Patents Examined by Louis Tran
  • Patent number: 6568317
    Abstract: A tensioning unit for a strapping machine serves for tensioning and sealing a band guided around an item to be strapped. It has a tensioning head and housing. The tensioning head includes a tensioning device and clamping and sealing subassembly. Toward the end of a tensioning operation, the head can be displaced relative to the housing in a band-running direction, counter to tensioning direction. Also provided in the housing is a band guide arranged downstream of the clamping and sealing member, in the band-running direction, subdivided into front and rear band-guide parts. In this case, only the front band-guide part can be displaced, together with the tensioning head, relative to the housing, whereas the rear band-guide is moved transversely to the band-running direction by the front band-guide part, which is moved in the band-running direction B, counter to a spring force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2003
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works, Inc.
    Inventor: Charles Fischer
  • Patent number: 6564882
    Abstract: The invention relates to an electromagnetic hammer having a moving ferromagnetic mass, the hammer being of the type comprising a tube of non-magnetic material for standing on an element that is to be driven into the ground, said tube being surrounded by a peripheral coil connected to electrical power supply and slidably receiving the moving mass. According to the invention, the peripheral coil is subdivided into a plurality of independent coils, each independent coil being received in an associated casing and being wound around a cylindrical inner wall of said casing, the cylindrical inner walls of the casings being superposed to make up the tube in which the moving mass slides, each casing also taking up axial forces, and a junction box enabling the corresponding coil to be connected to associated electrical power supply cables.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2003
    Assignee: Entreprise de Travaux Publics et Prives Georges Durmeyer
    Inventors: Gérard Durmeyer, Marc Delplanco
  • Patent number: 6561963
    Abstract: An apparatus is arranged to successively make plastic bags each of which includes two layers of panel portion superposed to define aligned top edges, first and second side edges and bottom edges. The plastic bag further includes a first side gusset portion disposed between and extending along the first side edges, a second side gusset portion disposed between and extending along the second side edges, and a bottom gusset portion disposed between and extending along the bottom edges. The apparatus comprises feeding means for feeding a main material intermittently for a length along a feeding path. The main material comprises the layers of panel portion and the first and second side gusset portions continuing longitudinally thereof respectively, the feeding means feeding the main material longitudinally of the layers of panel portion and the first and second side gusset portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Totani Corporation
    Inventor: Mikio Totani
  • Patent number: 6550545
    Abstract: A hand-held electrical combination hammer drill capable of being used both as a drilling hammer and as a chisel hammer, and including an actuation member (17) for actuating an electrical on-off switch of the hammer drill and located on the tool handle switching elements (3, 4) for switching between drilling and chiseling operations, stop elements (5-22) actuated by the switching means (3, 4) for retaining the actuation member (17) in a on-position of the on-off switch upon selection of the chiseling operation, and a stop switch (15) having, upon selection of the chiseling operation, a first position in which the stop switch provides for securing the actuation member (17) in its on-position with the stop elements (5-22), and a second position in which the stop elements occupies a non-operative position in which the actuation member, upon being released, automatically moves into its off-position under an action of a biasing force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2003
    Assignee: Hilti Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Erwin Manschitz, Helmut Burger, Josef Anzinger, Manfred Ege, Mathias Doberenz
  • Patent number: 6547120
    Abstract: A compression triggered powder driven fastening tool having a firing mechanism with a sleeve axially movable between first and second positions, a lever cam coupled to the sleeve or some other reciprocating portion of the tool and movable therewith, an indexing lever pivotally coupled to the tool, the indexing lever having a magazine strip engagement portion extending into a magazine channel of the tool, the indexing lever having a cam follower portion engaged with the lever cam, the magazine strip engagement portion of the indexing lever moves between first and second positions in the magazine channel as the sleeve moves with the reciprocating portion of the tool to which it is coupled, the magazine engagement portion of the indexing lever indexes a magazine strip through a channel of the tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
    Inventors: Michael S. Popovich, Edward D. Yates
  • Patent number: 6533157
    Abstract: A stapler attachment for use with an electromechanical device driver comprises a staple holding member which is spring mounted to a staple closing member, which is, in turn, mounted to a threaded driver element concentrically mounted about a threaded shaft such that staple closing member and the staple holding member can be advanced and retracted along a track within a housing. A staple is advanced by the rotation of the threaded shaft until the staple holding member is stopped against an opening lip formed in an opening at the distal staple discharging end of the housing. At this position, the prongs of the staple have been advanced out of the distal staple discharging end and into the tissue to be joined. The staple closing member continues to advance as the spring between the staple holding member and the staple closing member compresses. This advancement permits the staple closing member to deform the staple into a closed D-shape conformation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2003
    Assignee: Power Medical Interventions, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael P. Whitman
  • Patent number: 6530192
    Abstract: An envelope stripping apparatus is disclosed for opening and holding open the flaps of envelopes or mail processed in a mailing machine or other envelope-processing machine. The flaps of the envelopes are held down against a vacuum plenum during transport of the envelope. The envelopes are fed along the feeding path towards a moistening device while the flap is stripped and held by the vacuum plenum. An arrangement of the plenum apertures is such that stiffer portions of the flaps have more vacuum applied than those that are of lesser area, or at the extreme end of the flap. A second arrangement of the envelope flaps will cause additional holding of the end of the flap if it is a larger envelope with a greater area at the end such as a square flap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2003
    Assignee: Pitney Bowes Inc.
