Patents by Inventor Michael A. Barnes

Michael A. Barnes 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: 7026048
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for making a decorative mass of fiber fluff wherein a source of supply of staple fibers made of natural or synthetic textile fiber and arranged in continuous form, such as in a strand of yarn, are provided as a pattern array of discrete streams of different selected colors with the colors being uniform in each stream and comprising at least one base color and one contrasting color. The array stream of fibers is fed as an array of multiple strands of yarn into a carding operation wherein the fibers are brushed or carded from their input form into card or brush clothing to thereby only partially intermix fibers of at least two different colors in the bristles or wires of the card or brush clothing. The accumulated fibers are then removed from the clothing to form a pillow batt or roving having a streaked appearance representative of the original colors of the individual yarn strands, and with a partial intermixing and blending of the streaks of one color with those of another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2006
    Inventor: Michael A. Barnes
  • Patent number: 6632755
    Abstract: Method and apparatus for making a variegated multicolor fabric by knitting or weaving from a yarn spun from decorative mass of fiber fluff made from staple fibers arranged in continuous form of discrete streams of different uniform colors. The streams are brushed or carded so as to only partially intermix fibers of at least two different colors. The accumulated fibers removed from the card clothing form a pillow batt or roving having a streaked appearance with only a partial intermixing and blending of the streaks of one color with those of another. These are slightly further worked into a final fluff product having randomly dispersed bands, streaks and/or islands of one color softly merging into another color to produce a decorative randomized and interrupted candy-cane like appearance in the cotton-candy like mass of final fiber fluff for spinning into yam for making the fabric.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2003
    Inventor: Michael A. Barnes
  • Patent number: 6112384
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for making a decorative mass of fiber fluff wherein a source of supply of staple fibers made of natural or synthetic textile fiber and arranged in continuous form, such as in a strand of yarn, are provided as a pattern array of discrete streams of different selected colors with the colors being uniform in each stream and comprising at least one base color and one contrasting color. The array stream of fibers is fed as an array of multiple strands of yarn into a carding operation wherein the fibers are brushed or carded from their input form into card or brush clothing to thereby only partially intermix fibers of at least two different colors in the bristles or wires of the card or brush clothing. The accumulated fibers are then removed film the clothing to form a pillow batt or roving having a streaked appearance representative of the original colors of the individual yarn strands, and with a partial intermixing and blending of the streaks of one color with those of another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2000
    Inventor: Michael A. Barnes
  • Patent number: 5829317
    Abstract: A unitary brake pedal spacer for use in a brake pedal assembly. The brake pedal assembly includes a brake pedal having a tubular section which is attached between two opposing side walls of a brake pedal bracket. The brake pedal spacer is inserted within the interior of the tubular section, and the tubular section is then inserted between a pair of opposing apertures formed in the sidewalls of the brake pedal bracket. A shoulder bolt is inserted through the brake pedal spacer and a nut is threaded onto an end of the shoulder bolt to secure the assembly. The brake pedal spacer is a unitary apparatus which provides both spacer and bushing functionality for the assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1998
    Assignee: TransNav, Inc.
    Inventors: Percy P. Vreeken, Timothy J. Nixon, Michael A. Barnes