Patents Represented by Attorney Julian Flehr, Hohbach, Test, Albritton & Herbert Caplan
  • Patent number: 5513763
    Abstract: The present invention employs a plastic snap-on cap which engages both the neck crown of a container having a rectangular body and a neck having screw threads and is internally threaded to engage the neck threads of the conventional container. A foam gasket under the top of the cap prevents leakage by sealing against the neck lip. The cap has internal threads which snap over and then engage under the neck threads. Vertical "barriers" below the cap threads prevent unscrewing the cap so long as the cap skirt is intact. Score lines extend from the bottom edge of the cap skirt to above the internal cap bead which engages the neck crown and extend up to the cap threads. A tear tab is used to tear a vertical strip of the skirt which extends up between the score lines. The cap is thus tamper-evident since it cannot be removed so long as the cap is intact but can be removed by tearing the aforementioned strip. In one modification, a well is formed in the center of the cap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 7, 1996
    Assignee: Portola Packaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Brian M. Adams, Daniel Luch
  • Patent number: 5512228
    Abstract: A tamper-evident thermoplastic fitment having a spout and a closure for said spout are welded to a polymer-coated paperboard container or to a flexible plastic container. The fitment and closure are initially molded simultaneously but with a substantial space between the two parts interconnected by an elongated runner which conducts molten plastic from the closure to the fitment. Upon retraction of the core of the mold, the closure is pulled into the spout until shoulders on the parts engage, whereupon the closure is stripped from the mold core. The runner comprises a tear tab which slides through an apertured space on the closure. When the parts engage tangs on the tear tab engage the space, making the assembly tamper-evident. The fitment has a flange which may be welded or otherwise secured to the container. The tab may be pulled by the consumer to open the container. The closure may be unscrewed from the spout or otherwise disengaged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 1994
    Date of Patent: April 30, 1996
    Assignee: Portola Packaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Brian M. Adams, Daniel Luch, Rawson L. Chenault
  • Patent number: 5509498
    Abstract: Workmen are required to spray whitewash on sloping glass roofs such as used in greenhouses at certain seasons and then to scrub the whitewash off the glass later on. Ordinarily workmen support themselves on the narrow gutter alongside the roof or between roofs. According to the invention, brackets are installed at each end of the gutter and, if the roof is long, intermediate the ends. Two cables are supported by each set of brackets. The workman wears a safety belt from which extend two short ropes having snap books to be attached to the cables.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 1994
    Date of Patent: April 23, 1996
    Inventors: Sumiko Higaki, Tadashi Nakazawa, Melchor Bacani
  • Patent number: 5499402
    Abstract: Caps of the type used by baseball players but also used by other athletes and their fans have an opening at the back. A strap is attached to the headband of the cap on either side of the opening and the straps can be used to adjust the cap to fit the head size of the wearer by overlapping the ends of the straps to the necessary extent. One strap usually has spaced holes and the other spaced studs which fit into the holes. The present invention provides a panel which may carry the logo of a team, a merchandiser's advertisement or other design. The panel is secured to the overlapped straps in various ways described in detail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 19, 1996
    Inventor: Michael J. Rose
  • Patent number: 5480045
    Abstract: A blow molded container has a cylindrical neck portion with novel seven circumferentially spaced continuous spiral thread configurations on its exterior to immediately receive and engage an improved tamper indicating flexible cap comprising a top with an annular depending wall on its peripheral edge and seven circumferentially spaced continuous spiral thread configurations on the inner surface of the annular depending wall. The novel constructions enable the tamper indicating flexible cap to immediately engage the lead-in ends of the seven circumferentially spaced thread patterns on the exterior of the neck of the container without the heretofore necessary rotation of the prior art caps in order to engage the single spiral thread configuration on the neck of the container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 1993
    Date of Patent: January 2, 1996
    Assignee: Portola Packaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Luca Molinaro, Robert E. Crisci, Harry E. Crisci
  • Patent number: 5474484
    Abstract: To educate children how to use the emergency 911 telephone number, a talking doll displays the twelve keys of a conventional telephone instrument. Within the chest of the doll or mounted externally is a tape player having a pre-recorded tape of the words likely to be used by an emergency dispatcher at a "911 number". These include reassuring instructions, inquiries as to the name and address of the child and the nature of the emergency. Hence the user pushes the sequence of buttons "9", "1" and "1". This activates playing the recorded tape. At the end of the tape message, the tape automatically rewinds. A telephone instrument may be suspended on the doll in such manner that a switch is closed when the instrument is lifted from the hook before depressing the "9", "1", "1" buttons.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 1994
    Date of Patent: December 12, 1995
    Inventor: Julie A. Lemelle
  • Patent number: 5465876
    Abstract: A tamper evident resealable cap for use on a bottle, the cap having an upstanding pour spout registering with an opening in the center of the cap and a smaller diameter plug positioned thereabove on a plurality of upwardly angled legs on the pour spout. The cap having a flexible annular ring attached to the cap by a plurality of radially extending frangible elements with the plurality of circumferentially spaced radially inwardly extending angular projections arranged for registration with a neck portion on the bottle to prevent rotation in one direction without removal of the ring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 1994
    Date of Patent: November 14, 1995
    Assignee: Portola Packaging, Inc.
