Patents Represented by Law Firm Ashen, Martin, Seldon, Lippman & Scillieri
  • Patent number: 5101681
    Abstract: These joints are particularly useful for transmitting a flux (electrical, optical, liquid or gaseous) either entirely across the joint, or from one side of the joint to devices mounted on the joint itself that use such a flux. Such devices can, for example, be motors to drive the joint itself. The interlocking bodies are typically but not necessarily circular rings, mounted to a common internal structure that permits each body to rotate about its own axis. The resulting joints can rotate in all directions with a very high angular range--in most cases limited only by the angle subtended by connecting stems used to mount the joint to a base or to mount objects to the joint for motion. Some of these joints have hollow central enclosures for passing flexible wires or tubing to carry the flux, so that the flux can be transmitted across or into the joint with the same high degree of freedom, and yet without slip rings, brushes, or other expensive motionaccommodating components subject to wear.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 1990
    Date of Patent: April 7, 1992
    Assignee: Ameus Corporation
    Inventor: Vladimir Shpigel
  • Patent number: 5089055
    Abstract: A survivable solar power-generating system for use with spacecraft is disclosed comprising optical means positioned to collect and concentrate solar energy flux, a flexible solar energy flux transmission line for conducting the concentrated solar flux towards a solar energy converter, and solar energy conversion means including an array photovoltaic cells for converting the solar energy flux to electrical power to be applied to on-board equipment of the spacecraft. A protected enclosure is positioned about the photovoltaic cells to shield them from destructive radiation and particulate matter. The transmission line includes a plurality of optical fiber waveguides whose input ends are positioned to receive the concentrated solar energy flux. Means are provided for moving the input ends of the optical fiber waveguides to optimize the quantity of concentrated solar flux entering the waveguides.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 1989
    Date of Patent: February 18, 1992
    Inventor: Takashi Nakamura
  • Patent number: 5086993
    Abstract: The craft is for hovering flight, vertical takeoff and landing, and horizontal forward flight. It has a tail-sitting fuselage and a ducted fan mounted to the fuselage aft to provide propulsion in both (a) hovering and vertical flight and (b) horizontal forward flight. At each side is a floating wing, supported from the fuselage for passive rotation (or an actuator-controlled optimized emulation of such rotation) about a spanwise axis, to give lift in forward flight. The fuselage attitude varies between vertical in hovering and vertical flight, and generally horizontal in forward flight. Preferably the fuselage is not articulated; there is just one fan, the sole source of propulsion, rotating about only an axis parallel to the fuselage; and thrust-vectoring control vanes operate aft of the fan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 1989
    Date of Patent: February 11, 1992
    Assignee: ACA Industries
    Inventor: Barnaby Wainfan
  • Patent number: 5074605
    Abstract: An improved duplex latch-bolt mechanism is composed of a latch-bolt head assembly and a latch-bolt transfer device adapted to make a selectable connection with a standard latch-handle assembly having a square transfer member and a pair of cylindrical support nuts provided for use in a door fitting arrangement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 1989
    Date of Patent: December 24, 1991
    Assignee: Tong-Lung Metal Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yaw-Shin Fann, San-Yi Lin, Ching-Chuan Kuo, Ming-Shyang Chiou
  • Patent number: 5068840
    Abstract: A is particularly useful in a specialized activity, such as piloting an airplane, in which a user's forearm is held vertical and with the radial aspect or "edge" of the wrist oriented toward the user's eyes. The mount is for use with a timepiece or other instrument that has a legible face and controls, with the controls preferably above and below the legible face. The mount includes a relatively rigid, standard-size casing that fits loosely on the radial aspect of the wrist, held by a wristband. Along opposite edges of the casing are inward-directed retaining flanges. A relatively compliant insert pad is secured in the casing, between the flanges. The pad is custom fitted, and preferably individually custom-molded, to conform closely to the radial aspect of a particular individual user's wrist. The casing carries the timepiece or other device on the radial aspect of the wrist, with vertical elements of the legible face parallel to the long dimension of the forearm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 1989
    Date of Patent: November 26, 1991
    Inventor: John H. Buckner
  • Patent number: 5061255
    Abstract: External grooving on a catheter traps microorganisms nurtured by mucus in a patient's body. The grooving also traps contaminating debris, originating outside the body, that migrates into the body along the catheter exterior. Energy, which may be a propagating vibration or electrical energy or a radioactive material, is carried to the groove (or grooves), from a source outside the body. This function is performed by a fiber embedded or held in the catheter, or by a liquid column (e.g., in an annular lumen) in the catheter, or in other ways. The energy disables microorganisms and disintegrates debris trapped at the groove. The groove depth, interface geometry, and in the case of vibrational energy the vibration frequency too, are selected to minimize projection of energy into the patient's tissues. Suction may be applied as through an auxiliary lumen (or, in some drain catheters, intermittently through the primary drain lumen itself), to remove resulting detritus at the grooving.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 1990
    Date of Patent: October 29, 1991
    Assignee: Albert Greenfeld
    Inventors: Albert R. Greenfeld, Jonathan L. Greenfeld
  • Patent number: 5050883
    Abstract: Electronics and a playing method stimulate abstract spatil-relations ability, particularly memory of abstract space, in youngsters--without requiring them to know or spell game commands, or to find keys on a typewriter-like keyboard. The game exploits the competitive instinct by rewarding ability to recall complex geometric abstractions, while yet encouraging play by those who lack that ability. Dedicated manual inputs are used by each player to enter moves--in the pure form of directions in which the player wishes to go. An audio speaker signals which player's move it is, and whether each attempted move is valid. A digital microprocessor is used to define a maze and each player's position in it, and to receive moves from the directional inputs, and to operate the speaker in reply to attempted moves. The processor has no functional connection with any device for displaying a direct pictorial representation of any part of the maze, and indeed no such direct picture is electronically developed or shown.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 1990
    Date of Patent: September 24, 1991
    Assignee: Adolph E. Goldfarb
    Inventors: Adolph E. Goldfarb, Martin I. Goldfarb
  • Patent number: 5051258
    Abstract: A dietary supplement is provided for children, consisting essentially of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), Passion Flow Extract, L-taurine, and vitamin B6.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 1990
    Date of Patent: September 24, 1991
    Assignee: Natrol, Inc.
