Patents Assigned to Crane Co.
  • Publication number: 20160229215
    Abstract: A method for applying a security device (e.g., a micro-optic security thread) to a fibrous web during manufacture is provided. By way of the inventive method, the security device is preferably applied onto the fibrous web at or near a couch roll or similar tool of a paper machine when the fibrous web constitutes a sufficiently consolidated, fully formed wet web. Papers made in accordance with the inventive method, when subjected to the Circulation Simulation Test, showed minimal damage at the paper/security device interface. Moreover, the surface-applied security devices showed acceptable levels of intaglio ink adhesion, and the papers had higher cross-direction (CD) tensile strength and much less show-through on opposing sides thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2016
    Publication date: August 11, 2016
    Applicant: Crane & Co., Inc.
    Inventors: Giles D. Prett, Manish Jain, Kraig M. Brigham
  • Publication number: 20160216726
    Abstract: A force-sense-imparting operation device including a stationary section, a rotating section, and an operation member. One of the stationary section and the rotating section includes an excitation coil and a first magnetic pole section, and the other includes a second magnetic pole section capable of opposition to the first magnetic pole section in a specific opposing direction. The first magnetic pole section forms a magnetic circuit with the first magnetic pole section due to the second magnetic pole section being excited in a state that the second magnetic pole section opposes the first magnetic pole section. The magnetic circuit encircles a periphery of the excitation coil on the cross section, the second magnetic pole section being arranged to separate from the first magnetic pole section with rotation of the rotating section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2014
    Publication date: July 28, 2016
    Applicants: Kabushiki Kaisha Kobe Seiko Sho (Kobe Steel, Ltd.), KOBELCO CRANES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Koji INOUE, Takashi HIEKATA, Tatsurou ASANO
  • Publication number: 20160131059
    Abstract: An exhaust gas purification control device includes an engine, an actuator using the engine as a driving source, an operation unit used by an operator to operate the actuator or the engine, an operation detector detecting whether or not the operation unit is being operated, a purification device for capturing soot in exhaust gas of the engine, an accumulation amount detector detecting an accumulation amount of the soot captured by the purification device, a regeneration unit for performing an regenerating operation of regenerating the purification device by burning the soot captured by the purification device, and a controller controlling the regenerating operation. The controller switches a control from a control of prioritizing an operation by the operation unit to a control of prioritizing the regenerating operation in a stepwise manner as the accumulation amount of the soot detected by the accumulation amount detector increases.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 27, 2014
    Publication date: May 12, 2016
    Applicant: KOBELCO CRANES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshiki TSURUMI, Shintaro SASAI, Koichi SHIMOMURA, Takahiro HANAMOTO, Hitoshi SAKURAI
  • Patent number: 9333787
    Abstract: An optical device projecting one or more synthetically magnified images that has been laser marked with one or more static two dimensional (2D) images is provided. The static 2D image(s) laser marked on or within this device and the synthetically magnified image(s) projected by this device help determine the authenticity of a document (e.g., passport data page) or product that employs it. Several embodiments of the inventive device also offer increased resistance to tampering or alteration and wear.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignees: Visual Physics, LLC, Crane & Co., Inc., Crane AB
    Inventors: Samuel M. Cape, Jonathan D. Gosnell, Kaj Markkus Helminen, Gregory R. Jordan, Scott K. Palm, Giles D. Prett, Timothy W. Schneider, Anthony J. Zucchero
  • Patent number: 9316236
    Abstract: Provided is a hydraulic driving apparatus for a working machine, preventing an excessive decrease in pressure on a meter-in side and moving a load at a stable speed in a lowering direction. The apparatus comprises: a hydraulic pump; a hydraulic actuator; a manipulation device; a working hydraulic circuit including a meter-in flow passage and a meter-out flow passage; a control valve for changing a state of supply of hydraulic fluid to drive the hydraulic actuator at a speed designated by the manipulation device; a meter-in flow adjuster and a meter-out flow adjuster adapted to adjust a meter-in flow rate and meter-in flow rate respectively to respective value corresponding to the speed designated by the manipulation device; and a relief valve. The meter-in and meter-out flow adjusters have respective flow adjustment characteristics such that the meter-in flow rate is greater than the meter-out flow rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignees: KOBELCO CRANES CO., LTD., Kobe Steel, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroo Kondo, Takaharu Michida, Katsuki Yamagata, Naoto Hori, Naoya Kitazumi, Satoshi Maekawa, Naoki Sugano
  • Patent number: 9206021
