Patents Examined by Jacqueline A. Ruller
  • Patent number: 5846279
    Abstract: This invention provides a contamination-resistant float glass showing even quality in durability and its good quality sufficienty. The film for contamination-resistance is formed only on the top-side surface of a float glass. The surface, free from tin diffused from a float bath, can be identified by ultraviolet irradation. A solution including a chemical adsorbent like fluoroalkyltrichlorosilane is applied to the top-side surface by a roller coater. The adsorbent can be prevented from hydrolyzing with dry air around the coating portion of the coater. Surplus solution can be removed with dry air blown on the surface to make the contamination-resistant property and the appearance better. The chemical adsorbent is bonded to the surface via a siloxane bond to form a thin film. The contamination-resistant float glass is installed in the front door of an apparatus like a toaster oven with the film facing the inside of the oven.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 8, 1998
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takaiki Nomura, Kazufumi Ogawa, Jun Oe, Tadashi Ohtake, Tohru Nakagawa, Toshimitsu Kurumizawa, Shuzou Tokumitsu, Tsuneo Shibata, Hidekata Kawanishi, Satoshi Shimizu, Mamoru Isogai
  • Patent number: 5842481
    Abstract: A cradle or tray for holding a lit tobacco product having a V-shaped tray made of aluminum using 90 degree angle stock approximately 1/16 inch thick. A support arm made of a series of plastic link connected at one end to the tray and at its opposite end to a releasable clamp. The tray is fastened to the first link or element of the support arm with a flat head machine screw. The last link or element is fastened to the clamp by a similar screw and nut so that the user can grasp the operating levers of the clamp. The clamp grip is large enough to grasp various support structures such as parts of a golf bag or in an appropriate location on a drivable golf cart.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 1, 1998
    Inventor: Paul B. King
  • Patent number: 5837024
    Abstract: An essentially cylindrical porous blank is formed by the deposition of SiO.sub.2 particles onto the lateral cylindrical surface of a cylindrical mandrel, rotating around its longitudinal axis; this blank is provided with a holding element of quartz glass in the form of a hollow body, which surrounds a section of the mandrel and which is at least partially embedded in the area of one of the ends of the blank. The blank is then sintered. In order to securely support even heavy blanks without complicated holding devices, the holding element is fused into the area of at least one of the ends of the blank during the deposition process by the maintenance of a high temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1998
    Assignee: Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH
    Inventor: Heinz Fabian
  • Patent number: 5836318
    Abstract: A cigar piercing device which includes an outer housing and a moveable top receiving and indexing station for positioning the tip of a cigar. The indexing station is adapted to automatically activate a rotating piercing tool in response to the downward movement of the indexing station by downward pressure being placed against the station by the tip of the cigar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1998
    Inventor: James C. Adams
  • Patent number: 5837023
    Abstract: The invention provides a process for making a gradient index optical element having a precisely parabolic configuration of refractive index profile. After a concentration profile is imparted across a gel prepared by a sol-gel technique, the concentration profile is fixed. In this case, the treatment with a concentration profile-fixing solution is carried out at a temperature higher than that at which the treatment with a concentration profile-imparting solution is carried out, whereby the rate of fixing the concentration profile is so higher than that of imparting the concentration profile, so that any possible deformation of the concentration profile formed at the concentration profile-imparting step is reduced or inhibited.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1998
    Assignee: Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hisashi Koike, Yuko Morita
  • Patent number: 5837025
    Abstract: The invention is directed to a method for producing low sintering fine-particle multicomponent glass powder having a particle size of the primary particle in the nanometer range. The method utilizes microemulsion techniques with subsequent separation of the particles out of the emulsion and calcination for utilization as glass flow having a sintering temperature <900.degree. C. or in a glass flow, for generating thin transparent layers or for generating color decorations on glass, glass ceramic or ceramic substrates after adding a coloring pigment to the glass flow. The microemulsion for producing the nanoscale glass powder particles is generated from a nonionic ambiphilic emulsifier with a component of 10 to 15 percent by weight on the emulsion, from an oil phase having a portion of 50 to 70 percent by weight and a glass precursor-containing aqueous salt solution having a portion of up to 31.3 percent by weight with salt contents of up to 45 percent by weight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1998
    Assignee: Schott Glaswerke
    Inventors: Petra Auchter-Krummel, Waldemar Weinberg, Christoph Lesniak, Rudiger Nass, Helmut Schmidt, Nanning Arfsten
  • Patent number: 5833728
    Abstract: Provided is a method for the efficient preparation of fine hollow spherical glassy bodies having a high strength and excellent whiteness from a volcanic vitreous deposit as the starting material. The fine hollow spherical glassy bodies as desired can be prepared by dispersing 100 parts by weight of a powder of a volcanic vitreous deposit in an aqueous solution containing 1 to 10 parts by weight of aluminum sulfate, adding an aqueous alkaline solution to this liquid suspension to cause deposition of an alumina hydrate onto the surface of the particles of said powder and washing and drying of the solid material followed by a heat treatment for 1 second to 1 minute at a temperature of 900.degree. to 1100.degree. C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 10, 1998
