Patents Examined by Don M Anderson
  • Patent number: 11950719
    Abstract: The invention relates to a tray covering element essentially constituted of a first portion (2), which covers the upper surface of a tray (5), in the manner of a placemat, and a second portion (3), which creates an outer edge for the first portion and which is envisaged to cover the outer and upper edge (50) of the tray. The second portion (3) comprises a third portion (30) located laterally and protruding from the edge (50) and designed to bend downwards and fold around the edge of the tray (5) and cover the lower edge so that the user does not touch the tray when holding it, only the tray covering element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Inventors: Stefano Solci, Paolo Nicola Micheligritti
  • Patent number: 11952169
    Abstract: Various aspects of the disclosure generally relate to a collapsible storage container with multiple sleeves. In some implementations a two-sleeve variant is described. In some implementations a three-sleeve variant is described. Both variants may be used to contain appropriately sized and shaped objects, for example bread, maps, posters, blueprints, plans, etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Inventor: Stephen A. Smith
  • Patent number: 11950667
    Abstract: A purse with an integrated and removable phone case includes an attached, but removable, phone case suspended from a purse strap by a chain, cord, or similar mechanism. Cell phone users require immediate, unencumbered access to their phones. Currently available products require the phone user to remove his or her phone from a bag. Phone cases cannot hold many items without becoming too bulky. Small purses have limited storage space and personal devices can take up much of that space. Moreover, carrying a phone case with a strap in addition to a purse with a strap can cause tangling and limit ease of use. An externally available phone case suspended from a strap of a purse allows for immediate access to the cell phone without consuming space within the purse. The suspended phone case may be removed from the purse to allow for separate use of the phone or purse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: Karis and Drake, LLC
    Inventor: Maggie Drake
  • Patent number: 11937749
    Abstract: A removable mop attachment module, including a frame; a reservoir positioned within the frame; at least one drainage aperture positioned at a bottom of the reservoir; at least one breathing aperture positioned on the reservoir; and a pressure actuated valve positioned at least partially on an inner surface of the reservoir, covering the at least one breathing aperture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: AI Incorporated
    Inventors: Ali Ebrahimi Afrouzi, Soroush Mehrnia
  • Patent number: 11937716
    Abstract: A spoutless training lid assembly of a sippy cup includes a collar and a valve. The collar is configured to couple to a vessel and has an outer wall, an inner wall, an upper portion configured to be located outside the vessel and including an upper peripheral rim and a lower portion configured to be located inside the vessel and including a lower peripheral edge. The collar includes a peripheral shelf located about the inner wall. The valve is inserted into the collar and includes a flexible gasket over-molded to a rigid baffle to form a single, separable component. The gasket extends from a plate of the baffle and terminates at an outer peripheral edge that engages with the rim of the collar. The baffle secures to the shelf and portions of a perimeter edge of the plate of the baffle abut the inner wall of the collar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Target Brands, Inc.
    Inventors: Kaitlin N. Vang, Sarah N. Platner, I-Heng Pan, Yisheng Lin
  • Patent number: 11937674
    Abstract: A card holder that includes a body defining an inner cavity with a front opening and at least one back opening. The inner cavity is limited by an upper plate, a lower plate, and two side walls. The upper plate bifurcates towards the back opening into first and second subplates that are separated from one another along the two side walls by a gap shaped as a pocket which houses ends of the multiple slidable card actuators of the holder. Long arms of the actuators are rested on the upper surface of the second subplate, while short arms are disposed below the second subplate. The body is preferably monolithic, and in one case at least one support element may be permanently affixed to the second subplate and/or the lower plate. When such support element(s) is affixed to both, the misalignment of the elements of the body and/or breakage thereof is substantially eliminated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: ACM ENTERPRISES, INC.
