Patents Examined by Michael A. Neas
  • Patent number: 6070271
    Abstract: An improved protective helmet is made of a dual density, closed-cell, polymeric foam laminate. The inner layer is a lower density (3.8 to 5 pcf), closed-cell, polymeric foam for comfort, absorbing minor impacts and distributing impact stress over a larger surface of the skull to reduce injury. The outer layer is a higher density (5 to 7.2 pcf), closed-cell, polymeric foam to absorb major impacts and add structural stability to the helmet. Ventilation holes provide airflow through the helmet. Cushioning pads may be added inside the helmet for customizing fit and improving ventilation. The preferred material for the inner and outer layers of the laminated, dual density protective helmet is a nitrogen blown, cross-linked, closed-cell, polyethylene foam. The dual density, closed-cell, polymeric foam laminate of the helmet provides improved impact attenuation. The laminate also reduces the weight of the helmet, which improves comfort and reduces neck fatigue for the wearer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2000
    Inventor: Gilbert J. Williams
  • Patent number: 6070302
    Abstract: A card clothing for cards and/or carding machines includes several coating material layers which are composed of cotton and are connected through a binding agent with each other and with an elastomer cover layer provided on one of the outer sides to form a coating material unit. The coating material layers are equipped with hooks which extend transversely of the coating material layers and extend through the coating layers in the direction toward the elastomer cover layer and protrude with their tips. For reducing the harmful influences on the carding process resulting from electrostatic charges of the coating material unit due to accumulations of fibers and/or dust in the clothing area, inhibitors which at least reduce the generation of the electrostatic charges are added in the clothing area. Embedded at least in the cover layer is an electrically conductive material which serves for discharging the frictional electricity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 1999
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2000
    Assignee: Graf + Cie AG
    Inventor: Ralph A. Graf
  • Patent number: 6065150
    Abstract: Protective air cushion gloves include hollow 3D straight air cushions for finger backs and a hand back disposed in regular rows inside the glove. Each straight air cushion has sections connected with extensible tubes and inflated with inner pressure to permit the glove to have good flexibility and an air buffer function for protecting every part of a hand, including the joints.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2000
    Inventor: Ing Chung Huang
  • Patent number: 6065158
    Abstract: A helmet includes an outer shell and an inner liner. The inner liner includes a visual indicator to indicate when the helmet has experienced an impact of sufficient force to permanently deform a portion of the inner liner. The visual indicator thus indicates when the helmet no longer offers it's peak level of protection to the wearer and should be repaired or replaced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2000
    Inventor: Gus A. Rush, III
  • Patent number: 6065159
    Abstract: A protective helmet for active use by a player in a sports activity, such as soccer, includes a shell made of a soft material and which has the general configuration to fit a wearer's head. A device for stabilizing the shell on the wearer's head, such as a chin-strap, is operably connected to the shell. The shell includes a member for allowing a player to actively deflect a ball during a play. The shell further includes a member for dampening the force of impact by the ball over a head region of the wearer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2000
    Assignee: United Sports Gear, Inc.
