Patents Examined by Michael W. Ball
  • Patent number: 6610162
    Abstract: A LOC die assembly is disclosed including a die dielectrically adhered to the underside of a lead frame. The lead frame has stress relief slots formed in the undersides of the lead elements proximate the adhesive to accommodate filler particles lodged between the leads and the active surface of the die during transfer molding of a plastic encapsulant. The increased space created by the slots and flexure in the leads about the slots reduces point stresses on the active surface of the die by the filler particles. The increased flexure in the leads about the slots further enhances the locking of the leads in position with respect to the die.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2003
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Larry D. Kinsman, Timothy J. Allen, Jerry M. Brooks
  • Patent number: 6610166
    Abstract: Integrated multiple optical elements may be formed by bonding substrates containing such optical elements together or by providing optical elements on either side of the wafer substrate. The wafer is subsequently diced to obtain the individual units themselves. The optical elements may be formed lithographically, directly, or using a lithographically generated master to emboss the elements. Alignment features facilitate the efficient production of such integrated multiple optical elements, as well as post creation processing thereof on the wafer level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2003
    Assignee: Digital Optics Corporation
    Inventors: Brian Harden, Alan Kathman, Michael Feldman
  • Patent number: 6607628
    Abstract: A method for modifying a porous mechanical component by using an ER or MR substance including the steps of providing at least one porous component having a porosity sufficient to receive the MR substance within a plurality of pores and impregnating the component with the MR substance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2003
    Assignee: Visteon Global Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Norman Szalony
  • Patent number: 6607622
    Abstract: A method for adhering/bonding a frame profile (e.g., weather strip, water seal, spacer, etc.) to a substrate (e.g., glass or plastic substrate) in the context of a vehicle window unit. A frame profile is formed via extrusion so as to include both a polymer profile portion and a selectively activatable interface or adhesive portion. Following extrusion, the frame profile may be stored, cut, trimmed, cure, etc. At some point following extrusion, the interface/adhesive is in a non-activated state, or at least in a state where it is not activated to an extent sufficient to bond/adhere the frame to the substrate. To adhere/bond the frame profile to the substrate, the interface/adhesive portion of the frame profile is activated (e.g., heat activated). Following and/or during heat activation, the frame profile is pressed against the substrate, or vice versa, so that the activated adhesive bonds the polymer profile to the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2003
    Assignee: Centre Luxembourgeois de Recherches pour le Verre et la Ceramique S.A. (C.R.V.C.)
    Inventors: Herve Lagrue, Patrick Vandeloo, Francis Bemtgen, Olivier Rostenne, Laurent Dahm, Frank Thurau
  • Patent number: 6608760
    Abstract: A dielectric substrate useful in the manufacture of printed wiring boards is disclosed wherein the dielectric substrate comprises at least one organic polymer having a Tg greater than 140° C. and at least one filler material. The dielectric substrate of this invention has a dielectric constant that varies less than 15% over a temperature range of from −55 to 125° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2003
    Assignee: TPL, Inc.
