Patents Examined by Terry Lee Melius
  • Patent number: 6212712
    Abstract: A mobile stretcher, having one or more lateral recumbant positioning devices, an upper base frame, a mattress frame, and a patient retention device. The mattress frame is pivotally connected to the upper base frame and each lateral recumbant positioning device has a retracted position and an extended position. When each lateral recumbant positioning device is in the retracted position the angle between the plane of the upper base frame and the plane of the mattress frame is an angle equaling zero. Conversely, when each lateral recumbant positioning device is in the extended position the angle between the plane of the upper base frame and the plane of the mattress frame is an angle greater than zero and preferably between 60° and 65°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2001
    Inventor: Richard Hardy Topp
  • Patent number: 6212716
    Abstract: A pillow is formed from a ZIPLOC® bag by either placing a collapsible regulator within the bag which holds the walls of the bag apart when the mouth of the bag is opened or by prestressing the bag in a way that bows the walls of the bag apart, whereby when the mouth of the bag is open, air introduced into the bag is trapped therein upon again closing the bag.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2001
    Assignee: Logan-Moses Enterprises An Unicorporated Business Organization
    Inventors: Emanuel L. Logan, Jr., John R. Moses
  • Patent number: 6212807
    Abstract: A variable character display and a method for making and using the display is provided. The display is composed of three layers of material including a substrate layer having an adhesive side and a non-adhesive side of a first color. A backing layer is secured to the adhesive side of the substrate and a front layer having an adhesive backing is secured to the non-adhesive side of the substrate layer. The front layer is provided with a plurality of individual removable sections arranged in at least one figure eight configuration. The individual sections are selectively removable to form a specific number on the substrate layer. The individual sections are a second color that is different than the first color.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2001
    Inventor: Robert J. Wright
  • Patent number: 6209244
    Abstract: “Painted, flexible, temporary decorative surface, intended in particular to be exposed in a stretched state, out of doors, such as decorations outside buildings and signs” Surface comprising a substrate of a nonwoven material a decoration produced on the substrate by automatic projection of ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2001
    Inventor: Gilbert Guy Chenel
  • Patent number: 6209157
    Abstract: The bed frame includes a base frame and an articulating upper frame. The base frame includes a head end, a foot end, and oppositely disposed, longitudinally extending sides. The articulating upper frame comprises an upper body section, a seat section, a thigh section, and a lower leg section. The articulating upper frame is mounted on the base frame for longitudinal shifting of the articulating upper frame relative to the base frame. A first drive assembly for raising and lowering the upper body section includes linkage connected to the upper body section such that, tilting movement of the upper body section shifts the articulating upper frame longitudinally relative to the base frame. A second drive assembly for raising and lowering the thigh section includes linkage connected to the lower leg section such that, when the thigh section tilts upwardly, the lower leg section tilts downwardly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2001
    Assignee: PaTMark Company, Inc.
    Inventor: David W. Hensley
  • Patent number: 6209880
    Abstract: An auger hopper seal for a pivotable auger is provided according to the invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2001
    Assignee: Unverferth Manufacturing Company, Inc.
