Patents Examined by Michael Dennis
  • Patent number: 9889358
    Abstract: A ball, and in particular a baseball or softball, including one or more sensors such as accelerometers and/or inertial measurement units, and systems and methods using the same to improve a pitcher's pitching performance are described herein. In some embodiments, the ball may include one or more inertial measurement units and/or accelerometers capable of monitoring motion of the ball while it is thrown. Various types of pitches may be selected, and in response to the inertial measurement unit(s) and/or accelerometer(s) detecting certain parameters corresponding to a selected pitch, one or more indicators may be caused to perform an action. For example, one or more illuminating elements located on the ball may turn a first color in response to detecting parameters corresponding to the selected pitch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Inventors: Jeffrey Kyle Greenwalt, Jeffrey Neal Frye, Richard Joseph Finn, Thomas Jay Nace, Aidan Conner Frye, Isaac Brady Frye
  • Patent number: 9884234
    Abstract: An aerodynamic golf club has a club head connected to an elongated shaft. The club head has a central section and contiguous thereto, a separated pair of flanking sections on opposite sides of the central section. The central section has a striking face in front and a rear surface in back. The pair of flanking sections each has a leading face in front and a trailing surface in back. The leading face of each of the flanking sections has a plurality of inlets. The trailing surface of each of the flanking sections has a plurality of outlets. Each of the flanking sections has a plurality of distinct channels. Each of the channels runs from a corresponding one of the plurality of inlets to an associated one of the plurality of outlets. The central section has an exposed top surface and an exposed bottom surface. Each of the top surface and the bottom surface extends up to the pair of flanking sections. The central section is impervious between its top surface and its bottom surface to internal airflow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Inventor: Alan Fischer
  • Patent number: 9878259
    Abstract: The invention provides a sensing device that can be incorporated in a construction element for a toy construction set to allow new use of construction elements, for instance tracking the construction process. Sensing device comprises a carrier comprising a top surface provided with a series of top coils, a bottom surface with a series of bottom coils at a distance from said top coils, the sensing device further comprising a data processor functionally coupled with a memory for storing a status, said data processor comprises a computer program which controls and reads currents through each of said top and bottom coils and storing them in memory, thereby tracking status for each of said top and bottom coils.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: RND BY US B.V.
    Inventors: Arie Quirinus Bastiaan Brandwijk, Ibrahim Abdel-Aziz Mohamed Kamal
  • Patent number: 9873058
    Abstract: A vehicle includes a platform, a passenger seat supported above the platform, a pair of drive tires positioned on the platform and a pair of independent drive motors respectively connected to the pair of drive tires. The vehicle may further include a ride controller for controlling the pair of independent drive motors and the pair of drive tires. Additionally, the vehicle may include a laser gun mounted thereon and incorporated into a system including a target that is targetable by the laser gun.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: Amusement Products LLC
    Inventor: Earl Knight Magrath, III
  • Patent number: 9873029
    Abstract: A golf club head may include a body having a hollow interior and a removable sole plate. The body may include a hosel portion, a front strike face, a crown and a sole. The sole may include a floor and sidewalls extending from the floor to the crown, wherein the floor may have openings opening into the hollow interior. The removable sole plate mounted to the sole over the openings of the floor the sole plate may include wings and a tail. The wings are proximate the front strike face and curve along the sidewalls towards the crown. The tail extends from the wings away from the front strike face.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: Wilson Sporting Goods Co.
