Patents by Inventor John E. Smith

John E. Smith has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20030156324
    Abstract: A fully automated telescope system is able to be fully operable in both Alt-Az and polar configurations. In either configuration, the telescope aligns itself to the celestial coordinate system following a simplified initialization procedure during which the telescope tube is first pointed north and then pointed towards a user's horizon. A command processor, under application software program control orients the telescope system with respect to the celestial coordinate system given the initial directional inputs. The initial telescope orientation may be further refined by initially inputting a geographical location indicia, or by shooting one or two additional celestial objects. Once the telescope's orientation with respect to the celestial coordinate system is established, the telescope system will automatically move to and track any desired celestial object without further alignment invention by a user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2003
    Publication date: August 21, 2003
    Applicant: Meade Instruments Corporation
    Inventors: Kenneth W. Baun, John E. Smith, John E. Hoot, Michael A. Wachala, Brian G. Tingey, Brent G. Duchon, Stanley H. Dewan
  • Publication number: 20030058531
    Abstract: A telescope system facilitates easy upgrading from friction lock mounting to manual worm drive, and from manual worm drive to motor drive. Vibration isolation provides a steady field of view for enhanced observation and photography. A telescope mount facilitates enhanced below the horizon and zenith viewing. A tripod has detents which hold the legs thereof in a deployed position during handling of the tripod. A cam lock reliably maintains a desired length of telescoping tripod legs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 25, 2002
    Publication date: March 27, 2003
    Inventors: Kenneth W. Baun, John E. Smith, Michael A. Wachala, Brian G. Tingey, Brent G. Duchon, Stanley H. Dewan
  • Patent number: 6445498
    Abstract: A telescope system facilitates easy upgrading from friction lock mounting to manual worm drive, and from manual worm drive to motor drive. Vibration isolation provides a steady field of view for enhanced observation and photography. A telescope mount facilitates enhanced below the horizon and zenith viewing. A tripod has detents which hold the legs thereof in a deployed position during handling of the tripod. A cam lock reliably maintains a desired length of telescoping tripod legs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2002
    Assignee: Meade Instruments Corporation
    Inventors: Kenneth W. Baun, John E. Smith, Michael A. Wachala, Brian G. Tingey, Brent G. Duchon, Stanley H. Dewan
  • Patent number: 6397868
    Abstract: A seat suspended between two crutches in the manner of a sling, to provide the user of the crutches with a place to rest. The seat is attached to both crutches of a pair of crutches used by an individual needing crutches. The seat is attached by one or more adjustable straps and/or release clips. The seat allows the user to rest his body weight on the seat thereby relieving the arms of the user without placing weight on the lower limbs. The crutches are fully usable in the normal manner for walking while the seat is attached and suspended from the crutches. The seat hangs below and behind the user when the crutches are used by the user for walking. The feet of the crutched are placed adjacent one another, while the tops of the crutches are spread apart to raise the seat into a usable height, while providing a stable base for supporting the user. The crutches are then angled slightly forward with the tops of the crutches in front of the user and the crutch feet behind the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2002
    Inventor: John E. Smith
  • Patent number: 6304376
    Abstract: A fully automated telescope system is able to be fully operable in both Alt-Az and polar configurations. In either configuration, the telescope aligns itself to be celestial coordinate system following a simplified initialization procedure during which the telescope tube is first pointed north and then pointed towards a user's horizon. A command processor, under application software program control orients the telescope system with respect to the celestial coordinate system given the initial directional inputs. The initial telescope orientation may be further refined by initially inputting a geographical location indicia, or by shooting one or two additional celestial objects. Once the telescope's orientation with respect to the celestial coordinate system is established, the telescope system will automatically move to and track any desired celestial object without further alignment invention by a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2001
    Assignee: Meade Instruments Corporation
    Inventors: Kenneth W. Baun, John E. Smith, John E. Hoot, Michael A. Wachala, Brian G. Tingey, Brent G. Duchon, Stanley H. Dewan
  • Patent number: 6257258
    Abstract: A seat suspended between two crutches in the manner of a sling, to provide the user of the crutches with a place to rest. The seat is attached to both crutches of a pair of crutches used by an individual needing crutches. The seat is attached by one or more adjustable straps and/or release clips. The seat allows the user to rest his body weight on the seat thereby relieving the arms of the user without placing weight on the lower limbs. The crutches are fully usable in the normal manner for walking while the seat is attached and suspended from the crutches. The seat hangs below and behind the user when the crutches are used by the user for walking. The feet of the crutched are placed adjacent one another, while the tops of the crutches are spread apart to raise the seat into a usable height, while providing a stable base for supporting the user. The crutches are then angled slightly forward with the tops of the crutches in front of the user and the crutch feet behind the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2001
    Inventor: John E. Smith
  • Patent number: 5694729
    Abstract: A connector system for demountable wall modules, including a pair of adjoining vertical channel members having mating structure. The channel members are cut from the same extrusion, and one member is inverted with respect to the other. The mating structure which that provides includes an outwardly extending flange having a mating protrusion, a central wall, and a U-shaped rail having a mating cavity. The mating protrusion on one channel member is positioned to fit within the mating cavity of the other channel member, and vice versa. The central walls are slightly offset from a central plane of the panels to lie in an overlapped relationship. One or more locking keys are inserted through slots in the extending flanges to bias the flange away from the central wall of the opposed channel member. In this manner, the mating protrusions are held within the mating cavities to securely fasten the two panels together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 1994
    Date of Patent: December 9, 1997
    Assignee: Panel Concepts, Inc.
