Patents Assigned to U.S.A. Dept. of Agriculture
  • Patent number: 5855270
    Abstract: A fruit or other produce orienting device, particularly suited for orienting apples, orients a piece of fruit with its stem axis horizontal so that it can undergo quality inspections. The device employs a cylindrical drive roller which engages the fruit on one side, and causes it to rotate, and a pair of freely rotating orienting rollers which engage the fruit across from the drive roller, and cause the fruit to achieve the desired orientation as it rotates. The first orienting roller is cone shaped with a tapered flat or concave surface so that it will steer the fruit toward the second, opposing roller, which has a thin disk shaped portion with a front surface that engages the fruit. The front surface of the disk shaped portion tends to align itself with the flat edge of the fruit at its stem or calyx end, and this causes the rotating fruit to be oriented quickly with its stem axis parallel to the roller axes, and then maintains the fruit in the correct orientation once it is achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 5, 1999
    Assignees: Cornell Research Foundation, Inc., U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
    Inventors: James A. Throop, Daniel J. Aneshansley, Bruce L. Upchurch
  • Patent number: 5279960
    Abstract: A cloned gene or fragment thereof encodes antigenic proteins that bind with a monoclonal or polyvalent antibody that is directed against an antigenic protein of avian coccidia.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 1992
    Date of Patent: January 18, 1994
    Assignees: Enzon Corp., U.S.A. Dept. of Agriculture
    Inventors: David M. Anderson, Russell J. McCandliss, Susan L. Strausberg, Robert L. Strausberg, Michael D. Ruff, Harry D. Danforth, Patricia C. Augustine
  • Patent number: 5273901
    Abstract: This invention relates to novel recombinant antigenic proteins of avian coccidiosis, and fragments thereof containing antigenic determinants, and to the genes that encode the antigenic peptides. This invention also relates to vaccines made using the novel antigenic proteins of avian coccidiosis and to methods of immunizing chickens against avian coccidia.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 1990
    Date of Patent: December 28, 1993
    Assignees: Enzon Corp., U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
    Inventors: James W. Jacobson, Robert L. Strausberg, Susan D. Wilson, Sharon H. Pope, Susan L. Strausberg, Michael D. Ruff, Patricia C. Augustine, Harry D. Danforth