    Inventor: Eric Sillies
  • Patent number: 9868050
    Abstract: A duplicate playing card output and recycling device is provided for an electronic game system to print, output, and recycle playing cards. The device is connected to the game system to print a duplicate playing card having the same suit and numeral as that dealt by the electronic game system. The device includes a printing device and a recycling device. The printing device is able to print the duplicate playing card to the player. The recycling device is able to recycle the duplicate playing card. The device enhances the fun and excitement of the game, and the duplicate playing card won't be arbitrarily disposed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: Bingotimes Digital Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Chih-Tsung Lo
  • Patent number: 9868232
    Abstract: Prosthetics created in layers, and methods of making them, comprising one or more materials. The methods utilize a clay sculpture from which is made a negative impression cast in silicone, which is used to cast a durable positive prosthetic, which is used to create either durable or temporary negative production impressions into which the layers can be built to form the finished prosthetic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Inventor: Stephen Bettles
  • Patent number: 9868037
    Abstract: A golf club head includes a striking face with a plurality of scorelines. A first virtual vertical plane is perpendicular to the striking face and passes through a toe-wardmost extent of the scorelines, and a second virtual vertical plane is parallel to the first virtual vertical plane and passes through a heel-wardmost extent of the scorelines. A central region bounded by the first virtual vertical plane, the second virtual vertical plane, and a striking face periphery has a first average surface roughness Ra1 of between about 40 ?in and about 180 ?in. And a majority of a toe region bounded by the first vertical plane and the striking face periphery is textured to have a second average surface roughness Ra2 no less than 1.5 times Ra1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: DUNLOP SPORTS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Patrick Ripp, Jeff D. Brunski
  • Patent number: 9849367
    Abstract: A rotary card shuffling and selection machine for use in playing a game of chance includes a wheel supported in a generally vertical plane for rotation about a horizontal rotary axis. The wheel is provided with a plurality of card positions arranged concentrically about the rotary axis. Each card position receives a card bearing indicia suitable to decide the game of chance. The cards are secured in card positions disposed around the wheel such they are oriented face up so that indica on the face of the card, which is relevant to the outcome of the game of chance, can be seen while the wheel is rotating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: Mark Hamilton Jones and Sheryle Lynn Jones Family Trust
    Inventor: Mark H. Jones
  • Patent number: 9849347
    Abstract: A golf club head includes a face, a club head body, and a hosel. The hosel has a tubular hosel body extending along a longitudinal axis and defining a bore. The bore is configured to receive a golf club shaft or a shaft adapter. The tubular hosel body is molded from a polymeric material that includes a resin and a plurality of fibers, each fiber has a length of from about 0.01 mm to about 12 mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: Karsten Manufacturing Corporation
    Inventor: Raymond J. Sander
  • Patent number: 9849352
    Abstract: Golf club heads include at least one part having a side wall extending completely around the golf club head, wherein the side wall ends at an edge (a free end) that defines an open side of the part. An interior surface of this side wall has a draft angle of ?1° or more as it extends to its edge. In some club heads, the interior surface of at least one club head part will be shaped so that the interior surface does not converge as the side wall of that part extends to its edge. For some club head parts, the planar cross sectional area defined inside the interior surface of the part will either stay the same or get larger as one moves to the part edge. By avoiding or limiting features of negative draft angles, converging interior surfaces, and/or smaller cross sectional areas on interior surfaces of a part, manufacturing and tooling may be simplified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: Karsten Manufacturing Corporation
    Inventor: Raymond J. Sander
  • Patent number: 9849358
    Abstract: Golf club heads include an exposed ball striking surface at a top-to-bottom center line of the ball striking face having a first material and a second material of different hardnesses. A top-to-bottom cross section of the exposed ball striking surface at the top-to-bottom center line of the ball striking face has a structure that includes a plurality of grooves including: (a) a first groove having a first edge made of the first material and a second edge made from the second material, and (b) a second groove having its opposing edges made of the first material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: Karsten Manufacturing Corporation
    Inventors: David N. Franklin, Jamil Jacaman
  • Patent number: 9827473
