Patents by Inventor John E. McFee

John E. McFee 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: 6026135
    Abstract: A multisensor vehicle-mounted mine detector having one or more sensors leading the vehicle for detecting objects in the ground while moving. A navigational system tracks the coordinates of the detected objects, performs data fusion, declares whether the object is a target worthy of interest and if so, stops the vehicle with a trailing thermal neutron activator sensor (TNA) over the coordinates of the object and interrogating the object with slow neutrons to confirm whether it contains sufficient nitrogen to indeed be a mine. The TNA confirmation is kept brief due to the use of a strong source coupled with means for analysing the resultant pulses and rejecting piled-up pulses. The difference between an integration of the entire pulse and a portion of the pulse is compared against a predetermined difference for a normal pulse wherein variations therebetween are indicative of a piled-up pulse which is then rejected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2000
    Assignee: Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of National Defence of Her Majesty's Canadian Government
    Inventors: John E. McFee, Victor C. Aitken, Yogadhish Das, Kevin L. Russell, Chris A. Brosinsky, Robert H. Chesney, Philip Church, George Gundesen, Edward T. H. Clifford, E. Barclay Selkirk, Harry Ing, Robert O. Ellingson, Steven G. Penzes, Mick Saruwatari, Kevin Saruwatari, Craig Poulsom
  • Patent number: 4837489
    Abstract: A ferrous object detector and locator includes a magnetometer sensor and a position sensor controlled by a microprocessor. The device accurately locates and identifies an unknown ferrous object and determines the depth and orientation of a buried ferrous rod. Simultaneous magnetic field measurements from the magnetometer and position information in one or more orthogonal directions from the position sensor are combined and analyzed by the microprocessor using predetermined algorithms to determine the location and identity of the object. The detecetor is capable of detecting location and identity of objects of general shape and size.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 1987
    Date of Patent: June 6, 1989
    Assignee: Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of National Defence
    Inventor: John E. McFee
  • Patent number: 4623842
    Abstract: A fluxgate magnetometer with a linear array of three sensors equi-spaced along a support beam and accurately adjustable into the same spatial orientation for sensing magnetic field anomalies and/or for measuring a single axis component of a magnetic field at two or more points in space. The beam is mounted in an elongate housing provided with pairs of wedges, acting in opposition to one another at opposite ends of the beam, for flexing the beam to adjust the sensors, which have drive windings in containers secured to the beam, the drive windings being rotatably adjustable in their containers relative to sense windings and feedback windings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 1983
    Date of Patent: November 18, 1986
    Assignee: Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada
    Inventors: Malcolm E. Bell, John E. McFee, Henry W. Morewood, Clayton G. Coffey