Patents Examined by Michael W Hotchkiss
  • Patent number: 11630442
    Abstract: To effectively utilize work information acquired by maintenance of an instrument in a plant, an apparatus is provided, which includes an acquisition unit that acquires work information about at least one of a calibration or an adjustment performed on the instrument in a plant; an extraction unit that extracts a plurality of data elements to be included in output information having a predetermined output format from the work information; and a generation unit that generates the output information from the plurality of data elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignees: Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Shikaden Corporation
    Inventors: Ryouhei Furihata, Yusuke Yokota, Takahiro Kinoshita, Toshiaki Kase
  • Patent number: 11627209
    Abstract: Technologies are described for a hinge mechanism coupled to at least a dual-display device wherein the displays can rotate with respect to each other through 360 degrees. The hinge mechanism has at least one flexible connection member that follows a generally S-shaped path when the displays are in a tablet position. In some embodiments, a second flexible connection member can be added that follows a mirrored S-shaped path. The S-shaped path of the first flexible connection member and the mirrored S-shape path of the second flexible connection member together create a cross-configuration. In other embodiments, interconnected friction hinges can allow for a free-stop function at any point along the 360 degrees of rotation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventor: Esa-Sakari Määttä
  • Patent number: 11623859
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for deconstructing a mattress of the type having steel coil springs held within fabric pockets. The apparatus includes a frame and an opener mechanism mounted to the frame and operable for opening a plurality of fabric pockets at a first end thereof to create an opening in the first end of the fabric pockets and expose the steel coil springs contained therewithin. A gripper mechanism is provided for gripping the plurality of fabric pockets at a second end thereof, opposite the first end. An extractor mechanism is mounted to the frame for extracting the steel coil springs from the fabric pockets through the openings formed in the first end of the fabric pockets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Inventor: Jesse Knoble
  • Patent number: 11623390
    Abstract: A method of assembling components of a vehicle is provided that includes locating a node (20) relative to an adjoining component (22), measuring at least one geometrical feature of the node or the adjoining component, 3D printing an assembly adjustment member (24) based on the measuring, and placing the assembly adjustment member proximate at least one of the node or the adjoining component. The assembly adjustment member is configured to allow relative movement between the node and the adjoining component for subsequent processing operations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Garret Huff, Michael James Whitens, Peter A. Friedman, Cynthia Mowery Flanigan
  • Patent number: 11623411
    Abstract: Methods of manufacturing and fixtures for manufacturing containers, particularly for holding cosmetic products, using thin-walled tubes. One end of a container may be formed using an integral process, such as insert molding, while the other end of the container is formed using assembly steps, such as welding, to form a completed cosmetics container from a thin-walled tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: HCT GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
    Inventors: Armando Villarreal, Thomas Sang Chun, Denis Pierre Maurin
  • Patent number: 11625023
    Abstract: A device and method for automated computer controlled manufacture of assemblies composed of discrete linked product segments includes reciprocating product segment grippers having surface features engageable with the product segments, at least one robotic manipulating device whereby the product segments may be engaged by the product segment grippers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Inventor: Donald Scott Rogers
  • Patent number: 11623858
    Abstract: A cover layer of a fleece material for an innerspring unit comprising a plurality of pocketed springs is manufactured by supplying at least two longitudinal fleece webs, which extend substantially parallel in a longitudinal direction and are spaced from one another, and repeatedly attaching a transverse fleece web, which extends between the longitudinal fleece webs in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, to the longitudinal fleece webs. The transverse fleece web segments are attached to the longitudinal fleece webs such that they form together with the longitudinal fleece webs a frame-like structure serving as the cover layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: Spühl, GmbH
    Inventor: Andreas Fischer
  • Patent number: 11623729
