Patents Examined by W. L. Walker
  • Patent number: 6833073
    Abstract: The present invention relates to nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes that may be used in a number of commercial applications in which a contaminant, such as salt, must be separated from a feed fluid, such as brackish water, to yield a purified product fluid, as well as a method for manufacturing such membranes. According to embodiments of the invention, an aqueous amine solution including an amine, an organic acid (e.g., propionic acid) and a non-amine base is applied to the surface of a porous substrate. A second solution containing an acyl halide and an organic solvent immiscible in water is then applied to the aqueous amine solution to cause interfacial polymerization to occur. The resulting membranes exhibit superior salt rejection and flux properties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2004
    Assignee: PTI Advanced Filtration, Inc.
    Inventor: Ashok K. Agarwal
  • Patent number: 6830683
    Abstract: A filter cartridge assembly intended for replaceable installation in a demountable cartridge housing includes in one embodiment, a retaining ring that is attached to the product water tube of the filter cartridge, is inserted with the cartridge into the housing, and is locked to the housing such that, upon subsequent removal of the housing to change the cartridge, the cartridge will be forced from sealing engagement with the end cap header and caused to remain in the housing until the housing has been removed. The integral retaining ring and cartridge are then simply unlocked and removed from the housing for replacement. Brine ring embodiments that are welded to the housing or attached to the housing with a snap-in connection are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2004
    Assignee: Culligan International Company
    Inventors: Robert R. Gundrum, Jeffrey J. Julich
  • Patent number: 6830685
    Abstract: A filter device made of less expensive material than comparable filter devices heretofore has basic filter components plus some unique design aspects and an additional ring component. The ring provides an interface inside the filter which enables the potting compound to adhere to the filter and create a seal between a first and second fluid compartment within the filter. An embedded region of the ring possesses a detailed geometry which helps ensure that a delamination would be localized and unable to propagate from the first to the second compartment, maintaining the structural integrity of the filter device. To ensure that the sealing interface remains intact and free from delamination, the ring is subjected to a surface treatment, which modifies the surface energy of the ring. This modified surface energy of the ring allows the hydrophilic potting compound to more effectively bond to the modified hydrophobic ring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2004
    Assignee: Fresenius USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Rodney William Pope, Eric Wilson Stroup, William Kelly Brown, Danen Lee Petersen, Olli Tuominen, Troy McGhee
  • Patent number: 6827856
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for recovering copper from solutions from the recovery of iodine from industrial wastes from the production of ionic and non-ionic iodinated X-ray contrast agents by use of chelating resins suitable for removing copper from aqueous solutions. The absorbed copper is displaced by treating the resins with a 10% hydrochloric or sulfuric acid solution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2004
    Assignee: Bracco Imaging S.p.A.
    Inventors: Nicola Desantis, Salvatore Incandela
  • Patent number: 6824680
    Abstract: The invention is directed broadly to microporous films prepared from immiscible blends of at least two components, preferably polymers, which are produced via melt processing, a film formed therefrom, for example by extrusion and post-film-forming treatments comprising uniaxial or biaxial cold-stretching and hot-stretching. The films have a three-dimensional reticulated or interconnected network of microcracks or crazing throughout the film, extending from one surface of the film to the other, providing a stable porosity and pore size useful for a variety of filtration and other applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2004
    Assignee: New Jersey Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Chaiya Chandavasu, Marino Xanthos, Kamalesh K. Sirkar, Costas Gogos
  • Patent number: 6814865
    Abstract: The invention includes novel anion exchange membranes formed by in situ polymerization of at least one monomer, polymer or copolymer on a woven support membrane and their methods of formation. The woven support membrane is preferably a woven PVC membrane. The invention also includes novel cation exchange membranes with or without woven support membranes and their methods of formation. The invention encompasses a process for using the membranes in electrodialysis of ionic solutions and in particular industrial effluents or brackish water or seawater. The electrodialysis process need not include a step to remove excess ions prior to electrodialysis and produces less waste by-product and/or by-products which can be recycled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2004
    Assignee: Seventy-Seventh Meridian Corporation LLC
    Inventors: Tejraj Aminabhavi, Padmakar V. Kulkarni, Mahadevappa Y. Kariduraganavar
  • Patent number: 6811391
    Abstract: A molded part ejection tystem (103) includes a drive mechanism having a reversible servomotor (240). The drive mechanism for the ejection system includes a cam-and-follower arrangement whereby a circular cam member (252) is driven by the servomotor (240) through a drive shaft (250) that is connected with the cam member (252) and is offset from the center of the circular cam track (254). A cam follower (260) connected with an ejector drive rod (238), and the cam follower (260) rides in the cam track (254) to cause linear movement of the ejector drive rod (238) as the cam follower (260) follows the circular cam through its non-circular path of motion. Rotation of the servomotor (240) in one direction of rotation operates the part ejection system, while rotation of the servomotor in the opposite direction of rotation provides power to another portion of the machine during another portion of a molding machine operating cycle, such as a core-pull system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2004
    Assignee: Milacron Inc.