    Inventor: James A. Tiscione
  • Patent number: 11931867
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a socket used in coordination with a wrench. The socket includes a socket main body which has a head portion and a body portion connected to the head portion. The head portion is adapted for being coupled with the wrench. The body portion has a polygonal hole for being coupled with a head portion of a bolt or a nut, so that the wrench is adapted for screwing on or off the bolt or nut through the socket main body. Besides, a pipe made of composite material is sleeved onto the external peripheral surface of the body portion. The pipe is freely detachable, and the external peripheral surface of the pipe can be provided with a print, pattern, color or character according to the practical demands, thereby attaining the effects of high variability in appearance, great durability and great recognizability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Inventor: Yu-Ching Chen
  • Patent number: 11931857
    Abstract: A carrier head includes a housing, a support assembly having a support plate flexibly connected to the housing so as to be vertically movable, a plurality of fluid-impermeable barriers projecting from a bottom of the support plate to define a plurality of recesses that are open at bottom sides thereof, and pneumatic control lines. A volume between the support plate and the housing includes one or more independently pressurizable first chambers to apply pressure on a top surface of the support plate in one or more first zones. The barriers are positioned and configured such that when a planar substrate is loaded into the carrier head the barriers contact the substrate and divide a volume between the support plate and the substrate into a plurality of second chambers. The pneumatic control lines are coupled to the plurality of recesses to provide a plurality of independently pressurizable second zones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven M. Zuniga, Jay Gurusamy, Andrew J. Nagengast
  • Patent number: 11931862
    Abstract: Thin glass elements with improved edge strength are provided—from a sheet glass element that has two opposite parallel faces and an edge connecting the faces. The sheet glass element has a thickness of at most 700 ?m. At least a portion of the edge is defined by an edge surface portion that is convexly curved, so that at least one of the faces merges into the edge surface portion, wherein a curved arc of the edge surface portion has a length that is at least 1/30 of the thickness of the sheet glass element. In the region of the convex curvature, the edge surface portion has indentations in the form of furrows.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: SCHOTT AG
    Inventors: Matthias Jotz, Markus Heiss-Chouquet, Hauke Esemann, Clemens Ottermann, Claudia Stolz
  • Patent number: 11925290
    Abstract: A domed cooking lid with a handle, with a variable venting device in the middle of the dome. The venting device has a screen that is secured to the bottom of the domed lid, a ring on the top of the lid which sits on the lid just outside the hole that facilitates the variable venting device, a stationary disc with numerous holes on one side and a turntable disc which has a large opening of the disc, whereby turning the turntable disc over more or fewer holes, changes the variable venting rate of the domed lid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Inventor: Tobias Wai Luk
  • Patent number: 11925961
    Abstract: A containment berm having a flexible, substantially impermeable polymer material forming a ground section with a plurality of sidewalls extending upward from the ground section. A plurality of bracket assemblies are positioned on an external surface of the containment berm. Each of the bracket assemblies includes (i) a pair of first leg segments having first and second ends, the pair of first leg segments being joined by an end segment at their second ends; (ii) a pair of second leg segments having first and second ends, the pair of second leg segments being configured to allow relative movement between their second ends; and (iii) the pair of first leg segments and the pair of second leg segments being joined at their first ends in a substantially perpendicular configuration. One of either the pair of first or second of leg segments engages pockets on the sidewalls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: PacTec, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael R. Schilling, Troy Town
  • Patent number: 11919758
    Abstract: A double action hydraulic jack has a primary hydraulic pump in fluidic communication with the hydraulic fluid reservoir and with the lift cylinder. The hydraulic jack has an auxiliary hydraulic pump also in fluidic communication with the hydraulic fluid reservoir and the lift cylinder. The auxiliary hydraulic pump operates at light-load conditions to drive the jack ram upwards at a rate at least three times faster than at heavy lift-load conditions with only the primary hydraulic pump in operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Gaither Tool Company, Inc.