    Abstract: A head for a ball striking device includes a bracing member connected to an upper sole surface located on the sole of the body opposite the bottom sole surface. The bracing member includes a first end connected to a first point on the upper sole surface, a second end connected to a second point on the upper sole surface spaced from the first point, and a bridge portion extending between the first and second ends. The bridge portion extends upward from the upper sole surface and is spaced from the upper sole surface. The bridge portion may be formed by one or more trusses, and may define a generally triangular shape in one embodiment. The first and second ends may be connected to the upper sole surface using a variety of techniques, e.g., welding or other integral joining technique, integral forming, adhesive or other bonding material, or other technique.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: Karsten Manufacturing Corporation
    Inventor: William C. Knight
  • Patent number: 9821234
    Abstract: A system includes a vehicle and a target. The vehicle includes a platform, a passenger seat supported above the platform, a pair of drive tires positioned on the platform, a pair of independent drive motors respectively connected to the pair of drive tires, and a laser gun mounted on the passenger seat. The target is targetable by the laser gun.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: Amusement Products LLC
    Inventor: Earl Knight Magrath, III
  • Patent number: 9821235
    Abstract: Systems and related methods related to structures with large-scale rotatable elements. Some of the present systems comprise: a tower defining a plurality of human-habitable spaces; a tower hub coupled to the tower and having a transverse dimension of at least 50 feet; an observation wheel rotatably coupled to the tower and having a central wheel hub; and one or more bearings disposed between the tower hub and the wheel hub to rotatably support the observation wheel relative to the tower.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Inventors: Haskel Mayer, Cyril Silberman
  • Patent number: 9814991
    Abstract: A method in accordance with present embodiments includes receiving a signal that a vehicle is positioned on a motion base system; and actuating a plurality of motion bases of the motion base system to actuate independently of one another to cause the vehicle to roll, pitch, or heave. Actuating the plurality of motion bases includes providing a first signal to an electrical actuator associated with a first motion base; actuating a movable deck of the first motion base to move a first distance relative to its housing at a first time point; providing a second signal to an electrical actuator associated with a second motion base; and actuating a movable deck of the second motion base to move a second distance relative to its housing at the first time point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS LLC
    Inventors: Ted W. Van Winkle, Paula Stenzler, Steven C. Blum
  • Patent number: 9808681
    Abstract: A hollow golf club head comprises a face part, a sole part, a side part, a crown part, and a hosel part. At least one of the face part and the crown part has portions of two different rigidities that are first and second rigid portions, the first rigid portion has a first rigidity, the second rigid portion is made of the same material as the first rigid portion, and the second rigid portion has the same thickness as the first rigid portion but has a lower rigidity than the first rigidity of the first rigid portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Takaharu Takechi
  • Patent number: 9808680
    Abstract: A putter head comprising a removable and replaceable hosel is disclosed herein. In particular, the putter comprises a first body portion with a plurality of protrusions, a second body portion with a plurality of cavities sized to receive the protrusions, a hosel with an engagement portion that is trapped within one of the cavities by a protrusion, and a mechanical fastener to removably fix each of these pieces together. The fastener preferably extends through a bore on the heel side of the putter head and into a threaded bore within one of the protrusions. In an alternative embodiment, the putter head has a single body portion, which receives the engagement portion of a hosel in a heel side cavity, and which is affixed to the hosel via a fastener that extends through a front surface of the body portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
    Inventors: Matthew Myers, James A. Seluga
  • Patent number: 9808700
    Abstract: A golf swing training device for controlling head movements of a golfer during a swing includes a vertical support assembly, a horizontal arm coupled to the vertical support assembly, and a head engaging assembly carried by the horizontal arm. The head engaging assembly includes a generally U-shaped collar divided into two half portions hingedly coupled together and movable between an open position and a closed position. At least one of the two half portions has a coupling removably receiving the horizontal arm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Inventor: Kerry Potter
  • Patent number: 9808688
    Abstract: An arrangement, a computer system, and/or a method for playing a game include a playing area, a first set of scoring structures arranged at a perimeter of the playing area and that are active throughout the game, and a second set of scoring structures arranged at the perimeter of the playing area and that are active only during penalty periods of the game, where each pair of adjacent ones of structures of the first set is separated by one of the structures of the second set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: NEW SPORTS GROUP LLC
    Inventor: Arthur Piccolo