Patents Examined by Tom Dunn
  • Patent number: 6722555
    Abstract: On a main shaft 30 of a numeric control type machine tool, a rotary tool 50 is installed. The main shaft 30 is not inclined in the machine tool. A first member 70 and a second member 76 to be subjected to friction stir welding are fixed on a table 20. Relative to an axial center of the rotary tool 50, a non-linear welding portion of the first member 70 and the second member 76 is inclined by inclining the table 20. Then, by rotating the table 20 and relatively moving the portion to be welded into contact with the rotary tool 50, welding of the first member to the second member is carried out according to friction stir welding. The above-stated inclination is the inclination required for the friction stir welding. In this way, welding along a path of ring shape or circular shape (including a circular arc) using friction stir welding can be carried out easily.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2004
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masakuni Ezumi, Kazushige Fukuyori, Tsuyoshi Mizusaki
  • Patent number: 6722559
    Abstract: Surfaces of a downhole tool, e.g. a drill bit, a reamer shoe or a stabilizer, are protected by at least temporarily fixing a super-hard material (6) to the surfaces of the down-hole tool, and spray fusing a binding material (2) around the super-hard material to permanently bind the super-hard material to the down hole tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2004
    Assignee: Weatherford/Lamb, Inc.
    Inventors: Ian Millar, Suresh Patel
  • Patent number: 6723945
    Abstract: A welding device includes a holder for a weld part (1) adapted to be moved substantially perpendicularly to, and away from, a surface of a workpiece (2) on which the weld part (1) is to be welded. An arc producing system produces an arc between the weld part (1) and the surface of the workpiece (2) with the arc generating a magnetic flux. A field former (3) includes a low-retentivity steel and provides a flux path for the magnetic flux generated by the arc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2004
    Assignee: Newfrey LLC
    Inventor: Roland Kurz
  • Patent number: 6722554
    Abstract: Soldering apparatus designed to apply soldering, by means of jetting out streams of molten solder, which is gathered in a solder bath, to a piece to be soldered carried in a predetermined direction. While jetting out molten solder from the solder bath, a drive means in the apparatus supplies drive for setting the relative position between the end of the jet-stream nozzle and the piece and a control means also available outputs control signals matching a predetermined condition to the drive means to carry out micro-adjustment of the jet-stream nozzle in short time with high accuracy. At the same time, remote operation can also be performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2004
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Takashi Saito
  • Patent number: 6720282
    Abstract: Trace impurities such as organic compounds and carbon monoxide in reactive fluids such as ammonia, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen bromide, and chlorine are reduced to sub-ppb levels using gas purifying systems that contain a preconditioned ultra-low emission (P-ULE) carbon. P-ULE is capable of removing impurities from a reactive fluid down to parts-per-billion (ppb) and sub-ppb levels without concurrently emitting other impurities such as moisture or carbon dioxide into the purified reactive fluid. The P-ULE carbon is prepared by heating a carbon material to temperatures from 300° C. to about 800° C. in an ultra-dry, inert gas stream, to produce an ultra-low emission (ULE) carbon material, subjecting the ULE carbon to a second activation process under a reactive gas atmosphere to produce a P-ULE carbon and storing the P-ULE carbon in an environment that minimizes contamination of the P-ULE prior to its use in a gas purifier system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2004
    Assignee: Matheson Tri-Gas, Inc.
    Inventors: Hans H. Funke, Dan Fraenkel, Virginia H. Houlding
  • Patent number: 6720520
    Abstract: A method for welding a pair of metal sheets together along an edge of each metal sheet is provided that includes the steps of: 1) determining a line for each of the edges to be welded using one or more sensors: 2) selecting one of the edges to be welded as a dominant edge and the other edge to be welded as a non-dominant edge: and 3) welding the metal sheets together along the dominant edge and the non-dominant edge. The present invention further includes an apparatus capable of performing the present method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2004
    Assignee: Elpatronic AG
    Inventors: Romeo Bucher, Bruno Kaegi
  • Patent number: 6715666
    Abstract: A wire bonding method, a bump forming method and a bump which are capable of preventing contact of a wire with a substrate or a conductive lead after the wire is bonded to a bump, and which are capable of preventing generation of bending in the wire during bonding of the wire to the bump are disclosed. When a first conductor and a second conductor are wire bonded, a bump is previously formed on the second conductor by ball bonding. An inclined surface is formed on an upper end of the bump by moving a capillary along a predetermined path to operate the capillary. First bonding of a wire to the first conductor is carried out, then the wire is looped from the first conductor to the bump, and second bonding of the wire onto the inclined surface of the bump is carried out.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2004
    Assignee: Kaijo Corporation
    Inventors: Rei Imai, Tamanari Yasuda, Shinobu Ishii, Yuji Kosaku
  • Patent number: 6717103
    Abstract: A method of forming a nozzle element for an ink jet print head, wherein material is removed from the nozzle element by means of a laser to form the nozzle. A mask is irradiated with a laser beam in such manner that at least one sub-beam is passed through the mask, whereafter the material is removed by means of the sub-beam. Inhomogeneity of the laser beam is compensated for by using, for each nozzle laser, radiation originating from different parts of the laser beam, whereby the nozzle is formed with an “average” laser beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2004
    Assignee: OCE-Technologies B.V.
