Patents Examined by Paul M. Rivard
  • Patent number: 5749987
    Abstract: A method and device for controlling the power intake of a welding unit (1) with an ultrasonic horn (2) and an anvil holder (3) equipped with anvils (4). The mean distance of the ultrasonic horn (2) from the anvil (4) is controlled so that the power intake of the welding unit (1) will coincide with a predetermined control value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 12, 1998
    Assignee: Molnlycke AB
    Inventor: Andreas Wannebo
  • Patent number: 5749986
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for detecting and utilizing a voltage produced by a variety of materials for process control and analysis purposes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 12, 1998
    Assignee: Tracy A. Wyatt
    Inventor: W. Tison Wyatt
  • Patent number: 5746877
    Abstract: An apparatus for assembling innerspring constructions from rows or strings of pocketed coil springs comprises a generally planar support surface with a pressure plate mounted parallel to and above the support surface. The apparatus includes a bonding material applicator for applying bonding material to a first row of pocketed coil springs retained by the pressure plate. A pusher bar assembly is provided for pushing a second row of coil springs into intimate contact with the first row whereupon the two rows become bonded. The pusher bar assembly includes a pusher fixture having two opposed sides, each with differently spaced dividers for receiving rows of springs having differing diameters. The pusher fixture is manually rotatable to employ a desired set of dividers depending on the size of the coils being assembled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 5, 1998
    Assignee: Simmons Company
    Inventors: Michael S. Notheis, Bernhard W. Kuchel
  • Patent number: 5746855
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for the archival storage of tissue sections which have been cut from a sample block by a microtome blade includes a tape bearing serially-spaced areas of adhesive material, generally the same size as the surface of the tissue sample block. The tape may be delivered from a feed reel by a feed roller mechanism. Between each cut, the tape is advanced to align the adhesive area on the tape with the tissue sample. An application roller presses the adhesive against the sample, the section is cut, and a takeup roller lifts the tape and section away from the blade. The tape may then be wound onto a takeup reel for archival storage. The entire process may be automated, including the operation of a transport mechanism to move the apparatus away from the tissue sample during microscopic imaging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 5, 1998
    Assignee: Advanced Pathology Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael Bolles
  • Patent number: 5746869
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for cyclically accelerating the leading end of a slower moving first material web to match the faster speed of a continuous second material web. The apparatus is comprised of a set of upstream metering rolls which feed the first material web at a constant slow speed, a set of downstream applicator rolls having a constant and relatively faster rotational velocity, and an acceleration mechanism which variably and alternately reverses and allows forward movement of a leading end segment of the first material web while allowing for the constant rotational velocities of the upstream and downstream rolls. The first material web is wrapped partially around the set of upstream rolls and the leading end segment thereof is wrapped partially around one of the downstream rolls. The acceleration mechanism is juxtapositioned between the upstream rolls and the downstream rolls in the feed path of the first material web.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 5, 1998
    Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
    Inventors: Michael Patrick Hayden, Karl Heinz Stuermer
  • Patent number: 5741381
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a labelling system and process. A continuous single-ply film is provided with a reverse printed image on an inside surface thereof with opaque coating substantially covering the inside surface. The film preferably is very thin, less than about 1.7 mils. The film is applied with a system using registration control based on two sources of input data, registration indicia and cutter position. The system self corrects for variations in true label length. An adhesive applicator is provided, such as a laser jet spray adhesive or alternatively a rotating cylinder having a cam surface which contacts the label with adhesive utilizing a perfectly cylindrical vacuum drum to avoid container/label slippage. A controlled motor drive on the supply roll to reduce web tension is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 21, 1998
    Assignee: R. W. Packaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Dale E. Dolence, Roger Williams, Sr.
  • Patent number: 5741383
    Abstract: This invention relates to a process for bonding a vehicle window to a vehicle flange comprising the sequential steps of:a) applying a liquid masking composition to a vehicle flange,b) painting the vehicle, and drying or curing the liquid masking composition sufficiently to form a strippable mask;c) removing the mask from the flange; andd) adhesively bonding the vehicle window to the vehicle flange. Such a masking process advantageously eliminates the need for the use of solvent-based primers normally used to prime a painted vehicle flange, and provides a mask which is more easily applied and removed from the flange than masking means which initially comprise a solid substance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 1992
    Date of Patent: April 21, 1998
    Assignee: Essex Specialty Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Andrew R. Kneisel
  • Patent number: 5735996
    Abstract: A system for applying labels, disposed on a web, to articles, comprising web transfer means for moving the web along a web path, said web path having a label transfer portion, a transfer platen, having a transfer surface, said surface being adjacent the label transfer portion, a plurality of label transfer elements, mounted to the platen and adapted to contact the web and to cause a label to transfer from the web to an article, and a plurality of article presentation means, a plurality of which are adapted to present an article to a the web and a transfer element. A system for applying decorative labels to articles, the system including unwind reel, a wind reel, a web, a web path which transfers the web from the unwind reel to the wind reel, a transfer point on the web path at which a label is transferred from the web to the article.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 7, 1998
    Assignee: Avery Dennison Corporation
    Inventors: Syed A. Asghar, Joseph F. Callinan, Paul D. Christo
  • Patent number: 5730816
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for selecting labels disposed on a moving web and stripping and retaining the stripped labels apart from the web, and removing the unstripped labels with the web. The invention includes moving the unstripped labels on the web over an edge substantially parallel to the trailing edge of the label, and subsequently moving and/or rotating the trailing edge with respect to the edge at a rate relatively faster than the web to effect a reliable separation of the label from the web.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 24, 1998
    Assignee: Imtec, Inc.
