Patents Examined by Bernard Pianalto
  • Patent number: 6649224
    Abstract: A method of applying a coating to a surface of a substrate, comprising the steps of: introducing a substrate into an atmosphere which consists of at least one chemically reactive compound, water and at least one of nitrogen and argon, and thereafter using a corona discharge on the surface of the substrate to form a coating from the reactive compound having an inhibiting effect on the permeability to vapor and/or gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2003
    Assignee: Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek TNO
    Inventors: Marius Pieter de Goeje, Peter Hillebrand de Haan, Gerardus Titus van Heck
  • Patent number: 6645570
    Abstract: In a surface treatment method of treating the surface of a material to be treated, by irradiating with light the material to be treated and a mediating material in contact with each other, the mediating material itself causes substantially no interaction upon irradiation with light. The surface of the material to be treated is treated by provision of a chemical reaction field, in which a substituent of the material to be treated and an atom of atomic group of the mediating material is induced by excitation, by irradiating with light by using the logical product of the contact interface between the material to be treated and the mediating material and the light irradiation region, thereby causing and progressing bonded state transition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Jun Koide
  • Patent number: 6638579
    Abstract: A paper machine substrate modified to resist contamination by adhesive materials. The paper machine substrate includes: a paper machine substrate; and an active agent that is grafted to the surface of the paper machine substrate to lower the surface energy of the paper machine substrate so that the substrate resists contamination by adhesive material. The papermachine substrate may be made by a process that includes the steps of: providing a paper machine substrate; applying an active agent to the paper machine substrate; and exposing the paper machine substrate to greater than about 2 million rads (Mrad) of radiation to cause a reaction between the active agent and the substrate so the active agent becomes joined to the substrate. The active agent may be a fluorinated monomer, a fluorinated polymer, a perfluorinated polymers, or a polyalkyl siloxane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2003
    Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventors: Russell Frederick Ross, Ali Yahiaoui
  • Patent number: 6632479
    Abstract: A spray system and a spraying method for coating liquids. An accessory liquid (10) wets the front, external surface's terminal zone (8) of the spray system (2) discharging the spray jet (6) of coating liquid, for instance the front terminal zone of the external periphery of a rotating atomizing bell (4), in order to prevent drying and layering of coating liquid (10) precipitated on the external surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2003
    Assignee: ITW Oberflachentechnik GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Ronald Steiger
  • Patent number: 6632473
    Abstract: A raw material mixed solution containing nitrate or alkoxide of metal that constitutes a ferrite is sprayed from an atomizer by means of a carrier gas such as compressed air onto a substrate mounted on a hot plate and heated to a predetermined temperature. The method enables a thin film having a desired thickness to be formed by a simple apparatus in a short time without sacrificing good soft magnetism of a ferrite, thereby greatly contributing to downsizing and weight reduction of electronic devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2003
    Assignee: Minebea Co. Ltd.
    Inventors: Shoji Kaneko, Akio Takayama
  • Patent number: 6630209
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a coated optical fiber including the step of determining a desired temperature operating range of a coated optical fiber having at least one critical limit. The intercoating delamination stresses at the critical limit of said temperature range are determined. A zero-stress temperature region using the critical limit and the delamination stresses is then selected. An optical fiber is provided and the optical fiber is coated with a first polymer coating. The first polymer coating is exposed to a source of actinic radiation, wherein the source of actinic radiation generates heat. A second polymer coating including a photopolymerizable composition is applied to the optical fiber directly on the first polymer coating. The second polymer coating is cured, where at the time the second polymer coating is cured the first polymer coating is at the zero-stress temperature region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2003
    Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
    Inventors: Thomas Martin Lynch, Brian Kenneth Nelson, James Craig Novack, James Robert Onstott
  • Patent number: 6627254
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium, comprises steps of providing a non-magnetic substrate for a magnetic medium, the substrate including at least one major surface having a contact start/stop (CSS) or landing zone and a data zone; and forming a pattern of recesses in the substrate surface in said CSS or landing zone by embossing utilizing a stamper having a surface including a negative image pattern of said pattern of recesses. Embodiments of the invention include magnetic media comprising a non-magnetic substrate including at least one major surface having a contact start/stop (CSS) or landing zone and a data zone, said substrate surface in said CSS or landing zone comprising an embossed pattern of recesses. In addition, the data zone of the substrate surface may include an embossed servo pattern formed simultaneously with the embossed pattern of recesses formed in the landing zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2003
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: James Edward Angelo, Mukund Channagiri Rao, Alexei Hiram Sacks, Timothy Francis Ellis, David Kuo, Serge Jacques Fayeulle
  • Patent number: 6627255
    Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a magnetic recording medium which has a high level of magnetic antisotropy energy, retains stably the state of recording magnetization within the operating temperature range and is suitable for high-density recording with a low noise level, and a magnetic storage device for the magnetic recording medium. For attaining the above object, the magnetic recording film of the magnetic recording medium is characterized in that its magnetic anisotropy energy constant Ku at an absolute temperature of 300 K is greater than 3.6×106 erg/cc and the average particle diameter is larger than 5 nm and smaller than 12 nm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2003
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Nobuyuki Inaba, Tomoo Yamamoto, Teruaki Takeuchi, Masukazu Igarashi, Yoshio Takahashi
  • Patent number: 6627261
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for coating a moving paper web (2), in which method the web (2) to be coated is passed to a coater station and the coating is applied to at least one surface of the moving web (2) by means of spraying nozzles (1) disposed in the interior of an enclosing hood (9). The web (2) is supported noncontactingly by means of air jets directed toward at least one side of the web (2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2003
    Assignee: Metso Paper, Inc.
