Patents by Inventor Tomio Hotta

Tomio Hotta 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: 4934563
    Abstract: A cleanser feeding mechanism has a cleanser housing portion, a cleanser feeding member for feeding a cleanser housed in the cleanser housing portion, and a synchronous motor for applying a drive force to the cleanser feeding member, and feeds an amount of cleanser corresponding to the number of revolutions of the synchronous motor. A cleanser feeding amount-setting unit sets an amount of cleanser to be fed from the cleanser feeding mechanism. A driving unit applies an AC source voltage of an AC power source to the synchronous motor. A counter counts the number of cycles of the AC source voltage from a timing at which the AC source voltage is applied to the synchronous motor. A reference cycle number-setting unit sets a total cycle number of the AC source voltage which corresponds to a cleanser amount set by the cleanser feeding amount-setting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 1989
    Date of Patent: June 19, 1990
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Fumio Torita, Naotaka Ikeda, Kimihiko Nakamura, Katsuharu Matsuo, Tomio Hotta, Yoshiyuki Makino
  • Patent number: 4876953
    Abstract: A siphon coffee maker includes a lower container for containing water, an electric heater for applying heat to the lower container, an upper container disposed on the lower container and having a water feed tube communicating to the interior of the lower container, a storage for storing data of an amount of coffee to be extracted, and a microcomputer-based control unit. The control unit operates to energize the heater in response to an extracting operation command, thereby starting an extracting operation. The control unit then operates to energize the heater after completion of the extracting operation by supplying the heater with an electrical output in proportion to the temperature of the amount of coffee to be extracted, data of which is stored in the storage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 1989
    Date of Patent: October 31, 1989
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Humihiro Imamura, Tomio Hotta
  • Patent number: 4875607
    Abstract: A cleanser feeding mechanism has a cleanser housing portion, a cleanser feeding member for feeding a cleanser housed in the cleanser housing portion, and a synchronous motor for applying a drive force to the cleanser feeding member, and feeds and amount of cleanser corresponding to the number of revolutions of the synchronous motor. A cleanser feeding amount-setting unit sets an amount of cleanser to be fed from the cleanser feeding mechanism. A driving unit applies an AC source voltage of an AC power source to the synchronous motor. A counter counts the number of cycles of the AC source voltage from a timing at which the AC source voltage is applied to the synchronous motor. A reference cycle number-setting unit sets a total cycle number of the AC source voltage which corresponds to a cleanser amount set by the cleanser feeding amount-setting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 1987
    Date of Patent: October 24, 1989
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Fumio Torita, Naotaka Ikeda, Kimihiko Nakamura, Katsuharu Matsuo, Tomio Hotta, Yoshiyuki Makino
  • Patent number: 4862710
    Abstract: A motor load detector detects an electrical value representing a rise characteristic of a motor, which varies in accordance with a load acting on the motor serving as a power source for a series of operations including a wash cycle and a spin-drying cycle executed by an electric washing machine for washing and spin-drying. A determining section receives a value detected by the motor load detector during the spin-drying cycle, and determines a weight of washings contained in the electric washing machine in accordance with a time which has elapsed until the detected value reaches a second reference value from a first reference value. The determined washings weight is used in a cycle subsequent to the spin-drying cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 1987
    Date of Patent: September 5, 1989
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Fumio Torita, Naotaka Ikeda, Kimihiko Nakamura, Katsuharu Matsuo, Tomio Hotta, Yoshiyuki Makino
  • Patent number: 4841849
    Abstract: An electric siphon coffee maker including a lower container for containing water and an upper container for containing coffee powder is disclosed. The upper container is placed over the lower container so that a water feed tube of the upper container is inserted into the lower container. Heat is applied by a heater to the lower container containing water and the hot water is transferred from the lower container to the upper container by aerial pressure in the lower container. A temperature sensor senses the temperature of a portion of the device, which temperature is increased in accordance with the increase of the temperature of the water contained in the lower container in the case where heat is applied to the lower container. A heater input power control circuit acts to reduce the heater input power in accordance with the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1988
    Date of Patent: June 27, 1989
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Nobuo Shimomura, Tomio Hotta
  • Patent number: 4738034
    Abstract: According to this invention, a drying machine includes detection electrodes arranged to face the interior of a drum constituting a drying chamber and to be capable of contacting clothes in the drum, a volume (weight)-of-clothes detecting circuit for detecting the volume of clothes based on a contact interval of the clothes to the detection electrodes upon rotation of the drum, an operation time display circuit for calculating an operation time based on the weight of clothes detected by the volume-of-clothes detecting circuit and causing a display to display it as an estimated time, a degree-of-dryness detecting circuit for detecting a degree of dryness based on the resistance of the clothes contacting the detection electrodes, a volume-of-dryness setting circuit, operable by a user, for selectively setting a plurality of target degrees of dryness, a remaining operation time determination circuit for determining a remaining operation time based on the degree of dryness detected by the degree-of-dryness detecti
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 1986
    Date of Patent: April 19, 1988
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Tsunehiro Muramatsu, Katsuharu Matsuo, Tomio Hotta
  • Patent number: 4327502
    Abstract: There is provided a memory circuit whose storage voltage changes with an instantaneous detection voltage indicating the drying rate of part of clothes successively brought in contact with a pair of electrodes. The voltage of the memory circuit is compared with a clothes drying rate setting signal, and thus a drying rate determination signal is obtained. When the determination signal reaches a given integration value, a heat source of a drying apparatus is automatically cut off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 1980
    Date of Patent: May 4, 1982
    Assignee: Tokyo Shibaura Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Katsuharu Matsuo, Tomio Hotta