    Inventors: William F. Hartman, Kirk M. Slenes, Kristen J. Law
  • Patent number: 6607621
    Abstract: A wall patch includes a body with a lower surface and an upper surface. An adhesive is located on the lower surface to secure the wall patch to a wall surface. The upper surface is ready-to-paint and can also be pre-textured, if desired. A center reinforcement can be a rigid plastic or metal wall patch, or a flexible plastic or fibered paper wall patch, without a textured upper surface. A method for repairing a hole in a wall includes placing a wall patch over the hole and directly painting the upper surface of the wall patch. The method can further include placing a center reinforcement over the hole before applying the wall patch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2003
    Inventor: Randall Eric Swanson
  • Patent number: 6607019
    Abstract: A first adhesively coated tape material length is supplied to a first die associated with a cutting and application mechanism. A second length of adhesively coated tape material is also provided to a second die of the cutting and application mechanism. A plurality of LOC leadframes is supplied sequentially through the application structure to apply a first decal cut from the first tape material to a first die site at a first location and to apply a second decal cut from the second tape material to a second die site at a second location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2003
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Gregory M. Chapman
  • Patent number: 6605168
    Abstract: A method for fastening a flat strip lamella (10) to the surface of a building component (12). According to the inventive method, the face (14) of the flat strip lamella (10) is pressed against the surface of the building using an adhesive coating (16) consisting of a reaction resin applied in a paste-like consistency (16) and hardened to form an adhesive joint. The flat strip lamella (10) comprises a plurality of carbon fibers which are embedded in a binder matrix (28) and placed parallel to each other in a longitudinal direction. In order to increase the speed at which the adhesive coating hardens, the invention provides that an electrical current flows through least one part of the carbon fibers (26), heating the flat strip lamella (10) which in turn heats the adhesive coating (16).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2003
    Assignee: Sika Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Alexander Bleibler, Ernesto Schümperli, Werner Steiner
  • Patent number: 6605169
    Abstract: A machine which inflates and seals pillows in packaging is compact in overall size, can be conveniently operated to produce varied lengths of strips of inflated pillow-type packaging as needed, can begin production of inflated pillow-type strip packaging immediately after being held out of a production cycle for some period of time, and applies a heated sealing element directly to and in sliding contact with a web of film to securely seal the inlet port of an inflated pillow while the pillow is under pressure and as the web of film is continuously and uninterruptedly advanced through the machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2003
    Assignee: Free-Flow Packaging International, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Perkins, Oliver M. Reyes, Philipp Borchard, Nicholas P. De Luca
  • Patent number: 6605179
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for bonding optical disk substrates, includes placing a pair of optical disk substrates on a stage while securing a height difference at an upper face of the stage loading the substrates between an upper face at a side of a center of the substrates and an upper face at a side of an outer circumference of the substrates. The method and the apparatus also includes photosetting the adhesive layer on the stage by irradiating a setting light to the substrate pair, thereby photosetting the adhesive layer and bonding the substrates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2003
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Norihide Higaki, Koji Matsunaga, Keinosuke Kanashima
  • Patent number: 6605178
    Abstract: An ultrasonic sealing apparatus comprises at least one horn having an elongated sealing face for sealing a packing material. Plural converters are erected on a side of the horn opposite to the sealing face for resonating the horn with a vibrating frequency. The ultrasonic sealing apparatus has a length that is one wavelength of the vibrating frequency and is fixed in position to a sealing jaw at a nodal plane of the vibrating frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2003
    Assignee: Shikoku Kakoki Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mitsuhiko Shinohara, Takeshi Iseki, Michio Ueda, Satoshi Kume, Osamu Tamamoto, Tadayoshi Hamaguchi
  • Patent number: 6605248
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a process for forming a plurality of multi-layered filaments from multiple thermoplastic synthetic polymers and an apparatus containing a melt spinning beam which comprises multiple polymer inlet passages each communicating with separate multiple coat hanger distribution manifolds, separate filters connected downstream of each coat hanger distribution manifold, a combining manifold connected downstream of said filters and spinneret orifices connected downstream of said combining manifold for spinning of said multi-layered filaments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2003
    Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
    Inventors: Edgar N. Rudisill, Vishal Bansal, Michael C. Davis
  • Patent number: 6604672
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for solid bonding without using a bonding agent are provided. A surface of metal, glass, or other bond members 16a and 16b is fluorinated by exposure to a mixture of HF gas from a HF gas supply unit 24 and water vapor from a vapor generator 26 in a fluorination process section 12. The bond members 16a and 16b are then placed in contact at the fluorinated surface on table 36 in bonding process section 14. Argon is then introduced to bonding chamber 34. Pressure is then applied to the first bond member 16a and second bond member 16b by a cylinder 46, and heated to below the melting point by a heater 48, to bond the first and second bond members together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2003
