Patents Represented by Attorney Thomas Hooker
  • Patent number: 6050171
    Abstract: A hydraulic power steering gear assembly includes an assembly body defining a piston chamber having opposed chamber ends with plunger passages formed in the ends, a reciprocating piston and a chamber having opposed ends and a passage extending between the piston ends, a check valve at each end of the piston passage, and a plunger assembly in each plunger passage with each assembly including a spring frictionally holding assembly in the passage and a poppet extending into the chamber to unseat a ball valve as the piston is moved toward one end of the chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2000
    Assignee: R.H. Sheppard Company, Inc.
    Inventor: Peter H. Sheppard
  • Patent number: 6012397
    Abstract: An outlet gate assembly for a hopper type railway car includes a frame adapted to be mounted on an outlet opening in the rail car and a gate in the frame. A conventional rack and pinion opening and closing drive moves the gate between open and closed positions on the frame. An inertial latch mechanism latches the gate in the fully closed position. Actuation of the opening and closing drive displaces the latch to automatically unlatch the gate. Upon impact, an inertial mass generates a latching force holding the latch closed and preventing opening of the gate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2000
    Assignee: Keystone Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Todd A. Krahl, Anthony L. Lucas, Allen D. Smith
  • Patent number: 5970833
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a stacking machine which cuts a multiply rope into bundles, clamps the lead ends of the bundles against a conveyor which moves the bundles to stacking stations where the bundles are collected in stacks. Completed stacks are transferred to a takeaway conveyor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1999
    Assignee: Elsner Engineering Works, Inc.
    Inventor: Robert E. Molison
  • Patent number: 5927523
    Abstract: A rail car buffer includes a standard capsule body and a high pressure hydraulic buffer spring only in the body. The hydraulic spring has a high compression ratio and is charged with very high pressure gas and hydraulic oil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 27, 1999
    Assignee: Keystone Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Russell J. Huggins, Julius I. Pershwitz, Mark P. Scott
  • Patent number: 5908123
    Abstract: A rail car buffer has a capsule body and a spring assembly with an elastomer spring and a gas filled hydraulic spring in the body. Expansion of the buffer after collapse is snubbed by the gas filled hydraulic spring to convert energy stored in the elastomer spring to heat.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 1, 1999
    Assignee: Keystone Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: Russell J. Huggins
  • Patent number: 5898974
    Abstract: An adjustable handle assembly includes a pedestal with an axial bore for mounting on a threaded shaft, a handle extending radially and upwardly away from the pedestal and a shaft release plunger radially removable in the pedestal. The shaft release plunger includes a threaded surface for selectively engaging and disengaging the shaft. Disengagement of the plunger allows rapid movement of the assembly along the shaft. The handle applies a torque to the pedestal when the plunger is engaging the shaft which allows the pedestal to exert a clamping force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 4, 1999
    Assignee: Alvord-Polk, Inc.
    Inventor: David C. Boyer
  • Patent number: 5882227
    Abstract: A controlled impedance block for connecting signal lines on a flexible cable to components on a circuit board includes a ground plane matrix surrounding adjacent signal lines. The matrix is formed from intersecting sets of ground blades with electrical connections between the blades at intersections and electrical connections with ground contact pins at intersections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 16, 1999
    Assignee: Intercon Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Douglas A. Neidich
  • Patent number: 5845661
    Abstract: A parts washer for removing cutting oil from machined parts includes two open compartments separated by a common heat-conducting wall. A single heater in one compartment heats washing solution in both compartments. The back of the washer has a stepped configuration to protect components from injury while the washer is on the shop floor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 8, 1998
    Assignee: R. H. Sheppard Co., Inc.
    Inventor: Allen W. Leppo
  • Patent number: 5843508
    Abstract: A potato peeling system includes a drum-type batch peeler, an unpeeled potato infeed assembly upstream from the batch peeler and a peeled potato discharge assembly downstream from the batch peeler. The batch peeler includes a rotary plate and a vertically adjustable cylindrical liner with a number of vertically spaced bands of different abrasive material. A drive moves the liner up and down to position a selected abrasive band above the plate for peeling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 1, 1998
    Assignee: Utz Quality Foods, Inc.
    Inventor: Jeffrey E. Fuhrman
  • Patent number: 5840349
    Abstract: A rotary blow molding machine includes a horizontal main shaft with a plurality of molds spaced around the shaft and mounted on the shaft by linear bearings for movement along the shaft. A shaft drive rotates the shaft and molds around the axis of the shaft in the steps and dwells the shaft and molds between steps. Open molds are rotated from a lower container eject position up to a parison capture position and then close on a parison. The closed molds are shifted axially along the main shaft and the parison is blown. Further rotation of the shaft returns the molds to the mold eject position where the molds open and molded containers are ejected downwardly with gravity assist.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 24, 1998
    Assignee: Graham Engineering Corporation
    Inventors: John M. Brown, Jr., David N. Fiorani, John M. Mathy, Jr., Rolf E. Weingardt
  • Patent number: 5819750
    Abstract: A golfer's tool includes a body, a pair of prongs, a cutter, and a clip. The pair of prongs extend from one end of the body and are used in repairing ball marks. The cutter includes a slidable blade within the body and a central passage extending through the body transversely of the path of the blade. The blade is used to cut the tip off a cigar inserted in the central passage. The clip is mounted on a portion of the tool away from the pair of prongs and includes a spring located between two sets of arms. The spring biases one of the sets of arms towards the other for holding a cigar or cigarette.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Inventor: Martin D. Moyer
  • Patent number: 5810110
    Abstract: A power steering system for on-the-road and off-the-road vehicles includes a positive displacement hydraulic power steering pump, a master power gear with a rotary valve and a slave power gear mounted in tandem with the master power gear. Heated return hydraulic fluid from the master power gear flows through a heat transfer passage in the slave power gear and is cooled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 22, 1998
    Assignee: R. H. Sheppard Co., Inc.
