Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm George H. Spencer
  • Patent number: 6248060
    Abstract: A rigid endoscope includes a jacket tube with an optical system and, parallel to the optical axis of the optical system, a first glass fiber bundle which emits a beam to illuminate an object to be examined. A second optical illumination system is directed at the object being examined. The second light exit of the second optical illumination system is recessed from the first light exit of the optical system by a distance greater than a diameter of the jacket tube. The light exit axis at the second light exit of the second optical illumination system is offset laterally relative to the image axis at the distal end of the optical system by an amount such that because of the resultant parallax and the shadow formation and unequal light distribution thus attained, the vividness of the image impression for three dimensional objects is increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 1999
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2001
    Assignee: MGB Endoskopische Geraete GmbH Berlin
    Inventors: Gerhard Fritz Buess, Ernst Flemming, Wolfgang Juergen Kunert, Marc Oliver Schurr, Edward Naujoks, Johannes Tschepe
  • Patent number: 6243912
    Abstract: A collection container (40) for matter picked up by a suction cleaner comprises a generally cylindrical body (45) into which an inlet tube (46) extends upwardly from the base (43) thereof. To enable the collection container to be adapted for the collection of either liquids or solids entrained in air flow induced through the inlet tube (46), two interchangeable separator units (60, 70) are provided. Separator unit (60), for use in the wet mode, comprises a tube (61) which forms an extension of the suction tube (46), with a baffle wall (64) over the open mouth thereof, and additionally an oblique annular baffle plate (66) may be provided in the vicinity of the junction between the two tubes (46, 61). The separator unit (70), for use in the dry mode, comprises a mounting ring (72) carrying a tubular filter element (71), the lower end of which is closed by a baffle plate (73) which registers with the open end of the inlet tube (46) in spaced relation thereto.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2001
    Assignee: Vax Limited
    Inventor: Nicholas Gerald Grey
  • Patent number: 6245063
    Abstract: An apparatus for an electrical surgical appliance is proposed, in which the undesirable leakage currents are considerably reduced or completely prevented. This is achieved according to the invention by a compensation circuit being provided, by means of which a compensation current can be produced in order to compensate at least partially for a leakage current at the neutral electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2001
    Assignee: Huettinger Medizintechnik GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Peter Uphoff
  • Patent number: 6234122
    Abstract: In the case of known electromagnetic actuators each with at least one electromagnet acting on an armature, operational fluctuations of system parameters can lead to incorrect functioning, in particular to increased wear of the actuator, undesired noise generation, and excessive power consumption. In the new method, which is preferably used for operating gas change valves in internal combustion engines, the impact velocity of the armature on the electromagnet is automatically adjusted to a preset value. For this purpose, a controlled variable that depends on a change of inductance of the electromagnet is created as a measure of the impact velocity of the armature on The electromagnet and the controlled variable is adjusted by controlling the energy supply To the electromagnet to provide a setpoint value that the controlled variable adopts at a preset value of the impact velocity of the armature on the electromagnet. This permits reliable continuous duty with the new method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2001
    Assignee: DaimlerChrysler AG
    Inventors: Frank Kirschbaum, Kurt Maute, Madhukar Pandit, Michael Virnich
  • Patent number: 6231971
    Abstract: A glazing panel having a solar factor (FS) of less than 70% includes a sheet of glass; and at least two coating layers provided on the sheet of glass including first and second coating layers, the first coating layer being composed of tin and antimony oxides and having a Sb/Sn molar ratio ranging from 0.01 to 0.5 and being one of (A) pyrolytically formed from reactants in a gaseous phase or (B) pyrolytically spray formed, and the second coating layer being composed of tin oxide doped with fluorine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2001
    Assignee: Glaverbel
    Inventors: Robert Terneu, Philippe Legrand, Michel Hannotiau, Alain Schutz
  • Patent number: 6231638
    Abstract: The invention concerns a process for producing metal from metal ores, in particular crude or pig iron from iron ore, wherein the ore which contains metal oxides is brought into contact with a reducing gas which contains carbon and/or hydrogen from solid, carbon-bearing and/or hydrocarbon-bearing substances obtained at least partially from plastic waste. According to the invention, the carbon-bearing and/or hydrocarbon-bearing substances are injected in comminuted fluidized form as an agglomerate into the air flow in the hearth of the metallurgical shaft or pit furnace, in particular a blast furnace. The apparatus includes a first shut-off device that is closed when blockages of the plastic material occur in the transport conduit or the lance, a second shut-off device that is closed when hot air penetrates into the transport conduit and/or the lance by reverse flow, and a third shut-off device that is closed when compressed air is supplied to a lance for cooling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2001
    Assignee: Der Grune Punkt - DSD Duales System Deutschland AG
    Inventors: Joachim Janz, Manfred Voss
  • Patent number: 6233153
    Abstract: A subassembly, intended for use in motor vehicles in particular, consisting of a one-piece or multi-part housing, a plug unit with connecting pins formed integrally with the housing, and a circuit board to accommodate components, wherein the circuit board is configured and arranged in such a way that the connecting pins of the plug unit are guided directly onto or into the circuit board.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2001
    Assignee: Temic Telefunken microelectronic GmbH
    Inventors: Richard Baur, Peter Hora, Guido Wetzel, Alfons Wöhrl
  • Patent number: 6231735
    Abstract: The control arrangement comprises an oxygen linear test sensor located along the exhaust duct of an internal combustion engine, the sensor having a chamber able to receive part of the exhaust gas and two electrolytic cells of which one is electrically piloted; the arrangement having a retro-operation test circuit able to adjust the current piloted to the cell to give rise to an oxygen ions draining mechanism from and/or towards the chamber which induces the stoichiometric condition within the chamber itself, and an outlet circuit able to convert the piloted current into a first signal representative of nature of the mixture fed to the engine; the arrangement being provided with a memory circuit which memorises the value of a compensation resistance of the eventual spreads of the piloted current of a correcting circuit receiving the stored value of the compensation resistance and able to ensure a correction for the first signal to recover the spreads of piloted current to the cell; the correcting circuit provi
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2001
    Assignee: Magneti Marelli S.p.A.