    Inventor: William J. Murphy
  • Patent number: 5725719
    Abstract: A linerless label product, method of making, apparatus and method for dispensing the product wherein a convolutely wound web roll has one face coated with pressure sensitive adhesive while the other face is coated with a release material, the adhesive is interrupted in longitudinally spaced areas to provide transversely extending bands free of pressure sensitive adhesive with the web areas between bands being labels embodying alpha shapes, numeric shapes, graphics, thermally activated material and/or self-contained material; the preparation method including providing signal-stimulating means for each band and the apparatus and method of dispensing employs sensing of the signal-stimulating means to transversely sever the web in the bands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 10, 1998
    Assignee: Wallace Computer Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Janusz Szczepaniec, Ronald W. Rumple, Peter A Walter, Drew A. Yaeger
  • Patent number: 5725724
    Abstract: A facer for use with a plastic pipe butt fusion machine, the machine being of the type that supports two lengths of plastic pipe in spaced apart, end-to-end relationship. The facer has a housing supportable to a butt fusion machine that includes a driven gear rotatably with first and second paralleled facer plates affixed to opposed surfaces of the driven gear. Each facer plate has shapers that, when forced against the ends of plastic pipe shave off portion of the pipe so that the ends become uniform and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pipe. A motor is supposed to the housing and includes a drive shaft having a drive gear that is coupled to the driven gear by a chain. An overriding clutch connects the motor drive shaft to the drive gear.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 10, 1998
    Assignee: TDW Delaware, Inc.
    Inventors: Bill Dean Andrew, Richard Leroy Goswick
  • Patent number: 5720849
    Abstract: A wafer mounting device transfers a wafer coated with an adhesive and pastes the wafer on a mount plate while maintaining the thickness of the adhesive uniform. A chuck plate is carried by a rotatable transfer arm and holds the adhesive-coated wafer by suction so that the wafer can be moved in a direction of rotation of the arm. The chuck plate is heated by a heater to substantially the same temperature as the wafer. A flexible pressing pad is disposed between the chuck plate and the transfer arm for biasing the chuck plate in a direction away from the arm, and a flexible pressure-adjusting pad is provided for biasing the chuck plate in a direction toward the arm. The pressing pad and the pressure-adjusting pad have hollow sections filled with pressurized fluid, and the pressure of the fluid within each pad is regulated to thereby control the pressing force of the chuck plate so that the wafer is placed softly on the mount plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 1992
    Date of Patent: February 24, 1998
    Assignee: Enya Systems, Limited
    Inventors: Noriyoshi Yokosuka, Shizuo Suzuki
  • Patent number: 5716469
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for labeling documents uses an-electronic computer to generate the sequential information required to be placed on each label. This information is then transferred to a printing device which transfers this sequential information onto each individual label. Once the labels are printed in a sequential manner, they are fed into a dispenser which individually or in groups, dispenses the labels in a sequential manner. In order to eliminate any turning of the labels or the documents, the printing device prints the labels in an inverted manner such that they exit the dispenser in an upright legible manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 1995
    Date of Patent: February 10, 1998
    Inventor: James T. Higgins
  • Patent number: 5711838
    Abstract: A method and device for continuously or discontinuously manufacturing flat sheets of multiple-layer materials, laminates, or similar articles for use in the furniture and electrical industries. In order to prevent molten resin from leaking out at the edges of layer of material while they are being bonded under heat and pressure, the free edges of the stacked layers of bonding material are welded together before the material is transformed into a composite sheet or composite web by heat and pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1992
    Date of Patent: January 27, 1998
    Assignee: Firma Theodor Hymmen
    Inventor: Werner Pankoke
  • Patent number: 5709752
    Abstract: An apparatus for filling the interspaces between leads of a bundle of leads, which may be optical or electrical leads, with a water-repelling compound characterized by a filling head having a pre-filling chamber and a main filling chamber. The leads are supplied via a common admission channel to the pre-filling chamber which has a channel opening that is selected to be only slightly larger than the diameter of the envelope of the leads combined to form a bundle of leads. The pre-filling chamber is followed by a coating nozzle having a diminished cross section, which coating nozzle receives the bundle and discharges it into the main filling chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 1992
    Date of Patent: January 20, 1998
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Horst Knoch, Norbert Niesemeyer, Wilfried Reissenweber
  • Patent number: 5705020
