Patents Examined by Michael McCullough
  • Patent number: 11406921
    Abstract: A screen assembly for a vibrating shaker is provided. The screen assembly utilizes an elastomeric gasket having a flat profile section and a bulb profile section, wherein said bulb profile section has a hollow interior and is configured so as to form a notched profile section where said bulb profile section connects to said flat profile section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Ruff Equipment, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael D. Wiseman
  • Patent number: 11404731
    Abstract: A lead needle and lead slime separator for treating thin lead grid of waste lead-acid storage battery, includes: a barrel body, corrosion-resistant and wear-resistant balls, a feed device, a bracket device, a discharge device and a driver. A feed hole is arranged at one end of the barrel body, a discharge port is arranged at the other end of the barrel body. The feed device is mounted at the feed hole, and the discharge device is mounted at the discharge hole. The bracket device is connected to the barrel body, the driver is connected to the barrel body. The corrosion-resistant and wear-resistant balls are arranged in the barrel body. The separator can make the thin lead grid separation complete, clean and impurity-free. It does not need to be melted at high temperature in the melting furnace.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: JIANGSU NEW CHUNXING RESOURCE RECYCLING CO. LTD
    Inventor: Chunming Yang
  • Patent number: 11400459
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method comprising discharging a slurry from a vessel to a conduit; where the slurry comprises a liquid and a composition comprising at least two materials having different densities-a first material having a higher density and a second material having a lower density than that of the first material; creating a surge in velocity in slurry flow as it is transported through the conduit; separating the first material from the second material; where the first material is disposed on an inner surface of the conduit and where the second material flows through the conduit to a container; and removing the first material from the inner surface of the conduit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark S. Andreaco, George K. Schweitzer, Jake A. Stewart, Brant Quinton, Troy Marlar
  • Patent number: 11400491
    Abstract: An automated shuttle sorter is disclosed that includes a carriage that is movable from a load position at which the carriage may be loaded, and at least two destination locations into which any contents of the carriage may be provided from the carriage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Berkshire Grey Operating Company, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas Wagner, Kevin Ahearn, Benjamin Cohen, Michael Dawson-Haggerty, Christopher Geyer, Thomas Koletschka, Kyle Maroney, Matthew T. Mason, Gene Temple Price, Joseph Romano, Daniel Smith, Siddhartha Srinivasa, Prasanna Velagapudi, Thomas Allen
  • Patent number: 11400492
    Abstract: A sorting device with a transport medium pivotable between two pivot positions and placed around two shafts. The pivot axis about which the transport medium is pivotable is spaced apart from the shaft axes and an upper run formed by the transport medium is straight in both pivot positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Wipotec GmbH
    Inventors: Hermann Berger, Eugen Stumpf, Sergej Janzen, Hans-Sebastian Höhler, Louis Hoffmeister, Moritz Müller
  • Patent number: 11396024
    Abstract: Disclosed is an underground coal preparation process adopting a water medium, comprising: feeding exploited raw coal into a ?25 mm raw coal classifying screen for screening; performing dry coal preparation on a classifying screen oversize product with a particle size greater than 25 mm and feeding a classifying screen undersize product with a particle size less than 25 mm into a special underground compact jigging machine for sorting to obtain jigging machine overflow clean coal, jigging middling coal and jigging gangue; screening and dewatering the jigging machine overflow clean coal to obtain a clean coal product, and screening and dewatering the jigging middling coal to obtain a middling coal product, sorting slime water to be sorted and generated during sorting to obtain coarse clean coal slime and coarse middling coal slime, and performing circulating water treatment on a final liquid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: CHINA UNIVERSITY OF MINING AND TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Xiahui Gui, Min Liu, Yaowen Xing, Yangchao Xia, Yijun Cao, Jiaqian Luo, Peikun Liu, Zhigang Wang
  • Patent number: 11396033
    Abstract: A separation device includes a separation unit that has a first ejection unit having a first ejection port for depositing a material containing a fiber on a first surface, and a first suction unit having a first suction port for sucking from the first surface toward a second surface so that at least a part thereof overlaps the first ejection port, a second suction unit provided at a position different from the first ejection port and having a second suction port for sucking from the second surface toward the first surface, a detection unit that detects information on foreign matter contained in the material ejected from the first ejection port, an input unit that inputs a detection result of the detection unit, and a control unit that controls a separation condition in the separation unit based on the information input to the input unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yuta Inagaki, Naoko Omagari