    Inventors: Luca Poggio, Marco Secco, Chiaffredo Rinaudo, Daniele Ceccarini
  • Patent number: 6227835
    Abstract: A machine for producing parts of foamed plastic material, wherein a gantry-type frame supports a fixed half-mold, and a carriage from which is suspended a movable half-mold and which is movable along the frame to impart to the movable half-mold an approach movement towards, and a parting movement from, the fixed half-mold; the movable half-mold being locked to the fixed half-mold, in a position closing a mold for injecting foamed plastic material, by a number of electromagnets interposed between the two half-molds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2001
    Assignee: Bazzica Engineering Di Carlo Bazzica & C. S.a.s.
    Inventor: Carlo Bazzica
  • Patent number: 6230061
    Abstract: An electrode arrangement for stimulating the heart by means of the following elements: an implantable cardiac pacemaker which generates electrical pulses; a first electrode (11) connected to a first output of the pacemaker and mounted on an electrode line (10) fitted intracardially and not attached to the heart wall (i.e., floating); and a second electrode (12) for transmitting the electrical stimulation pulses to the excitable heart tissue, situated on the electrode line away from the first electrode and connected to a second pacemaker output. The voltage pulses at the two electrodes have differing polarities relative to another electrode and the electrodes (11, 12) are arranged on the electrode line in such a way that the electrical dipole field which forms is distorted towards the stimulation point in such a way that a raised potential gradient above the stimulus threshold is formed there.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2001
    Assignee: Biotronik Mess—und Therapiegerate GmbH & Co. Ingenieurburo Berlin
    Inventor: Wolfgang Hartung
  • Patent number: 6223735
    Abstract: Control method for an oxygen linear sensor, in which the sensor is located along an exhaust duct of an internal combustion engine to receive into a separate chamber part of the exhaust gas and generate a first signal representative of the swing between the composition of the gases in the chamber and a reference stoichiometric composition; the first signal being processed by a retroactive circuit which pilots an electrical current Ip into the sensor in such a manner as to generate an oxygen ion draining mechanism from and towards the chamber and to cancel the swing; the current being converted into an output signal which saving an error due to current spreads, is proportional to the quantity of oxygen present in the exhaust gases; the method presenting the calculation phase of a correction parameter which is applied to the output signal to make it effectively proportional to the quantity of oxygen present in the exhaust gases; the calculation of the parameter being effected with the sensor located in a control
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2001
    Assignee: Magneti Marelli S.p.A.