    Abstract: A method for producing a crossmember for a vehicle prepares a workpiece having different thicknesses and a preliminary contour from a metal sheet of uniform thickness by flat roll forming to achieve different local thicknesses. The method cuts out the workpiece, and bending roll forms the workpiece to form a crossmember with a cross section having at least two flanges opposite one another, and a web situated between said flanges. The distance between the flanges is not constant along a longitudinal extent of the crossmember, and a thickness profile at least of the web is determined by the flat roll forming. The local thicknesses and the preliminary contour are such that a geometrical shape of the crossmember corresponds to a predetermined geometrical shape with different thicknesses and heights of the web and differently shaped regions of the flanges along the longitudinal extent of the crossmember.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: Airbus Operations GmbH
    Inventors: Torsten Noebel, Wolfgang Eilken, Wolfgang Schulze, Memis Tiryaki
  • Patent number: 11623289
    Abstract: A gear machining support device supports machining when a tooth of a gear is machined on a workpiece by relatively moving the workpiece and a machining tool while synchronizing rotations of the workpiece and the machining tool around respective center axis lines thereof. The gear machining support device includes: a target modification amount storage unit configured to store target modification amounts of at least two of modification elements of a tooth surface shape of the tooth of the gear, the modification elements including crowning, bias, a helix angle, a pressure angle, and a tooth profile roundness; and a correction amount determination unit configured to determine a correction amount of a machining control element during a machining operation such that the at least two of modification elements approximate the respective target modification amounts stored in the target modification amount storage unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Katsuhito Yoshinaga, Hideki Shibata
  • Patent number: 11623261
    Abstract: A hot-stamping formed article is formed of a single steel sheet, and includes: a top sheet portion; a pair of standing wall portions; and a protrusion portion which connects the top sheet portion to the standing wall portion and protrudes outward from the top sheet portion, in which the protrusion portion includes an inner wall portion which stands upright from the top sheet portion, and an outer wall portion which is folded outward from an end edge of the inner wall portion, and an angle between the top sheet portion and the protrusion portion is 80° to 90°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kenichiro Otsuka
  • Patent number: 11623766
    Abstract: Systems and methods for manufacturing aircraft are disclosed. For example, an aircraft manufacturing system for repetitively manufacturing aircraft comprises a first manufacturing zone configured to repetitively manufacture first aircraft subassemblies, a second manufacturing zone configured to repetitively manufacture second aircraft subassemblies, and a third manufacturing zone configured to receive the first aircraft subassemblies from the first manufacturing zone, to receive the second aircraft subassemblies from the second manufacturing zone, and to repetitively assemble the first aircraft subassemblies and the second aircraft subassemblies into the aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Jeremy Justice, Daniel Richard Smith, Jr., Darrell Darwin Jones
  • Patent number: 11624457
    Abstract: A method of attaching a line to a support structure includes providing a holder having a fastening section, a side-part section, a closure section, and an engagement section, where the fastening section, the side-part section, and the engagement section define a ring having a gap. The method further includes fastening the fastening section to the support structure, bending the side-part section with respect to the fastening section after the fastening section has been fastened to the support structure, inserting the line through the gap into the ring, and bending the closure section with respect to at least one of the fastening section, the side-part section, and the engagement section such that the closure section engages the engagement section and closes the gap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: Hilti Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Todd Wu, Eric Schulte Suedhoff
  • Patent number: 11619249
    Abstract: A vehicle driveline component with a housing, a tube and a plurality of slugs. The housing has a tube mount with a body and a plurality of slug bores. The body defines a tube bore that extends along an axis. The slug bores are spaced circumferentially apart about and are formed through the body. Each of the slug bores intersects the tube bore. The tube is received in the tube bore. Each of the slugs is received into an associated one of the slug bores and is welded to the tube. Each of the slugs engages an inside surface of one of the slug bores to inhibit movement of the tube relative to the tube mount. The body has a wall thickness and each of the slugs engages the inside surface of one of the slug bores over a distance that is less than the wall thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc.
