Patents by Inventor Kenneth Weidele

Kenneth Weidele 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: 10661500
    Abstract: A feed mechanism for feeding a filament into a print head assembly in an FDM printer. The feed mechanism includes a drive assembly that drives the filament into a reservoir where the reservoir is heated by a heater, where the filament is liquefied therein. A pump in the reservoir pumps the liquefied filament material out of the reservoir through an extrusion nozzle to a print head of the printer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenneth F. McKinney, Andrew Simmons, Kenneth Weidele, Tim Manestitaya, Alex Grammar
  • Patent number: 10556389
    Abstract: A feed mechanism for feeding a filament through a print head assembly in an FDM printer. The feed mechanism includes a first oval-shaped track having a plurality track elements extending around the first track and a second oval-shaped track having a plurality of track elements extending around the second track, where the first and second tracks counter-rotate. A space is defined between the first and second tracks that receives the filament in a manner so that the track elements that are in the space contact the filament, where rotation of the first and second tracks in opposite directions causes the filament to be driven through the space and onto the print head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation
    Inventors: Kenneth F. McKinney, Andrew Simmons, Kenneth Weidele, Tim Manestitaya, Alex Grammar