    Inventors: Franklin J. Buckley, Christopher D. Clark, Robert P. Rebres, Kenneth A. Schulz, Steven A. Supron, Geoffrey S. Coleman
  • Patent number: 6530312
    Abstract: A press has two pressure levers connected with pressure plates which can be moved against one another by a driving motor. A control device acts upon the driving motor and permits different sequences of movement of the pressure levers during the pressing operation according to different operating programs. An operating program is provided for crushing cans and containers and another operating program is provided for extracting juice. In order to avoid faulty operations, the pressure plates are constructed for receiving different mounts for the various operating modes. At least one pressure plate is connected with a sensor which detects the type of mount and reports it to the control device. Despite an expanded application range, the operating of the press is simple because, for starting both pressing operations, the equipment operator actuates only one starting switch, the selecting of the operating programs taking place automatically, which ensures a high safety standard.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2003
    Inventor: Gabor Jakab
  • Patent number: 6527157
    Abstract: A stapler, having a collateral punching function in addition to an original stapling function and being selectively used as a stapler or a punch as desired, is disclosed. In the stapler, a longitudinal base has a staple forming die at its front end portion and two parallel support walls at its rear end portion. A punch hole is formed on the top surface of the base at a position between the two support walls, while a sheet insert slit is formed between the two support walls and the top surface of the base so as to allow sheets of paper to be inserted into the slit during a punching operation. A pressing lever is hinged to the shaft holes of the support walls and its bearing holes using a lever shaft and is manually operated by a user so as to perform a desired stapling operation or a desired punching operation. A staple feeder is hinged to the first shaft holes of the lever.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2003
    Inventor: Tae-Jung Choi
  • Patent number: 6519922
    Abstract: A device for producing tubular bags filled with bulk goods from continuous foil tubes. The device includes a pair of sealing tools that seal or weld the foil tubes in bag-length intervals. A pair of closing bars connected to the sealing tools are biased toward each other and press the foil tubes before the sealing tools are closed. A stripper is provided to remove the residue of the bulk goods from the area of the seal by a wiping motion in the direction of bag movement through the device. The closing bars are connected to the stripper so that through a closing movement of the closing bars, the stripper is pulled along in the run direction of the foil while touching the foil to strip the area to be sealed before the sealing tools close.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2003
    Assignee: CMD Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas Matheyka, Christian Helwig
  • Patent number: 6520900
    Abstract: Methods for setting-up a female blanking die for a die cutting machine for die cutting and/or blanking a carton blank, and universal press frames for use in such setting-up are all provided herein. The first stages in the erection of the female blanking die, which includes a rectangular framework of a front rail, a rear rail and two side rails, involve accurate placement of a template within the rectangular framework. All the rails are provided with a dovetail groove along its inside edges. This is achieved by the use of centre line orientation cylinders on a template, a centre line rod through aligned holes in the centre line orientation cylinders and centre line brackets at the precise centre point of the front and the rear rails. The template is mounted atop the centre line brackets by means of the centre line rod and rests loosely on template corner locking clamps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2003
    Inventor: Peter E. Sandford
  • Patent number: 6519919
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for manufacturing pressurized packages capable of obtaining gas displacement pressurized canned goods with high accuracy of internal pressure by atomizing liquid nitrogen, and supplying it together with low temperature vaporized gases to a head space of a can. A spray device assembly (10) for atomizing and spraying the liquid nitrogen is provided in an opening of the bottom of a liquefied gas storage tank (1) formed as a vacuum heat insulating structure. The spray device assembly (10) is constituted such that a valve (2) for controlling the flow rate of liquid nitrogen, a spray nozzle (3), a liquid nitrogen flowpassage (4) extending from the valve (2) to the spray nozzle (3), a nozzle cooling tank (5) for cooling the flowpassage, and a purge device for cutting an outer peripheral portion of a nozzle and an outlet portion off from the air, so as to prevent them from being frosted, are integrally mounted on a spray body 6.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2003