    Abstract: Provided is a crane which comprises a luffing jib including a lower jib and an upper jib coupled to the lower jib in such a manner as to be separable from the lower jib, the lower jib is attached to a head of a boom to have a laid-down posture at a position between the boom and a strut when the upper jib is separated from the lower jib, when the boom is lowered and laid down to allow the head of the boom to come into contact with a ground and when the strut is lowered and laid down to allow a distal end of the strut to come into contact with the ground, and the lower jib has a length which causes no interference with the strut when the lower jib has the laid-down posture at the position between the boom and the strut.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: KOBELCO CRANES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hitoshi Kurotsu, Teppei Maedo, Eiji Miya, Keiko Inada
  • Patent number: 9187297
    Abstract: Provided is an apparatus to lower a load, comprising a hydraulic pump, a hydraulic actuator having first and second ports, a manipulation device, a hydraulic circuit including meter-in and meter-out flow passages for the first and second ports respectively and a regeneration flow passage with a check valve, a control valve, a meter-out flow controller adjusting a meter-out flow rate according to the manipulation device, a back pressure valve, and a non-regeneration operation relief valve whose set pressure is not less than a sum of a minimum set pressure of the back pressure valve, an inlet-outlet pressure difference of the meter-out flow controller when the meter-out flow rate is maximum and a discharge flow rate of the hydraulic pump is maximum, and an actuator pressure difference for driving the hydraulic actuator with no load, and not less than a maximum set pressure of the back pressure valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2015
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOBE SEIKO SHO, KOBELCO CRANES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Naoki Sugano, Satoshi Maekawa, Katsuki Yamagata, Takaharu Michida, Hiroo Kondo, Naoya Kitazumi, Naoto Hori
  • Patent number: 9181070
    Abstract: Provided is an apparatus provided in a working machine to lower a load, comprising a hydraulic pump, a hydraulic actuator, a manipulation device having a manipulation member, a meter-in flow control device, a meter-out flow control device, a back pressure valve, a regeneration fluid passage branched from the meter-out fluid passage at a position upstream of the back pressure valve and merged with the meter-in fluid passage, and a check valve. The meter-in flow control device controls a meter-in flow rate in a region of the meter-in fluid passage upstream of a merging point with the regeneration fluid passage. The meter-out flow control device controls a meter-out flow rate in a region of the meter-out fluid passage upstream of a branching point of the regeneration fluid passage so as to make the meter-out flow rate be greater than the meter-in flow rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2015
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOBE SEIKO SHO, KOBELCO CRANES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Naoki Sugano, Satoshi Maekawa, Katsuki Yamagata, Takaharu Michida, Hiroo Kondo, Naoya Kitazumi, Naoto Hori
  • Patent number: 9139404
    Abstract: Disclosed is a raisable-lowerable member which comprises a boom and a jib. The boom comprises a first supporting portion configured to rotatably support a jib foot when the jib is set in a protruding posture; and a second supporting portion configured to rotatably support a supportable portion of the jib when the jib is set in an enfolded posture. A position adjusting and holding unit of the jib is configured to couple, to the frame, a specific site of the second link in such a manner that a relative position of the second link with respect to the frame in a rotational direction of the second link is adjustably changed to allow the rotational axis of the second joint portion to become coincident with the rotational axis of the jib foot, and to hold the second link at the changed relative position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: KOBELCO CRANES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Keiko Inada, Hitoshi Kurotsu, Daisuke Takaoka, Yasuo Ichikawa, Eiji Miya
  • Patent number: 9085445
    Abstract: A winch braking device includes: a brake; a brake pedal; a reaction force-imparting element that imparts a reaction force to the brake pedal; a rotation link that rotates by interlocking with the foot operation at the brake pedal; a brake valve linked to the rotation link, that applies a secondary pressure to the brake in response to the foot operation at the brake pedal; and a tension spring, with one end thereof attached to the vehicle body at a predetermined position and another end thereof attached to the rotation link, that applies a force to the brake pedal along a direction opposite a direction of the foot operation. As the foot operation is performed at the brake pedal, the tension spring extends and a shortest distance between a rotational center of the rotation link and a central axis of the tension spring becomes smaller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: Hitachi Sumitomo Heavy Industries Construction Crane Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tadashi Miyazaki
  • Publication number: 20150152602
