Patents Represented by Attorney Don Halgren
  • Patent number: 6461302
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an ovum retrieval device for retrieving an ovum and follicular fluid from a follicle. The device comprises a housing having a first end wall and a second end, the housing defining a chamber, a movable support arrangement arranged within the chamber, and a needle extending through the first end wall. The needle has a sharpened proximal end disposed within the chamber and a second sharpened distalmost end. A trigger mechanism is connected to the movable support arrangement, and at least one vacuum cartridge is arranged on the support arrangement. Displacement of the support arrangement effects mating of the cartridge and the proximal end of the needle to cause a suction at the second end of the needle to permit an ovum to be withdrawn from a follicle and suctioned into the cartridge prior to further treatment thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2002
    Assignee: MedWorks Corp.
    Inventor: Ronald J. Thompson
  • Patent number: 6461163
    Abstract: The present invention covers a swing trainer arrangement for providing recognizable signals to the user/holder of a sports club or racket to indicate the optimum swing and strike locations during playing with a ball or puck. The swing trainer arrangement comprises a first stopper and a second stopper each may be adjustably arranged to be supported at a selected location of a shaft or handle of the sports club or racket. At least one movable member is arranged to be slideably disposed between the first and second stoppers to generate a signal when they hit one another of a stopper as to indicate certain preferred arcuate swing locations of the shaft or handle during such play thereof, or indicate to the user as to inaccuracies of that swing when a sound is produced before or after the club swings through an optimum location for hitting a ball, puck or the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2002
    Inventors: Michael A. Gallagher, Michael J. Hope
  • Patent number: 6453624
    Abstract: A playset tower assembly for young children to climb upon and in, while minimizing potential areas of injury and maximizing structural stability. The assembly includes an array of six corner posts having an upper and a lower end, with front and side facing surfaces thereon, and an arrangement of lower, intermediate and upper side beams connectively arranged therewith. Each of the beams have ends with mitered surfaces thereon to flushly engage their respective side facing surfaces of the six corner posts. Angled brackets are arranged for securing said beams to the six corner posts, the brackets being angled to minimize any spaces between said beams and said corner posts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2002
    Assignee: Creative Playthings, Ltd.
    Inventor: Donald E. Hoffman
  • Patent number: 6432352
    Abstract: The present invention comprises a method for delivering a medium such as a gas, vapor or liquid into a melted plastic in a mold via an elongated screw shaft rotatably supported in a housing, the method including the steps of providing the screw shaft with a bore longitudinally therethrough from a proximal end to a distal tip end thereof, rotating the screw shaft in the housing to move plastic therethrough, and into the mold, introducing a gas, vapor or liquid into the bore, to permit the gas, vapor or liquid to be delivered through the bore, and into the molten plastic in the mold through the distal tip end of the screw shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2002
    Inventor: Desider G. Csongor
  • Patent number: 6419659
    Abstract: The present invention comprises a vulnerable plaque treatment catheter arrangement for the treatment of a lipid pool at a site of vulnerable plaque within an artery. The catheter arrangement includes an elongated, hollow, flexible shaft having a proximal end and a distal end and an elongated, flexible, steerable, lipid-enterable needle arranged within the shaft. The needle has at least one lumen therethrough in communication with a treatment source, to permit the rendering of the lipid pool into an innocuous entity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2002
    Assignee: MedVenture Technology Corp
    Inventors: David Y. Phelps, Gregory Furnish
  • Patent number: 6394524
    Abstract: A rack apparatus for improving the cargo carrying capacity of a pickup truck. The truck has a cab portion, a bed portion defined by a bed surface and a pair of side walls and a forward wall adjacent the cab The rack apparatus comprises a side rail arranged on each of the side walls of the bed portion and each of the side rails has a proximal end which is pivotally attached to the side wall at a mid-portion thereof. A crossbar is arranged between the side rails adjacent a distal end thereof. The side rails and the crossbar are pivotable from a stowed out of the way orientation at a forward end of the bed portion to an upright orientation at a rearward end of the bed portion. A stationary rack is arranged at a forward end of the bed portion of the truck to provide a cargo carrying capacity between the stationary rack and the crossbar of the pivotable side rails.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2002
    Inventor: Charles A. Morse
  • Patent number: 6354009
    Abstract: The present invention comprises a vacuum planer apparatus for the removal of rough debris from a foam sprayed wall to make that wall foam surface into a flat surface. The apparatus includes an elongated housing having a first end and a second end, an arrangement of rotatable cutter blades mounted in the elongated housing and a drive motor arranged to empower the rotatable cutter blades. A support handle is arranged on each end of the housing for pivotable control of the apparatus. A debris suction conduit is arranged at each end of the housing to pick up and remove foam scraped from the sprayed wall by the rotatable blades. A “Y” joint connects each suction conduit at each end of the housing for ducting into a single discharge conduit. The rotatable cutter blades are mounted on a rotatable shaft and the rotatable shaft has a plurality of locking strips arranged adjacent each of the blades to secure each of the blades onto the rotatable shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2002
