Patents Examined by Michael T. Walsh
  • Patent number: 11518312
    Abstract: A step device for a vehicle includes a movable step and a coupling member. The movable step includes a guide rail. The coupling member is configured to cause the movable step to move from a deployed position to a retracted position as a engaging part comes into sliding contact with a side wall of the guide rail that is located on an inner side in a vehicle width direction and, while pressing the side wall, moves inside the guide rail in a direction of closing a sliding door. The guide rail is configured such that a terminal end region on a closing side including a terminal end position at which the engaging part is located when the sliding door is fully closed constitutes a closing-side free running zone in which the engaging part does not press either of the side walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignees: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA, TOYOTA SHATAI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Oji, Keisuke Nomura, Shinji Kazama, Kazuhiro Hibi, Kazuhiro Ikeda
  • Patent number: 11504599
    Abstract: The invention relates to a clap skate (1) comprising a blade (4) having a rockering, a frame (3), holding the blade (4) in its bottomside and comprising, on its topside, a heel support (5) for the heel portion of a skating shoe (2) or bracket (8) and a forefoot support (6) connected to a front part of a skating shoe (2) or a bracket (8) via a pivot (7). The forefoot support (6) provides a fixed connection to the frame (3), which fixed connection extends in front of the pivot (7) and at the most 5 mm behind the pivot (7).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Inventor: Hiddo Visser
  • Patent number: 11503879
    Abstract: The present invention concerns the field of garments, namely the shoes sector, especially relating to children, although it is likewise applicable to young people and adults. The object of the present invention is an outer sole (1), on which are inserted two structures, a first one enabling one user to slide when he is contacting the ground, moving as if he were on skates, and a second one enabling the user to move in a conventional way. The first structure, which enables a movement in a rolling mode, consists in a frame (2) containing a wheel (3) and, on one end, presents a front locking member (4) and, on another end, a locking member (5) for disengagement of the frame (2) by pressing downwards.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: PLANITOI S.A.
    Inventor: Paulo Maia
  • Patent number: 11491388
    Abstract: Toe-piece for a boot on a gliding board including a chassis affixed to the gliding board; a body movable on the chassis; a sole-clamp movable on the body; a lateral release mechanism including a first elastic mechanism to return the sole clamp to engagement with the boot; a vertical retention mechanism having a second elastic mechanism arranged to continuously exert a return force on the body to bring the sole-clamp toward the lower surface of the chassis, the return force pressing the sole-clamp on the boot; at least one cam kinematically inserted between the second elastic mechanism and either the chassis or the body, the cam being shaped to modify, in relation to the chassis, the direction of the return force exerted by the second elastic mechanism on the body to attenuate a variation in the pressing force when the sole-clamp is away from the lower surface of the chassis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: SALOMON S.A.S.
    Inventor: Daniel Soldan
  • Patent number: 11484770
    Abstract: A skate including a shoe/boot part and a skate iron/blade part, wherein the skate iron/blade part includes a skate iron/blade and a rear and forward intermediate mounting element connecting the skate iron/blade to the shoe/boot part, wherein at least a part of the forward mounting element may be compressed in the vertical direction, said forward mounting element being equipped with a resilient device that may be compressed through vertically loading the skate and that mainly returns to its original form when the vertical load of the skate diminishes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Inventors: Stian Selvik, Joachim Selvik
  • Patent number: 11452930
    Abstract: A steering system for a snowboard includes two binding interface pods, one of which may be active and one of which may be passive. Rotation or tilting of a top plate of the active binding interface pod in response to rotation or tilting of the rider's steering foot causes counter-rotation of a steering fin under the rider's steering foot. The passive binding interface pod is responsive via a linkage between the active and passive binding interface pods to cause rotation of a steering fin under the rider's non-steering foot. Coordinated counter-rotation of the steering fins causes the board to turn in the direction of rotation of the rider's steering foot when the steering fins are unaligned. Optionally, both binding pods may be active in steering, i.e. enabling two footed steering.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Inventor: Brian Carr
  • Patent number: 11452931
    Abstract: A sliding board, preferably a snow sliding board, including: a front sliding board region including a front end of the sliding board; a rear sliding board region including a rear end of the sliding board; and a binding region, extending between the front sliding board region and the rear sliding board region in the longitudinal direction of the sliding board, for fixing a sliding board binding for holding a boot. The snow sliding board exhibits a multi-layered structure including at least: a sliding board core; upper layers which are arranged above the sliding board core; and lower layers which are arranged below the sliding board core. At least one of the upper layers and/or at least one of the lower layers includes a fiber-composite material, wherein the fiber-composite material includes a multitude of fibers, wherein the fiber-composite material in a region exhibits a fiber orientation which varies within the region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: Völkl Sports GmbH