    Inventors: Luca Poggio, Marco Secco, Daniele Ceccarini
  • Patent number: 6224241
    Abstract: A lighting device has a light holder positionable on a mounting support, the light holder also having an outer light holder edge. The light holder includes a centrally located light holder top that projects from the mounting support for fastening a light source. A light protector is detachably fastened on the light holder. The light protector covers the light source and any holder regions projecting from the mounting support in such a way that essentially only the light protector is visible. The light protector has a protector collar, which encircles the outer holder edge and limits a protector opening that is pointed toward the inside space defined by the light protector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2001
    Inventor: Willi Wolfgang Oswald
  • Patent number: 6220746
    Abstract: For the purpose of a simple and yet functionally dependable design of the temperature detection, an agitator apparatus, in particular a cooking spoon, with a handle (1), a spoon element (2) and a shaft (3) connecting the handle (1) with the spoon element (2), wherein a temperature sensor (54) is associated with the spoon element (2) and a temperature indicator (5) with the handle (1), is distinguished in that a heat-conducting and/or liquid-conducting connection (6) exists via a viscous mass (9) is disposed between the temperature sensor (4) and the temperature indicator (5).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2001
    Inventor: Hans J. Stern
  • Patent number: 6222362
    Abstract: A method is presented for detecting the position and the direction of motion of a movably mounted part on an electric motor that makes provision not only for a single-channel sensor but also a measuring arrangement for the motor current and the rectified motor current by means of which the motor current is activated after operating switching devices to reverse the polarity of the voltage applied to the motor to cause a reversal of the direction of motion. The measuring arrangement establishes from the variation of the motor current over time the point of time of the motor current maximum and transmits this to the evaluation logic. The point of time of the actual reversal of the direction of motion is derived from the point of time of the motor current. Preferably, the current is measured as a reference current value even before falling through the zero crossing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2001
    Assignee: Temic Telefunken Microelectronics GmbH
    Inventors: Wolfgang Schulter, Dieter Driendl, Erwin Kessler, Stephan Kimpfler, Kurt Kleiner
  • Patent number: 6221209
    Abstract: Process for bleaching a chemical paper pulp to a brightness of at least 89° ISO, consisting in subjecting the pulp to a treatment sequence of several stages including a final bleaching stage with hydrogen peroxide in alkaline medium carried out in the presence of at least one stabilising agent and at a consistency of at least 25% by weight of solids, the stages preceding this final stage having purified the pulp so that its manganese content does not exceed 3 ppm by weight with respect to the solids and that the pulp has been delignified beforehand to a kappa number not exceeding 5.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2001
    Assignee: Solvay Interox (Société Anonyme)
    Inventors: François Desprez, Johan Devenyns, Nicholas Troughton, Paul Essemaeker
  • Patent number: 6219581
    Abstract: A pacing electrode arrangement for stimulating the heart by means of an implantable pacemaker, comprising a first pacing electrode arranged in the vena cava superior and a second pacing electrode arranged in either the atrium, or a blood vessel near the heart other than the vena cava superior, or arranged at a distance from the heart, whereby the first and the second pacing electrode essentially enclose between them a predetermined, central region of the cardiac stimulus generating and conduction system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2001
    Assignee: Biotronik Mess-und Therapiegeraete GmbH & Co. Ingenieurbuero Berlin
    Inventors: Max Schaldach, Tran Thong
  • Patent number: 6210080
    Abstract: Apparatus for transporting a file of successive filter rod sections lengthwise from a sender (such as a filter rod making machine) to a remote receiver (such as the magazine of a filter tipping machine) has an elongated pneumatic conduit with a section-receiving end at the sender and a section-discharging end at the receiver. The speed of lengthwise movement of sections in the conduit is monitored by a sensor which generates signals serving to control the operation of a valve which can influence the speed of the articles by varying the effective size of an outlet for the escape of air from the conduit, and/or to control the operation of a valve serving to admit into the conduit air counter to the direction of advancement of the sections. The purpose of evacuation of appropriate quantities of air from, or of admission of selected quantities of air into, the conduit is to maintain the speed of the sections in the conduit within a desired range regardless of the number of sections in the conduit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2001
    Assignee: Hauni Maschinenbau AG
    Inventors: Michael Haul, Martin Paech
  • Patent number: 6208901
    Abstract: In an apparatus for determining the AV transmission time or AV delay in the heart, the apparatus having a signal-sensor arrangement that is disposed in the heart and detects a natural cardiac action, further having at least one signal output and a processing unit that has at least one signal input that is connected to the signal output of the signal-sensor arrangement for calculating the natural AV transmission time based on the detected cardiac action, the signal-receiver arrangement includes a pressure-sensor arrangement that is disposed in the vicinity of the tricuspid valve in the right atrium and/or in the right ventricle for detecting intracardial pressure changes associated with the opening of the tricuspid valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2001
    Assignee: Biotronik Mess-und Therapiegeraete GmbH & Co. Ingenieurbuero Berlin
    Inventor: Wolfgang Hartung
  • Patent number: 6205247
    Abstract: A method and an arrangement are presented for pattern recognition on the basis of statistics. According to the method, for an object to be recognized on the basis of a complete set of two-class or multiclass classifiers, the association with each target class of the class set is estimated with a numerical value that is produced by cascaded use of polynomial classifiers. According to the invention, on a learning sample in which all class patterns to be recognized are sufficiently represented, there is a selection, from all the two-class or multiclass classifiers by way of their estimation vector spectrum, of those two-class or multiclass classifiers with estimations contributing the most to minimize a scalar quantity calculated over the estimation vector spectrum and having high separating relevance. The selected two-class or multiclass classifiers are subsequently used to form, via an expanded learning sample, estimation vectors from which expanded characteristic vectors are produced by polynomial linking.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2001
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Thomas Breuer, Wilfried Hanisch, Jürgen Franke
  • Patent number: 6204800
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for monitoring the earth's surface with a moving aircraft using a radar sensor with a synthetic aperture. In order to produce high resolution radar images, the flight parameters of the aircraft are also required. According to the inventive method, key parameters, such as speed and acceleration, are detected in the sight line of the radar sensor from the radio signals received. One of the advantages of the invention is that an inertial navigation system (INS) is no longer required for this purpose.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2001
    Assignee: Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG
    Inventor: Christoph Neumann