Patents Examined by Terrence L. B. Brown
  • Patent number: 4699219
    Abstract: The support wheels and drag stake of a motor driven cultivating device are connected to the main frame of the device by independent mounting brackets at a location rearward of the tines. The support wheels and drag bar are interconnected by a sliding collar-bar which is rigidly attached to the axle of the wheels, thereby allowing for the simultaneous pivoting of drag stake and support wheels between a forward transport position, wherein the drag stake is in an inactive elevated position, and a rearward working position, wherein the drag stake is disposed at an angle off of the vertical for engaging the earth and retarding the forward progress of the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 1986
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1987
    Assignee: Garden Way Incorporated
    Inventors: John T. Durrant, Greg K. Deily
  • Patent number: 4699218
    Abstract: During the first pass across a field of row-planted sugar or red beets, the apparatus digs the beets from a specific number of rows (six being illustrated but the apparatus herein disclosed can be structured for four or five rows as well), elevates the beets at one side of the apparatus to a given height and discharges the elevated beets into a tank from which they are periodically re-elevated and discharged into a truck at the side of the apparatus opposite the side at which they are elevated and re-elevated, the truck trailing the apparatus over rows from which beets have been removed when not receiving re-elevated beets. On the next pass in a reverse direction across the field, the truck runs in the swath where the beets have been removed during the first pass, and the beets during the second pass are continually discharged into the truck without resort to storage and without re-elevating the beets as done on the first pass.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 1985
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1987
    Assignee: Wic, Inc.
    Inventor: Wayne J. Schwitters
  • Patent number: 4697316
    Abstract: A burial casket is provided with a capsule which extends from a casket side wall inwardly and contains information regarding the remains contained in the casket. The capsule is removable from the casket to give access to the information without opening the casket.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 1986
    Date of Patent: October 6, 1987
    Assignee: Casket Shells, Inc.
    Inventor: Joseph R. Semon
  • Patent number: 4695267
    Abstract: A chassis for scaled-down toy vehicles has the battery-powered motor mounted directly over the driven axle at a rearwardly and downwardly extended angle. The battery rests between the stub axles supporting the front, freely rotatable wheels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 1985
    Date of Patent: September 22, 1987
    Assignees: Robert S. McDarren, Barry Y. Piels, Thomas L. Simmel
    Inventors: Thomas L. Simmel, David W. Crossley, Mark N. Morehouse
  • Patent number: 4691785
    Abstract: There is disclosed a carriage for an agricultural implement, particularly for a reversible plow, in which the wheels at each side of the carriage are mounted to the carriage with forks which are pivotally received on a main axle and which have lift arms interconnected to a lift assembly. The wheel lift assembly has lift levers fixedly secured at opposite ends of a lift shaft and these are connected to their respective lift arms on the wheel forks by lift links having adjustable pinned connections to the lift levers whereby the fulcrum of each lift lever can be changed by insertion of pins in preselected, aligned pairs of apertures between the link arm and lift lever. The fulcrum positions of the lift levers control the elevations of the wheels on the carriage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 1985
    Date of Patent: September 8, 1987
    Assignee: Post Brothers Construction Co.
    Inventor: Charles R. Post
  • Patent number: 4690657
    Abstract: An amusement device comprising first and second magnetic members; the first magnetic member being freelymovable in a base and the second magnetic member suspended from a tether and support arm attached to the base to a position within the influence of the first magnetic member. The second magnetic member is secured at one end to the tether in a manner by which the repulsive interaction between the two magnets maintains the second magnetic member essentially parallel to the base and perpendicular to the tether. The second magnetic member is freely rotatable around the point of tether attachment such that movements of the first magnetic member cause corresponding changes in the rotational orientation of the second magnetic member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 1985
    Date of Patent: September 1, 1987
    Inventor: Lawrence E. Lodrick, Sr.
  • Patent number: 4688305
    Abstract: A hinge is adapted to be mounted in either of two mountings, a first or flush mounting which enables closing of a cover so that it touches a container portion, and a second or spaced mounting in which the cover is maintained in spaced relation to the container portion. The hinge comprises a strap which is detachably coupled to a hinge base. The strap comprises a strap plate and at least two hooks affixed thereto. The hinge base comprises a hinge plate having an aperture in a center portion thereof a vertically protruding arcuate rib, and a support bar. In a first mounting the strap is detachably and rotatably mounted on the support bar of the hinge base so that both hooks of the strap are mounted on the support bar. In the second mounting the cover is initially detached from the container, laterally displaced along the axis of the support bar, and replaced so that only one of the hooks is mounted on the support bar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 1985
    Date of Patent: August 25, 1987
    Assignee: Casket Shells Inc.