    Assignee: Agency of Industrial Science and Technology
    Inventors: Kunio Kimura, Hiroyuki Nakamura, Yukiyoshi Tamoto, Junichi Kimoto, Hiromi Okada
  • Patent number: 5833917
    Abstract: In a process for producing a silicon nitride sintered material, a silicon nitride raw material powder selected from raw material powder lots such that the silicon nitride raw material powder has a dispersion .delta.N.beta..sub.1 of weight fraction of .beta.-silicon nitride, of 65% or less, is used. A process for producing a silicon nitride sintered material controls the firing conditions so that the raw material being fired gives, at any stage of firing, a dispersion .delta.N.beta..sub.2 of weight fraction of .beta.-silicon nitride, of 65% or less between the surface portion and the central portion. The first process allows for production of a silicon nitride sintered material having excellent properties in high-temperature strength, etc., at a high reproducibility and stability. The second process allows for production, of in any production batch, a silicon nitride sintered material very low in scattering of properties (e.g., density and strength) between the central portion and the surface portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 10, 1998
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Keiichiro Watanabe, Youky Bessyo
  • Patent number: 5830309
    Abstract: A friction material and process of forming a friction material embodies a slurry of aramid, acrylic and carbon fibers, together with kaolin clay and aluminum oxide used as fillers in a phenolic resin binder. The matrix formed by the fibers entraps a relatively large quantity of carbon particles. The carbon particles comprise more than forty or fifty percent of the weight of the material. During the process of formation, the slurry is de-watered to reduce moisture content to the order of two percent before the resin binder is cured under heat and pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1998
    Assignee: Stemco Inc
    Inventor: H. Lee McCord
  • Patent number: 5829449
    Abstract: A composition for inclusion within a cigarette, cigar or pipe. The composition can be included within the tobacco itself, a filter for filtering tobacco smoke once burned or even within the paper or wrapper surrounding the tobacco product. The composition is capable of reducing free radical damage to the oro-pharyngeal cavity, respiratory tract and lungs resulting from tobacco smoke. The composition includes L-glutathione and a source of selenium such as selenomethionine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1998
    Assignee: Thione International, Inc.
    Inventors: Theodore Hersh, Rebecca Hersh
  • Patent number: 5827337
    Abstract: Uncured molded abrasive articles having low volatile organic chemical content are prepared using water as a temporary binder. The abrasive articles preferably contain a uniformly coated abrasive grain comprising a novolac resin having a phenol:formaldehyde ratio of 1:0.2 to 1:0.35 and containing less than 0.5% free phenol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 27, 1998
    Assignee: Norton Company
    Inventor: Elinor B. Keil
  • Patent number: 5827344
    Abstract: A method of making glass in which a first glass composition is fed to a furnace and the densities of such glass is determined. The composition is then changed to produce a second glass which has substantially different properties from the first glass, the change to the composition being such that the desired properties are produced in the second glass while simultaneously maintaining the densities of the second glass substantially equal to that of the second glass. The first glass may be a clear glass while the second glass may be a tinted glass. In such a case, the tinted glass may contain iron and the densities are maintained substantially equal by utilizing the iron to replace calcium oxide in the clear glass composition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 27, 1998
    Assignee: Pilkington PLC
    Inventors: Kenneth Melvin Fyles, Helen Louise Eaves, Thomas Gordon Cochrane
  • Patent number: 5827342
    Abstract: A method for forming a substantially flat planar lightwave optical circuit which has a substantially flat planar silica substrate and a sintered glassy lightguiding layer over the silica substrate. The structure is given a post treatment at an elevated temperature for a time sufficient to flatten said structure and overcome any distortion caused by the difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion of the substrate and any glassy layers formed over the substrate. Alternatively, the silica substrate may be heated and presagged to a predetermined degree to compensate for distortion or warpage which will occur in later processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 27, 1998
    Assignee: Corning Incorporated
    Inventors: Alain Marcel Jean Beguin, Heather Boek, Richard Orr Maschmeyer, Denis M. Trouchet
  • Patent number: 5824127
    Abstract: This invention is related to glasses for use as substrates in flat panel display devices, more specifically to a family of aluminosilicate glasses in which less than 0.2 mole percent and preferably no As.sub.2 O.sub.3 is used as a fining agent and the .beta.-OH of the glass is maintained below about 0.5 mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1998
    Assignee: Corning Incorporated
    Inventors: James C. Bange, William G. Dorfeld, James C. Hayes, Josef C. Lapp
  • Patent number: 5820673
    Abstract: An apparatus for coating a lens and curing the coating on the lens including a lens carrier for griping and holding the lens, a housing having a first set of walls defining a coating chamber with an opening in one of the first walls, the housing also having a second set of walls defining a curing chamber with an opening in one of the second walls. An arrangement for applying a coating to the lens within the coating chamber, an arrangement for projecting ultraviolet radiation within the curing chamber for curing the coating on the lens, and an arrangement for selectively blocking the ultraviolet radiation from passing into the coating chamber are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Inventors: J. Bruce Sentilles, James T. Sentilles, Sr., James T. Sentilles, Jr.
