Patents Examined by Thomas J Ward
  • Patent number: 10945554
    Abstract: A beverage dispensing system that can dispense both cold and hot drinks from either cold drink capsules or hot drink capsules. The cold or hot drink capsule is inserted into the system, and the lid is manually closed. if a cold drink capsule has been inserted, a mechanism cracks the capsule along a predetermined seam, injects cold mixing fluid into the capsule, and then rotates the capsule to pour out or further flush out the cold drink into a cup. If a hot drink capsule has been inserted, the lid is closed, and a rotating needle pierces the top of the capsule. The capsule is then punctured from the bottom. Hot water can then be injected into the top of the capsule, and the hot drink can be removed from the bottom into a cup.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: La Vit Technology LLC
    Inventors: Gian Matteo Lo Faro, Alan M. Crosby, George Kingman Bonnoitt, David Preston Adams, Alan Kenneth Stratton
  • Patent number: 10925435
    Abstract: A rotisserie device useful in a partially opened, hinged, covered grill includes a support ring that is shaped and configured to inhibit airflow into and out of the grill when the cover is partially opened. The support ring includes one or more cover supporting portions or chocks that hold the cover and base apart when the cover is partially opened, and one or more apertures through the ring that can receive a rotatable spindle which serves as or which drives a removable, rotatable rotisserie spit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: Linwood Resources, LLC
    Inventors: David O. Sewall, David R. Cleveland
  • Patent number: 10926352
    Abstract: The invention relates to a laser nozzle that can be used in laser cutting, notably with a fibre or disc laser, comprising a nozzle body comprising an axial housing passing axially through said nozzle body and comprising a first outlet orifice situated at the front face of the nozzle body, and a movable element comprising a skirt-forming front part arranged in the axial housing of the nozzle body, said movable element being capable of translational movement in the axial housing of the nozzle body and comprising an axial passage with a second outlet orifice opening onto the skirt-forming front part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: L'Air Liquide, Société Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procédés Georges Claude
    Inventors: Isabelle Debecker, Thomas Jouanneau, Philippe Lefebvre
  • Patent number: 10925122
    Abstract: A cook top with at least two heating elements includes a power electronics arrangement connected to a domestic single phase AC supply. The power electronics arrangement includes several power supply units, which each supply heating currents to one or more heating elements, and a switch arrangement with several electromechanical relays for connecting/disconnecting the power supply units to/from the heating elements. Output poles of at least two electromechanical relays associated with different power supply units are connected in parallel, wherein the parallel connection is permanently connected to at least one of the heating elements. This arrangement reduces the number of switching processes required for alternating use of a power supply device with several heating elements, and simplifies compliance with electromagnetic compatibility standards.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: BSH Hausgeräte GmbH
    Inventors: Daniel Anton Falcon, Jose Ignacio Artigas Maestre, Luis Angel Barragan Perez, Carlos Bernal Ruiz, José Miguel Burdio Pinilla, Claudio Carretero Chamarro, Jose Maria De la Cuerda Ortin, Jose-Ramon Garcia Jimenez, Pablo Jesus Hernandez Blasco, Oscar Jimenez Navascues, Sergio Llorente Gil, Oscar Lucia Gil, Arturo Mediano Heredia, Ignacio Millan Serrano, Fernando Monterde Aznar, Daniel Moros Sanz, Denis Navarro Tabernero, Jose Joaquin Paricio Azcona, Diego Puyal Puente, Isidro Urriza Parroque
  • Patent number: 10912415
    Abstract: A gas fryer and associated methods of cooking food products are disclosed. The gas fryer includes an infrared burner and a fry pot including an interior casing defining a cooking chamber, with the interior casing including a bottom wall and opposing sidewalls that extend upwardly from the bottom wall. The opposing sidewalls include lower, central, and upper sidewall panels that are angled from one another to define a tapered profile that narrows towards the bottom wall. The tapering of a well defined at a lower chamber portions of the cooking chamber allows for a shallow depth at this portion of the fry pot and easy visibility and access for cleaning. Furthermore, the opposing sidewalls and a rear end wall of the interior casing include heat exchange fins on an external surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: Henny Penny Corporation
    Inventors: Edward J. Florkey, Mark Gogel, Steven Groll
  • Patent number: 10906114
    Abstract: A welding system includes a power supply configured to output power to a welding device. The power supply is configured to alternate the power output between an arc phase and a hotwire phase. The power output in the arc phase produces an arc between a welding electrode and a workpiece, and the power output in the hotwire phase heats the welding electrode without producing an arc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
    Inventors: Richard Martin Hutchison, Kevin Michael Scott
  • Patent number: 10906122
    Abstract: A portable drawn arc stud welder apparatus with a lithium ferrophosphate (LFP) battery and stud weld battery control system (SWBCS) is provided for welding a stud onto a workpiece. The portable drawn arc stud welder apparatus includes a housing, an LFP battery disposed in the housing and including a plurality of LFP battery cells, a weld stud gun configured to hold a stud and is electrically connected to the LFP battery for receiving energy from the LFP battery to pass a current through the stud and the workpiece to form a weldment. The SWBCS is disposed in the housing and electrically connected to the LFP battery of the portable drawn arc stud welder apparatus. The SWBCS includes a computer, a memory, and instructions therein to implement control and monitoring of the operation of the portable drawn arc stud welder apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: NELSON STUD WELDING, INC.
