Patents Represented by Law Firm Paul E. Hodges, P.C.
  • Patent number: 5798478
    Abstract: An ammunition projectile of enhanced flight characteristics, having a boat tail portion and including a circular land provided on the rear surface of the boat tail portion and concentric with the longitudinal centerline of the projectile, the land having a circular concave wall extending from the flat rear face of the boat tail portion to a circular flat surface of the land. Among other things, the projectile exhibits a lesser rate of velocity deceleration along its flight path to a target than like projectiles that do not include the land.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 25, 1998
    Assignee: Cove Corporation
    Inventor: Harold F. Beal
  • Patent number: 5792128
    Abstract: An absorbent article in the form of a closely-woven single-layered fabric sheet which has incorporated therein an elongated radiopaque thread embedded in multiple folds along at least one edge of the sheet. The radiopaque element preferably is unattached to the fabric, but rather is mechanically captured within a first fold that is further folded inwardly of and onto the top surface of the fabric sheet. The fabric sheet is woven of absorbent yarns and in a weave pattern which produces a tight weave such that the article is suitable for use as a drape in a surgical procedure, or in the nature of a laparotomy sponge. A method for the manufacture of the absorbent article is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 11, 1998
    Assignee: DeRoyal Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: Autry O. V. DeBusk
  • Patent number: 5787353
    Abstract: A process for the recovery of chemical values, particularly uranium, nickel and/or radionuclides from process equipment theretofore employed in a uranium hexafluoride isotope enrichment cascade. Preferably, the process is carried out, in situ, at subatmospheric pressure employing the existing process equipment from which the chemical values are to be recovered. In one aspect, the process includes recovery of uranium values employing a gaseous fluorinating agent at subatmospheric pressure, followed by recovery of nickel values employing a gaseous reactant comprising a mixture of carbon monoxide and a promoter, preferably hydrogen sulfide and at subatmospheric pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 28, 1998
    Assignee: Southeastern Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Keith Kibbe, Aarne Visnapuu, Wilbur L. Kephart
  • Patent number: 5785530
    Abstract: Method and apparatus for visually depicting a health care treatment regimen for a given medical diagnosis including a substantially flat planar platform and a plurality of groupings of geometric members which are representative of various events which go to make up the treatment regimen. The geometric members of a particular grouping preferably are equally sized and of a coloring that is unique to the grouping. All geometric members are releasably securable to the platform and/or one another to permit their securement to the platform and/or to one another in positions denoting the existence of, position of and order of occurrence of their represented events within the treatment regimen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 28, 1998
    Assignee: DeRoyal Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: Joe Lowell Smith
  • Patent number: 5736719
    Abstract: Method and apparatus employing radio frequency electric energy for heat sealing of laminated packaging materials, particularly aseptic packaging materials, that include facing contiguous layers of thermoplastic material, including first and second seal jaws having respective working surfaces. The working surface of the first seal jaw is defined by a plurality of working faces of alternating layers of electrically conductive and electrically nonconductive materials.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 7, 1998
    Assignee: International Paper Company
    Inventors: Douglas K. Lawson, Charles J. Kimmel
  • Patent number: 5725517
    Abstract: A woven absorbent article, useful in medical application, including at least one yarn-like radiopaque element extending along the length dimension and fully from one end to the opposite end of the absorbent article and having its opposite ends anchored to the absorbent article by means of multiple folds at each of the ends of the absorbent article. Preferably, the radiopaque element is incorporated into the woven article in the form of a warp yarn of the weave thereof. A method for the manufacture of the article is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 10, 1998
    Assignee: DeRoyal Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: Autry O. V. DeBusk
  • Patent number: 5709768
    Abstract: Apparatus including a frame, preferably circular in geometry and having a cental axis. At spaced apart locations about the circumference of the frame there are provided a plurality of links, each of which is pivotally mounted on a the frame and each of which carries a shoe having an arcuate surface. Each link includes at least one leg portion having an outboard end, The outboard ends of the leg portions of the plurality of links are interconnected with one another and with a drive mechansim whose operation serves to rotate the interconnected links in unison about their respective rotational mountings to the frame. As the links are rotated, their respective shoes are caused to move along an arcuate path which repositions the shoes generally radially inwardly or outwardly with respect to the central axis of the apparatus. To retain the circularity of the arcuate surfaces of the shoes as they are moved radially inwardly and outwardly, the shoes are interconnected by respective rigid rods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 20, 1998
