Patents by Inventor Colin Bird

Colin Bird 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: 9645038
    Abstract: A method of measuring a flow rate of a first fluid through a rotary seal of a gas turbine engine comprising controlling a probe flow of a second fluid at an intra-seal cavity and measuring a pressure change in the first fluid caused by the probe flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventor: Colin Bird
  • Publication number: 20140133963
    Abstract: A method of measuring a flow rate of a first fluid through a rotary seal of a gas turbine engine comprising controlling a probe flow of a second fluid at an intra-seal cavity and measuring a pressure change in the first fluid caused by the probe flow.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2013
    Publication date: May 15, 2014
    Applicant: ROLLS-ROYCE PLC
    Inventor: Colin BIRD
  • Patent number: 8709592
    Abstract: A retro-reflective sensor coating arrangement comprises a base layer of luminescent sensor material and an outer layer of optical bodies, such a spheres.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2014
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce PLC
    Inventor: Colin Bird
  • Publication number: 20140098836
    Abstract: A temperature indicating paint is provided. The paint is spreadable onto a surface of an article. The paint includes particles of an alloy of two or more metals. The particles vary in relative composition of the metals such that particles having different compositions have different solidus and liquidus melting temperatures.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2012
    Publication date: April 10, 2014
    Applicant: ROLLS-ROYCE PLC
    Inventor: Colin Bird
  • Patent number: 7803022
    Abstract: A thermocouple connector has a first member and a second member which couples to the first member. The first member carries two first terminals for electrically joining to the respective ends of a pair of thermocouple wires. The second member carries two corresponding second terminals for electrically joining to the respective ends of a pair of thermocouple extension wires. Each first terminal contacts a respective second terminal when the first and second members are coupled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce PLC
    Inventors: Andrew J. MacKinnon, Paul A. Carney, Colin Bird
  • Publication number: 20100048065
    Abstract: A thermocouple connector has a first member and a second member which couples to the first member. The first member carries two first terminals for electrically joining to the respective ends of a pair of thermocouple wires. The second member carries two corresponding second terminals for electrically joining to the respective ends of a pair of thermocouple extension wires. Each first terminal contacts a respective second terminal when the first and second members are coupled.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2009
    Publication date: February 25, 2010
    Applicant: ROLLS-ROYCE PLC
    Inventors: Andrew J. MacKinnon, Paul A. Carney, Colin Bird
  • Publication number: 20100035043
    Abstract: A retro-reflective sensor coating arrangement comprises a base layer of luminescent sensor material and an outer layer of optical bodies, such a spheres.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2008
    Publication date: February 11, 2010
    Applicant: Rolls-Royce PLC
    Inventor: Colin Bird
  • Patent number: 7507022
    Abstract: An apparatus (10) for measuring temperature using luminescence thermometry, comprising: a photon emitter (42) for providing photons (3) of at least a first frequency; photoluminescent material (30) that produces photons (5) of at least a second frequency in response to the incidence of photons (3) of the first frequency; one or more photon receivers (44); and an optically dispersive element (50) for directing photons (5) of at least a second frequency produced by the photoluminescent material (30) into the photon receiver(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2009
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce plc
    Inventor: Colin Bird
  • Publication number: 20060224596
    Abstract: A system (100) and method (200) for general notification of newly-acquired information by: subscribing (230) an indexing service (124; 128) to a broker (140) for a predetermined selection of information stored on an object server (110); and producing related information associated with the information stored on the object server, and publishing (220) the related information to the broker (140) for use in retrieval of the stored information from the object server. The related information preferably comprises metadata and tokens, and the indexing service the metadata for indexing and if the metadata is not relevant to its level of indexing uses the tokens to retrieve a copy of the related information for further analysis. This provides a combination of anonymous publish/subscribe technology to integrate otherwise centralised indexing and object storage, allowing content to be “pushed” to end user clients (130).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2006
    Publication date: October 5, 2006
    Inventors: Colin Bird, John Ibbotson, Ian Shore
  • Publication number: 20060188000
    Abstract: An apparatus (10) for measuring temperature using luminescence thermometry, comprising: a photon emitter (42) for providing photons (3) of at least a first frequency; photoluminescent material (30) that produces photons (5) of at least a second frequency in response to the incidence of photons (3) of the first frequency; one or more photon receivers (44); and an optically dispersive element (50) for directing photons (5) of at least a second frequency produced by the photoluminescent material (30) into the photon receiver(s).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2006
    Publication date: August 24, 2006
    Inventor: Colin Bird
  • Publication number: 20060149759
    Abstract: A system, method and computer program for managing resources within an integrated development environment for multiple users. The resources include both content resources and people resources. The method comprises: managing a plurality of nodes representing resources, said nodes including content nodes and person nodes, wherein the node contains a resource reference for referencing the resource; managing one or more links representing one or more relationships between the resources, said links including links between content nodes, between person nodes and between content and person nodes, each link comprising node references to identify the nodes in the relationships and an importance value to identify the importance of the relationship; providing an interface for selecting one of the plurality of content nodes or person nodes; adapting, in response to the user selected node, one or more importance values of certain links.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2005
    Publication date: July 6, 2006
    Inventors: Colin Bird, Andrew Connick, Nicholas Hill, Mark Hiscock, Sebastian Stein, Stephen Woolley
  • Publication number: 20060149757
    Abstract: A system, method and computer program for managing resources within an integrated development environment for multiple users. The resources include both content resources and people resources.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 10, 2005
    Publication date: July 6, 2006
    Inventors: Colin Bird, Andrew Connick, Nicholas Hill, Mark Hiscock, Sebastian Stein, Stephen Woolley
