Patents Examined by Wendy Boss
  • Patent number: 6387469
    Abstract: This invention comprises a composite part (1) consisting of a top (11) and bottom (12) metal cover layer and a sandwich component (10) that comprises a core (13) made of a honeycomb structure, and at least one metal profile (20) equipped with a connecting surface (21) for the discharge of forces into the sandwich component (10), whereby the profile or profiles are joined to the sandwich component in a flat manner, and a method for its manufacture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2002
    Assignee: DaimlerChrysler Rail Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Lutz Ristow, Wolfgang Holzapfel, Reinhold Stegschuster
  • Patent number: 6379776
    Abstract: The present invention relates to An anti-fogging and stain-prevented glass article having an alkali shut-off film and a photocatalytic film in the order laminated on the surface of glass substrate, in which dents and projections having an arithmetical mean roughness (Ra) from 1.5 to 80 nm and mean interval (Sm) of dents and projections from 4 to 300 nm are formed thereon, and to An anti-fogging and stain-prevented glass article having an alkali shut-off film, a photocatalytic film, and a silicon oxide monocomponent equivalent layer or a layer of organosilane including at least one kind of functional group selected from polyalkyleneoxide group, alkyl group, alkenyl group and aryl group in its molecules or its hydrolyzed substance, laminated in the order on the surface of a glass article. The abovementioned anti-fogging and stain-prevented glass article can be used for window glasses of automobiles and buildings, and glasses, etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2002
    Assignees: Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd., NSG Techno-Research Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroaki Tada, Koji Shimoda, Akihiko Hattori, Kazuhiro Doushita, Takashi Sunada
  • Patent number: 6376104
    Abstract: A process of producing a gold decorative item, including, sequentially producing an alloy of gold, silver, copper and zinc, forming the gold alloy into a specific shape according to the design of the decorative item and polishing the surface of the decorative item so formed, submerging the decorative item in an acid solution and etching its surface to form a scale pattern, submerging the decorative item in an alkaline solution removing unwanted substances formed on the surface during etching.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2002
    Inventors: Kin Keung Li, Chi Shing Yuen
  • Patent number: 6376060
    Abstract: A hardcoat for a plastic substrate film is provided which has good suitability for printing and satisfactory hardness, can prevent influence of the deformation of a plastic substrate film from extending to the hardcoat, and is resistant to cracking and peeling. The hardcoat is produced from a coating component containing one or more organic components having a polymerizable functional group and an inorganic filler, at least one of the organic components being free from a hydrogen bond-forming group. In the hard coat, the content of the inorganic filler in the surface of the hardcoat is higher than that in the interior of the hardcoat. The hardcoat can be applied to antireflection films and hologram labels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2002
    Assignee: Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshio Yoshihara, Yurie Ota, Nobuko Takahashi, Noboru Kunimine, Satoshi Shioda, Mikiko Hojo
  • Patent number: 6372033
    Abstract: Powder mixtures and a method of forming and shaping the mixtures. The method involves compounding the components of powder materials, binder, solvent for the binder, surfactant, and non-solvent with respect to at least the binder, the solvent, and the powder materials. The non-solvent is lower in viscosity than the binder combined with the solvent. The solvent is present in an amount that is less than the amount that would be present otherwise. The components are mixed and plasticized, and shaped to form a green body. The choice of components results in improved wet green strength in the green body. The method is especially useful for extrusion processing of aqueous binder systems such as water and cellulose ethers and hydrophobic non-solvents, to form structures such as honeycombs. In the body, the ratio, upon subsequent firing, of the isostatic strength to the A-axis strength is at least about 20% higher than in bodies made without the mixture composition of the invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2002
    Assignee: Corning Incorporated
    Inventors: Devi Chalasani, Michael Fischer, Christopher J. Malarkey, Kevin R. McCarthy, Brian E. Stutts, Michael E. Zak
  • Patent number: 6372310
    Abstract: The invention relates to a base layer for a combined synthetic and natural turf comprising a fabric of which at least a part of the weft and/or warp threads is manufactured from a biodegradable material and/or is wholly absent so that the fabric contains apertures, and synthetic turf fibers which are least partially cowoven with the fabric and of which one or both ends form synthetic grass blades. These ends only protrude from the fabric at those locations where the non-degradable warp and weft threads intersect. The base layer is used in combined synthetic and natural turfs comprising a foundation, optionally a first layer of growth substrate and a base layer according to the invention which is provided with a second layer of growth substrate in which grass plants grow. The invention further relates to a method for laying a combined turf using the base layer of the invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2002