    Assignee: WYKO, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark S. Byerley
  • Patent number: 5695453
    Abstract: A limb immobilizer including a soft foam body member in which there is embedded a system of reinforcing and stabilizing wire members, the body member being amenable to being readily conformed to the shape and size of a limb, and strapping means for securing the immobilizer in place on the limb. Opening through the thickness of the body member facilitate the application of the body member to a limb. A novel body member for a limb immobilizer is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 9, 1997
    Assignee: DeRoyal Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: Charles O. Neal
  • Patent number: 5690230
    Abstract: A dispensing container for a plurality of like flat, thin products disposed in stacked relationship within the container and including a tear-away closure tab whose removal results in an opening through a front panel of the container through which the level of products within the container may be observed and individual ones of the products may be removed from the container. The opening is defined by a unique plurality of perforations and cuts through the thickness of the front panel of the container and has a profile resembling an inverted funnel. A blank for making the carton from a single sheet of material is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 25, 1997
    Assignee: DeRoyal Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: J. Martin Griffith
  • Patent number: 5682728
    Abstract: A method for integration of the institutional supply chain for medical products utilizing a nested bill of materials on a care event level of a clinical pathway for one or more medical procedures. The medical supplies appropriate for use in a care event are expressed as a bill of materials. Each item of medical supply is assigned a unique identifier which includes at least identification of the item itself, identification of the supplier of the item, and identification of the care event with which the item is to be used. At a first location a portion of the supplies are unitized and containerized. This subassembly is transported to a second and remote location where further of the supplies are unitized and containerized, using the same container. Thereafter the unitized and containerized supplies are transported to the end user thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 4, 1997
    Assignee: DeRoyal Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Autry O. V. DeBusk, Brian C. DeBusk, James M. Mabry, Steven J. Polte
  • Patent number: 5679220
    Abstract: A method for enhancing the deposition and retention of particulate filler on papermaking fibers. In a first vessel, there is formed a slurry of papermaking fibers and in a second vessel there is formed a slurry of lime or its equivalent. The fiber slurry is at a consistency of not greater than about 5%. These separately formed slurries are thereafter combined with a gaseous precipitant in a flow reactor and under conditions whereby the gaseous precipitant is subjected to rapid shear and calcium carbonate is deposited in situ on the fibers. Unexpectedly, the reaction time for the formation and deposition of the calcium carbonate filler is very rapid. Control over the pH of the reactants in the reactor is achieved through the sequence of introduction of the reactants to the reactor. Also, through selection of the molar ratio of the gaseous precipitant and lime, the morphology of the calcium carbonate crystals may be controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 21, 1997
    Assignee: International Paper Company
    Inventors: M. C. Matthew, Sanjay Patnaik, Paul Hart, Thomas Amidon
  • Patent number: 5674095
    Abstract: The present invention provides a novel terminal for an end of a cable that includes at least two electrical conductors. One especially suitable cable is one that includes the common constantan and copper conductors employed in thermocouple applications. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the terminal includes first and second housing sections which, when combined, define an electrically insulative housing for the receipt and anchoring therein of one end of a cable without the use of fasteners of any type aside from the structural features of the housing sections. The first and second housing sections each comprise a thin planar base having a plurality of projections extending from one surface thereof that are received in frictional mating engagement when the two housing sections are joined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 7, 1997
    Assignee: DeRoyal Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Benito L. Tanhehco, Steve E. Saad
  • Patent number: 5660073
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for forming a ball of relatively small diameter from metal wire includes a cutoff bar and a slide mechanism for shearing a length of metal wire from the remainder thereof at a first station to provide a blank with which a ball is subsequently formed and for transporting the blank to a second station and also includes a specially-designed punch assembly for forming the blank into a ball at the second station. The punch assembly includes a main slide body and a blank-engaging plunger assembly slidably mounted on the main slide body for sliding movement therealong wherein the plunger which is biased, by air pressure, from a retracted position to an extended position relative to the main slide body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 26, 1997