    Inventor: Tobias Heil
  • Patent number: 11440573
    Abstract: The invention relates to a manually movable and stackable trolley having a supporting device, wherein, when two trolleys are stacked, a rear region which is only taken up by the rear trolley and a front region which is only taken up by the trolley in front are produced, wherein the supporting device is assigned an electronic weighing device which is equipped with a first and a second weighing cell. The two weighing cells are arranged such that, in the stacked state, the first weighing cell of the rear, inserted trolley is within the rear region, and the second weighing cell of the inserted trolley is outside the front region, and, conversely, the first weighing cell of the trolley in front is outside the rear region, and the second weighing cell of the trolley in front is within the front region, wherein the first weighing cell is directed downwards from the at least one supporting device and the second weighing cell is directed upwards.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Inventor: Martin Eberlein
  • Patent number: 11414120
    Abstract: An improved auto-chocking enabled cargo dolly that is towable by ground support equipment. The dolly has a frame, wheels attached to the frame that support the frame and rotate to allow movement of the frame, a tow bar, a linkage in communication with the tow bar and that actuates when the tow bar is raised, and a wheel engagement chocking system fixed to the dolly frame and disposed to selectively engage at least one of the wheels attached to the dolly frame. The wheel engagement system is responsive to a position of the linkage, where the wheel engagement chocking system applies pressure directly to at least one of the wheels to hold the wheel(s) in place when the linkage is actuated by the tow bar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Inventors: Reuben F. Burch, V, Katherine King, Howard McKinney, Aaron Prather, Kevin Frommelt, Shaq Khan
  • Patent number: 11414118
    Abstract: A holder for mounting to a shopping cart and supporting a smart device includes a receptacle for receiving a smart device and at least one fastener for securing the receptacle to a handle of the shopping cart. The receptacle includes a planar surface having a front face, a back face, and a sidewall that extends perpendicularly away from the front face and along each side and bottom of the planar surface. The planar surface also defines a channel for receiving an accessory associated with a smart device. The length and width of the receptacle are sized to permit the upper portion of a smart device to extend out of the receptacle and to configure the manner in which the smart device is received by the receptacle. The holder can be installed on a shopping cart to provide system for holding a smart device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: THE KROGER CO.
    Inventors: Annesleigh H. Bengtson, Brad D. Jewell
  • Patent number: 11400360
    Abstract: An electronically controlled detachable motorized track system for a snowboard having front and rear baseplates sized to fit in a backpack with right and left motorized tracks having a length extending beyond the front and rear baseplates from proximate the rear of a snowboard to proximate the front of a snowboard and beyond the front and rear baseplates, each adapted for wrapping around drive rollers and freely rotating rear rollers. A hand controller wirelessly controls the tracks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Inventor: Stewart J. Crockett
  • Patent number: 11383777
    Abstract: An auxiliary wheel system for a scooter includes an auxiliary wheel, an arm, an drive assembly, and an operation module. The arm has a first end fixed to the auxiliary wheel, and a second end pivotally fixed to a frame of the scooter via a joint attached at the second end. The drive assembly is configured to pivot the arm about the joint between a raised position and a lowered position with respect to the frame wherein the auxiliary wheel is vertically offset from a ground surface and in the lowered position. The operation module is configured to cause the arm to pivot about the joint between the raised position and the lowered position based on a tilt of the frame with respect to the ground surface exceeding a threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Rahul Khanna
  • Patent number: 11383746
    Abstract: An adjustable tray assembly is configured to span a distance between the handle of a shopping cart to the backrest of the seat area. The assembly is adjustable to different sizes of shopping carts by utilizing an attachment member within a tray portion at the handle that can be located in different positions, and by permitting the pivoting of an arm portion of the assembly. The pivoting nature of the arm portion allows the arm portion to adjust to the different depth of the seat areas and type of cart. A latch is used to secure the arm portion to the backrest of the seat area. A hollowed area is formed in the arm portion for a child to use the seat area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Inventors: Jack G. Clark, III, Nichole M. Clark
  • Patent number: 11383615
