Patents by Inventor David Ruddell

David Ruddell 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).

  • Pultrusion apparatus for continuous fabrication of fiber-reinforced plastic articles having a non-linear shape, methods of fabricating such articles, and compositions used therein
    Publication number: 20040122123
    Abstract: A pultrusion apparatus for manufacturing a fiber-reinforced plastic article having a non-linear shape includes a mold configured to receive a partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article and to form the partially-cured fiber-reinforced plastic article into a spirally wound shape. A drive mechanism is coupled to the mold and configured to rotate the mold such that the fiber-reinforced plastic article is taken up on the mold. An energy source is operatively associated with the mold and positioned so that the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article is cured in a spirally wound shape as the article is taken up on the longitudinally extending mold. The pultrusion apparatus allows for continuously shaping a non-linear fiber-reinforced plastic article, obviating the need for any of the work to be done by hand, which may be labor intensive, not as highly reproducible, and potentially contaminating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 5, 2003
    Publication date: June 24, 2004
    Inventors: Robert P. Kusy, Scott Zufall, Matthew Camp, Glenys Thorstenson, Brian Rucker, Hiawatha Demby, David Ruddell, Elodia Cole, Aditya Patel
  • Pultrusion apparatus for continuous fabrication of fiber-reinforced plastic articles having a non-linear shape, methods of fabricating such articles and compositions used therein
    Patent number: 6679695
    Abstract: A pultrusion apparatus for manufacturing a fiber-reinforced plastic article having a non-linear shape includes a mold configured to receive a partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article and to form the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article into a spirally wound shape. A drive mechanism is coupled to the mold and configured to rotate the mold such that the fiber-reinforced plastic article is taken up on the mold. An energy source is operatively associated with the mold and positioned so that the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article is cured in a spirally wound shape as the article is taken up on the longitudinally extending mold. The pultrusion apparatus allows for continuously shaping a non-linear fiber-reinforced plastic article, obviating the need for any of the work to be done by hand, which may be labor intensive, not as highly reproducible, and potentially contaminating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2004
    Assignee: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    Inventors: Robert P. Kusy, Scott Zufall, Matthew Camp, Glenys Thorstenson, Brian Rucker, Hiawatha Demby, David Ruddell, Elodia Cole, Aditya Patel
  • Pultrusion apparatus for continuous fabrication of fiber-reinforced plastic articles having a non-linear shape, methods of fabricating such articles and compositions used therein
    Publication number: 20020180112
    Abstract: A pultrusion apparatus for manufacturing a fiber-reinforced plastic article having a non-linear shape includes a mold configured to receive a partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article and to form the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article into a spirally wound shape. A drive mechanism is coupled to the mold and configured to rotate the mold such that the fiber-reinforced plastic article is taken up on the mold. An energy source is operatively associated with the mold and positioned so that the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article is cured in a spirally wound shape as the article is taken up on the longitudinally extending mold. The pultrusion apparatus allows for continuously shaping a non-linear fiber-reinforced plastic article, obviating the need for any of the work to be done by hand, which may be labor intensive, not as highly reproducible, and potentially contaminating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 29, 2001
    Publication date: December 5, 2002
    Inventors: Robert P. Kusy, Scott Zufall, Matthew Camp, Glenys Thorstenson, Brian Rucker, Hiawatha Demby, David Ruddell, Elodia Cole, Aditya Patel