    Inventors: Scott J. Schraff, Jeffrey Krupp, Stephen D. Brooks
  • Patent number: 10906120
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to provide a consistent electrode state for welding, an example welding-type system includes: a first wire drive to feed an electrode wire through a welding torch; a bidirectional assisting wire drive to advance the electrode wire from a wire supply to the first wire drive; a tension-compression detector to detect a first tension-compression state of the electrode wire; and one or more motor controllers to control the first wire drive and the assisting wire drive to put the electrode wire in a predetermined position relative to the welding torch by: controlling the first wire drive to hold the electrode wire; and controlling the assisting wire drive to advance or retract the electrode wire based on the first tension-compression state to put the electrode wire in a second tension-compression state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
    Inventors: Maxwell Brock, Richard Martin Hutchison, Todd Gerald Batzler, Peter Mehn
  • Patent number: 10898972
    Abstract: A laser crystallizing apparatus includes a stage configured to receive a substrate, the stage including a plurality of groove lines each having a predetermined depth and width, and a plurality of control holes, each arranged in a respective groove line. Each control hole is provided with a negative pressure to hold the substrate to a surface of the stage or a positive pressure to release the substrate from the surface of the stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: SAMSUNG DISPLAY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Chung Hwan Lee, Hong Ro Lee, Rae Chul Park
  • Patent number: 10870176
    Abstract: A SiC wafer is produced from a single crystal SiC ingot. A modified layer is formed by setting a focal point of a pulsed laser beam inside the ingot at a predetermined depth from the upper surface of the ingot, the predetermined depth corresponding to the thickness of the wafer to be produced. The pulsed laser beam is applied to the ingot while moving the ingot in a first direction perpendicular to a second direction where an off angle is formed, thereby forming a modified layer in the first direction inside the ingot and cracks propagating from the modified layer along a c-plane. A separation surface is formed by indexing the ingot in the second direction and applying the laser beam plural times to thereby form a separation surface inside the ingot. Part of the ingot is separated along the separation surface to thereby produce the wafer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignee: DISCO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kazuya Hirata
  • Patent number: 10863591
    Abstract: An induction heating system includes an induction heating head assembly configured to move relative to a workpiece. The induction heating system may also include a temperature sensor assembly configured to detect a temperature of the workpiece and/or a travel sensor assembly configured to detect a position, movement, or direction of movement of the induction heating head assembly relative to the workpiece, and to transmit feedback signals to a controller configured to adjust the power provided to the induction heating head assembly by a power source based at least in part on the feedback signals. In certain embodiments, the induction heating system may also include a connection box configured to receive the feedback signals, to perform certain conversions of the feedback signals, and to provide the feedback signals to the power source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
    Inventors: Tiffany Anne Carter, Scott Stephen Liebert
  • Patent number: 10856580
    Abstract: An electronic cigarette comprises nicotine without harmful tar. The cigarette includes a shell, a cell, nicotine solution, control circuit, and an electro-thermal vaporization nozzle installed in the air suction end of the shell. The advantages of the present invention are smoking without tar, reducing the risk of cancer, the user still gets a smoking experience, the cigarette is not lit, and there is no fire danger.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: FONTEM HOLDINGS 1 B.V.
    Inventor: Lik Hon
  • Patent number: 10852348
    Abstract: A contact-type testing device that has a heating plate capable of being heated and in which a desired test is conducted while a test object is in contact with the heating plate, the contact-type testing device including: a heating member that heats the heating plate, wherein the heating member includes: a plurality of strips of heat generation bodies; and a power feeding section that feeds electricity to the heat generation bodies, wherein the heat generation bodies are distributed in a planar manner, and a group or all of the heat generation bodies are parallel-connected, wherein a part or all of the heat generation bodies have a steep temperature/resistance characteristic, and resistance values of the heat generation bodies increase with temperature, and wherein the heating member is disposed to face the heating plate, and a gap is provided between the heating plate and the heating member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: ESPEC CORP.
