichiro Katano, Takaharu Mae