Patents by Inventor Michael S. Yautz

Michael S. Yautz 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: 9885511
    Abstract: A low profile ice maker/dispenser and water dispenser having a high ice making capacity, for ice nugget manufacture is provided, wherein ice nuggets are metered out of a storage bin via a nugget dispenser outlet, and whereby water is dispensed via a water dispenser outlet. A refrigeration cycle is used, wherein an auger compresses ice on a wall of an evaporator and delivers the ice to the ice bin, breaking it into nuggets along the way. An outer wall of the evaporator is comprised of part of the water reservoir. A baffle in the ice bin facilitates metering of the amount of ice discharged. The system comprises a closed system that enables efficient cleaning of the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: Follett Corporation
    Inventors: Roger P. Brunner, Steven R. Follett, Matthew S. Greene, Robert Hettinger, Michael A. Rice, Michael S. Yautz
  • Publication number: 20140182323
    Abstract: A low profile ice maker/dispenser and water dispenser having a high ice making capacity, for ice nugget manufacture is provided, wherein ice nuggets are metered out of a storage bin via a nugget dispenser outlet, and whereby water is dispensed via a water dispenser outlet. A refrigeration cycle is used, wherein an auger compresses ice on a wall of an evaporator and delivers the ice to the ice bin, breaking it into nuggets along the way. An outer wall of the evaporator is comprised of part of the water reservoir. A baffle in the ice bin facilitates metering of the amount of ice discharged. The system comprises a closed system that enables efficient cleaning of the system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2014
    Publication date: July 3, 2014
    Applicant: Follett Corporation
    Inventors: Roger P. Brunner, Steven R. Follett, Matthew S. Greene, Robert Hettinger, Michael A. Rice, Michael S. Yautz
  • Patent number: 8756950
    Abstract: A low profile ice maker/dispenser and water dispenser having a high ice making capacity, for ice nugget manufacture is provided, wherein ice nuggets are metered out of a storage bin via a nugget dispenser outlet, and whereby water is dispensed via a water dispenser outlet. A refrigeration cycle is used, wherein an auger compresses ice on a wall of an evaporator and delivers the ice to the ice bin, breaking it into nuggets along the way. An outer wall of the evaporator is comprised of part of the water reservoir. A baffle in the ice bin facilitates metering of the amount of ice discharged. The system comprises a closed system that enables efficient cleaning of the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: Follett Corporation
    Inventors: Roger P. Brunner, Steven R. Follett, Matthew S. Greene, Robert Hettinger, Michael A. Rice, Michael S. Yautz
  • Publication number: 20110041542
    Abstract: A low profile ice maker/dispenser and water dispenser having a high ice making capacity, for ice nugget manufacture is provided, wherein ice nuggets are metered out of a storage bin via a nugget dispenser outlet, and whereby water is dispensed via a water dispenser outlet. A refrigeration cycle is used, wherein an auger compresses ice on a wall of an evaporator and delivers the ice to the ice bin, breaking it into nuggets along the way. An outer wall of the evaporator is comprised of part of the water reservoir. A baffle in the ice bin facilitates metering of the amount of ice discharged. The system comprises a closed system that enables efficient cleaning of the system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2009
    Publication date: February 24, 2011
    Applicant: FOLLETT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Roger P. Brunner, Steven R. Follett, Matthew S. Greene, Robert Hettinger, Michael A. Rice, Michael S. Yautz
  • Patent number: 7469548
    Abstract: An ice making apparatus is provided in which a refrigeration cycle is used to produce ice inside an evaporator that is generally horizontally disposed, with a hollow auger being provided with a helical flight thereon, for scraping ice from the inner wall of the evaporator and pushing the ice toward one end of the auger, by which it is compressed and moved by a paddle toward a flange, in which it is delivered to an ice breakup device, by which the ice is diverted into a compression zone, with water being squeezed from the ice and the ice delivered to a transport tube and then to an ice retainer. Filling the retainer or jamming of ice nuggets inside the transport will effect a shut-down of the apparatus. Various water level controls for a water reservoir are provided, whereby the auger is flooded inside and outside, for enhancing ice formation. Nugget-type ice is provided by the ice making apparatus. The apparatus allows for changing the nugget size/shape without negative ice hardness consequences.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2008
    Assignee: Follett Corporation
    Inventors: Roger P. Brunner, Michael S. Yautz, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7322201
    Abstract: An ice making apparatus is provided in which a refrigeration cycle is used to produce ice inside an evaporator that is generally horizontally disposed, with a hollow auger being provided with a helical flight thereon, for scraping ice from the inner wall of the evaporator and pushing the ice toward one end of the auger, by which it is compressed and moved by a paddle toward a flange, in which it is delivered to an ice breakup device, by which the ice is diverted into a compression zone, with water being squeezed from the ice and the ice delivered to a transport tube and then to an ice retainer. Filling the retainer or jamming of ice nuggets inside the transport will effect a shut-down of the apparatus. Various water level controls for a water reservoir are provided, whereby the auger is flooded inside and outside, for enhancing ice formation. Nugget-type ice is provided by the ice making apparatus. The apparatus allows for changing the nugget size/shape without negative ice hardness consequences.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2008
    Assignee: Follett Corporation
    Inventors: Roger P. Brunner, Michael S. Yautz, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7096686
    Abstract: An ice making apparatus is provided in which a refrigeration cycle is used to produce ice inside an evaporator that is generally horizontally disposed, with a hollow auger being provided with a helical flight thereon, for scraping ice from the inner wall of the evaporator and pushing the ice toward one end of the auger, by which it is compressed and moved by a paddle toward a flange, in which it is delivered to an ice breakup device, by which the ice is diverted into a compression zone, with water being squeezed from the ice and the ice delivered to a transport tube and then to an ice retainer. Filling the retainer or jamming of ice nuggets inside the transport will effect a shut-down of the apparatus. Various water level controls for a water reservoir are provided, whereby the auger is flooded inside and outside, for enhancing ice formation. Nugget-type ice is provided by the ice making apparatus. The apparatus allows for changing the nugget size/shape without negative ice hardness consequences.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2006
    Assignee: Follett Corporation
    Inventors: Roger P. Brunner, Michael S. Yautz, Jr.
  • Patent number: 4211320
    Abstract: Apparatus for combining newspapers from a pair of newspaper stuffing assemblies into a single stream of overlapped newspapers. A rotatable tine wheel has on its periphery a number of movable newspaper receiving tines interspersed with a like number of fixed newpaper receiving tines. Newspapers are fed to the fixed tines from a pocket of a newspaper stuffing assembly and to the movable tines from a feed apparatus supplied by a conveyor from a second stuffing assembly. The fixed and movable tines alternately deposit the newspapers upon a single delivery conveyor overlapping a previously deposited newspaper to form a single, lapped stream. The movable tines are movable between a newspaper receiving position and a position out of the newspaper receiving path of an adjacent fixed tine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 1978
    Date of Patent: July 8, 1980
    Assignee: Harris Corporation
    Inventors: Michael S. Yautz, Jr., Richard N. Winslow
  • Patent number: D728985
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Follett Corporation
    Inventors: Roger P. Brunner, Steven R. Follett, Matthew S. Greene, Michael A. Rice, Michael S. Yautz, Robert Hettinger
  • Patent number: D731842
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignee: Follett Corporation
    Inventors: Roger P. Brunner, Steven R. Follett, Matthew S. Greene, Michael A. Rice, Michael S. Yautz, Robert Hettinger