  • Patent number: 11389805
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for use in destroying a data storage device and separating materials for recycling. The apparatus employs: a first stage of rough cutting wherein the data storage device is shredded into pieces approximately 30 mm×30 mm; a second stage that separates shredded metal material, such as spindles, from non-metal material by use of a magnetized roller having a scraper to the metal material to a first bin and non-metal material to a third stage having an upper level shredder and a lower level shredder for grinding the non-metal material into particle sizes of 10 mm×10 mm or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: Phiston Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: M. Ali Ebadian, Raul Travieso, Douglas Graham
  • Patent number: 11389833
    Abstract: A method and system for air classification of a milled feed stock includes generating a feed stream by combining the milled feed stock with at least one gasflow element, wherein the milled feed stock includes a plurality of particle sizes. The method and system includes directing the feed stream across a curvilinear surface, such that the milled feed stock in the feed stream separates into a plurality of classification streams, each of the plurality of classification streams based on the particle sizes of the milled feed stock. Therein, the method and system separates the plurality of classification streams and collects each of the plurality of classification streams, thereby classifying the milled feed stock contained therein based on the particle sizes for each of the plurality of classification streams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: TATE & LYLE SOLUTIONS USA LLC
    Inventor: Krisan Singh
  • Patent number: 11376633
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed for container location flaps with increased degrees of freedom for sortation systems. In one embodiment, an example rotatable flap for use with an item sortation machine may include a first portion having a first frame and a first mesh grid coupled to the first frame, a second portion having a second frame and a second mesh grid coupled to the second frame, and a first coupler configured to couple the second portion to the first portion. The second portion may be configured to rotate from a first position coplanar to the first portion to a second position transverse to the first portion, and the first portion may be coupled to a frame of the item sortation machine and configured to rotate with respect to the frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Jose Luis De La Rosa, Larry Joe Robb, Justin Stone
  • Patent number: 11376636
    Abstract: A method of producing gluten-free oats from a supply of grains incorporating oats and at least one contaminant grain includes hyperspectral imaging and analyzing data of only a particular region of interest of each grain in the supply of grains, particularly excluding tip and peripheral edge regions of the grain. Therefore, the particular regions of interest is limited to a central region of each grain determined by locating a centroid of the grain and collecting data of the grain from only pixels in a predetermined spacing from the centroid. Preferably, the hyperspectral imaging is only performed in wavelengths ranging from 1000 to 2500 nm. The method can be particularly employed in connection with quality control sampling of a pre-sorted supply of gluten-free oats to assure a gluten level well below 20 ppm, preferably a gluten level of no greater than 10 ppm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: General Mills, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark E Arlinghaus
  • Patent number: 11376635
    Abstract: An object sorting system is presented which includes a hopper, a feeder, a roller pair, a pair of orientation flaps, an adjustable assembly, a first and second camera boxes and an ejection assembly. Feeder receives the shells from the hopper and feeds them uniformly over the gap between the rollers which guides and provides fixed orientation to the shells passing through them and conveys the shells which are relatively bigger than the gap between the rollers to one side of the pair of rollers towards the first collection chute by inclining the roller assembly in the range of 0 to 15 degrees towards the first collection chute. A pair of orientation flaps is placed parallel and exactly below the pair of rollers to avoid the deflection of shells caused immediately after passing through the roller gaps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: NANOPIX INTEGRATED SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED
    Inventor: Sasisekar Krishnamoorthy
  • Patent number: 11369998
    Abstract: An apparatus for treating horticultural products includes in series at least: a first station, which has first elements for the individual handling of respective horticultural products, and at least one vision system, for the acquisition of information related to at least one parameter of interest of each horticultural product. A second station includes second elements for the individual handling of respective horticultural products and at least one device for weighing each horticultural product in transit, and a third station, which includes third elements for the individual handling of respective horticultural products. The first elements, the second elements and the third elements are offset along two respective laterally adjacent trajectories for the advancement of the horticultural products.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: UNITEC S.P.A.
