Patents Examined by Steven Nichols
  • Patent number: 4578857
    Abstract: A tamperproof package comprising a container having a neck and an annular radial flange beneath the neck and a plastic closure removably interengaged with the neck. The closure has a top wall and a peripheral skirt. A plastic pilfer band interengages the skirt, such that when the closure is applied to the container, the band is flexed over and engages beneath annular flange on the neck of the container, and when the closure is thereafter removed from the container, the band is prevented from removal from the container and is thereby disengaged from the closure. In a modified form the plastic pilfer band includes an integral liner which is severed from the band and engages the top wall of the closure during assembly of the band to the closure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 1985
    Date of Patent: April 1, 1986
    Assignee: Owens-Illinois, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas W. Gray, Ralph H. Whitney
  • Patent number: 4577386
    Abstract: The method comprises winding on a mandrel M a tube 1 having a flattened cross-sectional shape so as to form a helical structure, mounting on the mandrel and the tube a sheet metal cylinder 2, injecting in the tube a fluid under pressure so as to cause the tube to assume, by expansion, the shape of a coiled tube having a circular cross-sectional shape and thereby locally deform the wall of the cylinder in the shape of a helical impression, and fixing the coiled tube to the cylinder so as to produce the sleeve. The invention applies in particular to containers for cryogenic fluids provided with coiled heating tubes in an interwall space containing a vacuum between the sleeve and the internal tank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 1984
    Date of Patent: March 25, 1986
    Assignee: L'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude
    Inventors: Jean-Yves Faudou, Pierre Pelloux-Gervais
  • Patent number: 4575934
    Abstract: A method and system for automatically attaching a sub-assembly such as a strut assembly of a strut-type front suspension to a main assembly such as a vehicle body which is transported on a conveyor belt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 1983
    Date of Patent: March 18, 1986
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Company, Limited
    Inventors: Kengo Kitamura, Hitoshi Murata
  • Patent number: 4575933
    Abstract: Ring travelers supplied on a magazine strip are transferred to a magazine bar by pulling at the magazine strip in a predetermined direction. At its front end the magazine bar is bent-off at right angles and is tapered in order to form a hook at this location for placing a momentarily preparatory-held ring traveler onto the annular flange of a spinning or twisting ring. The preparatorily-held ring traveler is clamped between the hook and a separator element in a tongue-like manner. The separator element is connected to a housing structured as a handle by means of a pivotable support. To mount the ring traveler at the angular flange of the spinning or twisting ring the handle-like housing must be retracted, and during this retraction the magazine bar which is mounted at a slide is pulled out from the housing against the force of a spring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 1984
    Date of Patent: March 18, 1986
    Assignee: Bracker AG
    Inventor: Andreas Neff
  • Patent number: 4574473
    Abstract: An assembly is disclosed having a simple, standard fastener secured to sheet material such as sheet metal. A support strap is integrally formed in an offset relationship with the sheet material, and opposite sides of the fastener are deformed to interlockingly engage the remainder of the sheet material. A method and apparatus are also disclosed for securing the fastener to the sheet material in substantially one operation, including alternate manual and automatic means for feeding fasteners to such apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 1984
    Date of Patent: March 11, 1986
    Assignee: BTM Corporation
    Inventor: Edwin G. Sawdon
  • Patent number: 4574458
    Abstract: Apparatus and method for inserting a plastic cap into the open end of a roll. Spaced rolls are moved downstream along a continuously moving conveyor and are lifted from the conveyor for capping. A cap gravity falls down a chute to a loading position where it is picked up by a plunger and seated in the end of the lifted, aligned roll. The capped roll is then returned to the conveyor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 1984
    Date of Patent: March 11, 1986
    Assignee: Elsner Engineering Works, Inc.