    Inventor: Robert E. Crisci
  • Patent number: 5462196
    Abstract: Plastic binding strips used with this invention comprise a female strip consisting of a narrow, thin plastic strip formed with spaced apertures and grooves communicating with the apertures and a male strip comprising a narrow plastic strip having bendable studs projecting at fight angles therefrom spaced to fit through holes in the pages to be bound and the apertures in the female strip. Such strips are packaged in cassettes. The hopper for the female strips receives a stack of cassettes. Strips are fed from the lowermost cassette by a horizontally reciprocating finger onto a transverse ways and then feed along the ways to an assembly station. When the lowermost cassette is empty, its support is removed and the next cassette is moved into place. The male hopper is similar to the female except that the studs require greater spacing between cassettes and provision is made in the feed structures for the upward projection of the studs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 1994
    Date of Patent: October 31, 1995
    Assignee: VeloBind, Incorporated
    Inventor: Peter Hotkowski
  • Patent number: 5437140
    Abstract: An auto rotation capping device for use on bottle cappers to provide for a final partial tightening rotation of a pre-positioned tamper evident push on cap. The auto rotation cap tightening device includes a support and guide housing with a recessed cap engagement chuck that imparts partial rotation to the cap by the vertical movement of the bottle cap against the chuck.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 1994
    Date of Patent: August 1, 1995
    Assignee: Portola Packaging, Inc.
    Inventor: Luca Molinaro
  • Patent number: 5423419
    Abstract: A case is molded of light-weight, thin-walled plastic in two hollow parts which when assembled, receives eyeglasses and sunglasses of many different designs and sizes. The case is slightly concave on one broad side surface and convex on the other. The upper edge of the lower part slants downwardly from one end, as does the upper edge of the upper port or lid. The two parts are hinged together at the higher end walls. A toggle-type latch is provided at the lower end walls. A gasket in the meeting edges is compressed when the clasp is engaged to close the case in a water-tight manner. There is sufficient volume within the case so that it will float. A projection on the top is apertured for a chain, thong, string or the like so that the case may be worn hanging from the neck. The concave-convex shapes of the sides accommodates eyeglasses without making the case unnecessarily thin. Such shape likewise makes wearing the case in a hip or shirt pocket comfortable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 1994
    Date of Patent: June 13, 1995
    Inventors: Richard J. Wentz, Garwing Wu
  • Patent number: D358769
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 1992
    Date of Patent: May 30, 1995
    Assignee: Portola Packaging, Inc., a Delaware Corp.
    Inventors: Daniel Luch, Richard E. Repp
  • Patent number: RE35024
    Abstract: A grounded metallic shield which comprises an electrode enclosing the filament leads and emitters of an e-Gun in a high vacuum chamber of the type used in melting and casting metals and other materials and evaporation sources. The shield is spaced from the filament leads and emitters a distance in the order of the electron mean free path for the pressure uses within the high vacuum chamber. The structure and method of use thereof suppresses or eliminates arc-downs or glow discharges.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 1994
    Date of Patent: August 22, 1995
    Inventor: Charles W. Hanks