Patents by Inventor Charles L. Weigel

Charles L. Weigel 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: 12313389
    Abstract: A projectile with a safe and arming device includes a tunable setback arming mechanism with an arming slider constrained and guided within a slider frame. The arming slider and slider frame cooperating to have a first safe position, a second intermediate position, and a third armed position. Components, such as the arming slider are manufactured by electronic discharge machining (EDM) to provide preforms on a work piece that can be further processed and ultimately assembled into tunable setback arming mechanisms. Various desired operating characteristics of the setback arming mechanism may be provided by adjusting and/or selecting specific parameters in the arming slider and readily adjusting same through machining and heat treating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2025
    Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation
    Inventors: John S. Krafcik, Charles L. Weigel
  • Patent number: 9429403
    Abstract: A flight safety assembly onboard an aerial vehicle includes a first sensor configured to sense first information related to flight of the aerial vehicle and a second sensor configured to sense second information related to the flight of the aerial vehicle. A sensor input is adapted to receive third information related to the flight of the aerial vehicle. A processor is operably coupled to the first sensor, the second sensor, and the sensor input. The processor is configured to determine three independent instantaneous impact points for the aerial vehicle by independently analyzing each of the first information, the second information and the third information. The processor is also configured to generate three independent onboard flight termination indicators for each of the three independent instantaneous impact points that intersects with a region to be protected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2016
    Assignee: Orbital ATK, Inc.
    Inventors: George B. Papadopoulos, Derek R. Devries, Steven W. Thomas, Timothy J. Van Dixhorn, Charles L. Weigel, Charles L. Dedon
  • Patent number: 8868258
    Abstract: A flight safety assembly onboard an aerial vehicle includes a first sensor configured to sense first information related to flight of the aerial vehicle and a second sensor configured to sense second information related to the flight of the aerial vehicle. A sensor input is adapted to receive third information related to the flight of the aerial vehicle. A processor is operably coupled to the first sensor, the second sensor, and the sensor input. The processor is configured to determine three independent instantaneous impact points for the aerial vehicle by independently analyzing each of the first information, the second information and the third information. The processor is also configured to generate three independent onboard flight termination indicators for each of the three independent instantaneous impact points that intersects with a region to be protected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Assignee: Alliant Techsystems, Inc.
    Inventors: George B. Papadopoulos, Derek R. DeVries, Steven W. Thomas, Timothy J. Van Dixhorn, Charles L Weigel, Charles L. Dedon
  • Publication number: 20140067164
    Abstract: Embodiments include a flight safety assembly onboard an aerial vehicle, which includes a first sensor configured to sense first information related to flight of the aerial vehicle and a second sensor configured to sense second information related to the flight of the aerial vehicle. A sensor input is adapted to receive third information related to the flight of the aerial vehicle. A processor is operably coupled to the first sensor, the second sensor, and the sensor input. The processor is configured to determine three independent instantaneous impact points for the aerial vehicle by independently analyzing each of the first information, the second information and the third information. The processor is also configured to generate three independent onboard flight termination indicators for each of the three independent instantaneous impact points that intersects with a region to be protected.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2012
    Publication date: March 6, 2014
    Applicant: ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS INC.
    Inventors: George B. Papadopoulos, Derek R. DeVries, Steven W. Thomas, Timothy J. Van Dixhorn, Charles L. Weigel, Charles L. Dedon