Patents by Inventor Thomas M. Stephens

Thomas M. Stephens 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: 5174577
    Abstract: A swing training device which provides both audible and tactile feedback to an individual. In one embodiment, the present invention includes a bow-shaped support structure having two tensioned laterally-displaced vibratable members positioned between the end portions of the structure. When the present invention is fixedly attached to a sports implement, such as by a clip partially encircling the shaft of a golf club, and is swung by the individual, the passage of the vibratable members through the air displaces the vibratable members which initiates their vibration. This vibration provides an audible response and a tactile response to the individual, the magnitude of which is dependent upon the velocity with which the sports implement is swung.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 1991
    Date of Patent: December 29, 1992
    Assignee: Natural Swing Products Co.
    Inventors: E. D. Warde, Thomas M. Stephen
  • Patent number: 3972682
    Abstract: A furnace assembly for use in a chemical analysis system utilizing high-temperature pyrolytic techniques includes a refractory tube which defines a heated chamber wherein samples are pyrolyzed, inlet and outlet cap members mounted on opposite ends of the refractory tube, a cylindrical heating assembly which spacedly surrounds the refractory tube, and a frame which fixedly supports both the refractory tube and the heating assembly in a vertical orientation. The frame includes a stationary mounting plate and at least two rod-like members which fixedly extend in parallel downward from the stationary plate on opposite sides of the heating assembly. The heating assembly is fixed to the rods and a springy plate member is fixedly connected between the rods to provide a support upon which the outlet cap member rests and to press upwardly against the refractory tube when the same elongates during heating so that the upper and lower cap members are forceably sealed against the respective ends of the refractory tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 1975
    Date of Patent: August 3, 1976
    Assignee: Envirotech Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas M. Stephens, Yoshihiro Takahashi
  • Patent number: 3948104
    Abstract: A sampling valve includes upper and lower flat-faced body sections that are mounted facing one another for rotation about a generally centrally disposed shaft with a thin seal member interposed between the sections. A reciprocative device selectively rotates the upper body section relative to the lower section through a pre-selected angle about the shaft. A passage is formed from the lower body section to the upper section so that liquid continuously flows through the valve. At one portion of the valve, the passage is in communication with a bore of a sample-taking piston assembly which is arranged on the upper body section. The piston is driven upward to draw a liquid sample from the flowing liquid in the passage and then the upper body section is rotated and the sampling piston is driven downward to eject the sample into a pyrolysis furnace or the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 1974
    Date of Patent: April 6, 1976
    Assignee: Envirotech Corporation
    Inventor: Thomas M. Stephens