Patents Examined by B. A. Reynolds
  • Patent number: 4462019
    Abstract: A photosensitive semiconductor resistor has a monocrystalline semiconductor body of one conductivity type which, on two oppositely located surfaces, is provided with an anode contact and with a cathode contact, and is constructed so that the cathode contact is a highly doped zone of the same conductivity type as the semiconductor body. The semiconductor body can be exposed to photon radiation at its surface supporting the cathode contact and the area of the anode contact is at least 1000 times larger than the area of the cathode contact. Such a photosensitive semiconductor resistor is easy to manufacture and has both a low inertia and a good sensitivity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 1982
    Date of Patent: July 24, 1984
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation
    Inventors: Helmut Ewaldt, Gerhard Raabe, Heinz Sauermann, Rainer Burmeister
  • Patent number: 4461948
    Abstract: The invention is an improved collet design for arc welding torches. The collet tip is asymmetrically tapered. The collet tip bears on the interior surface of an adjacent sleeve which is appropriately flared in the rearward direction so as to receive the tapered collet tip. The sleeve also has an opening through which the electrode passes. The asymmetry of the collet-sleeve interaction causes the collet to be laterally displaced thereby gripping the electrode between the collet and the sleeve opening.The improved collet also includes a spring fastener means for connecting the rear end of the collet to the back cap of the torch head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 1981
    Date of Patent: July 24, 1984
    Inventor: Donald R. Watts
  • Patent number: 4459449
    Abstract: Disclosed is a cooking apparatus having operating keys for selecting a cooking menu, a display device having a number of display cards each inscribed with a cooking menu, and a rotatable member having the display cards swingingly secured along its periphery. The display cards are successively turned to successively change the displayed menu according to the rotation of the rotatable member. The cooking apparatus further has drive means for rotating the rotatable member, control means for controlling the drive means to rotate to the position determined by the signal from the operating keys. The apparatus further comprises heating device for heating items to be cooked, and means for operating the heating device according to a sequence corresponding to the cooking menu displayed on the displaying device by the signal from the operating keys.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 1982
    Date of Patent: July 10, 1984
    Assignee: Tokyo Shibaura Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hidetoshi Hirata
  • Patent number: 4459463
    Abstract: A relatively inexpensive electric soldering iron and handle structure can be constructed so as to be relatively simple to assemble by utilizing cooperating holding elements within a tubular handle to form a holder. This holder serves to support or hold a socket adapted to support a heating element and a cord retainer in place within the handle. The holder is in turn held in place within the handle through the use of cooperating detent elements on both the holder and on the handle. The parts of the soldering handle structure are dimensioned so that the parts previously identified can be inserted as a unit into the handle through one end of the handle as the cord is withdrawn outwardly from the other end of the handle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 1981
    Date of Patent: July 10, 1984
    Assignee: Eldon Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: Alvis R. Knowles
  • Patent number: 4458135
    Abstract: In a compact tool for automatic MAG spot welding, all of the elements are located close to the welding zone and a single set of props both support the articles to be welded and provide a negative electrical current contact. A welding head is slidably supported upon a base which is connected to a robot arm by quick release couplings. The base further supports a welding wire reel and brake while the head supports the torch and a welding wire drive device. Props on either side of the welding zone press the article to be welded and provide negative electrical current contact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 1982
    Date of Patent: July 3, 1984
    Assignee: Regie Nationale des Usines Renault
    Inventors: Michel Guichard, Alain Jouaire
  • Patent number: 4456818
    Abstract: A yarn heater for a running length of yarn which has a plurality of tubes mounted adjacent a resistance heater to heat air under pressure passing through the plurality of tubes. The tubes are connected to a hollow yarn tube and are located therein to blow the heated air therefrom onto a yarn passing through the hollow tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 1981
    Date of Patent: June 26, 1984
    Assignee: Milliken Research Corporation
    Inventors: John K. McCollough, William M. Pascoe, Sr.
