Patents by Inventor Barry C. Conklin

Barry C. Conklin 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: 4620280
    Abstract: An intelligent driverless vehicle rolls on a track and has a pair of drive wheels which engage with a rotating drive shaft. The angular position of the drive wheels relative to the drive shaft determines the speed of the vehicle. Each vehicle has a microcomputer associated therewith, a position encoder for supplying information regarding the position of the vehicle to the microcomputer, an angular position encoder for providing information regarding the angular position of the drive wheels to the microcomputer for the computation of vehicle speed, and a drive wheel control means and associated linkage for changing the angular position of the drive wheels and thus vehicle speed in response to commands from the onboard microcomputer. The microcomputer communicates with a central computer via a bidirectional communications link. The central computer controls the speed and acceleration of each vehicle by selectively communicating with the microcomputers on board the vehicles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 1983
    Date of Patent: October 28, 1986
    Assignee: SI Handling Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Barry C. Conklin