    Abstract: An electric power supply system is to be included in a hybrid electric vehicle that is provided with a driving motor and an engine and is configured to switch between an HEV traveling mode of traveling by causing both the driving motor and the engine to operate and an EV traveling mode of stopping the engine and traveling with motive power of the driving motor. The electric power supply system includes a main battery, an electric power generator, a sub-battery, and a control apparatus. The main battery supplies electric power to the driving motor. The electric power generator generates electric power upon receiving motive power outputted from the engine. The sub-battery is charged with the electric power generated by the electric power generator. If an abnormality is diagnosed as being present in the sub-battery, the control apparatus disables the HEV traveling mode and enables the EV traveling mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinnosuke Sakata, Fumiyuki Moriya
  • Patent number: 11376970
    Abstract: A drive system of an electric vehicle is disclosed. The vehicle has an arrangement optimized for characteristics of a hydrogen electric truck so as to ensure an available space inside vehicle body frames, thereby allowing a battery, high-voltage electric parts, a hydrogen tank, and the like to be arranged inside the vehicle body frames and increasing space utilization in the vehicle. The drive system includes a motor configured to drive the vehicle, a reducer or a transmission connected to an output side of the motor so as to change a rotational speed of the motor, and a rear axle configured to transmit rotating power output from the reducer or the transmission to vehicle wheels. The motor and the reducer or the transmission together with the rear axle are mounted on a suspension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Seung Wan Yu
  • Patent number: 11369858
    Abstract: A heel unit for a touring binding includes a base for mounting on a sliding board and coupling means to engage a heel portion of a sliding board boot in a downhill position of the touring binding to retain the sliding board boot on the touring binding. A release mechanism holds the coupling means so as to be moveable relative to the base and releasable from the sliding board boot, in the downhill position, in an event of action of a force exceeding a predetermined release force. An adjustment mechanism adjusts the touring binding between the downhill position and a walking position in which the coupling means are remote from and do not engage the sliding board boot. The adjustment mechanism comprises an actuation assembly manually actuatable to lock or unlock the adjustment mechanism substantially without an actuation force or with an actuation force less than the predetermined release force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: SALEWA SPORT AG
    Inventors: Matthew Dulcamara, Uwe Eckart, Edwin Lehner
  • Patent number: 11352039
    Abstract: The shopping cart security system is configured for use with a hand propelled vehicle known as a shopping cart. The shopping cart security system is a wheeled structure that allows the hand propelled vehicle to roll over a supporting surface. The shopping cart security system: a) determines the GPS coordinates of the shopping cart security system; b) compares the GPS coordinates of the shopping cart security system with a previously determined set of GPS coordinates that determine an operating perimeter for the shopping cart security system; and, c) disables the rotation of the wheeled structure that forms the shopping cart security system when the shopping cart security system is determined to be outside of the region bounded by the previously determined operating perimeter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Inventor: Tyler Milam
  • Patent number: 11325018
    Abstract: A heel unit for a downhill or a combined downhill and alpine touring ski binding has a vertical-release functional group with a tensioning device with a first spring assembly for holding a ski boot downhill, and a horizontal-release functional group with a base plate to be positioned on the ski and a slide that deflects laterally opposing the ski longitudinal direction against the force of a second spring assembly, on which the vertical-release functional group is arranged, as well as with a compression spring assembly acting on the horizontal-release functional group. The vertical-release functional group rotates on the horizontal-release functional group around an axis running vertically towards the top of the ski or towards the vertical, such that, after a limited lateral deflection of the slide, the vertical-release functional group rotates against the force of the second spring assembly to release of the ski boot into the respective lateral-release direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: TYROLIA TECHNOLOGY GMBH
    Inventors: Erwin Hösl, Gernot Jahnel, Christoph Wurm
  • Patent number: 11318976
    Abstract: A cart storage system for storing a movable cart includes a storage plate inclined with respect to a floor in a first direction crossing a moving direction of a cart, a stopper along a back side of the storage plate in the moving direction, and a first holding plate extending along the moving direction, configured to stop movement of the cart in the lateral direction, and disposed a first predetermined distance away from a lateral side of the storage plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takuya Ogishima, Masakazu Kato
  • Patent number: 11299034
    Abstract: The intake device structure of the saddle riding vehicle includes a head pipe; a main frame that extends rearward from the head pipe; a seat rail that extends rearward from the main frame; sub-frames that connect the main frame and the seat rail to each other; a seat that is supported on the seat rail; and an intake device. The intake device includes an element that is inclined rearward as the element extends upward, and the element is also mounted underneath the seat rail in side view such that the element is located along the sub-frames.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yusaburo Tani