  • Patent number: 4456806
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for preheating to a predetermined temperature an elastomer product, such as a green tire, in preparation for vulcanization. The elastomer product is placed in a lateral posture on a rotatable table within a preheating chamber. While rotating the elastomer product, a high frequency wave irradiation is intermittently applied toward the upper surface of the elastomer product through a first waveguide. Simultaneously, additional high frequency wave irradiation is intermittently applied onto side portions of the elastomer product through at least one horn member coupled through a corresponding waveguide. The horn member is positioned such that it can be moved vertically or pivoted angularly. The temperature is measured in both a radial and circumferential direction of the elastomer product and maintained uniform during heating by varying the irradiation accordingly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 1982
    Date of Patent: June 26, 1984
    Assignee: Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Toshio Arimatsu
  • Patent number: 4456803
    Abstract: A conductor is installed along a Vee-angle part of a tube to be welded for producing an electric welded tube by high frequency resistance or induction welding. The conductor is set closely above the Vee-angle part. A high-frequency current having about the same phase as a phase of a high-frequency current for welding is supplied to the conductor. This controls the distribution of the current density on mating surfaces of Vee-angle part so that the welding current does not concentrate in the upper and lower edges of the tube, thus making uniform the current density and heating in the Vee-angle part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 1982
    Date of Patent: June 26, 1984
    Assignees: Nippon Kokan Kabushiki Kaisha, Nichiden Koshuha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Fumio Kaneda, Tadahiro Maeike
  • Patent number: 4456819
    Abstract: An adjustable welding furnace includes a gimbal-mounted furnace housing within which a workpiece may be preheated and subsequently welded. A removable cover is mounted over an access opening in the housing for pivotal movement along either of two edges of the opening. A rotatable spit assembly, which may be mounted in any of several positions on the housing, suspends the workpiece within the housing for rotation independent of pivotal movement of the housing. A drawer-mounted heating assembly may be easily removed from the housing for servicing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 1981
    Date of Patent: June 26, 1984
    Inventor: Thomas B. Ballard
  • Patent number: 4455473
    Abstract: The electronic circuit of a laundry iron comprises at least one heat-generating element such as a triac or a dropping resistor. The heat dissipator comprises a tubular metallic casing which contains the electronic circuit and is housed within the handle of the laundry iron. The internal cross-section of the handle is similar in shape to the external cross-section of the tubular casing and a thermal bond is provided between the casing and the handle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 1982
    Date of Patent: June 19, 1984
    Assignee: SEB S.A.
    Inventor: Pierre Schwob
  • Patent number: 4455475
    Abstract: The invention relates to an automatic device for quick heating of liquids, particularly water, which device includes at least two containers having conduits for supplying cold water and provided each with heating means, a tank into which warm water is alternatively supplied from outlets of the single containers, first control means for alternatively actuating said outlets, second control means sensitive to the pressure within said tank for connecting or disconnecting said heating means and third control means sensitive to the depression within one of said containers for disengaging said heating means and said first control means of the outlets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 1982
    Date of Patent: June 19, 1984
    Assignee: Pier Francesco Talenti
    Inventor: Aldo Giorgetti
  • Patent number: 4455476
    Abstract: A switch unit for an electric kettle or other heating apparatus which is easy to assemble and repair. The switch unit includes a steam responsive mechanism 18 which is mounted on a body 80 which is in turn mounted by an adjustable clamp 31, 35 on a head part 32 of an immersion heater 12 so that the steam responsive mechanism can be moved relative to the immersion heater 12 for alignment with a handle 11 and steam vent 33. The switch unit includes a second assembly 16 which is mounted in a socket in the heating element 12 independently of the first assembly. In a preferred embodiment the first assembly and the cover 15 are designed to allow the second assembly including the switch contacts and electrical connections to be removed from the kettle without disturbing the steam responsive meachanism 18 or the cover 15.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 1981
    Date of Patent: June 19, 1984
    Assignee: D. H. Haden Limited
    Inventor: Denis H. Haden
  • Patent number: 4455478
    Abstract: A portable unit for heating packages containing pre-cooked cold food, the unit acting to rapidly heat up the food to a service temperature level and to thereafter maintain this level. The unit includes a case having a rack therein divided by shelves into a series of compartments, each adapted to receive a food package. Standing vertically behind the rack is an air modulator including a stationary outer tube having a series of longitudinally-aligned ports communicating with the respective compartments. Rotating within the outer tube is an inner tube having a series of angularly-displaced holes which successively register with the ports in the course of a rotary cycle. Air drawn from the free region in the front of the rack is conveyed through a heater station and from there blown into the inner tube to create a pressure differential between the free region and the inner tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 1982
    Date of Patent: June 19, 1984
    Assignee: Sunset Ltd.
