Patents Examined by Thomas A Beach
  • Patent number: 8201350
    Abstract: A machine bucket may include a wrapper. The wrapper may form a portion of a receptacle for holding material. The wrapper may include a curved upper portion defining an arc. The curved upper portion may have a central angle value (?U) of between approximately 129.5° and 130.5°. The wrapper may also include a curved lower portion defining an arc. The curved lower portion may have a central angle value (?L) of between approximately 29.5° and 30.5°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2012
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Jeremy D. Folkerts, Samuel L. McClallen
  • Patent number: 8196667
    Abstract: A technique is provided for pumping fluids in a subterranean wellbore. A submersible pumping system can be deployed in a wellbore for moving desired fluids within the wellbore. The pumping system energizes the desired fluid movement by reciprocating a working fluid between expandable members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2012
    Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Murat Ocalan, Steven Dornak
  • Patent number: 8196666
    Abstract: Flexible riser, comprising a length of a flexible pipe with an upper end, a bend restrictor and a termination for hanging up on a vessel, a floating installation or a platform, distinguished in that the bend restrictor in the upper end is connected to an adapter pipe extending from a lower end at the bend restrictor to an upper end, to an end coupling to which the upper ends of both the flexible pipe and the adapter pipe are fastened, the flexible riser extending through the bend restrictor and the adapter pipe and the end connection comprising a means for hanging up at deck level of the vessel, the installation or the platform. Method for pulling-in and hanging up of the flexible riser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2012
    Assignee: Advanced Production and Loading AS
    Inventor: Sigmund Askestad
  • Patent number: 8196977
    Abstract: A door handle structure found on the outside of a vehicle may include a door handle including a handle base member installed to the inside of a door panel and a handle grip member coupled to the outside of the door panel, wherein a portion of the handle grip member is pivotally coupled to the handle base member, and a lighting device installed to the door panel, having at least a light emitting diode (LED) lamp which is installed at the handle base member and configured to emit a light source through a recess formed on the door panel, and a band member configured to receive the light source through the recess from the LED lamp and emit the light source towards the outside of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2012
    Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company
    Inventor: Do Won Sung
  • Patent number: 8191938
    Abstract: A push-pull type door latch opens a door by applying direct mechanical force on the pull side, and by remote action on the push side through conveying a force through a motion transfer belt that connects the two handles. The latch involves no access holes in the door so each handle may be situated at offset positions with respect to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Inventor: James David Zimmerlee
  • Patent number: 8191636
    Abstract: This patent application applies to an Active Motion Compensation system for use during intervention or other work on subsea wells, pipelines or other structures. It could be used on existing floating production platforms such as Tension Leg Platforms (TLP) and Spar structures where intervention work including Coiled Tubing, Slickline, Electric Line, Wireline, as well as snubbing or Hydraulic Workover activities are being utilized. It could also be deployed over the side of or through the moon pool of a vessel without the need of any other compensation device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Inventor: Robert A. Coles
  • Patent number: 8191937
    Abstract: An automatic hidden latch structure includes: a base secured in position to a close side of a door, the base having a positioning plate for positioning and a receiving portion and a block portion disposed at one side of the positioning plate; a transmission mechanism including a lock tongue disposed in and protruding from the receiving portion, a transmission member abutting against the lock tongue, a rotating member driven by the transmission member, and an engaging member engaging with the rotating member and protruding from the receiving portion, a first elastic element insertably engaing the engaging member, and a second elastic element mounted on a joining member of the engaging member and insertably engaging the joining member. Given actuation of the mechanism, a latch post of the automatic hidden latch structure protrudes from the door whenever the lock tongue is pressed upon, thereby locking the door.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: Thase Enterprise Co. Ltd.