  • Publication number: 20060149717
    Abstract: A system, method and computer program for managing resources within an integrated development environment for multiple users. The resources include both content resources and people resources.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 10, 2005
    Publication date: July 6, 2006
    Inventors: Colin Bird, Andrew Connick, Nicholas Hill, Mark Hiscock, Sebastian Stein, Stephen Woolley
  • Patent number: 7003425
    Abstract: A method of measuring temperature of a component capable of emitting thermal radiation and reflecting background radiation having the steps of: providing a pyrometer for measuring the radiation from the component, characterised by coating a part of the component with a first emissivity coating and a part of the component with a different and second emissivity coating, each with known emissivities EH and EL respectively, recording a first radiation measurement from the first emissivity coating RH and a second radiation measurement from the second emissivity coating RL, then calculating the true radiation RBlade from the component from the equation R Blade = ( R H E H - R L E H ? ( 1 - E H 1 - E L ) ) ( 1 - E L E H ? ( 1 - E H 1 - E L ) ) and relate the RBlade value to the true component temperature by calibration of the pyrometer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce plc
    Inventors: Colin Bird, Colin J Parrish
  • Publication number: 20040267850
    Abstract: A method of measuring temperature of a component capable of emitting thermal radiation and reflecting background radiation comprising the steps of: providing a pyrometer for measuring the radiation from the component, characterised by coating a part of the component with a first emissivity coating and a part of the component with a different and second emissivity coating, each with known emissivities EH and EL respectively, recording a first radiation measurement from the first emissivity coating RH and a second radiation measurement from the second emissivity coating RL, then calculating the true radiation RBlade from the component from the equation 1 R Blade = ( R H E H - R L E H ⁢ ( 1 - E H 1 - E L ) ) ( 1 - E L E H ⁢ ( 1 - E H 1 - E L ) )
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 1, 2004
    Publication date: December 30, 2004
    Inventors: Colin Bird, Colin J. Parrish
  • Publication number: 20030004942
    Abstract: A method of generating metadata is provided including providing (401) a plurality of source texts (100), processing the plurality of source texts (100) to extract primary metadata in the form of a plurality of sets of words (104, 106), and comparing (407) each of the source texts (100) with each of the sets of words (104, 106). The method includes using a clustering program to extract the sets of words (104, 106) from the source texts (100). The step of comparing is carried out by Latent Semantic Analysis to compare the similarity of meaning of each source text (100) with each set of words (104, 106) obtained by the clustering program. The comparison obtains a measure of the extent to which each source text (100) is representative of a set of words (104, 106).
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 21, 2002
    Publication date: January 2, 2003
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Colin Bird
  • Patent number: 5473747
    Abstract: An interactive data interpretation tool is disclosed for enabling the identification of the position of features in a multidimensional data set, the tool comprising means for displaying an image representing a 2-D slice of the data set; and user input means for causing the storage of the position of a feature in the displayed image, characterized in that the 2-D slice can be displayed as part of a projection of a 3-D image, the third dimension of which corresponds to one of the other dimensions of the data set, the tool comprising means operable in response to a predetermined user input operation to cause the co-ordinate of the currently displayed 2-D slice in the third dimension of the 3-D image to be incremented, and the positions in the 3-D image of any features identified in the previously displayed slice to be indicated. The invention finds particular application to the interpretation of seismological data sets. Other applications include oceanographic and medical imaging data sets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 5, 1995
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Colin Bird, Syd Chapman
  • Patent number: 5230659
    Abstract: A constant velocity ratio universal joint, suitable for high speed low angle use, comprises outer and inner joint members (10,11) with engaging part-spherical surfaces (12,13) and arcuate ball-receiving grooves (14,15) diverging towards an end of the outer joint member closed by a closure member (17) with balls (16) held in the grooves by an element (31) and support member (32) which is pivoted on the closure member, and a spring (36) acting between the element (31) and support member (32) so that the balls are urged as far as possible into the grooves to take up clearances and maintain stability of the joint, particularly under no-torque conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 1992
    Date of Patent: July 27, 1993
    Assignee: Hardy Spicer Limited
    Inventors: Colin A. Bird, Keith J. Pugh
  • Patent number: 5224899
    Abstract: A constant velocity ratio universal joint of the tripod type comprising a hollow outer joint member having a rotational axis and three interior guide grooves parallel to its rotational axis and equally circumferentially spaced thereabout, each guide groove having a base portion and opposed side portions; an inner joint member, inside the outer joint member, having a rotational axis and three arms equally spaced about this rotational axis and extending radially into the outer member guide grooves; each arm carrying a roller assembly with an outer roller element having an external surface engaging opposed side portions of a guide groove; an inner roller element mounted on the arm and supporting the outer roller element so that the outer roller element can rotate about, move lengthwise of, and tilt relative to the arm; and a guide element engaging the base portion of the guide groove for sliding movement therealong and also engaging the outer roller element to constrain the outer roller element against tilting r
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 1991
    Date of Patent: July 6, 1993
    Assignee: Hardy Spicer Limited
    Inventors: Colin F. S. Turner, Colin A. Bird
  • Patent number: 5203741
    Abstract: A constant velocity ratio universal joint of the tripod type, comprising an outer joint member (10) with three guide grooves (20), and an inner joint member with arms (13) each carrying a roller (21) which is able to rotate about, move lengthwise of, and tilt relative to the arm, wherein both the external surface (22) of the roller and each side portion of a guide groove (20) engaged thereby is of a gothic arch cross sectional shape to provide for angular contact between roller and guide groove and improve the guidance of the roller so that it remains aligned in the groove for rolling therealong and with the gothic arch section of the roller and/or guide groove side comprising arcuate portions with different centers of curvature, or having part-elliptical or part-involute portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 1991
    Date of Patent: April 20, 1993
    Assignee: Hardy Spicer Limited
    Inventors: Turner, Colin F. S., Colin A. Bird