    Inventors: Dennis J. Turnwald, Mark A. Recker, David R. Smith, Michael J. Hilvers
  • Patent number: 6209885
    Abstract: In a boot for a universal joint in which a fitting portion is installed at one end side in an axial direction of a bellows portion on an outer ring portion of the universal joint by the clamp and a relief portion is provided between the bellows portion and the fitting portion on purpose to lower interference between each of the bellows and to relieve a contact of the bellows portion against the shaft in the case when being bent at a sharp angle. This prevents the relief portion from interfering with the tightly clamping portion of the clamp. The relief portion is designed to be arranged apart from the clamp by providing the spacer portion with the predetermined length in the axial direction between the fitting portion and the relief portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2001
    Assignee: NOK Corporation
    Inventors: Toshihiro Mukaida, Selya Umeno
  • Patent number: 6209155
    Abstract: An adjustable cross bar for bed rails and frames with at least two relatively movable cross bar members and a clamp positioned over the inboard ends of the cross bar members and entrapping their edges in tracks. The clamp has depending lances formed in a horizontal surface aligned with and engagable with openings formed in one of the cross bar members to lock the clamp and cross bar together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2001
    Assignee: Fredman Bros. Furniture Company, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew U. Epstein, Aaron Fredman
  • Patent number: 6209160
    Abstract: A pump is formed by a pair of sleeves 1,2 each of which is closed at one end. The end of sleeve 2 incorporates an inlet valve in the form of a membrane 11 which lifts to allow air to enter the pump through an opening 22 as the pump sleeves 1,2 are extended. When the sleeves 1,2 are closed against one another, the membrane 11 closes and a second membrane 12 lifts to allow air to pass through opening 15 communicating with a connection 16 for attachment to the inflation inlet 5 of an inflatable mattress 3. A pressure relief valve 17 prevents the mattress 3 from being over-inflated. The deflated mattress 3 can be stored in the space within the two sleeves 1,2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2001
    Assignee: Frontier Plastics Limited
    Inventor: John Harris
  • Patent number: 6205600
    Abstract: A child restraint car bed is disclosed comprising a shell body (12) including a chamber (5) sized to receive an infant; and first and second through-slots (44, 46) extending through the shell body and communicating with the chamber. A lower surface portion (42) of the first sidewall is concave to support an infant in an on-side position and the bottom chamber surface (40) is substantially planar to support the child in a supine position. A harness assembly (78) is further provided for engaging the shell body and includes retention straps (80, 82, 84) having hook and loop end portions (86, 92, 94) that extend through the through-slots (44, 46) and attach to an infant positioned within the chamber to fixedly secure the infant to the shell body. The harness assembly laterally moves within the through-slots (44, 46) into alternative locations to adjust to a variable body position assumed by an infant in the chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2001
    Assignee: Graco Children's Products Inc.
    Inventor: Mark A. Sedlack
  • Patent number: 6205688
    Abstract: The jewelry display device comprises a base portion and a display portion bearing an image, such as an image of a person. Openings, such as apertures and slits, adapted to accept and retain items of jewelry are positioned in the display portion such that the openings align with features of the image appearing on the display portion, thereby allowing items of jewelry to be displayed in a realistic, aesthetically pleasing manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2001
    Inventor: Jacquelin Annette Grosser-Samuels
  • Patent number: 6205816
    Abstract: A twin-heart commemorative coin comprising a coin body with a twin-heart shaped opening at the center, a connecting element with two fixing holes extended from the coin body to the opening. Two heart-shaped components of the same shape and structure, having a recess with a column and a hole at the recess. The two heart-shaped components can be overlapped at the twin-heart opening in a manner that the recesses are aligned with the connecting element so that the respective columns pass through the fixing holes at the connecting element for fitting to the respective holes of the other component to form a twin-heart commemorative coin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2001
    Inventor: Li-Hua Lu
  • Patent number: 6205691
    Abstract: A display device resembling neon tubing includes a transparent substrate with one or more elongate, continuous grooves formed in the substrate from a rear surface thereof. The groove is shaped to represent an informational image, such as a letter, symbol, character or design, for communicating a message to a viewer. A layer of a roughness is formed within an arcuate groove surface of substantially constant diameter along the length of the groove to thereby uniformly disperse light that may be incident on the groove toward the front surface of the substrate in an arcuate path. A blocking layer covers the rear surface of the substrate adjacent the groove for permitting the transmission of light only through the groove to thereby create a sharp contrast between light incident on the groove and the blocking layer. The diameter of the groove is preferably approximately equal to the diameter of conventional neon tubing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2001
    Inventors: Susan L. Urda, Katherine M. Fyler
  • Patent number: 6205601
    Abstract: A patient's transportation device has a support provided with handles and wheels on which the support is supported, the wheels being vertically adjustable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2001
    Inventors: Albin Nessmann, Susanne Eppler
  • Patent number: 6205693
    Abstract: A holder for holding and displaying coins and souvenirs, has a front panel and a back panel secured together to hinge about a common axis along a common edge, and an inner panel pivotally secured to hinge about a common axis along a common edge of the back panel, a mounting face on the inside surface of each of the front and back panels, and a mounting face on opposite faces of the inner panel, or on loose sheets that can be added or removed, such as a three ring binder, each mounting face is formed with a plurality of vertically spaced rectangular surfaces, each rectangular surface having a pair of laterally disposed mounting positions for receiving and mounting a coin or souvenir, each mounting position defined by a planar surface bound by an upper and a lower groove, and a transparent retaining sheet covering each of the mounting positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2001
    Inventors: David B. Pliler, Matthew A. Stevens
  • Patent number: 6203071
    Abstract: Fluid handling devices comprise a body having a fluid passage therethrough and a fluid inlet and outlet at passage ends. The body is formed from a non-metallic material in a number of different forms, e.g., pipe fittings, pipes, valves and the like. The body includes weldable stubs that extend outwardly therefrom that are designed to facilitate welded attachment with the weldable stubs of an adjacent fluid handling device. To facilitate accurate rotational positioning of the device vis-a-vis other adjacent devices, one or more alignment marks are positioned along the device surface. The alignment marks are positioned on the device to provide an indication of rotational position of the device about an axis running through at least one of the weldable stubs. In one embodiment, the alignment marks are integral with and placed along an outside surface of the device body. In another embodiment, the alignment marks are integral with and placed along an outside surface of the weld stubs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2001
    Assignee: Saint Gobain Performance Plastics Corp.
