Patents by Inventor Michael P. Torche

Michael P. Torche 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: 7533734
    Abstract: A fire suppression device characterized by a plunger that is extendible from a housing for delivery of a fire suppressant foam. The plunger may be equipped at its outer end with a puncture tip that can penetrate through the wall of a container or cargo cover for delivery of the fire suppressant foam directly to the cargo, preferably after full or almost full extension of the plunger. The plunger may be driven outwardly under high force by a pressurized gas that may also be used as a propellant for mixing with a liquid foaming agent, preferably within a foaming chamber carried by the piston. Provision may also be made for connection to a source of pressurized fluid to effect retraction of the plunger.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2009
    Assignee: Parker-Hannifin Corporation
    Inventors: Robert J. Fore, William John Dowicki, Ted Dinh, Michael P. Torche, Gerald G. Steele
  • Patent number: 4398695
    Abstract: A sealing structure for use in valves, including butterfly valves, having a body with a flow passage and a movable valve disc in the flow passage. Two sealing surfaces are mounted in the body to engage the disc when it is in a closed position to provide a bubble-tight seal. The sealing structure includes an annular seal retaining cavity with a slot opening to the flow passage. A metal seal ring having a lip portion (which has a first seat) projecting through the slot into the passage is contained within the cavity adjacent to a primary heat-destructible seal ring, which has a second seat. The first seat and the second seat are engageable with the sealing surface of the disc to provide two axial seals. When the valve is closed, a radially-directed force is developed at the second seat (on the heat-destructible seal) and at the first seat (on the lip portion of the metal seal) in response to contact with the disc to effect a heat-destructible seal and a second, metal-to-metal seal, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 1981
    Date of Patent: August 16, 1983
    Assignee: MCC Flowseal
    Inventor: Michael P. Torche