    Inventor: Hendrik Willem Ellenkamp
  • Patent number: 6716795
    Abstract: The invention relates to an article with an improved buffer layer architecture comprising a substrate having a metal surface, and an epitaxial buffer layer on the surface of the substrate. The epitaxial buffer layer comprises at least one of the group consisting of ZrO2, HfO2, and compounds having at least one of Ca and a rare earth element stabilizing cubic phases of ZrO2 and/or HfO2. The article can also include a superconducting layer deposited on the epitaxial buffer layer. The article can also include an epitaxial capping layer between the epitaxial buffer layer and the superconducting layer. A method for preparing an epitaxial article comprises providing a substrate with a metal surface, depositing on the metal surface an epitaxial buffer layer comprising at least one material selected from the group consisting of ZrO2, HfO2, and compounds having at least one of Ca and a rare earth element stabilizing cubic phases of at least one of ZrO2 and HfO2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2004
    Assignee: UT-Battelle, LLC
    Inventors: David P. Norton, Chan Park, Amit Goyal
  • Patent number: 6715661
    Abstract: While one preform (A) is being shaped between two dies (4, 11), another preform (B) is being prepared by heating in a compartment (14) on a lower die (5) similar to the preceding one (4). When the preform (A) has been shaped, a mobile section (3) of the furnace is lifted to release the upper die (11) and make it possible to place the new preform (B) and its lower die (5) beneath it. Thus, when one preform has been shaped, the following one is already prepared by heating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2004
    Assignee: SNECMA Moteurs
    Inventor: Gilles Klein
  • Patent number: 6716796
    Abstract: A polycrystalline thin film B consisting mainly of oxide crystal grains 20 which have a crystal structure of a Type C rare earth oxide represented by one of the formulas Y2O3, Sc2O3, Nd2O3, Sm2O3, Eu2O3, Gd2O3, Tb2O3, Dy2O3, Ho2O3, Er2O3, Yb2O3, Lu2O3, and Pm2O3 formed on a film forming surface of a polycrystalline substrate A wherein grain boundary inclination angles between the corresponding crystal axes of different crystal grains in the polycrystalline thin film along a plane parallel to the film forming surface of the polycrystalline substrate are controlled within 30 degrees.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2004
    Assignees: Fujikura Ltd, International Superconductivity, Technology Center, The Juridical Foundation
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Iijima, Mariko Kimura, Takashi Saito
  • Patent number: 6715665
    Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a friction stir welding method and apparatus capable of maintaining a rotating tool and workpieces at a substantially constant geometrical relation for arbitrary curved surfaces having a three-dimensional shape, as well as a welded structure obtained thereby.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2004
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Hirano, Hisanori Okamura, Yasuhisa Aono, Kazutaka Okamoto, Kinya Aota, Tomio Odakura, Shinichi Hasshuu
  • Patent number: 6716784
    Abstract: Catalytic compositions are described for hydrocarbons cracking containing at least two zeolitic components of which at least one zeolitic component containing aluminium in its structure is selected from among ITQ-7 zeolites, intergrowths of ITQ-7 zeolites, ITQ-7 zeolites exchanged with rare earths, intergrowths of ITQ-7 zeolites exchanged with rare earths, and combinations of them. These combinations are of utility as catalysts for cracking in FCC units and permit C3 and C4 olefins to be efficiently obtained along with high yields of gasoline. Also described is the use of a zeolitic material containing aluminium in its structure and selected from among ITQ-7 zeolites, intergrowths of ITQ-7 zeolites, ITQ-7 zeolites exchanged with rare earths, intergrowths of ITQ-7 zeolites exchanged with rare earths, and combinations of them, as a catalytic material in hydrocarbon catalytic cracking processes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2004
    Assignees: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia
    Inventors: Avelino Corma Canós, María Diaz Caba{overscore (n)}as, Joaquín Martinez Triguero
  • Patent number: 6715534
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus for metal casting and can be used in producing castings with directional and single crystal structure. The apparatus comprises a vacuum chamber inside which there is disposed an induction melting furnace, a mold preheating furnace with a ceramic mold, and a water-cooled tank being shaped as a truncated cone having a bottom portion and an upper portion which is opened towards a heating zone. The heating zone and the cooling zone are separated by a baffle articulating in a horizontal plane and consisting of segments or sectors. The apparatus allows the production of high quality castings having the directional and single crystal structure including the large sized castings by both the method of radiation cooling and the method of liquid metal cooling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2004