    Abstract: A device for controlling the production quality of a press, which manufactures package blanks from a sheet of material by transferring the sheet of materials, such as paperboard or corrugated board, chronologically through an infeed station, a die-cutting station, a waste-stripping station and a delivery station, has an arrangement for controlling the printing and blanking quality which includes a camera scanning the color register marks and a register mark for the positioning of the blanking of the sheet. The camera is located at the outlet of the die-cutting station so that it can scan the marks applied on the lower side of the sheet. The device includes a marking device, which is driven by the arrangement for controlling the printing and blanking quality, to mark a defective sheet and is positioned in the delivery station of the press.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 6, 1998
    Assignee: Bobst SA
    Inventor: Mauro Chiari
  • Patent number: 5705021
    Abstract: A label applicator for applying a label to the top surface of an object moving along a path adjacent to the applicator. The applicator is comprised of a label printer mounted for vertical adjustment on support structure attached to a fixed frame. The printer has a label feed position and is adjusted vertically on the support to set the label feed position to an expected median article height. A label transport assembly, attached to the frame, receives and retains the label and then moves vertically and laterally from a home position, above the label feed position, to an article intercept position, where it applies the label to the moving article. The controller learns the home position and positions the label transport assembly at the home position to pick up labels. The label printer, the label transport assembly, and the moveable frame are located alongside the object path such that when the label transport assembly is in the home position, the object path is vertically unobstructed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 6, 1998
    Assignee: Accu-Sort Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Albert Wurz, Edward P. Yeh, Thomas J. Brobst
  • Patent number: 5702555
    Abstract: A cleavable release structure composed of two release bases each having an outer surface and an inner surface; a release coating on the inner surface of each release base; a layer of a pressure sensitive adhesive adjacent the coating on the inner surface of each release base; and a clearable layer sandwiched between the pressure sensitive adhesive layers, so that the cleavable layer is adapted to cleave and separate when subjected to a peeling force greater than its internal bond strength and less than the adhesion force of the pressure sensitive adhesive. Each layer of pressure sensitive adhesive should be adapted to provide an adhesion force greater than about 24 ounces per inch of width. The release coating should be adapted to provide a release level of from about 1 to about 30 grams per centimeter of width. The clearable layer should have an internal bond strength of from about 2 to about 20 ounces per inch of width.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 1996
    Date of Patent: December 30, 1997
    Assignee: Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc.
    Inventors: Pierre Caudal, Guy Mahe, Georgia Anna Baker, James Joseph Duis
  • Patent number: 5700337
    Abstract: A composite structure and related fabrication method is provided which has a plurality of composite material layers and at least one embedded shape memory alloy component for providing controlled structural deformation. The shape memory alloy component includes a shape memory alloy tendon having a relaxed shape at temperatures below a predetermined transition temperature and a contracted shape at temperatures above the predetermined transition temperature. The shape memory alloy component also comprises a pair of electrically insulating opposing face sheets adhered to opposite sides of the shape memory alloy tendon to electrically isolate the shape memory alloy tendon from the surrounding composite material layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 1996
    Date of Patent: December 23, 1997
    Assignees: McDonnell Douglas Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventors: Jack H. Jacobs, Matthew M. Thomas, Duane D. Grosskrueger, Bernie F. Carpenter, Alan R. Perry
  • Patent number: 5700346
    Abstract: The present invention provides an automatic slide staining system which will process stained slides, such as cytology or histology specimens. The present invention includes two embodiments for the staining system. The first system includes a slide storage device, a slide transport apparatus, a first platen including a plurality of staining stations, a heating station, and a housing. In order to utilize the first embodiment of the system of the present invention, the stained slides are placed in the storage device. The slides are removed from the storage device and are processed on the various stations via the transport apparatus. The first system can be altered slightly so that a cover slip apparatus can be incorporated within the system. In order to do so, the heating station is removed. A cover slip dispensing apparatus replaces the heating station. This will permit for a cover slip to be placed on the stained slide after a complete transverse of the slide staining stations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 1994
    Date of Patent: December 23, 1997
    Inventor: Peter S. Edwards