Patents Represented by Attorney H. Foster
  • Patent number: 6418684
    Abstract: A wall reinforcing method including reinforcing members adhered to the wall. The reinforcing members are either pre-cured composite plates or composite members formed in situ, that is, a fabric of reinforcing fibers that is saturated with an adhesive to form the matrix of the composite and to adhere the reinforcement to the wall. The in situ members are either strips of fabric or wide sheets that cover most of the wall. The spacing of the reinforcing members is determined, in one embodiment, by an array of spacing distances. The array, which is preferably in table form, is consulted by the installer who first measures some of the wall parameters and environmental characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2002
    Assignee: Engineered Composite Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Steven E. Morton
  • Patent number: 6409501
    Abstract: A candle and method of making the candle. The candle includes a core surrounded by a combustible material and a fill composition. The combustible material surrounds the core. A wick extends downwardly a selected distance from the top of the core. The core is partly surrounded by a translucent sleeve which may include holes. In this way, the risk of the combustible material catching fire is reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1999
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2002
    Assignee: Lumi-Lite Candle Company, Inc.
    Inventor: George G. Pappas
  • Patent number: 6406203
    Abstract: The combination of a writing instrument, a lanyard and a panel. The writing instrument has a cap and a body. The lanyard has an end attached to the cap, another end attached to the body, and an intermediate region extending between the two ends. The panel has an aperture through which the lanyard's intermediate region extends. The aperture is large enough to allow the lanyard intermediate region to pass freely through the aperture, yet the aperture is small enough to prohibit the cap and the body from passing through the aperture. The panel remains attached to the apparatus, although the panel can slide relative to the intermediate region of the lanyard.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2002
    Inventor: Bradley J. Maurer
  • Patent number: 6401933
    Abstract: A vibration-reducing eccentric weight system mounted to the driveshaft of a screen box in a screening plant with the eccentric weight system's center of gravity on the driveshaft's axis of rotation. The eccentric weight system includes a weight that is radially slidably mounted to the driveshaft, but biased so that its center of gravity is spaced from the driveshaft's axis of rotation during slow and no rotation. Upon rotation above a preselected speed, the centrifugal force displaces the weight radially outwardly. This causes a gradually increasing vibration corresponding to gradually increasing distance between the weight's center of gravity and the driveshaft's axis of rotation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2002
    Assignee: Ohio Central Steel Company An Ohio Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas J. Cohen, Mauricio A. Escobar
  • Patent number: 6370779
    Abstract: A wick trimmer includes a gauge for assisting a user in trimming a candle wick to an appropriate length. The wick trimmer is adapted to be of a shape and size to allow a user to trim the wick within a votive holder, hurricane lamp, or the like without removing the candle. The gauge may be fixedly, rotatably, or slidably attached to the cutter and extends transversely of the blade of the cutter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2002
    Assignee: Lumi-Lite Candle Company, Inc.
    Inventor: George G. Pappas
  • Patent number: 6371470
    Abstract: A funneled cutting board assembly comprising a cutting board with feet and integral funnel assembly. The cutting board comprises a cutting surface with side rails and an aperture. Extending through the aperture is a funnel. The cutting board may contain an accessory, such as a knife sharpener. The feet of the cutting board are foldable, so in the open position they raise the board for use above a flat surface, and may be closed for use over a sink or to facilitate storage of the board. The funnel assembly of the funneled cutting board may come with various accessories, such as a strainer and different grater inserts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2002
    Inventor: Robert S. Ward
  • Patent number: 6368296
    Abstract: A pelvic belt is described for firmly gripping a human torso near the pelvic region. The pelvic belt includes three main components: a U-shaped frame with left and right frame legs, a left arm assembly pivotably mounted to the left frame leg, and a right arm assembly pivotably mounted to the right frame leg. Each arm assembly has four main sub-components: an upper arm, a lower arm, a connecting rod connecting the upper and lower arms rigidly together and an adjustment wing for adjusting the dimensions of the interior region of the pelvic belt. The left and right arm assemblies pivot about pivot pins mounting the arm assemblies to the U-shaped frame. This permits a person to enter the interior region of the pelvic belt when the arm assemblies are pivoted open, and then the arm assemblies are pivoted to a closed position. The pelvic belt can be attached to force resisting mechanisms to build strength over time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2002
    Inventors: Frank J. Eiter, Sidney P. Nelson
  • Patent number: 6361235
    Abstract: A device for binding together a stack of document sheets and optionally for depositing such a bound stack in a file with a filing mechanism, comprising a base plate to be disposed below the document stack, a cover plate to be disposed on the document stack, at least one flexible binding tongue strip which is fixable and/or fixed to the base plate and whose two binding tongues, for the purpose of binding together the document sheets, are threaded through paired perforations in the document stack and the cover plate and are bent back at the ends on to the cover plate above the document stack, as well as at least one cover rail mountable on the cover plate, including the binding tongue ends, with undercuts on the longitudinal edges for encompassing the longitudinal edges of the cover plate, whereby the cover rail is divided into two in its longitudinal direction, so that the two parts are mountable from opposite end faces on the cover plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2002
    Inventor: Gert Riedrich
  • Patent number: 6326790
    Abstract: A hand tool has a handgrip attached to a ground-piercing probe, which is manually insertable in the soil. The probe has a chamber in which at least one inductor is positioned and connected to metal detection circuitry. The preferred circuitry has a pulse generator applying current pulses to an inductor for inducing eddy currents in a buried target object. After the pulse terminates, the decaying coil voltage is sampled at different times to detect both the presence and range of the object, as well as the type of metal in the object. An asymmetric magnetic field pattern about the probe is aligned with a direction pointing indicium on the handgrip and provides directional sensitivity. The coil voltage samples are applied to signaling circuitry, which provides an audible signal which is a series of bursts of an audio tone. The pitch of the audio tone signals the presence, range and bearing of the buried metal object, while the pulse rate of the bursts signals the metal type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2001
    Inventors: Ellen Ott, James H. Ott
  • Patent number: 6321453
    Abstract: A wick trimmer includes a gauge for assisting a user in trimming a candle wick to an appropriate length. The wick trimmer is adapted to be of a shape and size to allow a user to trim the wick within a votive holder, hurricane lamp, or the like without removing the candle. The gauge may be fixedly, rotatably, or slidably attached to the cutter and extends transversely of the blade of the cutter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2001
    Assignee: Lumi-Lite Candle Company, Inc.
