Patents by Inventor Mark F. Springer

Mark F. Springer 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).

  • Thin film electric motors
    Patent number: 6169354
    Abstract: An electric motor having a pancake construction stator and rotor poles that are formed by photolithography. The stator and rotor can be formed from an amorphous material, thereby reducing grain boundaries and allowing smaller poles to be etched. The number of poles, never less than three, can be from 20 to 5000 times the stator diameter in centimeters. The extremely thin rotor comprises a flexible disk spaced from the stator by an air cushion maintained in accordance with forces as dictated by Bemoulli's principle. This insures that the spacing between the rotor and stator is automatically adjusted to minimize the distance between the rotor and stator poles and thereby to maximize flux linkage between the poles. By operating the motor in a range that avoids saturation of the poles, a variable torque motor is provided since increased current through the motor windings allows the magnetic field intensity and thus the flux linkage to increase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2001
    Assignee: Halo Data Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Gilbert D. Springer, Mark F. Springer
  • Method and system for providing a spherical bearing in a thin film motor
    Patent number: 6066909
    Abstract: An electric motor having a pancake construction stator and rotor poles that are formed by photolithography. The stator and rotor can be formed from an amorphous material, thereby reducing grain boundaries and allowing smaller poles to be etched. The number of poles, never less than three, can be from 20 to 5000 times the stator diameter in centimeters. The extremely thin rotor comprises a flexible disk spaced from the stator by an air cushion maintained in accordance with forces as dictated by Bernoulli's principle. This insures that the spacing between the rotor and stator is automatically adjusted to minimize the distance between the rotor and stator poles and thereby to maximize flux linkage between the poles. By operating the motor in a range that avoids saturation of the poles, a variable torque motor is provided since increased current through the motor windings allows the magnetic field intensity and thus the flux linkage to increase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2000
    Assignee: Halo Data Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Gilbert D. Springer, Mark F. Springer