Patents Represented by Attorney David J. Richter
  • Patent number: 4214424
    Abstract: A rotary mower having an inverted housing with a discharge opening formed in the rear surface thereof, the opening having a cover plate which is hinged at the rear edge of the housing and biased into a normally closing position. The plate has a pair of integral arms projecting beyond the hinge at its lateral edges. A pair of parallel guide plates are secured to the housing in positions closely alongside the respective arms, the guide plates having angled but parallel slots extending forwardly and downwardly therein. A grass catcher is provided having a mouth dimensioned to receive the cover plate and including a support bar spaced horizontally above the mouth, the support bar, upon insertion into the slots, serving to engage the arms for progressively swinging of the cover plate into a horizontally extending position within the catcher.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 1979
    Date of Patent: July 29, 1980
    Assignee: Roper Corporation
    Inventor: Donald L. Gobin
  • Patent number: 4212363
    Abstract: A power lawn mower having a transversely arranged tubular grip for manual control rockable forwardly from a reference position to adjust a power control member. The grip is of oval cross section dimensioned to fit the grasp of the operator's hands. When the grip is in reference position the long dimension of the oval is angled rearwardly and downwardly so as to be substantially parallel to the operator's palms in a natural grasping position, so that the operator can sense by the orientation of his hands the neutral, or starting, position of the power control member and, upon forward rocking, the degree of departure from neutral position. A safety latch is provided for securely latching the grip in its reference position. A latch-releasing trigger on the grip is positioned to be manually engageable by at least one hand of the operator incident to grasping the grip for releasing the latch and thereby releasing the grip for forward rocking movement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 1978
    Date of Patent: July 15, 1980
    Assignee: Roper Corporation
    Inventors: Eugene Letner, Donald L. Gobin
  • Patent number: 4199045
    Abstract: A luggage construction in which opposed shells are fitted with mated valances, one of the valances having a flat seating surface with an adjacent first wall and the other valance presenting a second wall parallel to the first so that the valances, in mating engagement, define an outwardly facing channel. Seated in the channel is a mounting member in the form of a flat strip having at its ends relatively thick retaining portions and a thin center portion resulting in a central recess of rectangular shape having opposed end walls. The end walls are formed with overhangs. A lens of matching rectangular shape has its ends in keyed engagement with the overhangs to permit the lens to be pressed laterally edgewise into seated position when the luggage is open. The presented second wall of the channel serves to obstruct the adjacent lateral edge of the lens when the luggage is closed to preclude removal of the lens as long as the luggage is in locked condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 1979
    Date of Patent: April 22, 1980
    Assignee: Roper Corporation
    Inventor: Ronald A. Machler
  • Patent number: 4198752
    Abstract: A chain saw having a housing in the form of a plastic shell of structural foam fully open on one of its lateral sides to expose a central chamber. The chain saw includes an integral motion assembly formed of an engine, a blade mounting bracket, forwardly projecting blade and driven cutter chain. A mounting plate is secured to the underside of the engine, the plate being formed of a thin plate of metal having substantially parallel front and rear edges received in front and rear grooves within the shell, the central chamber being sized to receive the engine so that the engine and mounting plate may be slid into seated but floating position in the chamber in the manner of a drawer. Resilient connectors interposed between the engine mounting plate and the shell and interposed between the blade mounting bracket and the shell hold the motion assembly in seated position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 1978
    Date of Patent: April 22, 1980
    Assignee: Roper Corporation
    Inventor: Kenneth L. Bross
  • Patent number: 4183190
    Abstract: A tube and ball truss system for making a structural lattice which includes a plurality of hollow metal balls spaced in a three-dimensional array, each ball having a set of radial through-openings as well as an access opening on one side, adjacent ones of the balls being interconnected by metal tubes having an outer cylindrical wall and a central axially extending core joined by integral webs, the ends of the core having axially tapped holes engageable by clamping bolts extending through the through-openings in the balls. The ball surface is locally flattened to form land surfaces surrounding the through-openings for flat seating of the end surfaces of the tubes; indeed, the land surfaces are recessed to provide shallow socketed engagement and precise alignment with the ends of the tubes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 1978
    Date of Patent: January 15, 1980
    Assignee: Roper Corporation
    Inventor: Jean A. Bance
  • Patent number: 4126991
    Abstract: A cutter pin for mounting on a mower disc having a keyed radial socket with a curved backstop adjacent thereto, the pin being tapered from shank to tip portion in the vertical plane but with the top portion having substantially the same maximum width as the shank in the horizontal plane to provide a flattened blade-like structure with generally parallel lateral edges. The pin is formed integrally of durable plastic having substantially the characteristics of nylon so that it stands out from the periphery in radially self-supporting position with sufficient stiffness for the cutting of grass as the disc rotates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 1977
    Date of Patent: November 28, 1978
    Assignee: Roper Corporation
    Inventors: Donald L. Gobin, Joseph E. Scanland
  • Patent number: 4126990
    Abstract: A cutter disc assembly for a rotary lawn mower in which the disc has a circular central portion and a peripheral portion with a shallow vertical wall in between. Radial openings are provided in the wall in register with radial grooves formed in the underside of the peripheral portion. A plastic pin is in register with each opening, with the shank of the pin occupying the associated groove and with a stiffly resilient tip portion projecting beyond the periphery of the disc into cutting engagement with the grass. Each groove has a curved rear wall against which the pin bends as the projecting tip of the pin strikes an obstruction as well as a curved front wall against which the pin bends upon rebound, the curved walls being of outwardly flaring shape thereby to support the shank of the pin substantially free of concentrated stress. Each groove has, in addition, a bridge or "ceiling" which serves as a guide surface to hold the pin in a downwardly-angled working position and to provide frictional damping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 1976
    Date of Patent: November 28, 1978
    Assignee: Roper Corporation
    Inventors: Gerald C. Fisher, Joseph E. Scanland
  • Patent number: 4081647
    Abstract: An energy seal for a microwave oven including resilient and conformable primary and outboard seals encompassing a choke type secondary seal. The composite seal is particularly suited to "wide gap" configurations in that the resilient elements thereof are adapted to fill the gap, conforming to a wide range of gap and oven door fit tolerances. The primary seal is capacitive in nature and includes a woven metal mesh inner cylinder surrounded by a woven fiberglass dielectric cover, the arrangement tending to oppose compression thereby to fill the gap when compressed by closing of the oven door. The choke seal comprises a cavity of predetermined depth having an aperture into the gap; the effectiveness of the choke is increased by the outboard seal which presents a very small impedance to the transmission path formed in the gap following the secondary seal. The outboard seal may be a capacitive seal similar to the primary, or a metal to metal contact seal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 1976
    Date of Patent: March 28, 1978
    Assignee: Roper Corporation
    Inventor: Sumner Hale Torrey