  • Patent number: 5820647
    Abstract: A process for producing stained crystallized glass and its articles which is characterized in meeting production of various crystallized glass articles in small quantity. By this process, crystallized glass is obtained with patterns and colors alike to that of granites, marble, and other natural stones. The process of heat-treatment to a prepared batch compounded of crystallizable glass granules, color powder and water at a temperature higher than the softening point thereof results in fusion bonding of the glass granules. The color powder is compounded by inorganic pigment, suspension stabilizing agent, agglomerant, deflocculant agent, and crystallizable glass powder. The surface pattern is formed by grain boundary part of crystallizable glass granules, and part of the inorganic pigment in the color powder moving with the crystallizable glass powder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Inventors: Kuo-chuan Hsu, Ching-hsi Lin, Hsien-Chung Tsai
  • Patent number: 5817162
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method of forming a goblet from a glass bottle of the type having a base, a body portion extending from the base and converging towards a neck which terminates in a lip defining a mouth. The method comprises the steps of severing the base from the body portion along a first severance plane which is proximate the base and normal to a central axis of the bottle, and removing a waste portion of the body along a second severance plane which is parallel to the first severance plane. The mouth of the bottle is then glued or fused to a center portion of an upper surface of the base so as to form the goblet, with the base of the bottle forming a foot of the goblet, the neck of the bottle forming a stem of the goblet and the body portion of the bottle defining a bowl of the goblet. The method may include the step of plugging the neck of the bottle so as to form a solid stem.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 6, 1998
    Inventor: Sean Cameron Penrith
  • Patent number: 5814121
    Abstract: An oxygen-gas fuel burner (12) for use in a refractory burner block (20) of glass distribution and conditioning channels (14) for thermally treating glass (18). The oxygen-gas fuel burner (12) includes a gas fuel conduit (26) extending to a central fuel outlet (28); an oxygen conduit (30) including a plurality of passages (30a) circumferentially spaced about the fuel conduit (26) and converging radially to oxygen outlets (32) circumferentially spaced about and concentric with the central fuel outlet (28); and a burner housing (34) including an outer nozzle (38). The outer nozzle (38) surrounds the fuel outlet (28) and the oxygen outlets (32) to provide a burner tip chamber (40) for mixing and combustion of oxygen and gas fuel to produce a flame within the burner tip chamber and extending outward from the burner tip chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 29, 1998
    Assignee: The BOC Group, Inc.
    Inventor: Ian D. Travis
  • Patent number: 5814120
    Abstract: A repositionable hot-glass contact pad composed at least in part of a relatively high-strength nonmetallic material having one or more repositionable support projections and a glass-contact surface. The high strength nonmetallic material and use of multiple support projections allow reliable attachment of the pad to a metal support structure in a plurality of positions to handle a variety of hot-glass article shapes and sizes with minimal checking or other damage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 1995
    Date of Patent: September 29, 1998
    Assignee: Union Oil Company of California
    Inventors: Patrick H. Lloyd, Kyle D. Nelson
  • Patent number: 5810899
    Abstract: A glass with no stria form of defects induced therein is produced by a sol-gel technique. At a sol gelation step, the gelation temperature is maintained constant within the range of .+-.7.degree. C. with respect to the temperature of a sol as charged in a gelation vessel, and the sol is gelated at a constant colloidal particle diameter with no vibrations applied thereto.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 22, 1998
    Assignee: Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Morinao Fukuoka