    Inventors: David G. Blackburn, Steven P. Kettenburg, Andy J. Scherer, John E. Smith
  • Patent number: 5399089
    Abstract: An oral hygiene appliance includes a base on which upstands a cabinet having top, front and rear vertical walls. A pair of recesses are formed in either side of that front wall. A plurality of seats within those recesses are each receptive of a jet tip. An inlet is defined in the top wall. A cover is shaped to envelope the cabinet over the recesses and the inlet with the cover being invertable to serve as a reservoir. Disposed within the cabinet is a pump responsive to a pressure control for delivering water received from the inlet.Seated toward one end of the base is the lower end of an elongated electric toothbrush body. Individual brushes are seated in the base around the body and those brushes ordinarily to the rear of the body are elevated on a pedestal. At the opposite end of the base is a well in which is seated the lower end of a handle in which a faceted lower end of one of the jet tips may be captivated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 21, 1995
    Assignee: Teledyne Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Kim T. Eichman, John E. Smith, Clifford J. Snyder, Gerald T. Swanson
  • Patent number: 5393194
    Abstract: A game-handling apparatus which is mounted on a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle having a winch fixed to the vehicle with a winch line wound on a winch drum in the winch, the game-handling apparatus including a first roller mounted on the front of the vehicle above the winch for guiding the winch line from the winch upwardly, a roll bar pivotally secured to the vehicle and fitted with a middle pulley for guiding the winch line rearwardly and a rear roller attached to the rear of the vehicle for guiding the winch line downwardly behind the vehicle. A sling is attached to the end of the winch line and the sling is secured around a game animal such as a deer, after which, the winch is operated to wind the winch line on the winch drum and lift the deer into field-dressing configuration or onto the all-terrain vehicle for transportation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 28, 1995
    Inventor: John E. Smith
  • Patent number: 5329283
    Abstract: A digital signal processor optimized for synthetic aperture radar image formation provides two separate stages of arithmetic processing along independent in-phase and quadrature channels. The first stage accepts a first reference input and integrates a multiplier/accumulator for each channel, and the second stage accepts a second reference input and includes a multiplier and an adder for each channel. In addition to hardware to select and route data in accordance with a desired operation, a hold register is incorporated prior to input-selection logic to facilitate complex-by-complex multiplications of data derived from either input in the first stage. Hold registers are also included before the second-stage adders to permit a complex multiplication with magnitude weighting to occur during the zero-th stage of a fast Fourier transformation, effectively hiding the time to perform one FFT stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 1993
    Date of Patent: July 12, 1994
    Assignee: Environmental Research Institute of Michigan
    Inventor: John E. Smith
  • Patent number: 5302081
    Abstract: A regenerative toric pump in which undesirable noise generation and leakage through clearance gaps between the impeller and housing is minimized includes an impeller having vanes lying in general planes radiating from the impeller axis disposed at variable spacings from each other in a geometrically balanced pattern. Recesses in one of opposed side surfaces on the impeller and housing are arranged in a pattern such as to minimize leakage through the clearance gap between those surfaces from points in the pump chamber which are at different pressures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 1992
    Date of Patent: April 12, 1994
    Assignee: Coltec Industries Inc.