    Abstract: The invention generally relates to a security sheet or document having one or more enhanced watermarks. In one exemplary embodiment, the inventive security sheet or document is a single-ply paper that is made up of a paper layer including one or more watermarks, and a micro-optic security device (e.g., a patch or thread) that at least partially covers an upper or face portion of the watermark(s). The overlying patch or thread increases the durability of the watermark(s), thereby allowing for the watermark(s) as well as reduced fiber density areas therein to be made larger, and further allowing for the reduced fiber density areas to be made thinner. In a preferred embodiment, the micro-optic security device projects one or more synthetic images that coordinate or link in with the watermark design(s). In a more preferred embodiment, the micro-optic security device offers a machine detectable/readable feature in the form of enhanced IR-brightness, especially when measured in transmission.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2014
    Publication date: June 4, 2015
    Applicants: CRANE & CO., INC., CRANE SECURITY TECHNOLOGIES, INC., CRANE AB
    Inventors: William Blake, Jeffrey Boody, Kraig M. Brigham, James Callahan, Paul F. Cote, Michael Darroch, Manish Jain, Karin Mörck Hamilton, Giles D. Prett
  • Patent number: 9030165
    Abstract: An operating machine includes: a charging time estimation unit that estimates a first estimated charging time required to restore a capacity of a first battery from a first estimated residual capacity to a target capacity value of the first battery and a second estimated charging time required to restore a capacity of a second battery from a second estimated residual capacity to a target capacity value of the second battery; a capacity management implementation unit that implements capacity management on the first battery and the second battery such that the first battery is charged for the first estimated charging time and the second battery is charged for the second estimated charging time; and a discharge amount limitation unit for limiting a discharge amount of the second battery during an idling stop so that a residual capacity of the second battery after discharge is maintained at or above a set value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Kobelco Cranes Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroaki Kawai, Koichi Shimomura, Hideaki Ishihara, Shintaro Sasai
  • Patent number: 8960461
    Abstract: Disclosed is a crane comprising: a lower body; an upper slewing body; a counterweight unit including a plurality of wheels to travel on the ground in a turning direction equal to a slewing direction of the upper slewing body while being suspended from the upper slewing body; a steering actuator for rotating each of the wheels around a steering-rotation center axis to change the steering angle; and a steering control device for controlling the steering actuator. The steering control device includes: a slewing-identification-signal receiving section which receives a slewing identification signal for identification of the slewing direction of the upper slewing body; and an actuator operating section operates the steering actuator to orient each of the wheels to the inside of a tangent line to an orbit of the wheel at the steering-rotation center axis, based on the identified slewing direction identified from the slewing identification signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Kobelco Cranes Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mitsuo Kakeya, Kazuyuki Miyazaki
  • Patent number: 8936167
    Abstract: A crane includes a limiting device to limit a raising/lowering angle of the mast during suspending work to be equal to or less than an upper limit angle which is less than a value of the raising/lowering angle when the mast extends vertically; a release device into which a release instruction for causing the limiting device to release the limitation on the raising/lowering angle of the mast is input; and a first detection section adapted to detect that the mast support device is at an overhanging position where the mast support device pushes up and sets the mast in the work posture. The limiting device is operable whenever the first detection section does not detect that the mast support device is at the overhanging position, even if the release instruction is input into the release device, to prohibit the mast from being tilted rearward beyond the upper limit angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2015
    Assignee: Kobelco Cranes Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideaki Ishihara, Shintaro Sasai
  • Patent number: 8930094
    Abstract: A control device for a hydraulic winch includes: a hydraulic source; a variable-displacement hydraulic motor; a winch operation member; an accelerator operation quantity detection unit; an engine control unit; a rotation speed detection unit; a line pull detection unit; a condition decision unit; and a motor displacement control unit, wherein: once the condition decision unit decides that the fuel-efficient, high-speed operation condition has been established, the engine control unit sets an upper limit to the engine rotation speed at a predetermined rotation speed, lower than the maximum rotation speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Hitachi Sumitomo Heavy Industries Construction Crane Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Koji Torii
  • Patent number: 8887933
