Patents by Inventor Michael E. Hawley

Michael E. Hawley 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: 6115904
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for severing and removing wires surrounding a bale of pulp are disclosed, as well as a unique severing and coiling head. A bale of pulp is loaded onto a turn conveyor and the turn conveyor transports the bale from where it was loaded to the operating position, where a containment disk is lowered onto the top of the bale to restrain the wires wrapped around the bale during severing. A control arm moves a severing head until the head is in contact with the lateral surface of the bale, and keeps it there during the severing and removal process. The turn conveyor rotates the bale through 360 degrees about its vertical axis, thus drawing the severing head across each of the four lateral faces of the bale. The severing blade's teeth engage the wires, pull them free from the bale, and coil them around a spool that is coaxial with the severing blade and attached thereto.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2000
    Assignee: Lamb-Grays Harbor Co.
    Inventors: Stanley R. Merrill, Michael E. Hawley, Paul Dalietos
  • Patent number: 6047458
    Abstract: An apparatus for severing and removing wires surrounding a bale of pulp are disclosed, as well as a unique severing and coiling head. A bale of pulp is loaded onto a turn conveyor which transports the bale from where it was loaded to the operating position, where a containment disk is lowered onto the top of the bale to restrain the wires wrapped around the bale during severing. A control arm moves a severing head until the head is in contact with the lateral surface of the bale, and keeps it there during the severing and removal process. The turn conveyor rotates the bale through 360 degrees about its vertical axis, thus drawing the severing head across each of the four lateral faces of the bale. In the first 90 degree increment of the bale's rotation, the teeth of a rotating severing blade engage the wires on the first lateral face of the bale and sever them. In the next 90 degree increment of the bale's rotation, the severing blade engages the wires on the second lateral face of the bale and severs them.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2000
    Assignee: Lamb-Grays Harbor Co.
    Inventors: Stanley R. Merrill, Michael E. Hawley, Paul Dalietos
  • Patent number: 4815255
    Abstract: A plastic bag removal method and apparatus in which the bag is stored on a large, tightly compressed roll. In the described preferred embodiment, the method and apparatus provide for opening the mouth of the leading bag on the roll, clamping the inside and outside surfaces of each of the opposite side edges of the mouth, pulling the bag out, away from the roll, while still clamping, in order to expose the next bag in the roll, holding the mouth of the next bag in the roll while twisting the leading bag and continuing to pull on the leading bag until the sealed bottom of the bag separates from the next bag held in the roll, and placing that leading open bag onto a filling spout.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 1987
    Date of Patent: March 28, 1989
    Assignee: Enterprises International, Inc.
    Inventors: Lyndon L. Cozzutto, James D. Henry, Michael E. Hawley
  • Patent number: 4704064
    Abstract: An industrial elevator for automatically handling paper rolls at high volume is described. The elevator includes load-receiving platforms at both the initial and final floor levels, interconnected by a chain suspension system such that each platform travels only one-half the distance between floors, meeting at an intermediate level where the roll transfers from one platform to the other before continuing on to the discharge level. Each platform includes a stop arm system which receives a roll, rolling on its lateral edge, absorbing its dynamic energy and bringing the roll to a stop. The roll is cradled on the stop arm such that, on positive release, a rolling motion is imparted to the roll and it rolls from the discharging platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 1985
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1987
    Assignee: Enterprises International, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael E. Hawley, Jack Roth