    Inventor: Peter H. Sheppard
  • Patent number: 5803201
    Abstract: A hydraulic power steering gear assembly includes an assembly body defining a piston chamber having opposed chamber ends with plunger passages formed in the ends, a reciprocating piston and a chamber having opposed ends and a passage extending between the piston ends, a check valve at each end of the piston passage, and a plunger assembly in each plunger passage with each assembly including a spring frictionally holding assembly in the passage and a poppet extending into the chamber to unseat a ball valve as the piston is moved toward one end of the chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 8, 1998
    Assignee: R. H. Sheppard Co., Inc.
    Inventor: Peter H. Sheppard
  • Patent number: 5797680
    Abstract: A system for mixing bone cement is disclosed. Dry PMMA powder and MMA liquid are mixed in a vacuum chamber. Gas from the mixture is vacuum drawn from the mixer by a vacuum source through a vacuum tube which extends between the mixer and the vacuum source. The vacuum source is actuated by creating a positive pressure pulse in the vacuum tube. The pressure pulse may be caused by closing the lid of the mixer, by squeezing an in-line pressure bulb in the vacuum tube or by squeezing a pressure bulb joined to the vacuum tube. The vacuum source is automatically deactivated when a positive vacuum pulse is detected. The second pressure pulse is caused when the vacuum tube is disconnected from the vacuum chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 25, 1998
    Inventor: William M. Murray
  • Patent number: 5791217
    Abstract: A method for trimming an inner ring from the neck flange of a blow-molded plastic bottle by extending a reverse punch into the bottle through the flange opening, elastically bending the flange into the interior of the bottle as the punch passes and withdrawing the reverse punch from the bottle and trimming a ring from the flange.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 11, 1998
    Assignee: Graham Engineering Corporation
    Inventors: Dennis L. Dundas, Paul W. Klinedinst
  • Patent number: 5782317
    Abstract: A Transport apparatus includes a vertically extending frame, three plate assemblies mounted on the frame and three assembly drives connected to the plate assemblies for vertically moving the plate assemblies in the frame. The frame surrounds a transport column which includes a bottom work position, a middle storage position and a top storage position. Each plate assembly includes a carriage adjacent a side of the frame, a rectangular plate, a hinge between the carriage and plate and a pair of hinge drives for rotating the plate between a horizontal load supporting position in the transport column and a vertical position adjacent the column. The assemblies are lowered to the under position with horizontal plates supporting pallets filled with work parts. After the work parts and pallets are removed, the plates are rotated to the vertical and moved up to storage positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 21, 1998
    Assignee: Master Manufacturers, Inc.
    Inventor: David W. Lutz
  • Patent number: 5776519
    Abstract: A parison extrusion head includes a cylindrical body, a programing rod in the body, a die pin on the end of the rod, and a die ring mounted on the end of the body by a clamp assembly having a pair of clamp arms which are connected to the body by hinges and are rotated between a closed position holding the die ring on the body an open position permitting free removal of the die ring. The clamp arms carry bolts used to move the die ring laterally and adjust the thickness of the extruded parison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 7, 1998
    Assignee: Graham Engineering Corporation
    Inventor: Charles D. Flammer
  • Patent number: 5752436
    Abstract: A potato peeling apparatus includes a drum-type batch peeler having a rotary plate and three vertically adjustable, cylindrical liners. Each liner has a different abrasive material and a separate drive for moving the liner between a raised and a lowered position. The liners have different diameters to allow positioning of the three liners inside each other in raised or lowered positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 19, 1998
    Assignee: UTZ Quality Foods, Inc.
    Inventor: Jeffrey E. Fuhrman
  • Patent number: 5749275
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for trimming an inner ring from the neck flange of a blow-molded plastic bottle by extending a reverse punch having a lead end and a trailing end larger than the lead end into the bottle through the flange opening, elastically bending the flange into the interior of the bottle as the punch passes and withdrawing the reverse punch from the bottle and trimming a ring from the flange.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 12, 1998
    Assignee: Graham Engineering Corporation
    Inventors: Dennis L. Dundas, Paul W. Klinedinst
  • Patent number: 5746335
    Abstract: A double acting center-of-car cushioning device mounted in the sliding sill of a rail car includes two pistons and rods, two pressure cylinders and mirror image sets of flow orifices in the pressure cylinders. The piston rods extend out from ends of the pressure cylinders and engage a fixed sill of the rail car. Movement of the pistons within the pressure cylinders forces fluid through the flow orifices resulting in efficient dampening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 5, 1998
    Assignee: Keystone Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Steve A. Brough, John F. Deppen