    Inventor: Billie J. Sahley
  • Patent number: 5048369
    Abstract: A clipless pedal is disclosed herein which includes a mounting support fixed to a shoe sole and a pedal body which is rotatably mountable to a conventional pedal shaft for retaining the mounting support. The pedal body has a pair of rear jaw members which revertably engage the pedal body. The pedal body, mounting support and rear jaw members all have surfaces shaped in such a manner to ensure the mounting support is rotatable and can push the rear jaw members to allow a lateral disengagement of the mounting support from the pedal body. The rear jaw members are each coupled to the pedal body by a screw member which passes through the jaw member into a respective slot in a V-shaped groove formed in the pedal body. A spring member circumvents the screw member for revertable force against the jaw.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 1990
    Date of Patent: September 17, 1991
    Inventor: Chung-I Chen
  • Patent number: 5046684
    Abstract: Conventional cantilever wings of a tiltrotor aircraft are replaced by a joined-wing configuration that eliminates some major speed-limiting constraints of prior tiltrotor configurations--thereby allowing operation into the intermediate speed range of roughly 350 to 450 knots. Joined wings offer relatively rigid, stiffened support for the additional wing-mounted hardware, and also stiffen the system to resist rotor flutter and other sources of aggravated loading, that are characteristic of tiltrotor craft. Joined wings provide this advantage, however, while simultaneously significantly lowering airfoil thickness--and thereby importantly increasing the drag divergence Mach number, and hence the maximum speed. In addition, some joined-wing configurations have significantly lower rotor-wing downwash interactions in hover.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 1989
    Date of Patent: September 10, 1991
    Inventor: Julian Wolkovitch
  • Patent number: 5046968
    Abstract: The invention facilitates individual selection and even field replacement of individual component-carrying contacts in a multicontact electrical connector. On a modular circuit-by-circuit basis, each circuit can be individually guarded against overvoltages, undesired frequencies, etc.; and in event of damage to a protection component, the protection can be easily renewed for any individual circuit in just a few minutes. An overvoltage-bypassing diode or other electrical component is positioned within a central cavity that extends axially within the body of a cylindrical contact--i.e., either a male pin or female receptacle. The component is oriented axially in the cavity. Because the bypassing component is physically protected within the cavity, it is much less vulnerable to physical and electrical damage in installation and service than in prior component-carrying contacts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 1989
    Date of Patent: September 10, 1991
    Assignee: Tri-Star Incorporated
    Inventors: Robert Baur, Neal Castleman, Haw-Chan Tan
  • Patent number: 5043751
    Abstract: The camera body is of sheet material. When in a usage condition it has four intersecting panels, each in the form of an arched segment. The arched panels are in two pairs, each pair being mutually opposed. One opposed pair is outward-concave, and the other is outward-convex. When squeezed together, the concave panels brace and stabilize the convex panels: the body is inherently strong and stable in its usage condition. When in a storage condition the same body has just two planar, parallel panels--readily carried in a wallet, or distributed by a mail in a magazine. A light-sensitive medium is held within the body. Mounted to the body is a lens for focusing a scene onto the sensitive medium, and a positively interlocked single-shot shutter mechanism for controlling passage of light through the lens. The sheet material, preferably all one piece, is scored along circular-segmental lines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 1990
    Date of Patent: August 27, 1991
    Inventor: Richard Rice
  • Patent number: 5037195
    Abstract: This adapter is interchangeable with standard nondamping lens-mounting adapters. It reduces the amount of vibration that is transmitted from the camera mechanism to the lens. It thereby reduces the amount of vibration that is retransmitted as objectionable background sound, by radiation from the lens, into a sound stage or other scene area. A vibration-absorbing resilient ring is securely fixed to two substantially rigid rings. A camera mount is secured to one of the rigid rings, for mounting to a camera in a normal position for mounting a standard adapter. A lens attachment is secured to the other rigid ring, for attachment to a lens in a normal position (on the lens) for attaching a standard adapter. The camera mount and the lens attachment both have respective standard-configuration portions, which are spaced apart by a distance that is precisely equal to a standard distance between the respective corresponding portions of a standard adapter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 1987
    Date of Patent: August 6, 1991
    Assignee: Clairmont Camera, Inc.