    Inventor: Ching-Tien Lin
  • Patent number: 8186443
    Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for containing an oil spill caused by a subsea blowout. A blowout preventer (BOP) stack, located on a floor of an ocean, may be circumvented with a hollow wall of a cylindrical containment assembly. The containment assembly may be reinforced by filling the wall with cement. A valve assembly having a hollow cavity may be positioned on a top perimeter of the wall and may be reinforced by filling the cavity with cement. Alternatively, a cylindrical containment assembly may be positioned such that a wall of the assembly circumvents a portion of a floor of an ocean where a subsea blowout occurred and at least one of oil or gas is spewing into the ocean. The wall may be reinforced with cement, a valve assembly may be positioned on a top perimeter of the wall, and the valve assembly may be reinforced with cement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Subsea IP Holdings LLC
    Inventor: Scott Wolinsky
  • Patent number: 8186440
    Abstract: The present invention regards a device designed for injection of fluids in a well bore, typically an offshore well bore for petroleum production and gas injection/gas lift system for fluid injection. The device comprises a outer hollow housing (1) with an internal body (2) moveable within the outer housing (1) with an internal bore (3) which in a first closed position is closed with a metal to metal seal system between the outer housing (1) and the internal body (2), which internal body (2) is operated by pressure differential across the internal body (2), where the internal body (2) is designed with slots (4) forming outlets of the internal bore (3) which in an open position of the device is positioned outside of the outer housing (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Petroleum Technology Company AS
    Inventors: Magnar Tveiten, Øyvind Stokka, Erling Kleppa, Tom Norland
  • Patent number: 8186442
    Abstract: A system for production of oil and heavier gas fractions from a reservoir under a seabed includes a field installation with at least one production well and one injection well, a vessel with means to be connected to a loading and unloading station, and a receival plant configured to load and unload the vessel. The vessel includes a high-pressure three-phase separator, an injection compressor, and either water cleaning equipment or water injection equipment that the vessel can load high-pressure well fluid that is brought into the separator and separated to lighter gas fractions, oil and heavier gas fractions, and water, of which oil and heavier gas fractions are brought to high-pressure storage tanks in the vessel, which high-pressure storage tanks include high-pressure gas which thereby is displaced out of the tanks and injected into the reservoir together with the lighter gas fractions, via the injection compressor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Compressed Energy Technology AS
    Inventors: Kåre Breivik, Petter Gundersen
  • Patent number: 8186686
    Abstract: A seal for a vehicle having a transmission output shaft and a transmission output shaft housing is provided. The seal comprises a contact member at least partially surrounding and contacting the transmission output shaft, a support member coupled to the contact member, the support member at least partially surrounding the transmission output shaft and extending along the transmission output shaft, the support member coupled to the transmission output shaft housing, and an electrically-conductive surface overlying at least a portion of the contact member and at least a portion of the support member, the electrically-conductive surface contacting the transmission output shaft and the transmission output shaft housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Xiaoling Jin, William T. Ivan
  • Patent number: 8186730
    Abstract: The invention relates to a latch that comprises a lock and a closing part (10). Said lock comprises a catch (15), a click (20) equipped with an adjusting arm (21) and a motorised opening aid (30). Said catch (15) comprises a receiving element for the closing part (10) and at least one stop notch (17) for engaging the click (20). The opening aid (30) is equipped with an eccentric (40) that is driven by a motor, whereby the eccentric curve interacts with a lateral adjusting surface of the adjusting arm (21) and ensures that the clink (20) is displaced in a motorised manner from its locked position in the stop notch (17) into an elevated position. In order to prevent problems in the latch, an end segment (42) of the eccentric (40) and/or the adjusting arm (21) of the clink (20) is elastic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Huf Hulsbeck & Furst GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Jörg Berghahn, Dirk Ruppach, Hans-Günter Kaiser, Rolf Kamps, Jürgen Moczygemba, Eckart Schuler
  • Patent number: 8186441
    Abstract: A system and method to allow backup or alternate fluid flow routes around malfunctioning components using removable, modular component sets. In one exemplary embodiment, an ROV establishes a backup hydraulic flow to a BOP function by attaching one end of a hose to a modular valve block and the other end to an intervention shuttle valve, thus circumventing and isolating malfunctioning components. A compound intervention shuttle valve is provided that comprises first and second primary inlets, first and second secondary inlets, and an outlet. A modular valve block is provided that comprises a directional control valve, a pilot valve, a manifold pressure regulator, a pilot pressure regulator, stab type hydraulic connections and an electrical wet-make connection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc.