    Inventor: William T. MacKirdy
  • Patent number: 4689032
    Abstract: A water toy for infants comprises a floatable portion and a restraining portion for loosely restraining the floatable portion so that the floatable portion when floated in water in a pool or tub in which an infant is playing or being bathed is enabled to bob up and down, pitch and roll, spin through an angle of 360.degree. about a vertical axis, and move over a limited portion of the surface of the water but prevented from moving and remaining beyond the reach of the infant. Various ancillary toys are included.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 1985
    Date of Patent: August 25, 1987
    Assignee: Hasbro, Inc.
    Inventor: Martin M. Trossman
  • Patent number: 4687460
    Abstract: A gravitationally animated toy bird comprised of three main body members axially connected to permit an inner body member to pivotally swing about the axis is disclosed. The gravitationally animated toy bird when released at the top of an inclined plane will simulate four movements of a bird, including its mandibles opening and closing, its tail feathers waggling up and down, its head plume feathers waggling forward and backwards, and its legs walking down the inclined plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 1986
    Date of Patent: August 18, 1987
    Inventor: Frank J. Katzmarzik
  • Patent number: 4687065
    Abstract: A cultivator comprises an array of laterally-spaced soil-inversion discs having their centers arranged in a substantially horizontal line lying at not more than 30.degree. to a transverse plane of the cultivator and being mounted for rotation about individual axes which are equally inclined to the vertical and, when viewed in plan, also to the longitudinal plane of the cultivator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 1984
    Date of Patent: August 18, 1987
    Assignee: National Research Development Corporation
    Inventors: Richard E. Cope, Hugh G. Stirling
  • Patent number: 4687064
    Abstract: A harvester for harvesting green peanuts is moved along a peanut bed. A plant conveyor using an angled pair of back-to-back V-belts is arranged to cause the belts to grip the stem area of peanut plants and, as the belts move rearward and the harvester moves forward, the plants are pulled from the bed. Picking elements having a plurality of toothed picking combs move laterally beneath the belts, contacting the plant root structure and removing the peanuts therefrom. Means are provided for removing dirt from the roots, transporting picked peanuts to a storage bin and storing the peanuts therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 1986
    Date of Patent: August 18, 1987
    Assignee: RJM, Inc.
    Inventor: Reaves Johnson
  • Patent number: 4685893
    Abstract: A toy doll or article comprising a main body, a variable length appendage having a root end attached to the main body and an outer free end, at least one flexible elongate element threaded through the appendage along the length thereof and having a root end attached to the main body and an outer free end, the appendage outwardly of the root end thereof being slidable along the elongate element and sufficiently flexible to ruffle and unruffle when slid inwardly and outwardly along the elongate element to vary the length of the appendage. In a toy doll, the appendage includes a plurality of hair-like strands which are bundled together as by braiding or by bands encircling the strands at selected locations spaced along the length of the bundle. The strands at the free end of the bundle are held by a holding band preferably in relatively tight engagement with the elongate element frictionally to hold the free end of the bundle against movement along the elongate element which may be a length of ribbon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 1986
    Date of Patent: August 11, 1987
    Assignee: Those Characters From Cleveland, Inc.
    Inventors: Jerzy Perkitny, Edward G. Chanter
  • Patent number: 4681554
    Abstract: A toy device is disclosed which can be opened at any angle desired by means of a mechanical structure, which comprises mainly a fixed member with two notches being furnished at both ends respectively; two movable members, of which the bottom ends are fixed respectively to two transmission members being mounted in the notches on the fixed member; a control member, of which two lugs on both ends thereof are hooked in the two round holes of the two transmission members respectively so as to have the control member coupled with the two movable members. When the control member is being driven to move upwards, the movable members will be moved to open at a given angle or fully open at an angle of 180.degree..
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 1985
    Date of Patent: July 21, 1987
    Inventor: Chang Hsien-Yang
  • Patent number: 4680020
    Abstract: A free-wheeling toy vehicle which when propelled makes a repetitive sound simulating the noise of an internal combustion engine. The vehicle includes a chassis having bearings supporting front and rear wheel axles. Lying on top of the chassis between the axles is a drum having an elastic drum head. Cantilevered from one end of the chassis is a clapper formed of a flat metal spring terminating in a striker, the spring being biased so that the striker normally rests on the drum head. A finger projects downwardly from the clapper, the tip of the finger being successively engaged by the equispaced teeth of a hub mounted on one of the wheel axles and turning therewith. Each time the finger tip is engaged by a moving tooth, the finger is pushed forward to raise the striker above the drum head; and when the finger than falls between adjacent teeth, the striker is released to hit the drum head to generate a thumping sound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 1986
    Date of Patent: July 14, 1987
    Inventors: Melvin R. Kennedy, Dietmar Nagel, Abraham A. Arad
  • Patent number: 4676763
    Abstract: A toy vehicle is provided, including: a body; a spring, power generating unit connected to the body; a plurality of driving wheels connected to the spring, power generating unit through a transmission; a pair of legs mechanically connected to the spring, power generating unit through the transmission; a crank mechanism connected to the legs; a speed control gear mechanism capable of being connected to or disconnected from the transmission by automatic switching motion of a planetary gear meshing with a first gear of the transmission; and a movable actuating member, one end of which contacts the ground when the driving wheels contact the ground, thus moving the other end of the actuating member which disengages the planetary gear from the speed control gear mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 1985
    Date of Patent: June 30, 1987
    Assignee: Tomy Kogyo Co, Inc.