    Assignees: All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Aviation Materials, General Electric Company
    Inventors: Vegeny Nikolaevich Kablov, Viktor Vladimirovich Gerasimov, Joseph Markovich Demonis, Viatcheslav Alexeevitch Nikolaev, Elena Mikhailovna Visik
  • Patent number: 6716545
    Abstract: Copper or excess copper is added to one or more layers of a superconducting composite structure to reduce migration of copper form a copper based superconducting layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2004
    Assignee: The Regents of the University of California
    Inventors: Terry G. Holesinger, Stephen R. Foltyn, Paul N. Arendt, James R. Groves, Quanxi Jia, Alicia Ayala
  • Patent number: 6716338
    Abstract: A fluid catalytic cracking catalyst made from microspheres that initially contain kaolin, a dispersible boehmite alumina and a sodium silicate or silica sol binder. The kaolin portion contains hydrous kaolin and optionally spinel, or mullite, or both spinel and mullite made via kaolin which has been calcined through its characteristic exotherm. Calcination of the hydrous clay to metakaolin and formation of in-situ zeolite by treatment with sodium silicate yields a catalyst containing Y-faujasite and transforms the dispersible boehmite into a transitional alumina. The catalyst can be used to crack resid or resid-containing feeds as the alumina phase formed from the dispersible boehmite passivates nickel and vanadium contaminants.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2004
    Assignee: Engelhard Corporation
    Inventors: Rostam Madon, David H. Harris, Mingting Xu, David Stockwell, Bruce Lerner, Glenn W. Dodwell
  • Patent number: 6712125
    Abstract: A molten metal supply system (90) includes a plurality of injectors (100) each having an injector housing (102) and a reciprocating piston (104). A molten metal supply source (132) is in fluid communication with the housing (102) of each of the injectors (100). The piston (104) is movable through a first stroke allowing molten metal (134) to be received into the housing (102) from the molten metal supply source (132), and a second stroke for displacing the molten metal (134) from the housing (102). A pressurized gas supply source (144) is in fluid communication with the housing (102) of each of the injectors (100) through respective gas control valves (146). The molten metal supply system (90) is in fluid communication with an outlet manifold (140) having a plurality of outlet dies (404), which may be used to form continuous metal articles including rods, bars, ingots, and continuous plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2004
    Assignee: Alcoa Inc.
    Inventors: Vivek M. Sample, Scott E. Reighard, Vincent A. Paola, Ronald G. Chabal
  • Patent number: 6712258
    Abstract: A method for forming a thermoelement for a thermoelectric cooler is provided. In one embodiment a first substrate having a plurality of pointed tips separated by valleys wherein the substrate is covered by a metallic layer, portions of the metallic layer is covered by an insulator, and other portions of the metallic layer are exposed is formed. The other portions of the metallic layer that are exposed are covered with a thermoelectric material overcoat. A second substrate of thermoelectric material is then fused to the pointed tip side of the first substrate by, for example, heating the back of the first substrate to melt the thermoelectric material overcoat or by passing current through the pointed tips to induce Joule heating and thereby melt the thermoelectric material overcoat.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2004
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Uttam Shyamalindu Ghoshal
  • Patent number: 6713718
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for scoring a slot through one surface of an article by a scoring light beam confocally determines the remaining depth in the article between the bottom of the slot and an opposed second surface to automatically control the application of the scoring light beam at a particular point in the slot to maintain a constant depth between the bottom of the slot and the opposed second surface along the entirety of the slot despite any surface dimensional variations in the article. In one aspect, a detecting laser beam is directed into the slot formed by the scoring laser beam during formation of the slot, with only light reflected from a confocal plane established at the predetermined bottom depth of the slot being reflected to a detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2004
    Assignee: VI Engineering, Inc.
    Inventor: Yuesheng Lu
  • Patent number: 6712120
    Abstract: A device for casting a workpiece, especially a turbine blade with inner cooling, includes a casting cavity in which casting cores which produce channels that pass through the workpiece are provided. There are no poorly cooled areas present in the workpiece. To this end, the casting cores are placed in the casting cavity in such a way that they rest against each other loosely.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2004
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Peter Tiemann