    Assignee: Southwest Recreational Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: Hugo de Vries
  • Patent number: 6372289
    Abstract: A process for making a honeycomb article having longitudinal channels extending from one face to a second face supporting a uniform coating of activated carbon on the channel walls, the process comprising the step of providing a solid heat-activated oxidant within the channels and heating the article to release the oxidant and uniformly activate the carbon coating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2002
    Assignee: Corning Incorporated
    Inventor: David L. Hickman
  • Patent number: 6365288
    Abstract: A method for applying a barrier layer which comprises a barium-strontium aluminosilicate to a silicon containing substrate which inhibits the formation of cracks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2002
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Harry E. Eaton, Thomas H. Lawton
  • Patent number: 6365259
    Abstract: Ceramic honeycombs incorporating cell walls of a sintered alumina material providing controlled pore size distribution in combination with high BET surface area and flexural (MOR) strength are formed by the extrusion, drying and firing of plasticized alumina powder batches containing major proportions of anhydrous, high-surface-area gamma alumina powders dispersed with selected acids; low combined drying and firing shrinkages provide strong, crack-free bodies of high surface area and strength.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2002
    Assignee: Corning Incorporated
    Inventors: Kevin R. Brundage, Srinivas H. Swaroop
  • Patent number: 6361888
    Abstract: Generally, this invention provides a toughened ceramic composite and a method of enhancing the mechanical strength of ceramic matrix composites through use of a transformation weakened interphase material. The ceramic composite provided in this invention includes a ceramic matrix, a second material as a second phase, and a metastable interphase material. The metastable interphase material is positioned between the ceramic matrix and the second phase material. The ceramic composite can include reinforcing elements such as fibers, whisker-shapes, platelets and particulates or have laminated or fibrous monolithic geometries. The metastable interphase material is capable of undergoing a shear or stress induced zero volume or negative volume, martensitic phase transformation, which may or may not be accompanied by a crystallographic unit cell shape change. In one embodiment, the metastable interphase material includes &bgr;-cristobalite.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2002
    Assignee: The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
    Inventors: Waltraud M. Kriven, Sang-Jin Lee
  • Patent number: 6358590
    Abstract: A noise attenuation panel for an aircraft engine nacelle structure comprises a cellular core having a multiplicity of cells and a facing sheet having a multiplicity of holes which provide for gaseous fluid communication between the cellular core and the front face of the facing sheet. Each hole in the facing sheet has a bore diameter which increases along the bore in the direction of the rear face of the facing sheet throughout the bore or a part of the bore and which does not at any point of the bore decrease along the bore in the direction of the rear face of the facing sheet. Prior to assembly of the facing sheet and the core the holes are formed by electron beam drilling from an entrance face of the facing sheet through to an exit face and the facing sheet and the cellular core are assembled to form the panel in such disposition that the exit face forms the front face of the facing sheet and the entrance face forms the rear face of the facing sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2002
    Assignee: Short Brothers PLC
    Inventors: Alan John Blair, Richard Parkes, Kelly Ruth
  • Patent number: 6355331
    Abstract: A surface structure including a skin (13) a build-up (18) and a backing (20). A skin is formed and a build-up layer is applied to the skin. In one embodiment, gas pressure is applied to form the skin in a single-sided die. A nozzle on a five-axis arm then applies resin to the skin in a selected pattern. The selected pattern may form a hexagonal “honeycomb” cell structure, for example, to support the skin and may transition to a columnar cell structure for better crush resistance. The hexagonal-to-columnar structure provides superior crush resistance in automotive body panels, for example, and improved solar energy concentration in solar energy applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2002
    Assignee: LEK Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Loren C. Hillier
  • Patent number: 6352756
    Abstract: A thin-walled honeycomb structure includes: a circumferential wall, numerous partition walls disposed inside the circumferential wall, and numerous cell passages defined by the partition walls. A circumferential portion of the honeycomb structure is reinforced wholly or in a part within a certain distance from an extremity surface of the honeycomb structure by a reinforcing material that dissipates or evaporates at a high temperature, and a method for producing the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2002
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yukihito Ichikawa, Koichi Ikeshima