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Mori, Yasutsugu Aoki, Takuya Miyakawa
  • Patent number: 6605175
    Abstract: A method is disclosed for manufacturing parts with intimate connection of least two material phases, of which at least one is a solid body phase. Prior to intimate connection, at least the surface of the solid body phase to be connected is pretreated by a plasma-activated gas that contains nitrogen. The method is used, for example, for connecting integrated circuits with an HLST or for the electrical connection of the printed circuits by wire bonding or for the sheathing of electrical circuits joined with HLST and connected by wire bonding, with a potting compound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2003
    Assignee: Unaxis Balzers Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Juergen Ramm, Eugen Beck
  • Patent number: 6605225
    Abstract: A three-dimensional element is fabricated from a high-temperature superconductor. The method and apparatus can fabricate, for example, a single-electron tunnel device or an intrinsic Josephson device which utilize the layer structure peculiar to the high-temperature superconductor, with machining from the side surface of a monocrystal or thin film. In the focused-ion beam etching, a substrate holder which is rotatable about 360°, is rotated, at the minimum, through an angle of about 90°, and the thin film or monocrystal on the substrate is etched from the side surface thereof so as to fabricate the element. After the thin film or monocrystal is machined from above by means of an focused-ion beam to thereby form a bridge having a junction length, the sample is rotated by about 90° (270°). Subsequently, a multi-layer current path layer is formed through side-surface machining. The junction length is accurately controlled through measurement of the current path length from an image display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2003
    Assignee: Japan Science and Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Tsutomu Yamashita, Sang-Jae Kim
  • Patent number: 6602370
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a ceramic electronic component including: a first step of providing a plurality of ceramic sheets containing ceramic powder and polyethylene and having a porosity of 30% or more, and a conductor layer containing metal powder, plasticizer and resin on a base film; a second step of laminating and pressurizing the conductor layer together with the base film on one of the ceramic sheets, and peeling off the base film to form a ceramic sheet with the conductor layer; a third step of disposing another ceramic sheet on top of the conductor layer; a fourth step of laminating and pressurizing another conductor layer on top of the another ceramic sheet; a fifth step of repeating the third and the fourth steps to form a laminated body having a desired number of layers; and a sixth step of sintering the laminated body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2003
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideki Kuramitsu, Atsuo Nagai, Yoshiya Sakaguchi, Yoshiyuki Miura
  • Patent number: 6602375
    Abstract: A corrugator single facer of the type utilizing a large diameter bonding and corrugating roll and a small diameter corrugating roll is driven without direct drive applied to either corrugating roll. Instead, the pressure belt arrangement which supports the lower corrugating roll to provide the nipping force includes a series of driven supporting pressure belts that are loaded against the lower corrugating roll and which transmit rotational movement thereto and through the nip to the large diameter bonding roll.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2003
    Inventor: Carl R. Marschke
  • Patent number: 6602369
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for producing a laminated sheet comprising an alumina fiber precursor, which process comprises spinning out an alumina fiber precursor from a solution mainly comprising an aluminum compound, falling and stacking said alumina fiber precursor on the surface of an accumulator to form a thin lamina sheet of alumina fiber precursor, continuously pulling out said lamina sheet from the accumulator, transferring the resultant lamina sheet to a folding device, and folding the sheet by a predetermined width while stacking the folded sheet and continuously moving the stacking sheet in the direction orthogonal to the folding direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2003
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
    Inventors: Mamoru Shoji, Norio Ikeda, Toshiaki Sasaki
  • Patent number: 6602371
    Abstract: A method of making a vehicle windshield. First and second flat glass sheets are bent together into a shape desired for the windshield. The bent sheets are separated, and an interlayer (e.g., PVB) positioned therebetween. After the sheets have been heat laminated to one another via the interlayer, the convex tin side of the outer sheet is ion beam milled to shave off a portion thereof. Then, a diamond-like carbon (DLC) inclusive coating is deposited using an ion beam(s) on the milled convex shaped surface of the laminate to produce a windshield. In certain optional embodiments, the windshield may be hydrophobic in nature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2003
    Assignee: Guardian Industries Corp.
    Inventor: Vijayen S. Veerasamy
  • Patent number: 6598642
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire has such a bead portion structure that at least two bead wire structural bodies, each being obtained by spirally winding a bead wire(s) so as to continuously extend in a circumferential direction, are disposed in a bead portion so as to sandwich a carcass ply or enclose with the carcass ply, in which an outer end of at least one of the bead wire structural bodies in a radial direction is located on a position corresponding to a rim line or outward therefrom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2003
    Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
    Inventor: Nobuyuki Hirai