    Inventors: Frank Elsner, Jr., Robert E. Molison
  • Patent number: 4574460
    Abstract: A method of adjusting a wedge angle between a pair of wedge surfaces in a wedge device. The wedge device includes a housing, a pair of opposed walls therein with at least one of the opposed walls having a bifurcated wall section and with the other of the opposed walls and the bifurcated wall section defining the wedge surfaces, and an adjusting device. In practicing this method, the adjusting device is drivingly engaged with a part of the bifurcated wall section, and thereby the bifurcated wall section is deflected with respect to the other opposed wall so as to adjust the wedge angle between the wedge surfaces defined on the bifurcated wall section and the other opposed wall, respectively.A wedge device, a clamping device, a method of releasably securing a clamping device, and a method of releasably securing a stator are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 1984
    Date of Patent: March 11, 1986
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Eugene C. Bair
  • Patent number: 4574453
    Abstract: An assembly is disclosed having a simple, standard fastener secured to sheet material such as sheet metal. A support strap is integrally formed in an offset relationship with the sheet material, and opposite sides of the fastener are deformed to interlockingly engage the remainder of the sheet material. A method and apparatus are also disclosed for securing the fastener to the sheet material in substantially one operation, including alternate manual and automatic means for feeding fasteners to such apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 1984
    Date of Patent: March 11, 1986
    Assignee: BTM Corporation
    Inventor: Edwin G. Sawdon
  • Patent number: 4573247
    Abstract: A machine for making artificial limbs as for a Christmas tree where twisted wires having simulated needles attached are fed by a reciprocating transverse action to a pair of cutters which cut the wires to predetermined lengths while at the same time a pair of wires and a strand of decorative material are fed between a pair of pulleys where the cut lengths are attached perpendicularly to the pair of wires and decorative strand being twisted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 1984
    Date of Patent: March 4, 1986
    Assignee: Mr. Christmas Incorporated
    Inventor: Enrico Spinelli
  • Patent number: 4573253
    Abstract: A process and apparatus for fabricating an optical fiber cable assembly without significantly increasing the light attenuation in the optical fiber or fibers is described. An optical fiber assembly formed in accordance with the present invention comprises at least one optical fiber encapsulated within a metal or metal alloy tube. The tube is preferably formed using a draw forming technique of pulling a metal or metal alloy tape through at least one forming die. To compensate for the compressional strain induced in the fiber or fibers by tube springback upon relaxation of the pull force and to minimize increased light attenuation in the fiber or fiber, a back tension is imparted to each optical fiber during cable assembly. In a preferred embodiment, the back tension is imparted to each fiber by an accumulator about which the optical fiber is wound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 1984
    Date of Patent: March 4, 1986
    Assignee: Olin Corporation
    Inventors: Warren F. Smith, Eugene Shapiro, Joseph Winter
  • Patent number: 4573264
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for feeding sliders to a slider pocket are disclosed. Sliders taken from the pocket are assembled on the fastening element sections of an uncut fastener chain which is moved and stopped intermittently to allow the assembly of the sliders, wherein sliders longitudinally aligned and delivered by a slider chute are fed into a slider holder one at a time. The slider holder carrying a slider received from the chute is transferred to a slider assembling station from a direction at right angles to the direction of fastener chain transfer, and the slider is loaded at the slider assembling station into the slider pocket which is provided at the upper end of a slider pocket block raised from the direction at right angles to both the fastener chain transfer direction and slider transfer direction, and the slider holder is returned to the exit of the slider chute. These steps are repeated in synchronism with the stopping of movement of the uncut fastener chain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 1984
    Date of Patent: March 4, 1986
    Assignee: Yoshida Kogyo K.K.
    Inventor: Shingo Hatagishi
  • Patent number: 4571810
    Abstract: A machine tool installation enables the production of a variety of parts from a workpiece, and sorting of the parts so produced, on a fully automated basis. The machine tool has a numerical control system by which its cutting tool is caused to act upon the workpiece to selectively produce any of a number of different parts. The same control system is concurrently utilized to operate a sorting unit to position the designated one of several receptacles provided thereon to a point adjacent a common discharge location from the machine tool. The different parts produced are thereby segregated into substantially homogenous batches within the several receptacles provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 1984
    Date of Patent: February 25, 1986
    Assignee: Trumpf America, Inc.
    Inventor: Berthold Leibinger
  • Patent number: 4571825
    Abstract: The present invention provides an apparatus for removing railroad track, comprising an elongated frame arranged to straddle a pair of rails and having elongated skids arranged to sit upon and slide along the ends of ties secured to the rails on the outboard sides of the rails, a rail and tie separating assembly mounted on the frame for separating lengths of rail from the ties to which the lengths of rail are secured, a rail elevating assembly for lifting lengths of rail which has been separated by the rail and tie separating assembly, and a conveyor for receiving a length of rail lifted by the elevating assembly and longitudinally transporting the rail to one end of the frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 1984
    Date of Patent: February 25, 1986
    Inventor: Eric T. M. Skibsted
  • Patent number: 4570335
    Abstract: A fastener slider inserting apparatus inserts a slider into a continuous concealed fastener chain alternately having element rows interlocked with each other and space portions in which no element is present.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 1984
    Date of Patent: February 18, 1986
    Assignee: Yoshida Kogyo K.K.