    Inventors: M. Barr Klaus, David S. Bernardi, Todd W. Brown
  • Patent number: 6799962
    Abstract: Stripper assembly for an injection molding machine comprising at least one slide pair having a first slide and a second slide and actuation means operatively coupled to said first slide for moving the first slide in a first direction. According to an important aspect of the invention, the stripper assembly further comprises transmission means operatively coupled to said first slide and said second slide for transforming the movement of the first slide in the first direction in a movement of the second slide in a second direction, the second direction being opposite to the first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2004
    Assignee: Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd.
    Inventors: Arnold Mai, Philippe Jean Alphonse Seyler
  • Patent number: 6796787
    Abstract: A product ejecting apparatus for an injection molding machine includes: a first drive unit; a first transmission unit connected to the first drive unit, wherein a rotation of the first drive unit results in a rotation of the first transmission unit; a second drive unit; a second transmission unit connected to the second drive unit, wherein a rotation of the second drive unit causes a rotation of the second transmission unit; an ejector pin configured to reciprocate based upon a motion of the first transmission unit; and a working member connected to the second transmission unit, wherein a movement of the second transmission unit results in reciprocating movement of the working member. The first drive unit is operated so as to cause the first transmission member to reciprocate, thereby causing the ejector pin to reciprocate. The second drive unit is operated so as to cause the second transmission member to reciprocate, thereby causing the working member to reciprocate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2004
    Assignee: Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Norihito Okada
  • Patent number: 6789683
    Abstract: A strainer assembly for a camp cooking kit has a strainer body having at least one rim for engaging a rim of a camp cooking pot and a plurality of openings for pouring liquid from the camp cooking pot while preventing egress of other contents from the pot. Strap guiding features formed in the strainer body provide for guiding a securing strap around both the strainer body and the camp cooking pot. The securing strap includes a fastening arrangement for securing the securing strap together for attaching the strainer body to the camp cooking pot. Handles, which can be formed in the strainer body or attached to the securing strap enable the strainer body to be tipped together with the camp cooking pot to strain the contents of the cooking pot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2004
    Inventor: John M. Fisher
  • Patent number: 6786336
    Abstract: A biosorbent composition, process of preparing and use thereof wherein the biosorbent composition comprises a chitosan-coated substrate. Useful substrates include support materials such as a ceramic support material. The biosorbent composition of the instant invention is useful in treating aqueous systems, including wastewater and aqueous waste streams, by removing undesired heavy metals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2004
    Assignees: The United States of America as represented by Secretary of the Army, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    Inventors: Veera M. Boddu, Edgar Dean Smith
  • Patent number: 6783352
    Abstract: A wax liquid temperature control device of a wax injector is disclosed. In this device, a coal oil heat exchanger controls the temperature of the coal oil in a predetermined range. Then, the coal oil is transferred to a wax liquid temperature control cylinder to control the temperature of the wax liquid so that the wax liquid is retained in a proper temperature for being injected to a mold. Therefore, the wax liquid temperature control device of a wax injector may cool the wax liquid in the mold rapidly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2004
    Inventor: Yu-Sheng Shiau
  • Patent number: 6776294
    Abstract: This concerns a device whose filtering membrane is gripped annularly at the periphery between a first member forming part of an intake body and a second member forming part of a drainage body with one out of the first member and second member having an elastomer seal by means of which it comes into contact with the membrane, and whose locking means are adapted to allow the opening of the device by requiring only a separation movement between said first member and said second member. The drainage method proposes directly placing the device on a vacuum flask, the sealing with regard to the stopper of said flask being obtained by a rib tapering towards its end.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2004
    Assignee: Millipore Corporation
    Inventor: Jean Lemonnier
  • Patent number: 6773591
    Abstract: The invention relates to a bundle of hollow fibers intended to constitute the membrane of a device for treating blood or plasma by extracorporeal circulation, in which: the hydraulic permeability of the hollow fibers in the bundle is heterogeneous; and the ratio of the highest hydraulic permeability measured on some hollow fibers of the bundle to the lowest hydraulic permeability measured on other hollow fibers in the same bundle is at least about 5. The invention also relates to a method for producing such a bundle, and a device comprising such a bundle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2004
    Assignee: Hospal Industrie
    Inventors: Didier Boivin, Jean Farjaud
  • Patent number: 6773590
    Abstract: The filtering membranes of the present invention are made from a pair of polymer films stretched in a liquid surface-active medium for the formation of crazes filled with the aforementioned medium. The crazed films are perforated and then stack together in a stretched or released state and are welded together into a sealed structure with a plurality of parallel welding seams arranged, e.g., in mutually perpendicular directions, so that a plurality of sealed cells is formed. The cells have on one side of the membrane input openings and on the other side output openings. If an input opening is in one cell, then an output opening is in the adjacent cell. Adjacent cells are interconnected only through the welding seams. Welding can be carried out by contact heating or with the use of a laser beam, or the like. The material of the welding seam has an amorphous structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2004
    Assignee: Alexander Shkolnik
    Inventor: Vladimir Prutkin
  • Patent number: 6770239
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for providing targeted cooling to a pre-molded article, such as a preform. A cooling pin is inserted into the preform such that it makes contact with targeted area, such as the mold gate area. This permits conductive cooling of the targeted area. The apparatus and method are particularly suited to post-mold cooling in conjunction with a robotic take-out plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2004
    Assignee: Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd.
