Patents by Inventor Malcolm V. Hawkes

Malcolm V. Hawkes 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: 6870177
    Abstract: An apparatus for accurately locating a micro-electronic chip in a chip-holding cavity for visual testing, the chip having at least a front wall and a pair of opposed, spaced-apart side walls, wherein the front wall meets with each of the side walls to form opposed, spaced-apart first and second front edges, comprising a cavity side wall formed to juxtapositionally abut at least one of the side walls of the chip, the cavity side wall having formed therein a depression creating a shadow projecting forward from the depression, wherein the first front edge of the chip forms a border of the shadow to form an objectively measurable contrast in grayness between the shadow and the chip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2005
    Assignee: Electro Scientific Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Malcolm V. Hawkes, Jon Stuart Wright, Robert S. Burgoyne, Jeffrey L. Fish
  • Publication number: 20030097877
    Abstract: An apparatus for accurately locating a micro-electronic chip in a chip-holding cavity for visual testing, the chip having at least a front wall and a pair of opposed, spaced-apart side walls, wherein the front wall meets with each of the side walls to form opposed, spaced-apart first and second front edges, comprising a cavity side wall formed to juxtapositionally abut at least one of the side walls of the chip, the cavity side wall having formed therein a depression creating a shadow projecting forward from the depression, wherein the first front edge of the chip forms a border of the shadow to form an objectively measurable contrast in grayness between the shadow and the chip.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2002
    Publication date: May 29, 2003
    Inventors: Malcolm V. Hawkes, Jon Stuart Wright, Robert S. Burgoyne, Jeffrey L. Fish
  • Patent number: 5842579
    Abstract: One or more concentric rings of component seats are rotatable about the rings' center. The seats are uniformly angularly spaced and the rings are incrementally rotated, the increment of rotation being the angular space between adjacent seats. The rings are inclined at an angle and a stream of components is poured onto the rings as they are rotating. Stationary fences adjacent to outboard sides of the seats, confine unseated components to tumble randomly, due to gravity, over empty seats passing through arcs of the rings' rotation paths. The random tumbling results in seated components. In the paths of the rotating rings are electrical contactors for coupling the components to a tester. Preferably there are five contactor stations to permit five different kinds of tests to be performed simultaneously. Tested components pass beneath an ejection manifold which defines a plurality of ejection holes which register with a set of seats each time the ring is rotated an increment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 1, 1998
    Assignee: Electro Scientific Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Douglas J. Garcia, Steven D. Swendrowski, Mitsuaki Tani, Hsang Wang, Martin J. Twite, III, Malcolm V. Hawkes, Evart David Shealey, Martin S. Voshell, Jeffrey L. Fish, Vernon P. Cooke
  • Patent number: 5184068
    Abstract: A device for automatically presenting electronic devices to a tester for testing. A plurality of carriers, each for carrying a set of electronic devices are cyclically conveyed in a close loop from a loading stage where electronic devices are loaded onto the carriers, through a pre-test chamber, such as a "soak" chamber, from the pre-test chamber to a test stage where the devices are preferably lifted from the carrier to come into contact with a test head contactor for testing, from the test stage to a post-test chamber, such as "un-soak" chamber, through the post-test chamber to an unloading stage where the carriers are unloaded of the tested electronic devices, and then from the unloading stage back to the loading stage to receive a new set of untested electronic devices. Optionally, each carrier comprises a set of secondary carriers which ride in a like number of seats defined by a primary carrier and sets of electronic devices are loaded onto and unloaded from the secondary carriers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 1992
    Date of Patent: February 2, 1993
    Assignee: Symtek Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Ray G. Twigg, Mark W. Klug, Santino Marrone, Malcolm V. Hawkes