    Inventor: Raul Guibert
  • Patent number: 4455469
    Abstract: A method of and apparatus for electroerosively machining a 3-dimensional cavity in a workpiece with a slender, preferably tubular and continuous, tool electrode whose contour is generally independent in shape of the desired cavity. A horn-type sonic or ultrasonic assembly or a motor-driven mechanical reciprocation unit is used to laterally oscillate the slender electrode to cause the machining tip portion thereof to oscillatorily move at a rate of movement, preferably in excess of 5 m/minute, substantially in a plane normal to the electrode axis. The machining liquid is pumped into the tubular electrode and delivered therethrough into the machining gap at a pressure in excess of 10 kg/cm.sup.2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 1981
    Date of Patent: June 19, 1984
    Assignee: Inoue-Japax Research Incorporated
    Inventor: Kiyoshi Inoue
  • Patent number: 4454408
    Abstract: An electric power supply in pulse form is applied between a welding electrode and workpieces. The temperature of a molten pool is measured by a radiation-type thermometer when no power supply pulse is applied, and the welding condition is controlled in response to an output signal of the radiation-type thermometer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 1981
    Date of Patent: June 12, 1984
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryoichi Kajiwara, Satoshi Kokura, Yuzo Kozono, Akira Onuma
  • Patent number: 4454405
    Abstract: In a welding procedure for joining of adjacent, possibly partially enclosed metal components, such as pipe sections, wherein the welding procedure can be of a gas tungsten arc type such as a heli-arc type, or similar process, and wherein oxidation of metal frequently occurs within the components at the joinder point due to presence of oxygen in the region of weld during the welding procedure; introducing under pressure and at least initially pressure blowing, at a relatively high pressure, an inert gas into the interior of the components in a substantial swirling and interior surface wiping motion. The inert gas is blown through the components, from the entry end, beyond the weld region to rapidly, and substantially completely remove from the interior and weld region, any oxygen or other possible deleterious gas or material. Subsequently a lower pressure introduction of gas will serve to maintain the interior free of oxygen and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 1982
    Date of Patent: June 12, 1984
    Inventor: Thomas C. Riley
  • Patent number: 4454402
    Abstract: A die-welding apparatus for connecting a tube body formed of a composite material having a plastic layer and a metallic layer including a die formed of a non-ferrous metal and having a radial slot and a hollow induction coil having one turn electrically conductively connected to the die, but which does not electrically bridge the slot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 1981
    Date of Patent: June 12, 1984
    Assignee: Automation Industrielle SA
    Inventors: Engelbert Sander, Rudolf Jeker
  • Patent number: 4453151
    Abstract: A semiconductor gas sensor for use in equipment for detecting small amounts of H.sub.2 S. The method of sensor fabrication comprises spray deposition of a mixture of metal oxides mixed together with various metal and non-metal materials which serve in the finished product as activators, dopants, and/or film binder materials, and including in suspension a molecular sieve material, for enhancing and defining porosity on a scale of molecular dimensions in the finished sensor. All of the foregoing materials are suspended in a suitable solution and preferably sprayed onto a heated insulating substrate to form the finished product. The example sensor, capable of selective detection of H.sub.2 S in air and a sensitivity of less than 1 PPM (part per million), is comprised of a platinum activated alumina, tin oxide, and zeolite molecular sieve material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1982
    Date of Patent: June 5, 1984
    Inventors: David J. Leary, James O. Barnes
  • Patent number: 4453064
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a turntable in a combination microwave and electric oven wherein a sheath heater is disposed between the turntable and a bottom wall of the oven cavity. The turntable is made of an enameled metal plate to ensure stable, or, uniform cooking in both of the microwave cooking mode and electric cooking mode. In a preferred form, openings are formed in the enameled metal turntable to stir the microwave energy during the microwave cooking mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 1979
    Date of Patent: June 5, 1984
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Munemitsu Toyoda, Koichiro Adachi
  • Patent number: 4453066
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for thawing a frozen food by high frequency heating. The thawing process is divided into at least four stages of execution. A high frequency wave output is predetermined for each stage, and the execution time of each stage is automatically computed by a function stored in a microcomputer with the weight of the food stuff as a parameter. The use of a plurality of stages provides a faster and satisfactory method of thawing the frozen food stuff.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 1982
    Date of Patent: June 5, 1984
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Fumiko Mori