Patents by Inventor Kenneth C. Kennedy, II

Kenneth C. Kennedy, II 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).

  • Patent number: 5869178
    Abstract: Disclosed are profiles of fiber-reinforced polymeric plastic and a pultrusion apparatus and method for the manufacture thereof. The apparatus is preferably vertically disposed. As one or more fibers is fed into the apparatus, each fiber is spread and wetted with monomer resin in a bundle spreader, formed in a die, and then subjected in a curing chamber to a source of radiation which initiates polymerization of the monomer, resulting in a fiber-reinforced polymeric plastic exiting from the pultrusion apparatus. Suitably, the radiation is ultraviolet, the monomer resin is methacrylate resin, and the fiber is quartz. The resultant profile is long and thin like a structural steel wire, but typically will have only 1/4 the weight thereof while having a strength comparable thereto. Thus, the profile is useful as an orthodontic wire as a replacement instead of structural steel wires used as orthodontic wires.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 9, 1999
    Assignee: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    Inventors: Robert P. Kusy, Kenneth C. Kennedy, II