Magnetic Patents (Class 160/DIG16)
  • Patent number: 6073675
    Abstract: A window screen attachment apparatus and method for attaching a screen to a window frame. The apparatus includes a mesh screen with a rigid frame, a number of ferromagnetic cups and mating permanent magnets, and a gasket. Each cup is permanently attached to the screen frame at the surface or in a recess, and includes a depression with a flat floor and a perpendicular wall. The magnet is shaped to fit relatively snuggly into the depression. The cup is either a single piece of ferromagnetic material, separate floor and wall components, or a single floor component and a wall that is the sides of a recess in the screen frame. The magnets are attached to the window frame by an adhesive that is initially protected by a release layer. The gasket is a set of compressible strips that provides a barrier items passing through the gap between the window and screen frames. The window screen is attached by placing the magnets in the cups, removing the release layer, and pressing the adhesive against the window frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2000
    Inventor: Thomas F. Dannaher
  • Patent number: 6003583
    Abstract: A door opening screening system that is suitable for screening large garage door openings and that includes two retractable screen assemblies that are deployed across the garage door opening and that are secured together to form a screen across the garage door opening. The door opening screening system also includes at least one screen assembly trackway section that is attachable above a doorway opening and that includes a resilient U-shaped trackway guide member that forms a screen guide channel sized to receive and hold a top edge of a screen assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 21, 1999
    Inventors: Kevin Lacoste, Karen Lacoste
  • Patent number: 5918417
    Abstract: A shutter assembly for installation across an arched window includes a fixed shutter and a movable shutter coupled to the fixed shutter for rotation between open and closed positions. A permanent magnet is attached to the movable shutter for opposite-pole magnetic attraction coupling with a permanent magnet carried on a portable, hand-held actuator. The movable shutter is engaged magnetically and indirectly by placing the actuator end portion of the portable actuator in contact with the fixed shutter in an operative position proximate to the permanent magnet on the movable shutter. The movable shutter is then rotated either clockwise or counter-clockwise by sliding the actuator end portion along an arc across the face of the fixed shutter. The permanent magnet is concealed from view by the fixed shutter, thereby preserving its ornamental appearance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 6, 1999
    Inventor: Susan E. Kinder
  • Patent number: 5429404
    Abstract: A golf cart enclosure system for the creation and maintenance of a pleasant climate within a golf cart during poor weather conditions and for allowing simultaneously care-free ingress and egress with respect to the golf cart without the golfer having to open a door on the golf cart, with the enclosure system including flexible partable strips of see-through plastic which extend across the vertical dimension between the golf cart canopy and the golf cart body, the top ends of the flexible strips being attached with a semi-permanent attachment device to the golf cart canopy in a rear-to-front overlapping fashion, so that during forward motion of the cart, the strips remain in position and in contact with one another; the bottom ends of the strips connected to the golf cart body by permanent magnets, or electromagnets wired to the golf cart battery and activated either automatically by the driver's footpedal, or by an on-board switch, with the enclosure system also including a front and back protective panel, th
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 1994
    Date of Patent: July 4, 1995
    Inventor: Lloyd H. King, Sr.
  • Patent number: 5280991
    Abstract: A vehicle headliner includes a preformed headliner substrate which can be of molded construction and which includes an upper surface facing the roof of a vehicle. Attached at a plurality of locations on the upper surface of the headliner are magnets bonded to the upper surface of the headliner and positioned for engaging contact with aligned metallic vehicle roof structure once installed. In one preferred embodiment, the magnets are flexible extruded magnetic strips positioned to at least partially surround a relatively large aperture formed in the headliner such as one defining a sunroof opening. In a preferred embodiment of the invention also, the magnetic strips are attached to the headliner using a cushioning material such as a foam to provide acoustical damping for the headliner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 1993
    Date of Patent: January 25, 1994
    Assignee: Prince Corporation
    Inventor: Walter M. Weiland
  • Patent number: 5275460
    Abstract: A protective cover for a vehicle formed of a sheet of protective material having a plurality of magnetic portions distributed at intervals throughout the sheet to secure the cover to the vehicle. The sheet is pleated or otherwise adapted to be disposed in a closed storage configuration. Adjacent magnets correspond spatially to one another so as to be magnetically attracted to one another when the sheet is folded or otherwise disposed in its storage configuration. Adjacent pairs of magnets are further separated from subsequent pairs of magnets to minimize overlap of the magnets and corresponding width of the folded sheet.Preferably, the sheet is formed of a plastic material, such as a nonwettable polyethylene material. Further, to adequately protect the vehicle from sunlight, the sheet should have an optical opacity of at least 80%.The invention is attached to a vehicle by initially attaching a portion of the cover to a portion of the vehicle using at least one of the plurality of magnets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 1992
    Date of Patent: January 4, 1994
    Inventor: Menahem Kraus
  • Patent number: 5158486
    Abstract: A lightweight weather-resistant cover for attachment to air conditioner compressor cabinets of the type containing a fan and having an opening in a wall of the cabinet for exhausting air. The cover has an attachment portion for attachment to the cabinet wall adjacent the exhaust opening and a lid portion of sufficient size to cover the exhaust opening and is hinged to the attachment portion. The lid portion is normally maintained in a closed position covering the exhaust opening when the fan is not operating and is pivoted to an open position extending angularly above the exhaust opening by the exhaust air when the fan is operating. When the fan ceases operation, the lid portion drops back down onto the cabinet wall to cover the opening and prevent the elements and other foreign matter from entering. The attachment portion may be secured to the wall of the cabinet by a strip of magnetic material or tape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 1991
    Date of Patent: October 27, 1992
    Inventor: Antonio N. Tamame
  • Patent number: 5024015
    Abstract: A portable advertisement display utilizing a plurality of lightweight panels pivotally interconnected by hinges. The panels themselves are constructed of a polystyrene core located intermediate two rigid pressboard panels. Such material is very lightweight but will not accommodate direct connection of hinges. A channel member is secured to selected lateral edges of each panel to provide a stable base on which to connect the hinges. Each panel is sheathed in fabric characteristic of the looped facing of hook-and-loop adhesive material. The panels may be detachably connected in vertical orientation of one another by magnetic strips located on the upper and lower marginal edge of each panel. Advertisement items such as signs or placards are attached to the present invention with strips of fabric characteristic of the hooked portion of hook-and-loop adhesive material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 1990
    Date of Patent: June 18, 1991
    Inventor: William B. Quarles, Jr.