    Inventor: Donald W. Hirsh
  • Patent number: 6065190
    Abstract: A carding machine has a cylinder (3), stationary, self-cleaning flats (2) fixed at a chain (45) and guided and adjusted by a flexible bend (48). Additional active trash, dust and short fibre extraction units (1) are placed in the main carding zone. The units (1) are constructed as separate units, removable and placeable, instead of stationary flats (2), between adjacent flats (2). The units (1) have the same principal width gauge as the flats (2) or a multiple of it. The units (1) are fixed and held the same way as the flats (2) by the chain (45) and the flexible bend (48). The machine achieves an excellent carding quality and is readily adjustable to different needs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2000
    Assignee: Gerhard Mandl
    Inventors: Gerhard Mandl, Hans-Peter Meile
  • Patent number: 6061834
    Abstract: An air ventilation safety helmet includes a molded helmet and an air funnel which can be attached to the molded helmet by using a rubber band, a spring, a screw, or the like. In the front of the air funnel, there is an air inlet through which the air can flow into the helmet. Inside the liner of the molded helmet, there are several air ducts directed to the air funnel so that the air can flow through the air ducts to provide good air ventilation. When it rains or it is cold, the air funnel can be rotated to prevent the cold air from flowing into the helmet and to avoid water leakage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Inventor: Cheng-An Liao
  • Patent number: 6061877
    Abstract: A roll for advancing fiber material has a roll surface provided with a sawtooth clothing which includes a plurality of teeth separated from one another by respective tooth gaps each having a gap bottom. Each tooth has a frontal flank oriented in a direction of roll rotation and a tooth point. Each tooth having a tooth height h.sub.2 measured from the roll surface to the tooth point and a tooth gap height h.sub.3 measured from the tooth gap bottom to the tooth point. The tooth height h.sub.2 and the tooth gap height h.sub.3 are small for defining a small fill volume between teeth. Each tooth has a back angle .gamma. having a magnitude of at least approximately 90.degree. and further has a large tooth division t and a large pitch P for defining a large open space about the teeth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Assignee: Trutzschler GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Ferdinand Leifeld, Armin Leder
  • Patent number: 6058515
    Abstract: A helmet of the present invention including a shell formed from a thermoplastic resin and a shock absorbing liner disposed on the inside of the shell.The liner has following varieties of its structure. That is, a single layered structure of acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer resin foam (thereinafter referred to AS foam), a double layered structure in which both less foaming layer and highly foaming layer are made of AS foam, a double layered structure in which a less foaming layer is made of AS foam and a highly foaming layer is made of a foam of other material, or a double layered structure in which a less foaming layer is made of a foam of material other than AS foam and a highly foaming layer is made of AS foam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2000
    Assignee: TS Tech Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hideshi Kitahara
  • Patent number: 6058516
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a wrestling ear guard comprising a pair of substantially identical mirror image, roughly inverted triangular shaped guards comprising a cup member formed of thin, relatively stiff, resilient sheet material having an inner concave surface and an outer convex surface, a first padded layer applied to the inner concave surface and comprising a roughly inverted triangular portion and outwardly and upwardly extending strap members integral with the triangular member at the upper top corners thereof, a second padded layer applied to the outer convex surface and comprising a roughly inverted triangular member corresponding in size to the inverted triangular portion of the first padded layer and being partially compressed over the outer surface thereof, the second layer being secured about its periphery to the first padded layer whereby the cup member is confined between the first padded layer and the second padded layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2000
    Inventor: John W Purnell
  • Patent number: 6058503
    Abstract: Elbow and knee guards are used in sports in which the athlete must expect regular contact with the ground or floor. This guard utilizes hinged resilient members along the lateral direction of the joint and sliding slots which allow the guard to both rotate and deflect along the longitudinal direction. As the knee or elbow is flexed, the skin stretches in the longitudinal direction carrying the resilient members along and consequently the guard stretches and changes its shape to match the shape of the limb. The aluminum hinges allow the joint to flex in the lateral direction. The guard does not don the limb and thus eliminates chafing. The guard is placed over the knee or elbow. By pressing on the guard with the hands, the aluminum hinges will deform until the guard conforms to the contour of the surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2000
    Inventor: David Williams
  • Patent number: 6058569
    Abstract: Unit for opening and separation of the impurities, for machines for opening or carding of flock textile material, comprising separator blades for the removal of the impurities, consisting of a triangular cutting blade, which is mounted on the support with its inner surface disposed according to a small angle, relative to the tangent to the surface of the covering, and with the vertex disposed downstream from the motion of the cylinder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2000
    Assignee: Marzoli S.p.A.
    Inventors: Emilio Vezzoli, Giovanni Battista Pasini
  • Patent number: 6058570
    Abstract: The invention concerns a process and a device for recording a parameter on several slivers (11) fed to a controlled drawing frame. In order to produce a more accurate measured value and at the same time influence the slivers to the smallest possible extent, several measuring elements (9) are provided which are individually assigned to the slivers and whose measured values are converted to a single measured value for the control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2000
    Assignee: Zellweger Luwa AG
    Inventor: Fran.cedilla.ois Baechler
  • Patent number: 6055675
    Abstract: The invention relates to a protective bicycling helmet with a rear support structure having at least two generally vertical columns mounted in the rear portion of the helmet body for providing improved ventilation while retaining or improving the rigid structural integrity of the helmet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2000
    Assignee: Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc.
