Patents by Inventor Larry C. Heckendorn

Larry C. Heckendorn 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: 5504299
    Abstract: An electrical resistance welding sensor assembly useful for monitoring various resistance welding process parameters in real-time during welding operations is provided with a base element adapted to be inserted into a tapered, water-cooled, electrode tip holder, with a sensor element adapted to receive a tapered, water-cooled, electrode tip, and with an in-line integral coolant passageway extending therethrough, the sensor element having a wall component which is provided with various adhered electrical transducer devices, which conducts and transmits welding process clamping loads and electrical currents, and which is cooled by coolant flowed through the integral coolant passageway.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 1995
    Date of Patent: April 2, 1996
    Inventor: Larry C. Heckendorn
  • Patent number: 4955441
    Abstract: Load cells incorporating rocker pin configured columnar central structures within a weighing system have the attribute of self-erecting upon being displaced from a vertical orientation due to dynamic transverse loading effects, as may be occasioned by vehicle movements onto a scale. The resultant transient vector forces thus developed have been observed to cause a rotational phenomenon in the rocker pin configured cells which causes unacceptable damage to the instrumentation control communication components of the load cell system. A mounting technique for such load cells is developed wherein only these rotation inducing forces are restrained, while the vertical force vectors representing valid load data are maintained in an unrestricted or uncompromised manner. In one aspect of the invention, a hexagonal form of mounting between a rocker pin neck-contact surface region and a corresponding receiver cavity achieves a fully pivoting and freely abutting geometry while effecting the noted restriction of rotation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 1989
    Date of Patent: September 11, 1990
    Assignee: Toledo Scale Corporation
    Inventors: Nigel G. Mills, Larry C. Heckendorn, Curtis W. Long, Richard T. Smigel