    Assignee: Toyo Seikan Kaisha, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ken Takenouchi, Hidetoshi Koike, Katsumi Senbon, Tsutomu Iwasaki, Kazuyuki Kurosawa, Mitsuo Tanioka, Yoshihiko Kimura
  • Patent number: 6516592
    Abstract: An apparatus, in particular an apparatus which can be manually operated and transported, being provided for the purpose of strapping and/or bundling pallets and articles with at least one base plate, with a band-leading device and with at least one clamping device arranged at the front end of the band-leading device. A guiding device, in which the band-leading device is guided, is provided on the base plate. A carriage, which has a deflecting unit, is releasably attached to the front end of the band-leading device. On the carriage there is fastened a length-limiting band, which can be fixed in a number of regions of the base plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2003
    Assignee: ErgoPack Deutschland GmbH
    Inventor: Andreas Kimmerle
  • Patent number: 6513425
    Abstract: The invention relates to an assembly for positioning a heater in relation to a roll, wherein the roll (101) has a substantially cylindrical shape with a shall surface (103), rotatable around a shell axis (102), at a first distance (104) from the shell axis (102). The heater (105) comprises at least one heater section (106, 106′, 106″) intended for heating the shell surface (103), and is supported via a suspension attachment (107) by means of a supporting means (108) on a variable, second distance (109) from the shell axis (102). Thereby, the heater section (106, 106′, 106″) is furnished with at least one distance control means (110, 110′) arranged for being in contact with the shell surface (103) during the heating and for automatically regulating the second distance (109) by means of a self-regulating mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2003
    Assignee: Metso Paper Karlstad AB
    Inventor: Erik Brox
  • Patent number: 6511408
    Abstract: A paper folding mechanism for folding continuous paper is provided. The folding mechanism includes a swing guide caused to pivot for guiding the paper, and first and second paper guides which are spaced from each other. The first paper guide is displaceable relative to the second paper guide. The folding mechanism also includes a paper presser arranged adjacent to the first paper guide for folding the paper along fold lines. The paper presser is designed to move relative to the first paper guide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2003
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Wataru Miki, Masafumi Morimoto
  • Patent number: 6491112
    Abstract: A driving tool includes a hammer which hits instantaneously a connecting member for connecting the hammer with a spindle provided with a wrench at an end thereof. A housing has an on-off switch provided at a grip thereof and is divided into a part chamber in which parts are disposed and a motor chamber in which a motor is disposed. An inertial wheel is installed rotatably in the part chamber and engaged with a shaft of the motor, and a spindle is installed rotatably between the part chamber and the inertial wheel and provided with a connecting member on an outer circumference thereof and a wrench on one end thereof. The hammer is pivotally installed at the inertial wheel to hit the connecting member by centrifugal force according to the rotation of the inertial wheel and returned an initial position by a return spring positioned between the inertial wheel and the hammer. A pair of balls contained in holes are formed at both sides of the inertial wheel and arc shaped grooves formed at the hammer, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2002
    Assignee: Donguen Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tae-Hong Shin
  • Patent number: 6491114
    Abstract: A control system for a heavy duty hydraulic hammer reduces blank firing of the hammer. The control system provides a reduced flow of hydraulic fluid to the hammer for a selected period of time upon actuation of the hammer and then provides full hydraulic flow increasing the frequency of impacts to full rated values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2002
    Assignee: NPK Construction Equipment, Inc.
    Inventor: Roger A. Webel
  • Patent number: 6478725
    Abstract: Slitting unit forming part of a machine for production of carton blanks, in particular blanks made of cardboard or corrugated cardboard. The unit (2) comprises working wheels (12, 24, 25, 28) which are opposite in pairs, one wheel in at least one pair (24) being made with at least one slitting knife (26) extending over a part of the periphery of the wheel while the periphery of the other wheel in said pair is made with a slot for receiving the knife. The unit also comprises a vacuum belt (6) running adjacently to each slitting-wheel pair (24; 25) for securing and feeding the blanks (10). The wheels (24; 25) in each slitting-wheel pair are mounted in an upper and, respectively, a lower stand unit (3, 4) at least a portion of that part of one stand unit (4) which faces towards the other (3) being made in the form of a vacuum box.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2002
    Assignee: Emba Machinery AB
    Inventors: Åsberg Bengt, Jan Andréasson