Patents by Inventor Paul M. Spear

Paul M. Spear 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: 5351117
    Abstract: In order to sort diamond-bearing ore particles conveyed on a wide belt, exciting radiation strikes the belt along an extended line. Diamonds are detected by passing the emitted radiation through a narrow band pass filter and sensing the Raman radiation with a photo-multiplier tube. Only axial-parallel rays passing through the filter reach the photo-multiplier tube. An array of side-by-side converging lenses can be used, the lenses being of rectangular shape as seen looking along the optical axis with their long axes at right angles to the line of radiation. The ore particles are in the plane of the foci of the lenses, so that radiation emitted by each particle is passed in parallel rays through the filter. In order to stop rays having an angle of incidence greater than the maximum permitted, to avoid identifying non-diamond material as diamond, a further converging lens is used to focus the rays at the plane of a telecentric stop. The stop stops rays having too great an angle of incidence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 1993
    Date of Patent: September 27, 1994
    Assignee: Gersan Establishment
    Inventors: Andrew D. G. Stewart, Robin W. Smith, Martin P. Smith, Martin Cooper, Christopher M. Welbourn, Paul M. Spear
  • Patent number: 5206699
    Abstract: In order to sort diamond-bearing ore particles conveyed on a wide belt, exciting radiation strikes the belt along an extended line. Diamonds are detected by passing the emitted radiation through a narrow band pass filter and sensing the Raman radiation with a photo-multiplier tube. Only axial-parallel rays passing through the filter reach the photo-multiplier tube. An array of side-by-side converging lenses can be used, the lenses being of rectangular shape as seen looking along the optical axis with their long axes at right angles to the line of radiation. The ore particles are in the plane of the foci of the lenses, so that radiation emitted by each particle is passed in parallel rays through the filter. In order to stop rays having an angle of incidence greater than the maximum permitted, to avoid identifying non-diamond material as diamond, a further converging lens is used to focus the rays at the plane of a telecentric stop. The stop stops rays having too great an angle of incidence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 1991
    Date of Patent: April 27, 1993
    Assignee: Gersan Establishment
    Inventors: Andrew D. G. Stewart, Robin W. Smith, Martin P. Smith, Daniel J. Brink, Martin Cooper, Christopher M. Welbourn, Paul M. Spear