    Inventors: Kenji A. Kingsford, Thomas J. Sievers, Peter N. Nguyen, Dennis S. Kwiecinski
  • Patent number: 6202922
    Abstract: A container with a front opening and a top opening, and a top wall preferably hinged to the container to cover the top opening. A hinged front wall covers the front opening and has a curved guide rail extending therefrom which is slidingly received in a curved guide channel formed in the left or right wall, with the rail having a knob for manually pivoting the front wall. A cross-bar assembly preferably comprises two parallel top rods with rollers, two parallel bottom rods with rollers, and two sets of two diagonal cross-rods, the rods interconnected such that the top rods move upward when the diagonal rods pivot upon the application of a force to the bottom rods. An actuator assembly preferably comprises a lever with a foot pedal coupled thereto. A linkage assembly is preferably coupled to the lever and the bottom rods, such that depressing the pedal actuates the linkage assembly to pull the bottom rods inward which moves the top rods upward against the bottom wall to raise the container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2001
    Inventors: Carol O. Phillips, Lindsey Jasmine Phillips, Janine Marie Phillips
  • Patent number: 6202235
    Abstract: A sitting pad for seating thereupon a plurality of users, such as the players of a sports team, in an organized manner. The sitting pad includes a flexible pad with upper and lower faces, a pair of end edges, and a pair of side edges extending between the end edges of the pad. The pad has a plurality of spaced apart pockets on the upper face of the pad. Each of the pockets comprising a translucent material. In each pocket is a name card with indicia denoting which user is to sit on the pad adjacent that particular pocket.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2001
    Inventor: Brenda C. Salhanick
  • Patent number: 6203440
    Abstract: The second boot that protects parts adjacent to a fixed box from which there projects a rotating hub that is to be connected to a driveline (with the possible presence of a friction clutch or of a torque limiting means) comprises—attached to the fixed box (1)—a disc (11) with a peripheral edge (11A) for engagement and fastening; and a sleeve (17) that can be engaged inside the edge (11A-11B) of said disc (11), with fastening clips (22) capable of being clipped to and unclipped from said edge (11A-11B). Said sleeve (17) may include protective layers around the parts which it encloses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2001
    Inventor: Edi Bondioli
  • Patent number: 6202270
    Abstract: A cremation container is foldable into a compact configuration for shipping purposes and is unfolded and erected at its destination. The cremation container comprises a bottom, a pair of side walls pivotally connected to the bottom, a pair of end walls pivotally connected to the bottom, and a cover removably positionable atop the pair of side walls and the pair of end walls. One pair of the pair of side walls and pair of end walls is foldable onto the bottom, and the other pair of the pair of side walls and pair of end walls is foldable onto the one pair of the pair of side walls and the pair of end walls, to thereby compactly configure the container for shipping. Preferably, the pair of side walls are foldable onto the bottom and the pair of end walls are foldable onto the pair of side walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2001
    Assignee: Batesville Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Pat Bowman, Tom Heil, Rodger Jones, James Maple, Daniel J. Parker, Ed Scheele, Samacha Somtrakool