Patents Represented by Law Firm Emrich, Lee, Brown & Hill
  • Patent number: 4437411
    Abstract: A multi-purpose table is adapted for use in schools, and particularly in science or art labs, as a desk or laboratory table. The top of the table may be adjusted in height either to a sitting height or to a standing height. The top may also be placed in either horizontal or sloping position at either adjusted height.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 1981
    Date of Patent: March 20, 1984
    Assignee: General Equipment Manufacturers
    Inventor: Ronald M. Maxwell
  • Patent number: 4437454
    Abstract: A mechanical draft controller integrated in the draft hood of a furnace and coupled to a flue damper is responsive to the draft in the flue for controlling exhaust stack heat loss and eliminating heated room air loss via the draft hood under normal operating conditions. The pressure-sensitive controller is variably positioned as a face damper on a surface of the draft hood and is coupled to the flue damper by means of mechanical linkage. Increasing pressure in the draft hood caused by a reduction in the draft value due to partial flue blockage, large down draft, etc., displaces the pivoted controller resulting in a corresponding opening of the flue damper to re-establish the desired draft value. Similarly, excessive draft causes the displacement of the controller in an opposite direction resulting in flue damper displacement so as to reduce the draft value and exhaust stack heat loss.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 1982
    Date of Patent: March 20, 1984
    Assignee: Johnson Service Company
    Inventor: Thomas E. Hayes
  • Patent number: 4435749
    Abstract: A fault protection system for a balanced thyristor capacitor/inverter half-bridge which generates a high frequency oscillating voltage from full-wave rectified line voltage is disclosed. Following the detection of thyristor over-current and the removal of transformer-coupled, alternating, gated drive signals from the thyristors by means of logic and control circuitry, the natural ringing of a charged resonant circuit coupled across the inverter half-bridge causes thyristor commutation and inverter shutdown. The resonant circuit and inverter half-bridge are isolated from the line voltage source during the fault recovery cycle by means of an inductance, the size of which is selected to greatly exceed the total inductance in the inverter bridge-resonant circuit system to avoid saturation until the power thyristors have been given sufficient time to turn off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 1982
    Date of Patent: March 6, 1984
    Assignee: Thomas Industries Inc.
    Inventor: Calvin E. Grubbs
  • Patent number: 4435486
    Abstract: A system for facilitating the installation of a storage battery of the general lead acid type in a vehicle and its removal therefrom is disclosed. In one embodiment designed to accommodate side-mounted battery terminals, a rigid case mounted to the vehicle includes a pair of adjustable connectors secured to an upper portion of a lateral wall thereof. Each connector is coupled to a respective positive or negative lead of the vehicle and is adapted to securely engage a cylindrical post threadably engaged in each of the side-mounted battery terminals. The battery may be lowered into or removed from the case by means of a conventional strap positioned thereon with a tight-fitting relationship established between the case and the battery so as to insure a stable battery installation. The connectors may be manually adjusted to securely engage a respective post or to permit the easy removal of the battery from the case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 1982
    Date of Patent: March 6, 1984
    Inventors: Nicholas T. Pomaro, Russell Pomaro, Louis H. Stauffer
  • Patent number: 4435083
    Abstract: A rotary vibrator having a cylindrical shape and an outer cam strip running the length thereof is mounted in a housing which has a matching inner cam strip and is affixed to a structure to be vibrated. Vibrator migratory movement during operation causes the vibrator cam strip to engage the adjacent surface of the housing and the housing cam strip to engage the adjacent surface of the vibrator. This wedging effect gives rise to a third point of vibrator-housing contact located essentially equidistant from the other two contact points and displaced therefrom approximately 120.degree.. Thus, a secure inter-locking between the vibrator and its mount is achieved. A source of compressed gas may be attached at either end of the vibrator and an exhaust outlet located in the vibrator directs the pressurized driving fluid into the space between the vibrator and housing for vibrator cleaning and lubrication and for quieter vibrator operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 1981
    Date of Patent: March 6, 1984
    Assignee: Hamilton Equipment Co., Inc.