    Inventor: Michael R. Belleau
  • Patent number: 6343728
    Abstract: The present invention includes a support bag for the enclosure and controlled support of a fishing rod and reel arrangement. The elongated flexible enclosure bag has a first end and a second end, each of the ends being open for receipt of a fishing rod therethrough. The enclosure bag being defined by a first and a second multilayer sidewall. A reel-enclosing pouch compartment is located adjacent the first end of the elongated bag, arranged to protectively enclose the reel. A first pocket is arranged on a forward portion of the first sidewall and a second pocket is arranged on a forward portion of the second sidewall for receipt of supplemental fishing gear and to provide a forward balance to the bag when a reel is enclosed adjacent the first end of the elongated bag.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2002
    Inventor: George V. Carbone
  • Patent number: 6322493
    Abstract: The present invention comprises a method and apparatus such as a hand-manipulable, clitoral stimulant-applying applicator for use to apply a clitoral stimulating compound to the clitoral area of the human female. A reservoir in the apparatus is arranged for containment of a clitoral stimulating compound, with a clitoral stimulating compound in said reservoir. A removable cover is arranged on the reservoir to expose the compound to permit the compound to be applied topically.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2001
    Assignee: 40 J's LLC
    Inventor: Ronald J. Thompson
  • Patent number: 6314695
    Abstract: A stucco wall structure for a building. The wall substrate is arranged for receipt of subsequent layers of surface material. The margin or periphery of the wall to be treated has a screed attached thereto. A sprayed-on coating of urethane is applied onto the wall substrate between the screeds to insure continuous bonding and adherency to the substrate. A first layer of polymer-based base coat and mesh covering is applied to the sprayed-on coating of urethane to provide anchoring and adhesion of a subsequent layer of stucco. An outer layer of stucco applied over the first layer of polymer-based base coat as a final coat thereon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2001
    Inventor: Michael R. Belleau
  • Patent number: 6314835
    Abstract: An apparatus and a method of rotatively empowering a harmonic drive transmission. The steps of the method include arranging a primary and a secondary cup-shaped flexspline co-axially within a rotatable rigid circular spline, and forming pivotable fingers in the secondary flexspline, biasing radially outwardly the pivotable fingers so as to contact and bias radially outwardly the primary flexspline in a sequential manner. The array of teeth between the primary flexspline and the circular spline engage one another to effect relative rotation therebetween. An array of piezo-electric elements is arranged in contact with the secondary flexspline and an adjacent non-rotating component. An electric current is sequenced through the piezo-electric elements to effect a dimensional change therein, thus to effect the biasing of the primary flexspline by the secondary flexspline.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2001
    Assignee: Harmonic Drive Technologies
    Inventors: Robert P. Lascelles, Carmine Gabriel Tortora, Erlendur Kristjansson, Oliver Barth
  • Patent number: 6313762
    Abstract: The present invention comprises a signal generator for sending an electrical signal from an expandable, flexible layer of material, the signal generator comprising an upper layer of flexible, resilient material and a lower layer of flexible, resilient material which between them define a cavity for enclosing an expandable material such as a cellular foam or gas, whereupon localized distortion of one of the layers of flexible material, effects a signal generation within the structure, which is transmissible through a proper circuit to an outside electrical device. A circuit may be arranged adjacent a plurality of said keys which senses when several of said keys are depressed in a skewed or sideways manner, so as to effect movement of a cursor or pointer on a monitor in communication with a processing unit and said keyboard.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2001
    Inventors: Robert J. Crowley, Donald N. Halgren
  • Patent number: 6306149
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a clip feeder arrangement for supportive receipt in a handle of a medical clip stapling gun, for the advancement of a plurality of clips seriatim by a trigger mechanism in the handle to a location between a pair of pincher jaws. A distalmost clip of the plurality of clips is advanced to the jaws prior to advancement of the remaining plurality of clips. The feeder arrangement comprises a U-shaped cartridge having a proximal end and a distal end, the cartridge containing the plurality of clips, a frame for supporting the cartridge and an elongated, cyclically movable feeder bar or pusher mechanism arranged beneath and enagable with the cartridge, for first advancing the distalmost clip in the cartridge to a location between the jaws and then subsequently advancing the remaining plurality of clips distally by a ladder pushed thereadjacent, both of the advancement motions occurring in a single distal advance of the feeder bar mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2001
    Assignee: Microline, Inc.