    Inventors: Steve Donohue, Angela Donohue, legal representative, Steve O'leary, Tom Thrash
  • Patent number: 8186692
    Abstract: A split ring seal assembly includes a metal seal ring having two ends defining a circumferential gap therebetween. At least a first spring element is mounted to the two ends to bias the two ends circumferentially towards each other to reduce the diameter of a circumferential inner sealing surface of the metal seal ring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
    Inventors: Eric Durocher, John Pietrobon
  • Patent number: 8186727
    Abstract: The present invention is a door lock that eliminates the need for an additional deadbolt lock on a door. The present invention has a deadbolt built into the doorknob assembly. The deadbolt is put into place every time the door is closed. This eliminates the need of having to separately lock and unlock two locks, the first being the doorknob and the second being the deadbolt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Inventors: James Rishel, James Catherman, III
  • Patent number: 8181704
    Abstract: An emergency riser disconnection system for disconnecting a riser from a subsea installation having disconnect actuators and a signal and power circuit for controlling the actuators. The signal and power circuit is made up of an umbilical with signal lines and hydraulic lines. At an umbilical termination, the signal and hydraulic lines exit the umbilical and can be routed separately to the disconnect actuators. The umbilical termination is disposed above the uppermost break away point on the riser and can be recovered after the riser is disconnected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: Vetco Gray Inc.
    Inventor: Stephen P. Fenton
  • Patent number: 8182004
    Abstract: An operating mechanism unit includes a motor, a worm wheel being rotated by the motor, a sector gear meshing with a pinion provided on one side of the worm wheel and rotating to an unlocking position and a locking position, switch levers connected to the sector gear and shifting to an unlocking position where engagement with a meshing mechanism is releasable and a locking position where the engagement cannot be released, and a key sub-lever pivotally supported on the same pivot on which the sector gear pivots. The key sub-lever is rotatable from a neutral position in an unlocking direction and a locking direction in synchronism with operation of a key cylinder so as to rotate the sector gear to the unlocking position by rotating in the unlocking direction and to rotate the sector gear in the locking direction by rotating in the locking direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsui Kinzoku Act Corporation
    Inventor: Yuji Yoda
  • Patent number: 8181705
    Abstract: The present invention regards a device designed for injection of fluids in a well bore, typically an offshore well bore for petroleum production and gas injection/gas lift system for fluid injection. The device comprises a outer hollow housing (1) with an internal body (2) moveable within the outer housing (1) with an internal bore (3) which in a first closed position is closed with a metal to metal seal system between the outer housing (1) and the internal body (2), which internal body (2) is operated by pressure differential across the internal body (2), where the internal body (2) is designed with slots (4) forming outlets of the internal bore (3) which in an open position of the device leads to the outside of the outer housing (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: Petroleum Technology Company AS
    Inventors: Magnar Tveiten, Øyvind Stokka, Erling Kleppa, Tom Norland
  • Patent number: 8181966
    Abstract: A gas seal for aerospace engines has a stationary seal housing, a rotating seal plate mounted on the engine drive shaft and a carbon ring seal movably supported in the housing with a face which mates with the face of the seal plate to create a gas seal therebetween. A plurality of flexible pins have first ends supported on the housing and second ends slidably connected with the carbon ring seal to permit the latter to shift axially. A plurality of compression springs bias the two seal faces together. The housing has a first twist lock which selectively engages a second twist lock on the carbon ring seal to movably retain the latter in the housing. The second ends of the spring pins resiliently deflect during mutual rotation of the carbon ring seal and the housing to facilitate engagement and disengagement of the first and second twist locks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: Kaydon Ring & Seal, Inc.
    Inventors: George P. Haynes, Sanjay K. Baheti
  • Patent number: 8181393
    Abstract: The lock mechanism comprises a first subunit (6) arranged to be fixed on an outer face of an upright tubular member (7) of the hinged leaf and a second subunit (8) arranged to be fixed within the tubular member (7). The second subunit (8) comprises a frame (9), a bolt member (10) movably mounted on said frame (9) between a projected and a retracted position, and a bolt operating mechanism which comprises a gear train (20, 21, 22) to increase the travel of the bolt member (10). The first subunit (6) comprises operator means (26, 28, 29). The lock mechanism further comprises a rotary shaft (32) by means of which the bolt operating mechanism can be coupled to the operator means so that only a hole has to be made in the tubular member (7) of the leaf.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Inventor: Joseph Talpe