Patents Represented by Attorney Dowell & Dowell, P.C.
  • Patent number: 6543340
    Abstract: This appliance, which is for example a juicer, comprises a base, a rotating shredding tool (26), a chute (16) for introducing food items towards the tool (26), and a pusher (18), which can be received in the internal volume of the chute (16). The chute (16) emerges substantially at the center of the tool (26), and it is provided with means (34) making it possible to prevent the rotation of the food items, when they are contact with the tool, these means (34) being placed at some distance from the travel of the pusher (18).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2003
    Assignee: Santos SA
    Inventor: Jacques Fouquet
  • Patent number: 6543773
    Abstract: A card game in which, after bets are made by a player, three cards are dealt to the player by the dealer who also receives three cards. Thereafter the player selects two of the three dealt cards to play in the manner of a came of conventional “Blackjack”. After the player plays, the dealer selects two of three cards for dealer play. In a varied embodiment, the player may optionally bet on whether the player's initially dealt cards equal a predetermined winning combination of cards which is predesignated such as three of a kind, a straight, a flush, or a straight flush with the odds being posted for such preliminary bets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2003
    Inventor: Walter Mims
  • Patent number: 6539595
    Abstract: A vehicle body restraint system including a buckle for latching and retaining a latch plate associated with a safety belt wherein the buckle includes a latching mechanism which is moved to a first “locked” position by a threaded component placed under torque to retain the latch plate upon insertion of the latch plate into a buckle housing and wherein release of the latch plate is only permitted upon manual rotation of a pivotal release member which is operatively connected to the threaded component to thereby move the latch plate to a second “release” position. The system is operative such that inertial forces created during vehicle accidents cannot release the latch plate from the buckle housing and such that the torque on the threaded component is automatically increased in the event of an accident resulting in a forward pitch of a vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2003
    Inventor: Charles E. Benedict
  • Patent number: 6539965
    Abstract: A lightweight walking stick for providing stability when used in water which includes a hollow shaft having an upper handgrip and which shaft defines a chamber which retains water to provide ballast by way of vertically spaced openings spaced from a lower ground engaging end of the staff, such that water is permitted to fill and add weight to the lower portion of the staff when the stick is in use.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2003
    Inventor: J. Phelps White, III
  • Patent number: 6540770
    Abstract: A device for fixing an implant in a patient's bone which includes an expanding element which is limited in it's plastic deformation when a force is applied for fixing the implant in the bone, such that the expanding element is reversible when another force is applied for removing the implant from the bone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2003
    Assignee: Tornier SA
    Inventors: Alain Tornier, Francois Bonnomet
  • Patent number: 6536146
    Abstract: An assembly for displaying pictures, photographs, painting, drawings and similar articles which includes a frame supporting the article so as to be concavely oriented along a central vertical axis toward a front of the frame housing and wherein a compound lens system is mounted forwardly of the article having a first picture glass surface having a plurality of non-uniform distortions provided therein which function as a plurality of miniature lenses and wherein an opposite surface of the compound lens system includes a magnification lens oriented on a line extending transversely to the central vertical axis such that images viewed through the frame are given the illusion of movement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2003
    Inventor: Steven Ericson
  • Patent number: 6531088
    Abstract: A door for molten metal holding furnaces which includes a fixed plate with charging and inspection hole provided with two supports positioned at the sides of the charging hole and with two vertical wings positioned on an upper part of the plate and two guides are hinged to the two vertical wings and directed downwards, beyond a lower edge of the charging hole. A closing panel with gasket is equipped with lateral pins that are housed in the guides for making the closing panel slide along the guides. One or more pressure mechanisms act on lower ends of the guides and rotate the guides so as to bring the closing panel in contact with the plate and press the panel against the hole or to move it away from the plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2003
    Assignee: Borli Engineering S.p.A.