    Inventors: Mika Vähäkuopus, Vilho Nissinen, Seppo Luomi
  • Patent number: 6627266
    Abstract: A method of painting a product in a production painting facility includes the steps of selecting a hue and a chroma corresponding to the hue. The production painting facility utilizes a plurality of base paints that are mixable to constitute the hue and chroma selected. The base paints are pumped to a blending device in a ratio determined to be necessary to formulate the hue and chroma selected. The base paints are blended in the blending device according to the predetermined ratio forming a secondary paint having the hue and chroma previously selected. The secondary paint is delivered to a paint applicator such as an atomizer bell or an equivalent and is applied to the product being painted. The base paints are mixed at the production facility to create a virtually limitless number of secondary paint colors with only a limited number of base paints.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2003
    Assignee: Behr Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark E. Dion
  • Patent number: 6623788
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium comprises steps of providing a non-magnetic substrate for a magnetic recording medium, the substrate including at least one major surface; forming a layer of a sol-gel on the at least one major surface; forming a pattern, e.g., a servo pattern in an exposed surface of the layer of said sol-gel; and converting the layer of sol-gel to a glass or glass-like layer while preserving the pattern in an exposed surface of said glass or glass-like layer. Embodiments of the invention include magnetic media including a patterned glass or glass-like layer formed from a layer of a hydrophilic sol-gel with the pattern embossed therein by means of a stamper having a hydrophilic surface including a negative image of the pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2003
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Hong Ying Wang, Neil Deeman, Gene Gauzner
  • Patent number: 6623789
    Abstract: A first thin film including at least one transition metal selected from the group consisting of Co, Fe and Ni, and a second thin film including at least one platinum group element selected from the group consisting of Pt and Pd are prepared. Then, a multilayered structure where said first thin film and said second thin film are stacked is formed. Then, the multilayered structure is heated at the same time or after the formation of said multilayered structure, thereby to counter-diffuse constituent elements of said first thin film and said second thin film and alloy said at least one transition metal and said platinum group element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2003
    Assignee: Tohoku University
    Inventors: Yutaka Shimada, Osamu Kitakami, Satoshi Okamoto, Tomoaki Sakurai
  • Patent number: 6620247
    Abstract: A method of forming a thin polycrystalline silicon film and a thin film forming apparatus allowing inexpensive formation of a thin polycrystalline silicon film at a relatively low temperature with high productivity. More specifically, a method of forming a thin polycrystalline silicon film and a thin film forming apparatus in which a state of plasma is controlled to achieve an emission intensity ratio of hydrogen atom radicals (H&bgr;) of one or more to the emission intensity of SiH* radicals in the plasma.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2003
    Assignee: Nissin Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akinori Ebe, Naoto Kuratani, Eiji Takahashi
  • Patent number: 6620464
    Abstract: Construction substrates that have one or more coatings are disclosed. In one embodiment the coating is an adhesive mixture that is magnetically induced to attract a magnetic template. The template that is magnetic or magnetically attracted, that is applied to a construction substrate, is used to create a pattern when a subsequent coating is applied to the substrate. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope of meaning of the claims.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2003
    Assignee: Vincor
    Inventor: Vincent Sciandra
  • Patent number: 6616975
    Abstract: A fabric paint delivery system includes a container storing fabric paint under nitrogen pressure, the container having an opening for discharge of the paint therethrough; a valve operative for receiving the paint from the opening; a trigger assembly having a nozzle operative for discharging the paint received from the container through the valve, the trigger assembly having a trigger for opening and closing the valve to selectively discharge the paint from an opening of the nozzle as a mist in a spray cone; wherein the trigger is operable by pulling the trigger towards the container using one's index finger for opening the valve and for closing the valve by releasing the trigger.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2003