    Inventor: Luca Benedetti
  • Patent number: 11358177
    Abstract: This invention discloses a system and method for detecting a cover with an abnormal condition. The system includes a transport track for defining a sliding direction of at least one cover with a detection surface. The transport track has a detection area and a cover removal area, and includes a pair of bottom rails and a pair of side rails. The pair of bottom rails support the cover at an inclination angle so that the cover slides on the pair of bottom rails. The cover is located between the pair of side rails, and the sliding direction of the cover is defined by the pair of side rails. The detection area is used for detecting the detection surface of the cover, and the cover removal area has an outlet for removing a cover with an abnormal condition determined based on a detection result of the detection surface thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: CVC TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Chi-Huan Shih, Chia Kai Chang, Chang Cheng Chen
  • Patent number: 11344916
    Abstract: A system for recycling asphalt millings and methods thereof are provided. In exemplary embodiments, an apparatus for recycling asphalt millings may comprise a blender comprising a basin having an interior volume, an agitator disposed within the interior volume, the agitator adapted to agitate asphalt millings, a blender grate disposed on the bottom of the basin, the blender grate comprising apertures adapted to allow bitumen to pass through the blender grate, a heating conveyor comprising a heating apparatus for heating the asphalt millings, a cooling conveyor comprising an input for receiving asphalt millings and an opening adapted to receive a cold material applicator, a cold material applicator disposed in the opening, the cold material applicator adapted to apply cold material to asphalt millings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Inventor: Hector DeFino
  • Patent number: 11344919
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed for automated sweepers for item sortation systems. In one embodiment, an example item sortation system may include an aisle, a number of chutes accessible from the aisle, a shuttle configured to transport first items from an induction portion of the item sortation system to a first chute of the plurality of chutes, and a robotic sweeping system disposed in the aisle. The robotic sweeping system may be configured to sweep second items on a floor of the aisle to a first end of the item sortation system. The robotic sweeping system may include a motor and a sweeping device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Jose Luis De La Rosa, Larry Robb, Justin Stone
  • Patent number: 11338305
    Abstract: The chamber (29A) of the overflow outlet control device (21A) has an inner circumferential surface which, when viewed in cross-sectional plan view, is generally in the shape of a volute, for directing material entering the chamber (29A) via the circular inlet (34) at the base portion (36) tangentially outward towards the discharge outlet (22A) located in the side wall (38). The top wall region (40) of the interior wall of the chamber (29A), a side wall portion (32) and base portion (36) together seamlessly form the chamber (29A) which is curved in shape internally. When material flows in use between the inlet (34) and the discharge outlet (22A), and passes through the central chamber (29A), it encounters no sharp corners or edges, but just smoothly curved or rounded interior wall surfaces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Inventors: Marcelo Rademacher, Nestor Cinotti
  • Patent number: 11331695
    Abstract: An apparatus for treating horticultural products having in series at least: a first station, which includes first elements for the individual handling of respective horticultural products and at least one vision system, controlled by an electronic control and management unit, for the acquisition of information related to at least one parameter of interest of each horticultural product. The apparatus further includes a second station, including second elements for the individual handling of respective horticultural products and at least one device for weighing each horticultural product in transit, controlled by the electronic unit, and a third station, including third elements for the individual handling of respective horticultural products. The second station includes an intermediate unloading assembly, which can be actuated selectively by the electronic unit for the early release of the horticultural products, handled by the second elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: UNITEC S.P.A.
    Inventor: Luca Benedetti
  • Patent number: 11325162
    Abstract: Provided is a bolt screening machine, including an external frame, a feeding mechanism, and a screening mechanism, wherein the feeding mechanism and the screening mechanism are combined with and mounted on the external frame, the unscreened bolts are fed into the screening mechanism through the feeding mechanism, and the screening mechanism screens and arranges the bolts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: SOOCHOW UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Gang Wang, Zhihua Feng, Junfang Ni, Xiangjun Lan
  • Patent number: 11318500
    Abstract: The composition of articles can be identified using luminescent codes printed or coated onto the articles (or labels on the articles) by means of an ink which contains long persistence luminescent materials. Radiation is used to excite the luminescent materials and this is then extinguished before the article passes beneath a spectrometer. An infrared beam then strikes the article in order to stimulate emission from the long persistence luminescent materials, via a detrapping mechanism, and the spectrometer detects the emission in order to identify the article.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Inventors: Paul Gregory Harris, George Robert Fern, Jack Silver