    Inventor: Daniel Kunau
  • Patent number: 11918169
    Abstract: A handheld vacuum cleaner includes a frame, and a dust barrel and a locking portion mounted on the frame, wherein a front end of the dust barrel and the locking portion are movable relative to each other and are arranged opposite to each other; the dust barrel has a rotatable front cover at a front side thereof; and when the locking portion and the dust barrel move with respect to each other, the front cover is automatically rotatable to open, or close on the front side of the dust barrel due to limit by the locking portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: NINGBO FUJIA INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jianqiang Fang, Jianming Zheng, Wenxian Wu
  • Patent number: 11919130
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a tool for handling pitot tube covers, which are configured in a general cylindrical shape. This tool includes a threaded post configured to receive an external extension. The bottom of the tool is constituted by two parallel support arms with a slot therebetween.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: DeGroff Aviation Technologies
    Inventors: Steven A. DeGroff, Phillip R. Russel, David J. Hockemeyer
  • Patent number: 11910974
    Abstract: A conveyor station, robot module, sweeper module, and methods for autonomously emptying debris using the conveyor station are described. In one example, a conveyor station includes a housing having an input end and an output end. The conveyor station includes a conveyor belt having a receiving region proximate to the input end and an angled transport region leading toward a dispense region. The conveyor belt has a plurality of fins that extend out from a surface of the conveyor belt. The plurality of fins enable movement of debris collected at the receiving region toward the dispense region. The dispense region is configured to push debris into a drop funnel of the housing, and the drop funnel directs debris into a receptacle. The conveyor station includes a conveyor controller of the conveyor station is configured with a sensor for detecting presence of a sweeper module. The sweeper module includes a container that holds debris collected when the sweeper module is connected to a robot module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: ViaBot Inc.
    Inventors: Fei Xie, Dawei Ding, Gregg Ratanaphanyarat
  • Patent number: 11911868
    Abstract: Accuracy of detection of a fly out of a substrate from a polishing head is improved. A substrate processing apparatus includes a polishing table 350 to which a polishing pad 352 for polishing the substrate is attachable, a polishing head 302 for holding and pressing the substrate against the polishing pad 352, a retainer member disposed surrounding the polishing head 302, a retainer member pressurization chamber disposed adjacent to the retainer member, an arm 360 for holding and turning the polishing head 302, and a slip out detector 910 for detecting a fly out of the substrate from the polishing head 302 based on a turning torque of the arm 360 or based on a flow rate of a fluid supplied to the retainer member pressurization chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: EBARA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takashi Mitsuya, Asagi Matsugu, Ayumu Saito
  • Patent number: 11910989
    Abstract: A wet-dry vacuum cleaner including a collecting bin and a power head removably coupled to the collecting bin. The power head includes a housing configured to support the power head on the collecting bin, an exhaust outlet, and a cyclonic separator positioned within the housing. The cyclonic separator includes a dirty air inlet, a chamber, and a clean air outlet. The power head further includes a suction motor assembly operable to create a working airflow path from the dirty air inlet to the exhaust outlet, and a filter disposed within a filter housing hanging downwardly from the suction motor assembly. The filter is positioned within the working airflow path adjacent the clean air outlet of the cyclonic separator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Techtronic Cordless GP
    Inventors: Tyler H. Knight, Stephen A. Hughett
  • Patent number: 11910971
    Abstract: A surface cleaner configured to distribute a liquid to a surface to be cleaned. The surface cleaner includes a supply tank, a fluid distributor, a suction inlet aperture, a recovery tank and a tool removably connectable to the surface cleaner and configured to direct fluid from the fluid distributor into the suction inlet aperture to rinse the suction inlet aperture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Techtronic Floor Care Technology Limited
    Inventors: Eric Hoffman, Rafael Davila, Michael Dawson, Daniel Galleno
  • Patent number: 11910895
    Abstract: An apparatus for carrying sound production components includes a frame with a plurality of vertically interspaced mounting structures, which are vertically adjustable. Each of the vertically interspaced mounting structures releasably engage with a plurality of sound production components. A folding surface with at least one attached wing is pivotably mounted to a top of the frame, such that the folding surface and the at least one attached wing can releasably engage with at least one of the plurality of sound production components. A bag receives the frame in a folded configuration and encloses the frame and the plurality of sound production components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Inventor: Kenneth Martini
  • Patent number: 11910977
    Abstract: A surface cleaning apparatus adapted for wet cleaning includes a heated fluid delivery system having a dual-phase distributor that dispenses heated liquid and steam vapor. The dual-phase distributor can include a phase separator that separates a vapor phase of a heated fluid from a liquid phase of the heated fluid, a heated liquid outlet, and a steam vapor outlet. The apparatus can further include a liquid delivery system, and/or a recovery system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: BISSELL Inc.
    Inventors: Mitchell J. DeJonge, Ryan J. Alt, Steve M. Johnson