    Assignee: Enviro-Pac International, LLC
    Inventor: David H. Reizian
  • Patent number: 6616982
    Abstract: Methods are provided for the fabrication of hydrophilic coatings on hydrophobic surfaces. In one embodiment, a polyethylene oxide (PEO) coating is fabricated on the surface of a polymeric material by contacting the surface with a methacrylic acid or acrylic acid monomer. The monomer first is reacted, for example by irradiation with an electron beam, to polymerize and covalently attach the monomer to the surface, to improve the hydrophilicity of the polymeric material. A coating of PEO molecules is subsequently attached to the polymer surface by hydrogen bond complexation. The PEO coating then may be covalently grafted onto the surface, for example, by irradiation grafting with an electron beam. The covalent grafting of a coating of the methacrylic or acrylic monomers to the surface greatly improves the wettability of the surface, and facilitates the covalent or non-covalent attachment of a coating of PEO to the polymer surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2003
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Edward W. Merrill, Susan S. Allgor, Gladys C. Leung
  • Patent number: 6617012
    Abstract: A system and method for forming servo patterns on magnetic medium is disclosed. A magnetic film coated with a layer of styrene-acrylonitrile is stamped with a nickel stamper reproducing the negative image of the stamper pattern on the styrene-acrylonitrile. Ions are then accelerated towards the surface of the styrene-acrylonitrile, which stops the ions in the areas where the styrene-acrylonitrile is thick and allows the ions to penetrate through to the magnetic layer in the areas where the styrene-acrylonitrile is thin. The ions, which penetrate through to the magnetic layer, interact with the magnetic layer altering the magnetic layer's structure reducing its coercivity (Hc) and remnant moment (Mrt). This reproduces the stamped styrene-acrylonitrile pattern on the magnetic layer. The styrene-acrylonitrile is then removed by oxygen plasma etching the surface leaving behind a patterned magnetic medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2003
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: HongYing Wang, Koichi Wago, Neil Deeman, Nobuo Kurataka
  • Patent number: 6613382
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a plurality of note posters from a planar vinyl sheet having a printed surface and an opposing adhesive surface provides for first printing a plurality of images upon the printed surface. Once it has been printed, the planar vinyl sheet is laid in a horizontal position with the adhesive surface facing upwards, and a liquid polymer adhesive is poured onto the adhesive surface such that the liquid polymer adhesive spreads across and evenly covers the planar vinyl sheet to form a polymer adhesive layer. The planar vinyl sheet is then die-cut around each of the plurality of images, thereby forming the plurality of note posters. The polymer adhesive layer forms a tacky surface on each of the plurality of note posters useful for removably securing a paper note to a surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2003
    Inventor: Eunchang Lee
  • Patent number: 6613398
    Abstract: According to the present invention, provided is a method for improving solubility of a protein in water by irradiating the protein with an electron beam. According to the method, the solubility of the protein in water is improved without alteration and decomposition of the protein and an associated body which is not generated in an ordinary state is formed, so that protein which is stable even in an aqueous solution can be obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2003
    Assignees: Director of National Food Research, Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, San-Ei Gen F.F.I., Inc.
    Inventors: Mikiro Tada, Kazushi Sakaue, Toru Hayashi, Setsuko Suzuki
  • Patent number: 6613394
    Abstract: Described is a method of treating or coating homogeneously at least a portion of the surface of a material selected from metallic materials having a thickness of less than 100 &mgr;m and/or polymeric materials. The method of the present invention comprises exposing at least a portion of the surface of the material to an atmospheric plasma generated by an indirect plasmatron. In the method of the present invention, the surface of the material may undergo at least one of an increase in surface tension, a surface grafting, a surface cleaning and a surface sterilization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2003
    Assignee: Wolff Walsrode AG
    Inventors: Christian Kuckertz, Sven Jacobsen, Rainer Brandt, Klaus Landes, Ralf Hartmann