  • Patent number: 5003647
    Abstract: A magnetic fastening device for releasably attaching a shower liner to a shower wall comprising a wall mounting member having a back flat portion adapted for attachment to a shower wall, bearing a node or hook directed away from the member into the shower area and the upper front portion sloping toward the rear of the member and in the direction of the shower wall along with an unmounted member for mating with the wall mounting member bearing an aperture to receive the protruding node or hook on the wall mounting member, and its upper portion sloping toward the shower wall to closely mate with the mounting member; the wall mounting and unmounted members being magnetically attracted one to the other. A kit can be made comprising this magnetic fastening device with a shower liner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 1989
    Date of Patent: April 2, 1991
    Inventor: James Williams
  • Patent number: 4651793
    Abstract: A flexible, resilient pet door flap hung in a frame so that it is movable in the horizontal direction between vertical side walls has peripheral Z-shaped edge portions terminating in web portions for effecting a seal against the side walls. The bottom portion of the frame includes a movable sill with magnets corresponding to magnets in the flap, and a secured piston in the frame having a surface adjacent a surface of the sill, with viscous material therebetween, to inhibit movement of the sill.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 1985
    Date of Patent: March 24, 1987
    Inventor: George N. Davlantes
  • Patent number: 4582109
    Abstract: An accordian fold type decorative fabric drapery system having a pair of drapery sections of decorative weave fabric sheets specially formed into sharply pleated accordian-like folds to provide a large number of vertically elongated narrow panels resembling in size the slats or louvers of a vertical blind system. Structure such as a decorative trim tape is secured at the top of each sheet having provision for convenient connection to slides in a conventional slide and trackway overhead drapery hand traverse rod system, and restraint straps secured to the drapery sections at alternate fold lines maintain the folds at a desired angle when the draperies are in extended position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 1984
    Date of Patent: April 15, 1986
    Assignee: Custom Shade and Awning Corporation
    Inventor: Lyman N. Fairbanks
  • Patent number: 4511211
    Abstract: A projection screen having spaced apart lateral edges and opposite upper and lower ends that is mounted at its upper end by appropriate support means to a wall and which has a means for releasably magnetically securing the lower end of the screen to the wall. By securing the lower end of the screen to the wall while the upper end of the screen is spaced apart from the wall, the keystone effect that occurs when an overhead projector is used to upwardly project an image onto a vertically hanging screen is eliminated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 1982
    Date of Patent: April 16, 1985
    Assignee: Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc.
    Inventor: William S. Runyan
  • Patent number: 4371026
    Abstract: A group of curtain holding panels are attached to and supported by a window air conditioner unit for keeping window drapes or curtains out of the path of air flow of the air conditioner. The curtain holding panels attach to the side and top surfaces of the air conditioner by magnets, contact adhesive, or a clamp.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 1980
    Date of Patent: February 1, 1983
    Inventors: Pauline K. Miller, deceased, by Norman Miller, legatee
  • Patent number: 4317480
    Abstract: A protective cartridge mounted to a window frame has a retractable roll of blind material mounted therein. Loose steel tapes, not fastened to the blind material, are rolled with the blind material and space apart the convolutions of the rolled blind material. The blind material when extended is sandwiched between the steel tapes and magnetic strips fastened to tracks along the margins of the window frame to provide an airtight seal. The top of the blind is sealed against a rub strip portion of the cartridge and the lower portion of the extended blind material is sealed against a window sill to provide a trapped insulating air layer between the window and the blind when the blind is fully extended. Drag is bidirectionally exerted against the steel tapes to tension and position the tapes to lie flat against the blind when extended or to smoothly lie between convolutions of the rolled blind material. A combination centering guide and locking mechanism is provided at the lower end of the blind material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 1980
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1982
    Inventor: N. Eric Phelps
  • Patent number: 4304174
    Abstract: An improved opening closure system utilizing a plurality of curtains supported in a way to cover the opening with alternate embodiments having primary and secondary curtains acting as a thermal siphon and with fan units as a power air destratifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 1979
    Date of Patent: December 8, 1981
    Assignee: Entropy Controls, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey D. Hickson, Robert S. Dworkin