    Inventors: Faisal Oueslati, Tiemo Brand, Witold Neter
  • Patent number: 6764598
    Abstract: The invention discloses an apparatus for filtration of water from hydrocarbons comprised of a fresh-feed inlet, a first dead end filter, having a filter medium that is hydrophobic, a second cross-flow filter, having a membrane that is hydrophobic, a common housing to contain both the first and second filters, a system for the recirculation of the retentate, a chamber for water settling, and an outlet for clean fuel permeate. This invention takes advantage of the properties of the functional groups of a surfactant, by using the surfactant to allow a hydrophobic medium to attract water, attach the water molecules to the hydrophobic medium, and then allow for agglomeration of the water molecules, which finally become large enough to detach and be swept away by the cross-flow. The hydrocarbon may then pass through the second membrane filter uncontaminated by water and be used as clean fuel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2004
    Assignee: Filtration Solutions, Inc.
    Inventors: Guanghua Yu, Chang-Wei Jen, Montfort Thierry
  • Patent number: 6761272
    Abstract: Filters and methods for producing filter paper or paper-like nonwoven materially consisting partially or wholly of fibrous cellulose containing material. The filters provided are characterized by high filtration capacity and are capable of absorbing and binding undesirable foreign and attendant substances in the filter medium. The cellulose containing material of the is at least partially carbamided with urea and phosphorylated with phosphoric acid or ammonium phosphate until a nitrogen content in the form of carbamide groups of 1 to 4% and a phosphorous content of 3 to 8% are reached.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2004
    Assignee: Helmut Körber
    Inventors: Friedemann Pieschel, Bckehard Lange, Michael Knieling
  • Patent number: 6761271
    Abstract: A wash bucket screen has a slanting platform supported on a frustum skirt. The platform has a plurality of holes interspersed between raised ridges on the platform running radially generally toward its perimeter as an aid in releasing water from a cloth squeezed against the platform. To effectively prevent backsplash from the bucket bottom back through the screen, the holes taper from a diameter sized to readily collect water on the platform top to a smaller hole diameter on the platform bottom. The skirt includes a flange on its distal end that engages the bucket wall. To accommodate a frustum bucket with changing wall diameter, the skirt flexes resiliently with the flange engaging the bucket wall and the skirt flexing inward as the screen is inserted in a bucket with decreasing diameter. To allow movement of the skirt, a plurality of slits extend vertically, opening at the skirt distal end, providing an effective splash shield between the skirt and the bucket wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2004
    Inventor: Lynn J. Cresswell
  • Patent number: 6753104
    Abstract: A lithium secondary battery includes an internal electrode body including a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator. The positive electrode and the negative electrode are wound or laminated via the separator so that the positive electrode and the negative electrode are not brought into direct contact with each other. At least a plurality of tabs for current collecting were provided to have a total cross-sectional area of the tabs be not less than a constant area in accordance with the quality of the material to be used for the tabs so that the tabs to be connected to each of the positive and negative electrodes may not respectively fuse when at least 100 A current has flown through the lithium secondary battery. The lithium secondary battery maintains a good charge-discharge cycle characteristics, and safety may be secured with electricity being cut off when an excess current has occurred due to external short circuit, etc., so that the battery may not be exploded nor be ignited.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2004
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventor: Kenshin Kitoh