  • Patent number: 6352763
    Abstract: A curable slurry for forming ceramic microstructures on a substrate using a mold. The slurry is a mixture of a ceramic powder, a fugitive binder, and a diluent. The ceramic powder has a low softening temperature in a range of about 400° C. to 600° C. and a coefficient of thermal expansion closely matched to that of the substrate. The fugitive binder is capable of radiation curing, electron beam curing, or thermal curing. The diluent promotes release properties with the mold after curing the binder or quick and complete burn out of the binder during debinding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2002
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: Kenneth R. Dillon, Kyung H. Moh, Thomas Edward Wood, Raymond C. Chiu, Vincent Wen-Shiuan King, Richard P. Rusin, Timothy Lee Hoopman, Paul Edward Humpal
  • Patent number: 6350499
    Abstract: A collapsible Christmas tree designed to be suspended in mid-aid from overhead. The tree comprises a central rope threaded through alternating sections of hollow rigid trunk sections and individual or grouped cross members having centered holes. Cross members have a decreasing length and girth as seen from the bottom of the tree to the top. Each cross member is rotated about the rope to resemble the branches of the Christmas tree.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2002
    Inventor: Richard D. Babcock
  • Patent number: 6350520
    Abstract: A carbon based material produced from the consolidation of amorphous carbon by elevated temperature compression. The material having unique chemical and physical characteristics that lend themselves to a broad range of applications such as in electrical, electrochemical and structural fields.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2002
    Assignee: Reticle, Inc.
    Inventors: Carl C. Nesbitt, Xiaowei Sun
  • Patent number: 6348426
    Abstract: An electrically conductive composition for forming an electrically conductive film through firing. The composition includes metal powder and glass frit as solid components. The glass frit contains a first glass frit which assumes a molten state at least at the maximum temperature during firing and a second glass frit which maintains a glass-ceramic state at the maximum temperature during firing. The first frit has a softening point 100° C. or more lower than the maximum temperature during firing. The content of the first glass frit based on the total amount of glass frit lies within the range of about 25-90 wt. %, and the total amount of glass frit based on the total solid component including metal powder lies within a range of about 3-10 wt. %. Also disclosed are ceramic electronic components and a production process of the components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2002
    Assignee: Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yukio Sanada, Shinichiro Kuroiwa, Kyoumi Tsukida
  • Patent number: 6346335
    Abstract: A composite material includes a structural carrier layer and a relatively thin metal foil layer separated by a release layer. The release layer, that may be an admixture of a metal such as nickel or chromium and a non-metal such as chromium oxide, nickel oxide, chromium phosphate or nickel phosphate, provides a peel strength for the metal foil layer from the carrier strip that is typically on the order of 0.1 pound per inch to 2 pounds per inch. This provides sufficient adhesion to prevent premature separation of the metal foil layer from the carrier layer, but easy removal of the carrier layer when desired. Typically, the metal foil layer is subsequently bonded to a dielectric and the carrier layer then removed. The metal foil layer is then imaged into circuit features in the manufacture of printed circuit boards and flexible circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2002
    Assignee: Olin Corporation
    Inventors: Szuchain Chen, Julius Fister, Andrew Vacco, Nina Yukov, A. James Brock
  • Patent number: 6344255
    Abstract: There is disclosed a radio wave transmitting material, in which to opposite surfaces of a honeycomb structure obtained by laminating incombustible sheets prepared from a slurry containing a main component of an inorganic hydrate compound into a honeycomb shape using an inorganic adhesive, incombustible boards prepared from the slurry containing the main component of the inorganic hydrate compound are integrally bonded using an adhesive, whereby a radio wave transmitting material lightweight and superior in incombustibility and radio wave transmittance is realized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2002
    Assignees: TDK Corporation, Tokiwa Electric Co.
    Inventors: Taku Murase, Naoyoshi Sato, Hiroshi Kurihara, Toshifumi Saitoh, Motonari Yanagawa, Kozo Hayashi, Kyoichi Fujimoto
  • Patent number: 6344253
    Abstract: The present invention concerns a manufactured article impervious to water, the water being rain water, water coming from a water-bearing stratum, and/or from concrete. The manufactured article of the invention may be used in building of habitations, factories, tunnels, and/or submarine structures and the like, the article comprising a leakproofing material. The manufactured article further includes a coating constituted by a film made of a material, the water-solubility of which is kept under control, the film delaying the leakproofing material hydration process for a predetermined period of time from between 1 and 30 days.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2002
    Inventor: Clara Pioventini