    Inventor: Hideki Tanaka
  • Patent number: 10856370
    Abstract: An induction coil with inner and outer coil segments joined together by a transition segment is arranged so that the outer coil segment generally inductively heat treats an annular outer region of a workpiece positioned under the coil, the inner coil segment generally inductively heat treats an annular inner region of the workpiece, and the transition segment traverses at least a portion of the width of the overall annular region of the workpiece to be heat treated. Relative arrangement of inner, outer and transition coil segments provides for controlled induction heat treatment across the overall annular region such as the gear teeth region of an intersecting axes or non-intersecting and non-parallel axes gear.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: INDUCTOHEAT, INC.
    Inventors: Don L. Loveless, Valery I. Rudnev, Joseph M. O'Haire, Randall J. Minnick, Brian L. Marshall
  • Patent number: 10843293
    Abstract: A laser welding method for welding a plurality of objects to be welded by applying a laser beam scanned by a scanning unit to the plurality of objects to be welded while moving the scanning unit in a welding direction along a welding path, the laser welding method including the steps of: performing a step of preliminary-fixation-welding on a predetermined place in the welding direction of the objects to be welded, and a step of main-welding on a place corresponding to the preliminarily-fixed place of the object to be welded within a scanning range of the scanning unit while moving the scanning unit. Further, when the place corresponding to the preliminarily-fixed place of the object to be welded is main-welded, the place is main-welded in a state where both sides of the place to be main-welded are restrained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kohei Hisada, Toru Hioki, Kazuyuki Ogusu
  • Patent number: 10827870
    Abstract: To enable a user to cook both in a pressure state and in a non-pressure state inside the inner pot and thus improve cooking quality and ease of use, the present invention provides an electric cooker including a main body in which an inner pot for accommodating food is installed; a lid coupled to the main body to be opened or closed, in which a passthrough portion is formed; a pressure converter communicating with the passthrough portion, in which a selectively opened/closed state for discharging steam inside the inner pot is maintained; and a pressure-responsive actuators communicating with the passthrough portion and selectively opened/closed depending on a pressure level inside the inner pot in a pressure cooking mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: CUCKOO ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Won Young Kim, Soo Ho Son, Seung Yun Kim
  • Patent number: 10820619
    Abstract: Squeezing system that comprises at least one female drum (1) and at least one male drum (2), one close to the other and which rotate in a synchronous manner, one in the opposite direction to the other, the female (1) having on its side at least one cavity (6) apt for lodging the fruit to be squeezed, and the male drum (2) likewise having on the side at least one protuberance (5) apt for engaging in a portion of the rotation path and apt for being tightly lodged in the cavity (6) of the female drum (1) during each rotation, compressing and squeezing the fruit; the rotation axle (3) of the female drum (1) not being parallel to the rotation axle (4) of the male drum (2), both crossing at a point in space, being preferably coplanar and concurrent and being deployed one with respect to the other at an angle other than 0° or 180°, in which the female (1) and male (2) drums have one of their bases larger than the other, preferably adopting a a frustoconical shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: Zumex Group S.A.
    Inventor: Antonio Flotats Molinas
  • Patent number: 10814426
    Abstract: A method for attaching an object, such as a sight glass (3) or an electrical connector (4), to a structure, such as a valve housing (1), the object (3, 4) comprising an annular flange (6, 11). The object (3, 4) is mounted in an opening (7, 12) of the structure (1) with the annular flange (6, 11) in abutment with an annular edge (8, 13) of the opening (7, 12). The object (3, 4) is attached to the structure (1) by performing welding of the annular edge (8, 13) and the annular flange (6, 11) and displacing the welding beam along the annular flange (6, 11).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Danfoss A/S
    Inventors: Kurt Harck, Sigurd Larsen
  • Patent number: 10801388
    Abstract: A heating apparatus and method for use in an exhaust gas system is provided that includes a container body defining an exhaust gas pathway, a heater flange component attached to an exterior of the container body, and a heater assembly disposed in the exhaust gas pathway and secured to the heater flange component. The heater assembly includes at least one heater element, a bracket assembly that secures the at least one heater element in the container body, and a conformal bracket for securing the at least one heater element to the bracket assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Watlow Electric Manufacturing Company
    Inventors: David P. Culbertson, Richard T. Williams, Jr., Christopher Meyers, Jeremy Ohse, Mark Everly, Roger Brummell, Gerald S. Jackson, Jake Spooler, James N. Pradun, Scott H. Boehmer, Mitchell T. Diaco, Robert K. Frake
  • Patent number: 10786861
    Abstract: Embodiments of a tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding torch with an improved air cooled handle are provided. The welding torch may include a body, a cable assembly, and a torch head, with a handle placed over the body and the cable assembly. The handle may feature a curved end designed to fit near the torch head without contacting the torch head, providing a closer gripping point to allow greater control of the torch. In addition, the handle may be spaced from the body and the cable assembly to form an air space within the handle through which air may flow to cool the handle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2020
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
    Inventor: Derek Yu-Fung Hung