    Inventors: Denny Clairmont, Kenneth W. Robings
  • Patent number: 5038335
    Abstract: Apparatus and method for converting a series of discrete units of incoming digital data into a set of integer values and representing said values holographically, by dimensionalizing multiple aspects of reference laser signal, and multiplexing said aspects at the same storage location. The integer set is represented logarithmically by manipulating the dimensionalized aspects in a hierarchical order, resulting in a 16-fold increase in data density at the same physical storage location, as compared with a conventional binary storage system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 1990
    Date of Patent: August 6, 1991
    Inventor: William P. Miller
  • Patent number: 5032100
    Abstract: A toy vehicle and launcher combination apparatus. The illustrated toy vehicle has a rubber bladder or chamber member that is expanded by water or other liquid under pressing while the vehicle is held on the launcher. The launcher may include a reservoir and pump to provide the water under pressure. When the chamber member is sufficiently expanded, the vehicle is released. A spring gives the vehicle an initial forward thrust; the expanded chamber member contracts to expel the water through a rear outlet nozzle to propel the vehicle forward at a rapid rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 1990
    Date of Patent: July 16, 1991
    Inventor: Adolph E. Goldfarb
  • Patent number: 5027111
    Abstract: A liquid-crystal display, preferably twenty-five lines of eighty characters each, is mounted in a case. The temperature of the display medium is maintained within operating limits for the display--notwithstanding ambient temperature and humidity variations over generally normal ranges for at least the temperate zones, and even if the display unit is placed to receive direct sunlight. The unit works outdoors as well as in buildings that lack temperature control. This is accomplished preferably by circulating air from outside the case through a space between the display face and an unperforated protective polycarbonate window. Intake and exhaust plena are long and narrow enough to deter access to the display and thus vandalism; however, the plena are straight and sufficiently free of obstructions that the fan can be a very small, low-power, quiet unit. A temperature sensor controls the fan, and also the contrast-adjusting voltage of the display--based on data in a digital-memory "look up" table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 1988
    Date of Patent: June 25, 1991
    Assignee: Sentex Systems, Incorporated
    Inventors: William R. Davis, Dennis W. Mowers, Richard P. Greenthal, Paul Szymanski, Ronald A. Wray, Richard A. Davidson
  • Patent number: 5019032
    Abstract: The incision-free pubovaginal suspension due to Gittes and Loughlin is improved by simultaneous gas obturation and visual monitoring using a suprapubic endoscope, inserted with the aid of a urethral trocar. It is further improved by simultaneous manipulation of the urethra, bladder and other tissues by the trocar, to optimize alignment for the Gittes procedures. The trocar, and procedure for its use, are refinements of the present inventor's earlier apparatuses and procedures for suprapubic cystostomy with endoscopy, and for gas obturation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 1990
    Date of Patent: May 28, 1991
    Inventor: Jack R. Robertson
  • Patent number: 5012666
    Abstract: A crimp tool includes a first handle, a head member pivoted to the front portion of the first handle to serve as a clamping member, and a second handle pivoted to the head member. The second handle is connected to the first handle through a mechanism which urges the second handle and the head member to the releasing position thereof. An adjustment member for the jaws of the crimp tool includes an adjustment screw rod and two nuts to adjust the position of a pivot pin in an oblong pivot hole which pivots the head member to the first handle member so that conductors of different cross-sections can be crimped effectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 1989
    Date of Patent: May 7, 1991
    Inventors: Ching-Wen Chen, Ching-Jen Chen
  • Patent number: 5009431
    Abstract: A multiplayer surprise action game in the form of a central unit which defines a spiral pathway around its upper portion and a housing for an object-projecting mechanism in its lower portion. The housing has a plurality of openable doorways spaced around it. Each doorway defines a player station. The mechanism is randomly rotated to aim at only one of the doorways at any time, while concealing from the players the doorway at which it is aimed. The players move play pieces along the pathway and manipulate an advancing mechanisn that unpredictably sets off a noise maker after an apparently random time. The players have a chance to prepare, and then they activate the projecting mechanism. The mechanism projects the object (such as a toy snake) outwardly through the doorway at which it is then aimed, to the surprise of and excitement of the players. The particular player station/doorway from which the snake emerges may be used by the players to adjust the further play of the game.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 1990
    Date of Patent: April 23, 1991
    Assignee: Adolph E. Goldfarb
    Inventors: Adolph E. Goldfarb, Martin I. Goldfarb
  • Patent number: D315198
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 1989
    Date of Patent: March 5, 1991
    Inventor: Chinfu Chiang