    Inventor: Shingo Hatagishi
  • Patent number: 4569126
    Abstract: A residual distance to a stop surface and a minimum pressing force are specified. A machine part is moved through the residual distance. The pressing force is detected and compared with the specified minimum pressing force. The machine part is moved against the stop surface only when the pressing force exceeds the specified minimum pressing force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 1984
    Date of Patent: February 11, 1986
    Assignee: Ford Motor Company
    Inventor: Gottfried Weber
  • Patent number: 4569114
    Abstract: A method of mounting a fibre composite flywheel on a relatively stiff shaft, such as a metal or carbon fibre shaft, comprising passing the shaft through a hole in a hub at the center of the flywheel and securing the flywheel to the shaft wherein the shaft has a tapered portion and a deformable sleeve is positioned between the shaft and the hub of the flywheel on assembly. The deformable sleeve comprises a hollow cylinder having a tapered bore which corresponds to the tapered portion of the shaft and having an outside diameter which, before deformation, is larger than the diameter of the hole in the hub of the flywheel by an amount which is greater than the theoretical amount of radial growth which the hole in the hub would experience at the maximum operating speed of the flywheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 1984
    Date of Patent: February 11, 1986
    Assignee: The British Petroleum Company p.l.c.
    Inventors: Geoffrey T. Ashcombe, Ian Duff-Barclay, Clive Morant
  • Patent number: 4567648
    Abstract: A rotary assembly apparatus includes a base having a pair of parallel vertically oriented axes. A pair of circular platelike members of differing diameters are mounted for rotation, one on each axis such that the peripheries of the circular platelike members encompass both axes and are in juxtaposition at one point. Each of the platelike members includes on its periphery a plurality of receivers for receiving elements of a mechanical assembly from feeders positioned adjacent the periphery of the platelike members. The rotation of the platelike members brings a set of the elements into juxtaposition and one of the receivers moves vertically with respect to the other to complete the assembly of the elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 1984
    Date of Patent: February 4, 1986
    Assignee: Moorfeed Corporation
    Inventor: Myron L. Doty
  • Patent number: 4566168
    Abstract: A coupling apparatus for connection to a cylindrical member having a radially outward extending shoulder includes a body member. A collet assembly including a plurality of collet fingers is disposed around the body member and each of the collet fingers includes a radially inward extending flange adapted to engage a lower surface of the shoulder of the cylindrical member. An actuating sleeve operably associated with the collet assembly moves the flanges of the collet fingers between a radially expanded open position and a radially contracted closed position. An annular seal is provided between the body member and the cylindrical member. An adjustable collet positioning apparatus is operably associated with the body member and the collet assembly for adjusting a longitudinal position of the flanges of the collet fingers relative to the body member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 1985
    Date of Patent: January 28, 1986
    Assignee: Halliburton Company
    Inventor: James L. Stromberg
  • Patent number: 4561165
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for making hook-to-rail connections for scaffolds or the like, namely a method of securing an offset hook to a rail or beam of generally I-shape by inserting an arcuate plate of such ductility as to be deformable upon extension thereof to fill spacing between the flanged ends of the rail or beam and the hook and to secure the hook to the rail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 1984
    Date of Patent: December 31, 1985
    Assignee: R. D. Werner Co., Inc.
    Inventor: Thomas E. Bayer
  • Patent number: 4554734
    Abstract: Delivery apparatus for carrying a plurality of balance weights for automobile wheels and delivering a suitable weight to an insertion device to fit the weight on the rim of a wheel in a predetermined circumferential position. The balance weights have parallel through bores and the insertion device includes a pair of spaced mandrels receivable in the through bores of the weights to carry the weights from a storage compartment to an automobile wheel and install the weight on the rim at the predetermined position. The apparatus includes a clip applying apparatus to force a retaining clip over the balance weight and the wheel rim to secure the weight to the rim.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 1984
    Date of Patent: November 26, 1985
    Assignee: Gebr. Hofmann GmbH & Co. KG Maschinenfabrik
    Inventor: Rembrandt Sander