    Inventor: John E. Smith
  • Patent number: 5205707
    Abstract: A toric pump has a metal impeller housing formed with a flat end face into which an annular impeller receiving recess extends to a depth which exceeds the axial thickness of the impeller mounted in the recess by an amount only sufficient to provide a minimum operating clearance for the impeller sides when an impeller cover is mounted on the housing with a flat end face of the impeller cover in sealed face to face engagement with the flat end face of the housing. A bore in the impeller housing receives a cylindrical portion of the pump drive motor to accurately locate the rotary axis of the impeller with respect to the peripheral side surface of the stripper portion of the pump housing. All impeller-stripper portion clearances are established by machining of the die cast impeller housing and the formation of a flat surface on the impeller cover.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 1991
    Date of Patent: April 27, 1993
    Assignee: Coltec Industries Inc.
    Inventors: John E. Smith, Dennis N. Koenig, Jr., William E. Ruhig, Jr.
  • Patent number: 5163810
    Abstract: A regenerative toric pump in which undesirable noise generation and leakage through the clearance gaps between the impeller and housing is minimized includes an impeller having vanes lying in general planes radiating from the impeller axis disposed at variable spacings from each other in a geometrically balanced pattern. Recesses in one of opposed side surfaces on the impeller and housing are arranged in a pattern such as to minimize leakage through the clearance gap between those surfaces from points in the pump chamber which are at different pressures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 1991
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1992
    Assignee: Coltec Industries Inc
    Inventor: John E. Smith
  • Patent number: 4699365
    Abstract: A recirculating document feeder for presenting document sheets to a copier apparatus for reproducing multiple collated sets of information respectively contained on one face of such document sheets, or information respectively contained on both faces of such sheets, at a rate which makes maximum use of the full reproduction rate of the copier apparatus. In the recirculating document feeder, during the first circulation of a set of document sheets, after both sides of each sheet are exposed to reproduce information contained thereon, such sheets are returned to the hopper with their facial orientation reversed with respect to their initial facial orientation in the hopper. During all during subsequent circulations of such document sheets except the last circulation, after both sides of each sheet are exposed to reproduce information contained thereon, such sheets are returned to the hopper with the facial orientation reversed with respect to their initial facial orientation in the hopper.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 1986
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1987
    Assignee: Eastmak Kodak Company
    Inventors: John E. Smith, Thomas J. Murray
  • Patent number: 4240122
    Abstract: A protective device for electrical power distribution equipment includes a removable fuse holder and an integral load switch. The protective device may be affixed to a grounded metal enclosure, such as an oil-filled transformer, into which the protective device extends. The fuse holder may be removed from the protective device for checking or replacement with a minimal opening into the enclosure into which the protective device extends. A suitable load switch actuator is provided for controlling current flow through a fuse in the fuse holder. This load switch actuator also provides an interlock arrangement to prevent removal of the fuse holder from, as well as insertion of the fuse holder into, the protective device unless the load switch is open, thus ensuring that interruption and initation of current flow through the fuse in the removable fuse holder is controlled by the load switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 1979
    Date of Patent: December 16, 1980
    Assignee: McGraw-Edison Company
    Inventor: John E. Smith
  • Patent number: 4220323
    Abstract: Apparatus for selectively stacking, or inverting and stacking, sheets moving seriatim along a travel path with a given facial orientation. The apparatus comprises a sheet supporting surface for supporting and stacking sheets in a facial orientation effectively reversed from that of such sheets in the travel path, and a guide selectively movable to a first position along the travel path or a second position in the travel path. In the first position, the guide directs sheets onto the supporting surface; while in the second position the guide itself receives and stacks the sheets, remote from the supporting surface, in a facial orientation the same as that of such sheets in the travel path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 1979
    Date of Patent: September 2, 1980
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventor: John E. Smith
  • Patent number: D412920
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 17, 1999
    Assignee: Meade Instruments Corp.
    Inventors: John C. Diebel, John E. Smith, Clair A. Samhammer, David M. Hines
  • Patent number: D417680
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 14, 1999
    Assignee: Meade Instruments Corporation
    Inventors: John C. Diebel, John E. Smith, Clair A. Samhammer, David M. Hines
  • Patent number: D417881
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 21, 1999
    Assignee: Meade Instruments Corporation
    Inventors: John C. Diebel, John E. Smith, Clair A. Samhammer, David M. Hines
  • Patent number: D422610
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2000
    Assignee: Meade Instruments Corporation
    Inventors: John C. Diebel, John E. Smith, Clair A. Samhammer, David M. Hines