Patents by Inventor James D. Livers, Jr.

James D. Livers, Jr. 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: 6966582
    Abstract: An oven door lock for self-cleaning ovens is described. The oven door lock includes a clutch mechanism which locks and unlocks the oven door at substantially different temperatures, in particular, the lock temperature is substantially higher than the unlock temperature. The clutch mechanism comprises a thermally responsive element, a clutch, and a lock member. During heating, in a self-clean or normal cooking operation, an expanding thermally responsive element, acting upon the clutch, causes the lock member to lock the oven door. During cool down, the contracting thermally responsive element, acting upon the clutch in an opposing direction, in concert with a restraining spring, causes the lock member to unlock the oven door at a temperature substantially lower than the locking temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2005
    Assignee: France/Scott Fetzer Company
    Inventors: Charles F. Malone, James D. Livers, Jr.
  • Patent number: 6474702
    Abstract: An oven door lock for self-cleaning ovens is described. The oven door lock includes a manually operated latch mechanism moveable from an unlatched state. In the latched state, a thermally responsive element is provided with a pin adapted to be received in a hole defined in the latch mechanism to lock the latch mechanism in the latched state during self-cleaning operation. The oven door lock is provided with a nuisance latch which prevents the latch mechanism from being moved to the latched state during non-self-cleaning use of the oven. A switch is provided to indicate when the latch mechanism is in the latched state. An insulation pad is sandwiched between the switch and a mounting bracket of the oven door lock to thermally and electrically insulate the switch from the oven door lock.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2002
    Assignee: France/Scott Fetzer Company
    Inventors: Charles Malone, James D. Livers, Jr., James Ramsey
  • Patent number: 6295410
    Abstract: A hand dryer timer having a switch in electrical communication with, and controlling the operation of a heater, a fan motor and a timer motor which are electrically connected to two nonneutral lines of a power source. A cam is mounted on a drive shaft of the timer motor such that the cam rotates with the drive shaft and also slides longitudinally over the drive shaft. The cam has a cam lobe adjacent an actuating arm of the switch. A biasing element is located between the timer motor and the cam and biases the cam to a first position aligning the cam lobe with the actuating arm of the switch. The switch includes two sets of switch contacts in a power circuit for the heater and fan motor, so that at the end of a drying cycle, the two sets of switch contacts are effective to electrically isolate the heater and fan motor from both non-neutral lines of the power source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2001
    Assignee: France/Scott Fetzer Company
    Inventors: Valerie Helms, James D. Livers, Jr.
  • Patent number: 6188030
    Abstract: An apparatus for rotationally adjusting a cam, that includes an adjustment pinion having a number of missing teeth that couple to an integral gear formed on a rotatable cam. The adjustment pinion is used to manually adjust the angular position of the rotatable cam relative to the rotatable cam's axis of rotation. When the missing teeth of the adjustment pinion disengage from the gear integral to the cam, rotation of the adjustment pinion ceases. The adjustment apparatus may be readily incorporated into a programmer/timer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2001
    Assignee: France/Scott Fetzer Company
    Inventors: James D. Livers, Jr., Robert Towe
  • Patent number: 6064043
    Abstract: A dryer timing control circuit includes a heater rated to operate at 240 volts and having one side connected to power. A thermostatic switch is connected between power and the other side of the heater. The thermostatic switch closes in response to a lower temperature in the dryer and opens in response to a higher temperature in the dryer. A timer motor rated to operate at approximately 240 volts has a first input connected to power. A timer motor switch operable by the timer motor has a first switch state connecting the timer motor to the heater without an intervening voltage dropping resistor. The timer motor operates in response to the timer motor switch being in the first state and the thermostatic switch being open, thereby applying 240 volts across the timer motor. The timer motor operation is terminated in response to the timer motor switch being in the first state and the thermostatic switch being in the closed state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Assignee: France/Scott Fetzer Company
    Inventors: James D. Livers, Jr., John D. Cox
  • Patent number: 5896749
    Abstract: A refrigeration and active damper control circuit uses a single-pole thermostatic switch to control the damper motor for the fresh food compartment of a refrigeration unit. When the thermostatic switch is closed, the control circuit connects current from the electrical power source directly to the damper motor through the thermostatic switch; when the thermostatic switch is open, the control circuit connects current from the electrical power source through the evaporator fan motor and then through the damper motor. The damper motor has an electrical resistance substantially larger than that of the evaporator fan motor, so that during the latter series connection of the evaporator fan motor and damper motor, a sufficient voltage drop develops across the damper motor so that the damper will be closed by the damper motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 27, 1999
    Assignee: France/Scott Fetzer Company
    Inventor: James D. Livers, Jr.