    Assignee: MCM Corporation of Oneida
    Inventors: Michael R. McBroom, Willard A. Farley
  • Patent number: 5635016
    Abstract: Apparatus defining an outer circumference suitable to serve as a forming surface or an inner circumference suitable to serve as a circumference-engaging surface. The apparatus is particularly useful in the forming of the belt and tread package of a vehicle tire or as a transfer ring for grasping a belt and tread package of a vehicle tire. The apparatus includes a plurality of multi-sectioned segments of arcuate cross-section which collectively define the cylindrical surface of the apparatus and which are supported for movement radially of the longitudinal axis of the apparatus for adjustment of the circumference of the cylindrical surface. Each segment includes an intermediate section and two side sections hingedly connected to the intermediate section. The segments also include guide plates which cooperate with a side section of an adjacent segment so that movement of each segment radially of the drum effects a corresponding hinged movement of a side section of an adjacent arcuate segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 3, 1997
    Assignee: Wyko, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark S. Byerley
  • Patent number: 5630792
    Abstract: An ankle brace comprising a pair of elongated substantially compliant and substantially inextensible body members designed to reside generally vertically along the opposite sides of the ankle. The body members are connected to one another by a flexible strap that passes beneath the arch of the foot and generally vertically upwardly along opposite sides of the foot where the opposite free ends of the strap are releasably anchored to respective ones of the outer surfaces of the body members. The body members are mirror images of one another and are secured to the ankle as by various strapping. On the outer surface of each body member there is provided a malleable elongated stay which extends between the top and bottom of the body member. This stay is anchored to the body member at spaced apart locations along its length such that bending of the stay effects alteration of the cupping of the body member in the malleolus area thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 20, 1997
    Assignee: DeRoyal Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: Charles O. Neal
  • Patent number: 5618374
    Abstract: A belt and tread drum for use in the manufacture of vehicle tires and having a plurality of circumference-defining segments whose radial position is determined by a camming means. The extent of movement of the camming means is selectable by stop means associated with a central shaft which serves to mount the camming means and the stop means. Visual indication of the selected circumference of the drum is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 1994
    Date of Patent: April 8, 1997
    Assignee: WYKO, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark S. Byerley
  • Patent number: 5584951
    Abstract: A disposable pallet made up of paperboard or like material. The components of the pallet include a plurality of base members and a plurality of cross beams which are interlocked in a skeletal-type structure having novel intersections at their cross over locations. A new pallet component and a method for making the pallet are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 17, 1996
    Assignee: International Paper Company
    Inventor: William W. MacFarland
  • Patent number: 5582683
    Abstract: A method for the recovery of chemical values from spent lignocellulosic pulping liquor salts to produce white liquor of different sulfidities. Preferably, the white liquor is in the form of separate liquid streams, each of which is of a sulfidity that is different from the sulfidity of others of the streams. The method also provides for developing a white liquor stream which is essentially free of sulfide values, but which contains sodium hydroxide. Further, the method provides for recovery of titanium values for recycling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 1994
    Date of Patent: December 10, 1996
    Assignee: International Paper Company
    Inventors: Alexander K. Bonsu, Raymond P. Thorman, M. C. Matthew
  • Patent number: 5582564
    Abstract: Apparatus for the exercise of a person's upper torso wherein there is minimal unnatural motion or positioning of the glenohumeral joint and/or the wrist and elbow joints and including means for carrying each of the person's arms through movement generally within a transverse plane that is occupied by the wrist, elbow and shoulder joints, this means comprising at least one set of outrigger arms arranged for pantographic motion about fixed axes which are substantially coincident with the median sagittal plane of the person's body. A method for the upper torso exercise is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 1994
    Date of Patent: December 10, 1996
    Assignee: Southern Xercise, Inc.
    Inventors: Raymond L. Nichols, Sr., Raymond L. Nichols, II
  • Patent number: D389778
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 27, 1998
    Inventor: William W. Cloud