    Inventor: George G. Pappas
  • Patent number: 6321254
    Abstract: An arrangement for filing and retrieving data of a plurality of mutually remote data sources which are connected to a remote central file-storage system by a public, wide-area transmission network. Mutually separable storage fields are maintained in the central file-storage system by allocating separate storage fields to the data of each of the remote data sources by a user filter coupled to the file storage system to ensure that every user can transfer in the central file system only in his field. An access authorization code transmitted from a remote data source is compared to an access code stored in the file-storage system to permit access by a remote data source to the separate storage fields allocated to the data source seeking access.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2001
    Inventors: Ernst Woldemar Wolfgang Meyer, Uwe Hans Mundry
  • Patent number: 6308483
    Abstract: The present invention is a roofing fastener assembly. The assembly includes a fastener, a barbed washer, and a screw. The screw projects through the fastener and exits the free end of the fastener. Upon installation of the screw and fastener, the barbs of the washer penetrate into the roof membrane and insulation layer. An extending rim on the washer receives the head of the fastener to resist the relative lateral movement of the washer and fastener. Stabilizing fingers project from a free end of the fastener and hold the screw in place during assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2001
    Inventor: Robert L. Romine
  • Patent number: 6293184
    Abstract: A gas bearing structure including a cylindrical core and a cylindrical sleeve. The core has a radially outwardly facing surface with longitudinal and circumferential grooves formed thereon. The sleeve has a radially inwardly facing surface that sealingly abuts the outer core surface. The inwardly facing sleeve surface bridges over the grooves, defining fluid, preferably gas, flow paths within each groove. The gas flow paths permit gas to flow from the workspace to radial passages formed through the sleeve sidewall, thereby forming a gas bearing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2001
    Assignee: Sunpower, Inc.
    Inventor: Reuven Z-M Unger
  • Patent number: 6288881
    Abstract: A voltage regulator protecting both the regulator and the electrical system. A flyback diode is protected by an autoprotected MOSFET in series with the flyback diode and controlling it by a drive circuit connected to the vehicle ignition switch. Protection against overcurrent is provided by a resettable fuse, having a thermal protection circuit, in series with the power switch. A relay is in series with the resettable fuse. The controlled switch is controlled by the output of a voltage detector. A latching circuit holds it open as long as the circuit remains connected to the battery. Overvoltage protection is provided by a voltage detector which opens the relay if the battery voltage exceeds a pre-selected voltage. To accommodate lead-acid and maintenance-free batteries, the regulator has two input ignition terminals one of which controls the set point voltage. The resettable fuse is physically mounted in thermal connection to the power switch which switches the field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2001
    Inventors: John A. Melvin, James D. Sullivan
  • Patent number: 6268037
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for making a shielded automobile component and the shielded automobile component itself. The component includes a composite formed of a metal sheet which includes protrusions which extend from a surface of the metal sheet and a blow-molded thermoplastic layer formed around the protrusions which fixes the blow-molded layer to the metal sheet during the molding process. The protrusions on the metal sheet define plain polygonal areas which are free of protrusions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2001
    Assignee: Acoust-A-Fiber Research and Development, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard M. Butler, Hiten T. Shah
  • Patent number: 6263626
    Abstract: A window or door sash of the type having a sash frame for receiving a transparent sheet, which is retained in the sash frame by a plurality of removably mounted glazing beads. A plurality of overlying wooden or other decorative covering members are each attached only to a glazing bead and extend over both the glazing beads and the interiorly facing surfaces of the sash frame. This arrangement provides the aesthetic beauty of wood, the durability of vinyl, aluminum, fiberglass or composite window working components, no unsightly fasteners and the easy and convenient replacement of a broken glass without damage to the wood or other components and without requiring complete replacement of the entire sash.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2001
    Assignee: Atria Building Products, Inc.
    Inventor: David C. Gerhardt
  • Patent number: D453513
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2002
    Inventor: Brian S. Sergent
  • Patent number: D454722
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2002
    Inventor: Abby A. Novel
  • Patent number: D455505
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2002
    Assignee: Lumi-Lite Candle Company, Inc.
    Inventor: George G. Pappas
  • Patent number: RE37820
    Abstract: An arrangement of an area covering, cellular radio communication network having cell regions which can be. contiguously replicated without interference. A central transceiver station is coupled to a base station controller and has a plurality of decentral transceiver stations surrounding and coupled to the central transceiver station. Groups of adjacent decentral transceiver stations are grouped in respective cell areas. All of the decentral transceiver stations in each cell area are allocated the same transmission frequencies, but the frequencies of each cell area are different from the other cell areas in the cell region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2002
    Assignee: Littlefeet, Inc.
    Inventor: Stefan Scheinert