    Inventor: Andrea Bortoloni
  • Patent number: 6520979
    Abstract: The invention concerns a linking device for a surgical instrument (1) comprising an axis of rotation (6) including angular indexing means for limiting the mobile handle (5) travel about the axis (6) in operative position and for extending, in a predetermined position of said indexing means, the mobile handle (5) travel about the axis (6), without having to detach said handle for setting in place or removing the mobile element (8).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2003
    Inventors: Thierry Loubens, Lionel Riou, Christophe Garin
  • Patent number: 6513842
    Abstract: A tamper indicating seal for doors or panels such as used on airborne shipping containers. The seal includes a housing mounted over an edge of a container door and having an opening for receiving a strap of an elongated shackle having a base portion engageable with a frame or other portion of the container. A locking cage is disposed within the opening and interlocks with the strap as the strap is pulled outwardly of the opening to thereby secure the housing to the container such that any attempt to open the door will cause a visual failure of the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2003
    Assignee: Stoffel Seals Corporation
    Inventor: Charles Fuehrer
  • Patent number: 6513366
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for testing seals of packages or containers incorporating gas permeable materials wherein the packages are placed between opposing components of a vacuum test chamber such that the seals of the packages are open to a pressure testing system. A flexible bladder backed by a foam material or pressurized fluid seal the gas permeable material afterwhich at least a partial vacuum is drawn to create pressure differential between interior sealed spaces of the packages and the exterior of the package seals. In some embodiments, flexible bladders are provided to initially seal opposite surfaces of packages having opposite gas permeable material covering layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2003
    Assignee: Packaging Technologies & Inspection LLC
    Inventor: Anton Stauffer
  • Patent number: 6516277
    Abstract: This invention relates to methods and apparatus for determining the multi-dimensional topology of a substance (system) within a volume (space). A method according to a preferred embodiment of the invention comprises the steps of: acquiring a set of relative values for the density (scalar properties) of the volume, each value for a given location (point) within the volume; interpolating a set of functions to generate a continuous relative density for the volume; identifying critical points of the continuous relative density by using an eigenvector following method; and associating critical points with one another by following a gradient path of the continuous relative density between the critical points. The method is applicable to a wide range of data relating to fields such as crystallography, fluid dynamics, edge detection, and financial markets, to determine the topology of structures contained therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2003
    Assignee: Queen's University at Kingston
    Inventors: Kenneth E. Edgecombe, Alan D. Ableson
  • Patent number: 6510632
    Abstract: A small dot or disk flip dot display element and a method of making a flip dot display formed of such elements is shown where the disks or dots flip between an ON position showing a bright surface and an OFF position showing a dark surface. The dots are flipped by electromagnets having poles with a first coil wound thereon for producing a reversible magnetic field operating the flip dots. A second coil is wound on the poles in series with the first coil. The second coil is dipped in molten solder to form an electrical contact for energizing the first coils, and for mounting the elements to a circuit board. Separate terminal pins are not required for electrical connections to the coils, thus allowing flip dots as small as 5 mm or less to be used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2003
    Assignee: Mark IV Industries Limited
    Inventors: Sandor Weinacht, Veso S. Trianic
  • Patent number: 6511242
    Abstract: A gun for sealing with sealing wax which includes a handgrip, a tank melting-pot for the sealing wax, a feeding device, an injector, and a punch. The gun is heated by heating elements. The tank melting-pot is connected with the feeding device and with the injector which consists of a chamber provided, in its terminal part, with a nozzle in which a plunger slides. The punch consists of a sliding rod provided, in its end, with a metallic engraved or raised mark.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2003
    Inventor: Guglielmino Ferretto
  • Patent number: 6488712
    Abstract: A malleolar implant for partial or total ankle prosthesis which includes a head having a surface to bear against an astragalus or astragalian prosthetic component and from which head extends a shank adapted to be inserted through a bore in a fibula wherein the shank is provided with means for hooking a traction member which is adapted to be inserted through the bore in the fibula in order to apply a force to pull the implant into the bore such that the implant is seated within the bore of the fibula.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2002
    Assignee: Tornier SA
    Inventors: Alain Tornier, Michel Bonnin, Jean-Alain Colombier, Thierry Judet
  • Patent number: 6487664
    Abstract: A system and method for providing external data-signal isolation, and signal-level information-preserving-data-transformations, to enable safe, operationally efficient, information sharing between protected information systems and networks and external, potentially hostile, information systems and networks which neutralizes any imbedded hostile executable codes such as viruses that may be in data-signals incoming from the external systems and networks. The system and method prevent untransformed external data-signals from entering protected systems and/or networks using an intermediate screen which is a computer hardware device. The intermediate screen is deployed between the protected systems and external systems and is used to process all incoming signals from the external system to obtain transformed data sets from which information is extracted before it is passed to the protected system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2002
    Assignee: E-Com Defense, Inc.
    Inventor: Charles W. Kellum
  • Patent number: 6481926
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for land reclamation which includes utilizing groyne-like structures including spaced stanchions to which are mounted porous screens and wherein the screens are vertically adjustable as material is deposited during the reclamation process. In some embodiments the screens are carried by sleeves slidable on spaced stanchions and in other embodiments the screens may be sectional and carried by multiple sleeves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2002
    Assignee: Beach Reclamation, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles E. Benedict, James R. Dobbs, A. Yates Christian, Perry L. Ponder
  • Patent number: 6477896
    Abstract: Flow indicator with the purpose to indicate direction of the air flow between two rooms separated by a wall. The indicator comprises a tube (12) that is mounted in an opening of the wall (10). Inside the tube is a smooth-running body (16) mounted that easily moves towards the end of the tube by pressure difference arised air flow. Both ends of the tube are provided with end-stops (18) that are constructed to prevent the body (16) to leave the tube and are provided with one or more openings (20) that admits air to pass into the interior of the tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2002
    Inventor: Tord Nyberg
  • Patent number: D466709
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2002
    Assignee: Grosfillex Sarl
    Inventor: Raymond Grosfillex
  • Patent number: D466713
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2002
    Assignee: Grosfillex Sarl
    Inventor: Raymond Grosfillex
  • Patent number: D466714
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2002
    Assignee: Grosfillex Sarl
    Inventor: Raymond Grosfillex