Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm The Law Offices of Timothy J. Klima
  • Patent number: 6557324
    Abstract: In a method and device for continuously wrapping products (3), while the products (3) are being fed continuously at a first speed (V1) along an intermediate portion (44) of a first path (P1) and in a first direction (D1), together with their intermediate wrappers (2a), the latter having a first and a second wing (37, 38), projection from, and on opposite sides of a surface (30) of the product (3), the wings (37, 38) make contact with a first folder (43) that moves at a second speed (V2) which is faster than the first speed (V1) in a second direction (D2) coinciding with the first speed (D1) along a section (45) of a second a path (P2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2003
    Assignee: Azionaria Costruzioni Macchine Automatiche A.C.M.A. S.p.A.
    Inventors: Enrico Campagnoli, Antonio Gamberini
  • Patent number: 6551056
    Abstract: This invention relates to a cooling air ducting system in the high-pressure turbine section of a gas turbine engine, in which a portion of the air flow which exits from the compressor section of the engine and bypasses the combustion chamber of the gas turbine is ducted via a first pre-swirl system provided in a diaphragm into a pre-swirl chamber arranged upstream of the first stage turbine rotor disk and is fed from this pre-swirl chamber, in particular, to the air-cooled blades of this rotor disk for cooling purposes, and in which another portion of this air flow is applied to the face of the first stage turbine rotor disk via a second air transfer system which, when viewed in the radial direction, is arranged further inward than the first pre-swirl system. According to this invention, the second air transfer system is again provided as a pre-swirl system connecting to the pre-swirl chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2003
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventor: Guido Dr. Rau
  • Patent number: 6544157
    Abstract: Cigarette sticks are carried through a filter tip attachment on a train of rollers, each comprising a fixed first tubular body rigidly associated with a vertical bulkhead and a rotatable second-tubular body placed coaxially over the fixed tubular body and centered on an axis common to both bodies. Each roller incorporates a stator rigidly associated with the first tubular body and a rotor rigidly associated with the second tubular body, coinciding respectively with the primary and the secondary of an electric motor of which the winding is connected to a power source governed by a master controller; the controller receives signals from individual transducers capable at any given moment of sensing the angular position and velocity of the single rollers, in such a way as to select a predetermined timing for each roller relative to the others of the train, which is maintained throughout each operating cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2003
    Assignee: G. D S.p.A.
    Inventor: Mario Spatafora
  • Patent number: 6532658
    Abstract: In a process for the manufacture of a blade/vane of a turbomachine, the blade/vane is made of a metallic enveloping structure and a supporting structure made of composite material provided inside of the enveloping structure and suitably joined to the enveloping structure. A metal-felt weave is welded or soldered/brazed to the sheet making up the enveloping structure, whereupon this sheet-weave-assembly is shaped by hydroforming or an internal high-pressure forming process to provide the enveloping structure of the blade/vane. Finally, the composite material making up the supporting structure is introduced into the cavity of the enveloping structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2003
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd. & Co KG
    Inventor: Karl Schreiber
  • Patent number: 6524065
    Abstract: An intermediate-stage seal carrier for a high-pressure jet-engine turbine includes a supporting area for vane retainers, wherein the supporting area includes only one annular wall upstream of and abutting the vane retainers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2003
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventors: Jan Briesenick, Winfried-Hagen Friedl
  • Patent number: 6521043
    Abstract: A gumming applicator (1) rotatable about a central axis (A) is cleaned by a device (4) comprising a nozzle (13) connected to a source (11) of pressurized fluid (50) and calibrated so as to deliver an atomized jet (14) which is directed at the gumming applicator (1) to the end of removing residues (60) of the gumming adhesive (2) from the applicator (1); the nozzle (13) is also capable of movement in a direction (D) parallel with the axis (A) of rotation of the applicator (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2003
    Assignee: G. D S.p.A.
    Inventor: Mario Spatafora
  • Patent number: 6520373
    Abstract: The invention is a snack style clear front merchandiser having a horizontal product column with a front opening leading into a vend space. A product mover pushes a product through the front opening and into the vend space. A retaining device, mounted to the merchandiser near the front opening and positioned in a manner such that a top of the product being vended hits the retaining device during vending, prevents the product top from moving or pitching forward during a vending process. Consequently, the vended product falls freely into the delivery hopper without bridging the vending space. A single retaining device may be used for several columns in a single tray or individual retaining devices may be used for each column. The height of the retaining device can be adjusted as required for the type of product being vended in the columns. The retaining device may be rigidly or rotationally mounted to the merchandiser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2003
    Assignee: Automated Merchandising Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: D. Joseph Neely, Richard A. Pollock
  • Patent number: 6516618
    Abstract: This invention relates to a gas-turbine engine which is provided in the turbine interior with a bearing chamber for a turbine shaft, the bearing chamber being sealed by sealing elements, and with a scavenge line for the lubricating oil which is supplied to the bearing chamber, in particular is sprayed onto the bearing(s) arranged therein. In accordance with the present invention, the single scavenge line, which is connected to a suitable lubricating-oil collecting compartment, features such an ample cross-section and the sealing elements have such a high sealing effect that the pressure in the bearing chamber is essentially equal to the pressure in the lubricating-oil-collecting compartment and maximally half the pressure in the turbine interior.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2003
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co. KG
    Inventor: Alexander Bock
  • Patent number: 6516083
    Abstract: A continuous cigarette rod advancing along a set path is directed through an electro-optical scanning station where its entire cylindrical surface is inspected by a unit comprising an illumination device of which the function is to shed light in substantially uniform manner on a given annular area of the surface, a line scan television camera positioned relative to the path in such a way as to enable acquisition of a direct image from a first portion of the annular area, and a reflecting element located on the side of the path opposite to the camera, embodied and oriented in such a way as to reflect two images back toward the camera which combine with the direct image to make up the entire annular area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2003
    Assignee: G. D S.p.A.
