Patents by Inventor Andreas Ecker

Andreas Ecker has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8132522
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and to a device for processing highly flexural material in strip form. In order to provide a method and a corresponding device for processing highly flexural material 2 in strip form with optimization of working processes and increased production reliability, it is proposed that, in a method for processing highly flexural material 2 in strip form with a first and a second end region 10, 16, in particular of textile belt material 2, the two end regions 10, 16 of the highly flexural material 2 are essentially processed simultaneously, wherein one of the types of processing includes at least one sewing operation. In this case, ensured and consistent quality is achieved with a shortened working cycle time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignee: RSG Automation Technics GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Andreas Ecker
  • Patent number: 7992505
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for operating a thread-processing machine having a thread-cutting device. In order to provide a method and a corresponding apparatus for operating a thread-processing machine having a thread-cutting device, which achieves improved results with increased operational reliability in comparison with known apparatuses and methods, it is proposed that the processed product (3) is covered with an articulated or flexible protective element to protect the surface of the sewn product in a region around a thread (2) which is to be severed only after the thread-processing operation is ended, and the thread-cutting device (4) is moved onto a cutting point and is positioned for cutting relative to the protective element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Inventor: Andreas Ecker
  • Patent number: 7987801
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a device and a method for monitoring a thread wound on a bobbin during operation in a sewing machine that reduces the expenditure on apparatus and production technology with increased monitoring reliability wherein at least three different marking states are provided in the area of the bobbin (3) and are coupled to an optical device (8) in such a manner that movement of the bobbin (3) produces a change in marking which can be detected in the optical device (8) which can be evaluated in a logic unit connected to the optical device (8), that the marking (10) in the area of the bobbin (3) comprises more than two states, wherein at least one state is defined by at least one true color (g, r, b) or a mixture of the primary colors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: RSG Rombold System GmbH & Co., KG
    Inventors: Andreas Ecker, Martin Brenner
  • Publication number: 20100126400
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a device and a method for monitoring a thread wound on a bobbin during operation in a sewing machine. In order to further develop a method and a device of the type specified initially whilst reducing the expenditure on apparatus and production technology with increased monitoring reliability it is suggested for a device for monitoring a thread wound on a bobbin (3) during operation in a sewing machine (1), wherein at least two different marking states are provided in the area of the bobbin (3) and are coupled to an optical device (8) in such a manner that movement of the bobbin (3) produces a change in marking which can be detected in the optical device (8) which can be evaluated in a logic unit connected to the optical device (8), that the marking (10) in the area of the bobbin (3) comprises more than two states, wherein at least one state is defined by at least one color (g, r, b) or a mixture of the primary colors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2006
    Publication date: May 27, 2010
    Applicant: RSG Rombold System GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Andrea Ecker
  • Publication number: 20090050663
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and to a device for processing highly flexural material in strip form. In order to provide a method and a corresponding device for processing highly flexural material 2 in strip form with optimization of working processes and increased production reliability, it is proposed that, in a method for processing highly flexural material 2 in strip form with a first and a second end region 10, 16, in particular of textile belt material 2, the two end regions 10, 16 of the highly flexural material 2 are essentially processed simultaneously, wherein one of the types of processing includes at least one sewing operation. In this case, ensured and consistent quality is achieved with a shortened working cycle time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 7, 2007
    Publication date: February 26, 2009
    Inventor: Andreas Ecker
  • Publication number: 20080302288
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for operating a thread-processing machine having a thread-cutting device. In order to provide a method and a corresponding apparatus for operating a thread-processing machine having a thread-cutting device, which achieves improved results with increased operational reliability in comparison with known apparatuses and methods, it is proposed that the processed product (3) is covered with an articulated or flexible protective element to protect the surface of the sewn product in a region around a thread (2) which is to be severed only after the thread-processing operation is ended, and the thread-cutting device (4) is moved onto a cutting point and is positioned for cutting relative to the protective element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2006
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Inventor: Andreas Ecker
  • Patent number: 7131665
    Abstract: An arrangement for the holding of a steering column to a cross-member of a motor vehicle, in particular for a later screw connection of the steering column and/or of a dashboard holder to the cross-member, includes holding means formed at the steering column and at the cross-member which cooperate in a pre-installation state such that the steering column is held freely suspended at the cross-member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2006
    Assignee: Delphi Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Harald Walter Fischer, Andreas Ecker
  • Patent number: 6858167
    Abstract: The invention relates to a process and an apparatus for forming molten drops of precursors of thermoplastic polyesters or copolyesters as molten monomer, oligomer, monomer/glycol mixture or after partial polycondensator [sic] and melting to give a molten precursor, in which the precursor formed into drops is introduced into a gaseous medium, and the gaseous medium, after entry of the precursor formed into drops into the gaseous medium, accelerates the crystallization process by holding the drop-form precursor at a temperature above 100° C. and below its melting point for a limited time until crystallization of the drop at the surface of the precursor is complete. To this end, the apparatus has a fall tower, through which the gaseous medium flows in countercurrent from bottom to top, while the drops fall in the vertical direction from top to bottom into a collecting funnel with a precrystallized surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2005
    Assignee: Reiter Automatic GmbH
    Inventors: André Matthaei, Peter Locker, Andreas Ecker, Ralf Müller
  • Publication number: 20040145170
    Abstract: The invention relates to an arrangement for the holding of a steering column to a cross-member of a motor vehicle, in particular for a later screw connection of the steering column and/or of a dashboard holder to the cross-member, wherein holding means are formed at the steering column and at the cross-member which cooperate in a pre-installation state such that the steering column is held freely suspended at the cross-member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 12, 2003
    Publication date: July 29, 2004
    Inventors: Harald Walter Fischer, Andreas Ecker
  • Patent number: 6379137
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device for feeding molten plastic extrudates which emerge from dies to a discharge channel having a cooling water inlet which follows the dies, in which device the dies are arranged in at least two rows, in such a manner that in the discharge direction strands from one row and the other row are guided alternately, next to and at a distance from one another, in which device two collection channels, which are arranged one above the other, are interposed between the dies and the discharge channel, in such a manner that the extrudates emerging from one row of dies are in each case fed to the discharge channel as a group via a collection channel, the individual extrudates of the two groups meeting one another in an intermeshing position alternately and next to one another on the discharge channel and being guided onward by the latter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2002
    Assignee: Rieter Automatic GmbH
    Inventor: Andreas Ecker
  • Patent number: 4810094
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a two-wave holographic interferometry system and method. In such systems, a reference beam holographic is super-imposed on an object beam, the object beam being an image obtained by passing a beam through an object regarding which some parameter (e.g. temperature gradient) is to be measured. A photograph (50) of the superimposed beams (D) is taken. The present invention employs two object (B) and two reference (A) beams and the invention is particularly concerned with the use of a prism assembly (C) which causes the two different wavelengths (W1, W2) of the object beams to emerge from the prism at slightly different angles, thereby providing two holographic images which are slightly displaced from each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 1988
    Date of Patent: March 7, 1989
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    Inventors: William K. Witherow, Andreas Ecker