    Abstract: A counterweight suspension device includes a pair of suspension cylinders that suspends a counterweight and that are hung from first and second hanging points provided separately in a left and right direction at a top end of a rear mast. A coupling member couples cylinder rod ends of the pair with each other. A lifting member lifts the counterweight. First and second connection points of the counterweight are connected with each of the cylinder rod ends, with the first and the second connection points provided separately in the left and right direction on the counterweight for attaching the lifting member to the counterweight. A first communication circuit is provided through which rod chambers of the suspension cylinders communicate with each other. A second communication circuit is provided through which bottom chambers of the suspension cylinders communicate with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2014
    Assignee: Hitachi Sumitomo Heavy Industries Construction Crane Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Akira Hanahara
  • Patent number: 8875829
    Abstract: Provided is a construction machine, wherein an upper slewing body comprises a slewing frame and first and second power units, and wherein the second power unit comprises a second engine, a second controller to control driving of the second engine, a second hydraulic oil tank, a second hydraulic pump configured to be driven by the second engine to thereby suck hydraulic oil from the second hydraulic oil tank and discharge the hydraulic oil toward a hydraulic actuator, a second fuel tank configured to store fuel, and a second support member supporting the second engine, the second hydraulic oil tank, the second hydraulic pump and the second fuel tank, and wherein the second support member is configured to be attachable and detachable with respect to the slewing frame independently of a first support member of the first power unit, and the second hydraulic pump is detachably connected to the hydraulic actuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2014
    Assignee: Kobelco Cranes Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomohiko Asakage, Hironori Takenaka
  • Publication number: 20140291267
    Abstract: A cylinder retraction system causes a crawler side frame hoisting hydraulic cylinder, swingably suspended on a ventral surface side of a lower boom, to swing between a retracted attitude, in which the hydraulic cylinder is set along a ventral surface of the lower boom, and an operating attitude in which the hydraulic cylinder is oriented along a vertical direction. As the rod of the hydraulic cylinder, currently having the operating attitude, is contracted by a predetermined extent, the rod front end of the hydraulic cylinder is guided by the guiding portion until the hydraulic cylinder takes on the retracted attitude. As the hydraulic cylinder, currently having the retracted attitude, is extended by a predetermined extent, engagement between the rod front end of the hydraulic cylinder and the guiding portion is released so as to allow the hydraulic cylinder to take on the operating attitude.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2014
    Publication date: October 2, 2014
    Applicant: Hitachi Sumitomo Heavy Industries Construction Crane Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomoaki YAMASHITA
  • Publication number: 20140263140
    Abstract: Disclosed is a raisable-lowerable member which comprises a boom and a jib. The boom comprises a first supporting portion configured to rotatably support a jib foot when the jib is set in a protruding posture; and a second supporting portion configured to rotatably support a supportable portion of the jib when the jib is set in an enfolded posture. A position adjusting and holding unit of the jib is configured to couple, to the frame, a specific site of the second link in such a manner that a relative position of the second link with respect to the frame in a rotational direction of the second link is adjustably changed to allow the rotational axis of the second joint portion to become coincident with the rotational axis of the jib foot, and to hold the second link at the changed relative position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2014
    Publication date: September 18, 2014
    Applicant: KOBELCO CRANES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Keiko INADA, Hitoshi KUROTSU, Daisuke TAKAOKA, Yasuo ICHIKAWA, Eiji MIYA
  • Patent number: 8827091
    Abstract: [PROBLEMS] To provide a rotating frame of an upper rotating body such that total productivity can be improved, the cost can be reduced, and model change can be facilitated. [MEANS FOR SOLVING PROBLEMS] Many models having different lifting capacities are divided into a plurality of classes each including a plurality of models. A rotating frame 17 is determined on the basis of the model having the largest lifting capacity in each class. An upper rotating body is constructed using the rotating frame 17 as the base. In addition, each of winches 5 to 7 is mounted on the rotating frame by using a mounting structure standardized in the same class. On the other hand, left and right deck frames 18 and 19 are divided into sections on which different pieces of equipment are mounted, and the sections are separately attached to the rotating frame 17.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Kobelco Cranes Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shozo Yokoyama, Tomohiko Murata, Kenji Onuki, Hirohito Sato, Kunio Wakamatsu, Shinji Goto, Yutaka Kobayashi, Eiji Miya