    Inventor: Carl G. Matson
  • Patent number: 4433502
    Abstract: A fishhook assembly has the characteristics of being weedless in its unactivated-rest-position by nature of the symmetrical configuration of the three or four identical fishhooks, each point of which is positioned to the outside of the assembly and guarded by an adjacent fishhook. Resilience may be provided by the hook shanks or by other resilient members. The resilient members may be covered by a thin sheet of material, converting the assembly into a lure. Alternatively, the assembly may be used as an attachment to a lure. Additional weedless protection may be provided by protrusions or offsets on the shanks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 1981
    Date of Patent: February 28, 1984
    Inventor: Edward J. Steeve
  • Patent number: 4432483
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a safety release mechanism for use with a power operated driving apparatus for fasteners which includes a pivotally supported trigger or release lever housing for actuating or releasing the driving apparatus upon engagement with a release pin or switch. The safety release mechanism is supported in the trigger housing between the trigger and the release pin and is biased by a spring to the safety or off position which prevents the trigger lever from engaging the release pin. Upon movement of the safety release member to the actuated or release position, the trigger lever is engageable with the release pin or switch to actuate the power operated driving apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 1982
    Date of Patent: February 21, 1984
    Assignee: Joh. Friedrich Behrens AG
    Inventor: Manfred Kuck
  • Patent number: 4429812
    Abstract: A liquid soap dispensing system includes a closed soap container having a manually actuated dispensing pump carried therebeneath, the container being separated by a partition into a lower soap reservoir and an upper refill compartment, the latter adapted to enclose therein a removable refill cartridge and having a downwardly extending refill well with a pair of opposed keys extending thereinto. The cartridge has an outlet neck, the outer surface of which has a pair of opposed slots. The neck is closed by a pierceable membrane recessed therein and adapted to be received into the well so that a cartridge opening member pierces the membrane to accommodate free flow of liquid soap from the cartridge to the reservoir. The cartridge is entirely closed to define the liquid level in the reservoir at the bottom of the neck, and a drain hole in the reservoir wall above the bottom of the neck but below the tops of the keys prevents bootleg cartridges from being used in the soap dispenser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 1981
    Date of Patent: February 7, 1984
    Assignee: Steiner Corporation
    Inventors: Robert L. Steiner, Randel P. Smith
  • Patent number: 4428367
    Abstract: A vibratory electric motor and appliance embodying same contemplates a pair of shallow pan members which are reversely secured together by means of peripheral portions thereof. The pan members have spaced and aligned generally parallel portions within the peripheral portions which cooperate to mount the vibratory motor. The latter is more or less conventional except that the armature leg which is spaced by a gap from the pole faces of the core-coil assembly has an enlarged width about equal to the spacing between the parallel portions of the pan members. Each side of this widened armature leg has a pair of spaced projections which respectively enter apertures in the parallel portions of the pan members. Thus, when the pan members are secured together at the peripheral portions thereof, the motor is firmly mounted in engagement with both pan members, thereby avoiding auxiliary mounting parts and the assembly time required to install such parts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 1982
    Date of Patent: January 31, 1984
    Assignee: Wahl Clipper Corporation
    Inventors: Gregory S. Wahl, Raymond H. Babel
  • Patent number: 4428504
    Abstract: In a self-unloading vessel having hoppers with discharge outlets for discharging either lump or pulverulent material onto an unloading conveyor, discharge apparatus includes a wheeled carriage supporting two separate gate assemblies thereon and movable to bring one or the other of the gate assemblies into discharge relationship with the hopper outlet. One gate assembly includes a horizontally sliding gate which is driven between open and closed positions by a drive cylinder. The other gate assembly includes fluidized bed airslide apparatus for directing pulverulent material to a discharge passage closed by a butterfly valve. Two embodiments are disclosed. In one a separate drive cylinder is provided for moving the carriage between its two positions along associated rails. In the other the one gate can be releaseably pinned to the other gate assembly. The relative positions of the two gate assemblies are reversed in the two embodiments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 1981
    Date of Patent: January 31, 1984
    Assignees: American Steamship Company, R. A. Stearn, Inc.
    Inventors: Noel L. Bassett, Henry R. King
  • Patent number: 4425541
    Abstract: An apparatus for determining the operating condition of capacitors of the type used for power factor correction on electric distribution systems is assembled in two sections. A first power supply device supplies an alternating electric current to a de-energized capacitor without removing it from its installed position and a second power measurement device, utilizing a split-core Hall-device, measures the magnitude of the electric current entering the capacitor being tested.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 1981
    Date of Patent: January 10, 1984
    Assignee: Commonwealth Edison Co.
