Patents by Inventor Robert D. Crook

Robert D. Crook 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: 5635907
    Abstract: A location system for tracking miners underground includes a number of identification stations connected to a central control station. Miners are issued with portable identification modules which are fitted to their caplamps and which are powered by their battery packs. The identification modules transmit unique identification signals at intervals, which are picked up by the identification stations. The identification modules change the intervals between successive transmissions continually, and the identification stations can read overlapping transmissions, so that the reliability of detection is good. Miners who are issued with a caplamp first pass an identification card through a reader, which reads a unique personal identification code from the card. This code is correlated with the identification code of the identification module in the caplamp at the central control station.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 3, 1997
    Inventors: Hermanus A. Bernard, Francois D. Joubert, Robert D. Crook
  • Patent number: 5438321
    Abstract: A location system for tracking miners underground includes a number of identification stations connected to a central control station. Miners are issued with portable identification modules which are fitted to their caplamps and which are powered by their battery packs. The identification modules transmit unique identification signals at intervals, which are picked up by the identification stations. The identification modules change the intervals between successive transmissions continually, and the identification stations can read overlapping transmissions, so that the reliability of detection is good. Miners who are issued with a caplamp first pass an identification card through a reader, which reads a unique personal identification code from the card. This code is correlated with the identification code of the identification module in the caplamp at the central control station.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 1993
    Date of Patent: August 1, 1995
    Inventors: Hermanus A. Bernard, Francois D. Joubert, Robert D. Crook