    Inventor: John C Meade
  • Patent number: 6296607
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a hydrated, biocompatible tissue-augmentation compound and its methodology for implantation into mammalian tissue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2001
    Assignee: Praxis, LLC.
    Inventor: Michael T. Milbocker
  • Patent number: 6283979
    Abstract: The present invention includes a method of suturing a body part by the use of an elongated articulable suture device comprising the steps of: providing a handle having a proximal end and a distal end; attaching an elongated, articulable suture needle at the distal end of said handle; placing a movable sheath about the suture needle; threading a tensionable member through the suture needle from a proximal to distal path and back again through a distal to proximal path, one end of the tensional member being fixed to the handle, and a second end of the tensional member being attached to a tension adjusting member; placing a suture thread in a holder in said distalmost end of the suture and threading a body part by movement of the suture needle about a body part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2001
    Inventors: William Charles Mers Kelly, David Young Phelps, Bryan Patrick Kiple
  • Patent number: 6283525
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a bed extender apparatus for extending and enlarging the useful carrying capacity of the bed of a pickup truck. The pickup truck has an elongated bed defined by a forward wall, a pair of sidewalls, a floor and a tailgate hingedly attached to a rearward edge of the floor. The bed extender apparatus comprises a U-shaped frame movably arranged on an upper edge of the sidewalls, the U-shaped frame including a transverse wall and a pair of parallel arms. The transverse wall is storably disposed adjacent the forward wall of the bed when the bed extender apparatus is in a non-bed extended configuration. The transverse wall is displaceable onto the tailgate when the bed extender is in a bed extended configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2001
    Inventor: Charles H. Morse
  • Patent number: 6280125
    Abstract: The present invention comprises an improved R-8 collet for insertion and attachment within a spindle of a milling machine. The R-8 collet comprises an elongated member having a first end of generally conical configuration with a bore arranged longitudinally therein. The R-8 collet has a second end with a gripping head thereon, for securement to a spindle in the machine. The gripping head comprises an enlarged member with a narrowed portion for gripping the R-8 collet within the spindle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2001
    Inventor: Marc H Boisvert
  • Patent number: 6277131
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a clip feeder arrangement for supportive receipt in a handle of a medical clip stapling gun to permit the advancement of a plurality of clips seriatim by a trigger mechanism in the handle to a location between a pair of pincher jaws. A distalmost clip of that plurality of clips is being advanced to the jaws prior to advancement of the remaining plurality of clips. The feeder arrangement comprises a ladder arranged within a U-shaped cartridge having a proximal end and a distal end. The distalmost clip is moved distally away from the ladder by a clip feeder bar mechanism which is arranged for first advancing the distalmost clip in the cartridge to a location between the jaws. The remaining plurality of clips are then also advanced distally by the ladder, both of the advancement motions occurring in a single distal advance of the clip feeder bar mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2001
    Assignee: Microline, Inc
    Inventor: Irving Kalikow
  • Patent number: 6258401
    Abstract: An optical antenna collects, modifies and emits energy at light wavelengths. Linear conductors sized to correspond to the light wavelengths are used. Nonlinear junctions of small dimension are used to rectify an alternating waveform induced upon the conductors by the lightwave electromagnetic energy. The optical antenna and junctions are effective to produce harmonic energy at light wavelengths. The linear conductors may be comprised of carbon nanotubes that are attached to a substrate material, which may then be connected to an electrical port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2001
    Inventor: Robert Joseph Crowley
  • Patent number: 6253517
    Abstract: The present invention is an improved modular panel arrangement for the assembly of a first panel to a second modular panel or a portion of a permanent wall. The arrangement comprises a modular panel of generally rectilinear configuration, having at least one edge thereon. A first corner block is attached to the edge of the panel. An elongated tensile connecting rod is pivotally attached to a pivot hinge of the first corner block, the rod having a lug disposed transversely across at least one end thereof. A second corner block is attached to the second panel or portion of the wall. The second block has at least one cammed locking finger on a base thereof, wherein the rod is swingable about the pivot hinge on the first corner block to permit the lug thereon to engage a cam surface on the second corner block to lockably secure and align the edge of the first modular panel with the second modular panel or wall. The tensile rod may be adjustable to accommodate variations in spacing of the panels and/or wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2001
    Inventor: Hershel E. Fancher