Patents by Inventor James C. Cawley

James C. Cawley 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: 6600426
    Abstract: An alarm system for detecting and warning of the risk of shock and electrocution is provided. The alarm system is adapted for use with mobile construction equipment, e.g., cranes, trucks, etc., that can be used around overhead power transmission lines. The present alarm system has a sensor that detects the presence of outside power at the equipment where current is flowing therethrough to ground. The sensor preferably includes a conductor and an inductive sensor such as a current transformer which limits the output signal on its low side that is sent to an alarm unit. In this manner, the system herein continues to properly function despite the presence of large voltages at the equipment such as when the equipment contacts a high voltage power transmission line. The sensor can include a cable that provides a path of least resistance for current flowing through the equipment which can be detected by the sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2003
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services
    Inventors: H. Kenneth Sacks, Michael R. Yenchek, Gerald T. Homce, James C. Cawley
  • Patent number: 4438473
    Abstract: An intrinsically safe power supply employing a binary current interrupter connected between the power source and the electrical load. Normally the load is situated in a potentially dangerous environment, like a coal mine, and the intrinsically safe power supply at a safe remote location, e.g., on the earth's surface. The interrupter has a pass and switching transistor, current sensor, gating circuitry, a flip-flop switch, and means to delay the turning on of the transistor--but not its turning off. If an overcurrent or overvoltage condition is sensed between the input and output of the intrinsically safe power supply, load current will cease to flow. In normal operation, only the current interrupter pass transistor will open. A reset signal from an oscillator internal of the interrupter may be used to reset the flip-flop after actuation or upon its initial setting, thereby causing the flow of power into the load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 1981
    Date of Patent: March 20, 1984
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Interior
    Inventors: James C. Cawley, Michael D. DiMartino, Thomas J. Fisher, Roger L. King, Marcus H. Uhler