    Inventors: F. Robert Egger, Kurt Workman, Steven Sasaki
  • Patent number: 6052833
    Abstract: An air stream deflector for a convexly curved helmet including a continuous or segmented, semicircular, elongated lip projecting from the rear and side surfaces of the helmet closely adjacent the lower edge thereof. The lip may be integral with the helmet or include a curved attachment surface adapted to be connected to the helmet surface. The lip includes an outwardly and upwardly curved deflector surface with a rolled outer edge for channeling moisture and debris forwardly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2000
    Inventor: Lester D. Norman
  • Patent number: 6052835
    Abstract: A protective head gear includes a generally open head portion and a collar portion. The protective head gear is for use in contact sports by an athlete wearing a helmet. The head portion is generally open and has a crown segment and a pair of opposed side segments. The crown segment has a crown base and each side segment has a side base. The head portion is spaced upwardly and outwardly from the helmet. The crown segment and each side segment are contoured to and spaced from the shape of the helmet. The collar portion is hingeably connected to the crown base. The collar portion having a generally rigid layer adapted to be positioned around the athlete's neck and to transmit the force from a hit on the head portion to the collar portion. In use, the collar portion is attached to the athlete.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2000
    Inventor: Eamon D. O'Shea
  • Patent number: 6047446
    Abstract: A carding machine includes a main carding cylinder having a cylinder axis and carrying a cylinder clothing on a circumferential surface thereof and a traveling flats assembly cooperating with the main carding cylinder along a circumferential length portion thereof. The traveling flats assembly includes a plurality of flat bars each having a flat bar clothing cooperating with the cylinder clothing; and a drive member for moving the flat bars in unison in an endless path; a rigid support member fixedly held on a machine frame laterally of the main carding cylinder and having a convex supporting surface; and a slide guide at least indirectly held on the supporting surface of the support member. The slide guide has a convex upper surface supporting the flat bars for sliding motion thereon and an opposite, lower surface. The radial distance between clothing points of the flat bar clothings and the carding cylinder clothing are determined and are changeable by the shape and/or the position of the slide guide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2000
    Assignee: Trutzschler GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Armin Leder, Robert Pischel
  • Patent number: 6047409
    Abstract: A face shield adjustment control and safety lock characterized by fore and aft horizontal shifting of the transparent shield to close and limitedly open for air circulation, by selectively limited lifting about the anchor pivot for increaed air circulation and for face access, embodied in an inserted spring plate with control slots and detents for controlling and positioning the shield.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2000
    Inventor: Elwood J. B. Simpson
  • Patent number: 6047399
    Abstract: A ballistic resistant protective garment of multi-component construction for covering and protecting vital portions of the body of the wearer. The garment having layers of composite body armor material which are positioned generally at the strike face portion of the garment. Each layer of the composite body armor material is formed of resin plies having high tensile strength fibers disposed therein. The high tensile strength fibers of one ply are placed in a transverse direction to the high tensile strength fibers of an adjacent ply and a laminate film covers the sub-layer plies enclosing them and sandwiching them together to form a single layer of the composite material. The combined multicomponent construction of the overlying layers formed of laminated plies of aramid and resin with the woven flexible panels of high tensile strength fiber sheets together create a multi-component thin and lightweight ballistic resistant body armor pad.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2000
    Assignee: Second Chance Body Armor, Inc.
    Inventor: Thomas E. Bachner, Jr.
  • Patent number: RE36691
    Abstract: A football helmet and shoulder pad combination are designed to prevent head and neck injuries. An outer helmet is connected to a neck assembly which permits but limits head turning mobility as well as up-down and left and right head tilt. The neck mechanism which is mounted about the neck comprises substantially circular inner and -outer spherical guides and a concentric movable inner element therebetween with an upwardly extending member on each side of the neck. The guides contain stops to limit the motion permitted by the helmet and the lower portion of the mechanism is mounted on the shoulder pads to distribute the load during impact. The helmet portion with a resilient coupling joining the portions. The upwardly extending members on the inner element are mounted to respective sides of the outer helmet. The helmet may also be retrofitted to existing equipment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Inventor: David Pinsen