    Inventors: Alberto Bonechi, Luca Cerati, Armando Neri
  • Patent number: 6494046
    Abstract: This invention relates to a method for the detection of a shaft failure in a turbomachine with the object of initiating thereupon an appropriate speed-limiting action, more particularly a rapid fuel shut-off on an aero gas-turbine system, in which a torque-exerting turbine rotor and a torque-recipient unit are connected via the shaft (3) to be monitored for failure, said shaft being supported at its ends in at least two roller bearings (6, 7). In this method, the rotational frequencies (fn1, fn2) of the two shaft ends of the shaft compared with each other continually and essentially in real time, with a failure of the shaft (3) inferred if the rotational frequency (fn2) of the roller bearing (7) on the side of the turbine rotor exceeds the rotational frequency (fn1) of the roller bearing (6) on the side of the torque-recipient unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2002
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventor: Burkhard Hayess
  • Patent number: 6487832
    Abstract: The apparatus for wrapping confectionery products and the like comprises a device for feeding the products to be wrapped, an organ for extracting such products from the aforesaid feeding device able to co-operate with a device dispensing a piece of material in sheet form, a wrapping head with pincers, rotating according to a horizontal axis to bring individual products with a respective piece of material in sheet form in correspondence with a series of operative stations. The feeding device comprises a circular disk, positioned horizontally and rotating about a vertical axis, which presents, peripherally distributed, a series of recesses for the reception of respective products, open outwards, each provided, in correspondence with the lower surface of said disk and posteriorly thereto, with a related slit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2002
    Assignee: Bugnion S.p.A.
    Inventor: Sandro Salicini
  • Patent number: 6488473
    Abstract: This invention relate to a retaining arrangement for rotor blades of axial-flow turbomachinery which features blade roots slots on a rotor disk for the accommodation and radial fixation of roter blades and which further features a continues, circumferential retaining ring for the axial fixation of the rotor blades in the blade root slots and a locking arrangement for the axial retention of the retaining ring. The retaining arrangement is characterized in that the retaining ring has recesses which correspond with sections of the blade root slots and projecting sections on its outer circumference. The present invention provides a cost-effective retaining arrangements for blade of axial-flow turbomachinery which provides for better control of the leakage flows in the blade root area, generally improved flow conditions in the inter-stage area, lower centrifugal forces and ease of assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2002
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventors: Stuart Lee, Peter Broadhead, Tim Hopp
  • Patent number: 6484867
    Abstract: Cigarettes are formed into groups by a device comprising a hopper through which to direct a flow of cigarettes, a conveyor with pockets moving intermittently past a discharge outlet of the hopper, and a reciprocating pusher located on the side of the hopper opposite from the conveyor by which a portion of the flow corresponding to one group is directed with each forward stroke into a respective pocket. To avoid damage of the kind often associated with sliding contact and axial compression, the cigarettes adjacent to those ejected by the pusher are restrained when their cylindrical surfaces are attracted by suction generated through ports located inside the hopper.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2002
    Assignee: G. D S.p.A.
    Inventors: Mario Spatafora, Loris Grepioni
  • Patent number: 6477822
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method and device for continuously wrapping products, according to which, during the continuous feed of the products and respective intermediate wrappers which have four flaps to be folded, projecting in such a way that they are offset from the lower surface of the product, along a path with an instantaneous tangent extending in a first direction which may vary from point to point on the path, two opposite flaps make contact with respective first and second folding tools, located on opposite sides of an intermediate folding portion of the path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2002
    Assignee: Azionaria Costruzioni Macchine Automatiche S.p.A.
    Inventors: Mario Spatafora, Antonio Gamberini
  • Patent number: 6450329
    Abstract: A packet serving to contain a group of cigarettes appears substantially parallelepiped in shape with a predominating longitudinal axis disposed parallel to the longitudinal axes of the cigarettes, and comprises a front, a back and two flanks, also a bottom, and a top that can be opened at least in part to provide an area affording access to the inside of the packet. The cigarettes are packaged together with a fan-folded pressure element of stiff paper placed between the group and one flank, which is rendered flexible along at least one line or portion of elastic deformation and able thus to compress and expand elastically along an axis of compression and expansion normal to the axis of the packet; as a result of the tension stored in the pressure element, the cigarettes are invested with a uniformly applied pushing force and biased toward the access area whilst a similarly uniform reaction force is directed against the inside face of the flank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2002
    Assignee: G.D S.p. A.
    Inventors: Fiorenzo Draghetti, Angelo Li Vigni
  • Patent number: D462805
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2002
    Assignee: G.D S.p.A.
    Inventor: Fiorenzo Draghetti
  • Patent number: D462806
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2002
    Assignee: G.D S.p.A.
    Inventor: Fiorenzo Draghetti
  • Patent number: D462807
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2002
    Assignee: G.D S.p.A.
    Inventor: Fiorenzo Draghetti
  • Patent number: D463066
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2002
    Assignee: G.D S.p.A.
    Inventor: Fiorenzo Draghetti
  • Patent number: D472013
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2003
    Assignee: G. D S.p.A.
    Inventors: Igino Conti, Eros Stivani, Fiorenzo Draghetti