    Inventors: Anoop Vasu, Cory J. Padfield, Chih-Hung Chung
  • Patent number: 11598433
    Abstract: Poppet valve, plate valve, with a longitudinal axis (L), with a valve seat having a plurality of valve seat passage channels, with a catcher arranged at a distance from the valve seat in the direction of the longitudinal axis (L), and with a sealing element arranged movably between the valve seat and the catcher for opening and closing the valve seat passage channels. One of the valve components formed as the valve seat or the catcher having a plurality of passage channel limiting sections and a plurality of web portions, each extending mutually at an angle (?), wherein at least one of the valve components formed as valve seat or catcher is produced at least in sections by additive manufacturing, and wherein at least one of the passage channel limiting sections is dimensioned shorter in the direction of the longitudinal axis (L).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: BURCKHARDT COMPRESSION AG
    Inventors: Matthias Pfister, Reiner Schulz
  • Patent number: 11583098
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a pocket spring core (40). The pocket spring core (40) comprises a plurality of pocketed spring elements (41). Each of the plurality of pocketed spring elements (41) is formed of a pocket (42) and at least one coil spring (43) enclosed by the pocket (42). The pocket spring core (40) comprises furthermore a frame element (44) enclosing an arrangement of the plurality of pocketed spring elements (41) along a circumference of the arrangement. The frame element (44) is glued to several pockets (42) of the plurality of pocketed spring elements (41) using a hot melt adhesive, a polyurethane adhesive or an epoxy lime adhesive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: L&P Swiss Holding GmbH
    Inventors: Niels Albæk, Morten Jørgensen
  • Patent number: 11583962
    Abstract: A holding table manufacturing method includes forming a plurality of first grooves in a front surface of a plate-shaped body, forming a plurality of second grooves in a back surface of the plate-shaped body, laying, on one another, a plurality of the plate-shaped bodies formed respectively with a plurality of the first grooves and a plurality of the second grooves and uniting the plate-shaped bodies together to form a suction plate, and accommodating the suction plate in an accommodating recess of a frame body to form a holding table. The first grooves and the second grooves do not reach side surfaces of the plate-shaped body, the first grooves and the second grooves communicate with each other, and the thickness of the suction plate is larger than the depth of the accommodating recess.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: DISCO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masaru Nakamura
  • Patent number: 11583963
    Abstract: A processing device of the invention includes a partition member partitioning a processing space and an external space, a frame body on which the partition member is mounted, a positioning unit for holding a workpiece at a predetermined position in the processing space, a processing unit for applying a predetermined process using a processing tool on the workpiece, an opening/closing member capable of opening/closing a first opening formed in the partition member, and an instrument attachment member to which a control instrument is attached, wherein the partition member has a plurality of uniform mounting sections on which the opening/closing member and the instrument attachment member are mutually selectively mounted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: HIRATA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Bungo Matsumoto, Yoshiro Tomita
  • Patent number: 11518531
    Abstract: An aircraft engine attachment connecting an attachment body and a primary structure of an aircraft pylon, the engine attachment comprising a shear pin immobilized in translation by a first immobilization system that comprises a shoulder and a removable stop that are integral with the primary structure, between which a flange of the shear pin is immobilized, and a second immobilization system that comprises a stop plate, connected by at least one removable link to the primary structure, which closes the first hole, at least in part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: AIRBUS OPERATIONS SAS
    Inventors: Jacky Puech, Thomas Deforet, Julien Cayssials
  • Patent number: 11517992
    Abstract: An assembly apparatus includes a retainer, a position measurement device, and a machining device. The retainer is configured to hold an assembly. The position measurement device is configured to measure a difference between an intended machining position and an actual machining position of a first coupling hole in a first assembly component. The first coupling hole is capable of being coupled to the assembly. The machining device is configured to form a second coupling hole capable of communicating with the first coupling hole in the assembly based on a reference position set on the assembly and the difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoichi Sato, Marosuke Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 11506241
    Abstract: A wheel bearing device (1) including: an outer member (2) on the inner periphery of which an outer-side rolling surface (2c/2d) is formed; an inner member (3) on the outer periphery of which an inner-side rolling surface (3c/3d) is formed; and a plurality of rolling bodies (41) interposed between the rolling surfaces (2c/2d/3c/3d) of the outer member (2) and the inner member (3). The wheel bearing device having a spline hole (3b) formed in a through hole (3h) of the inner member (3). The spline hole includes a guide groove (3G) formed on an inner circumferential surface thereof. A guide plate (8G) of a finishing broach (8) passes through the guide groove in the inner periphery of the spline hole (3b).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: NTN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazunari Yamamoto, Hayato Taniguchi