    Inventors: Makato Saito, Hiroyuki Watanabe
  • Patent number: 4676764
    Abstract: A dancing doll which alternately moves its hips left and right while alternately rotating 180.degree. clockwise and counterclockwise to a melody. The doll includes an upper portion, a hip portion, a leg portion, and a base portion. The upper portion resembles the head to hip portion of a human; the hip portion resembles the hips of a human; and the leg portion resembles the legs through feet of a human. The base portion includes a covering case with a rotating disc at its bottom, a base plate that is pivotally connected to the rotating disc, a switch, a battery, a motor, an I.C. Unit, a speaker, a prime gear, a cam, an actuator, and gearing which will transmit the motion of the motor to the cam and to the actuator and will cause the alternate turning of the rotating disc. A pin pivotally connects the upper portion to the hip portion and a torso supporter, which extends from the right leg into a cavity in the upper portion. The feet are connected to the top of the covering case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 1985
    Date of Patent: June 30, 1987
    Assignee: Michael & Park's Trading and Sales, Inc.
    Inventor: Nam-Jin Yeu
  • Patent number: 4674577
    Abstract: A turf harvester cutter assembly includes a blade assembly attached adjacent one end of a pair of parallel blade carrying arms. Structure is provided for reciprocating the blade carrying arms at input points opposite the pivot points from the blade assembly to effect cutting by the blade assembly. The blade assembly, pivot points and reciprocation input points are substantially aligned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 1985
    Date of Patent: June 23, 1987
    Inventor: John L. Meyer
  • Patent number: 4664202
    Abstract: A pull-type folding implement, such as a grain drill, has individual and independent radial flotation for each of its drill units such that each unit can rise and fall, while remaining level, independently of the other, as well as cock and cant independently of the other as may be necessary to accommodate uneven ground terrain, yet the units may be folded into compact, fore-and-aft extending transport positions in which ground wheels thereof are retracted off the ground and the units are carried by a main, fore-and-aft carrier frame of the implement. A third, center unit may be provided between the two outer units and utilizes its own set of ground wheels during both field working and over-the-road travel when the other units are folded in, the center unit likewise having a floating connection with the carrier frame which permits the center unit to rise and fall, cock and cant when experiencing terrain irregularities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 1984
    Date of Patent: May 12, 1987
    Assignee: Great Plains Manufacturing, Inc.
    Inventors: Roy E. Applequist, Eric Johnson, Ray A. Adee
  • Patent number: 4660651
    Abstract: In a drill, there is provided the combination of a pair of foldable pivot frames to each of which is attached a wheeled wing frame for up and down swinging movement, together with a tongue assembly for effecting the folding action, as well as a subframe for each wing made up of a T-frame and a hoe frame especially adapted for opening seed-receiving furrows and pressing the soil in each seeded furrow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 1985
    Date of Patent: April 28, 1987
    Assignee: Krause Plow Corporation
    Inventors: Billy J. Pfenninger, David R. Smith, David H. Weast
  • Patent number: 4658909
    Abstract: A turf aerating machine including a plurality of tyne arms, having tynes attached to their lower ends, and extending substantially vertically downwardly from the cranks of a crankshaft located transversely of the direction of travel of the aerator. A drive linkage connects the crankshaft to the power take-off of the tractor or other power source and is driven such that, as the aerator is moved forward, the crankshaft moves with the lower arc of its rotation in the rearward direction. The tyne arms are projected into the ground as the respective crank moves through its lower arc and they are lifted clear of the ground as the crank moves through the upper arc of its travel. While the tynes are engaged with the ground, the tyne arm is maintained in a substantially vertical orientation by the rearward motion of the respective crank through the lower arc of its rotation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 1985
    Date of Patent: April 21, 1987
    Assignee: Greencare Pty., Limited
    Inventors: Brian P. McDermott, David J. Livingstone