    Inventors: Merlin E. Burkum, Timothy M. O'Regan
  • Patent number: 4423573
    Abstract: A wall panel includes a peripheral metal frame which may be free-standing or part of an open office partition system, and a removable acoustical insert. The acoustical insert is formed of pressed glass fiber and includes an integral border of substantially greater density than the main body portion of the insert to add rigidity to the insert and provide a stiffened portion for mounting clips which are used to removably secure the acoustical insert to the peripheral metal frame so that the border is in register with the frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 1978
    Date of Patent: January 3, 1984
    Assignee: American Seating Company
    Inventors: Bruce D. Omholt, Robert L. Knapp
  • Patent number: 4422199
    Abstract: A flexible seal for use in adjustable dockboard unit for sealing the unit against the flow of air therethrough into and/or out of the building in which the dockboard is being used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 1981
    Date of Patent: December 27, 1983
    Assignee: Frommelt Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: Sylvan J. Frommelt
  • Patent number: 4421311
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a puzzle cube comprising a cube body and the sides of which are formed by cube elements each of them forming part of three cube sections arranged for rotation relative to the remaining portion of the cube body about the center axis of the cube body respectively offset by 90 degrees and a structural support member arranged within the cube body with which the cube elements disposed in the center with respect to the appertaining cube side are cooperating. The remaining cube elements are provided with cams on the inner surface, with the cams engaging behind guide surfaces of the center cube elements, with the cams of the corner cube elements cooperating with the cams and the guide surfaces of the adjacent cube elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 1982
    Date of Patent: December 20, 1983
    Assignee: Ideal Toy Corporation
    Inventor: Peter Sebesteny
  • Patent number: 4418761
    Abstract: A mounting/positioning apparatus for attaching an agricultural implement such as a reel unit or a rotary packer assembly to the frame of a tillage machine is disclosed. The apparatus includes two opposing end portions rigidly coupled together by means of a cross member with the agricultural implement rotationally mounted between the two opposing end portions. The two end portions are pivotally coupled to a first frame cross member to which is rigidly coupled one end of a second frame member extending rearwardly therefrom. The other end of the second frame member is flexibly coupled to the cross member by means of a longitudinally compressible spring providing for the vertical displacement of the rotating implement upon impact with an obstruction. Spring tension is adjustable for varying the downward force applied to the working implement with the second frame member incorporating shear pin protection for the implement against high impact forces applied thereto from contact with rocks and other obstructions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 1981
    Date of Patent: December 6, 1983
    Assignee: DMI, Inc.
    Inventors: William J. Dietrich, Sr., Cary L. Sizelove
  • Patent number: 4416886
    Abstract: A topical treatment for relieving pruritis wherein naloxone, a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or a pharmaceutically acceptable chemical derivative is topically applied in a lotion, solution, cream or ointment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 1981
    Date of Patent: November 22, 1983
    Assignee: Dermall Limited
    Inventor: Joel E. Bernstein
  • Patent number: 4414493
    Abstract: A system for controlling the current in a solid state, high frequency ballast energizing a gaseous discharge lamp for providing light dimming therein is disclosed. The ballast includes a thyristor/capacitor inverter bridge for generating the lamp current which is regulated by a commutation circuit synchronized with zero crossings of the thyristor current. Lamp current and voltage level signals are fed back to the commutation circuit for proper lamp current regulation. A dimming signal is added to either the lamp current feedback or voltage feedback signal and this composite signal is provided to the lamp current regulator in varying the bias thereof for selectively controlling light intensity. Dimming may be accomplished either manually by means of a rotatable switch having an output which varies linearly with shaft rotation or automatically by means of an ambient light level sensor to provide a predetermined output light level which may be manually adjusted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 1981
    Date of Patent: November 8, 1983
    Assignee: Thomas Industries Inc.
    Inventor: William H. Henrich
  • Patent number: 4414462
    Abstract: A heated railway tank car includes heating conduits arranged on the tank and filled with a heating fluid and coupled to an electrically driven pump and heat exchanger in a closed-loop system for heating and continuously recirculating the heating fluid through the conduit. The tank car is adapted to be electrically interconnected with adjacent cars and the electric power may be provided from the locomotive, from an axle generator and alternator combination on the tank car, or from rechargeable batteries on the tank car charged by either terminal facilities or axle-mounted or locomotive-mounted generator means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 1981
    Date of Patent: November 8, 1983
    Assignee: General American Transportation Corporation
    Inventor: Albert E. Price
  • Patent number: D272493
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 1981
    Date of Patent: February 7, 1984
    Assignee: Steiner Corporation
    Inventors: Robert L. Steiner, Randel P. Smith
  • Patent number: D272651
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 1981
    Date of Patent: February 14, 1984
    Inventor: Sakharam D. Mahurkar