Patents by Inventor Stephen A. Hilton

Stephen A. Hilton 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: 6219916
    Abstract: A process for joining a base for an airfoil to a disk for an integrally bladed rotor stage in a gas turbine engine includes providing a disk having a radially outer rim with a slot defined therein by a recessed surface, and further includes providing a base having a longitudinally extending root portion facing opposite a longitudinally extending support portion for supporting the airfoil. The root portion has a root surface and the support portion has an outer surface. The process further includes bringing the root surface of the root portion into contact with the recessed surface bounding the slot, applying pressure and relative movement between the base and the rim to achieve during welding, substantial contiguity between the root surface and the recessed surface over the area of the recessed surface, resulting in a substantially continuous linear friction weld between the base and the rim.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2001
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Herbert L. Walker, Stephen A. Hilton, JoAnn Barbieri, John P. Fournier, Richard D. Trask
  • Patent number: 6106233
    Abstract: A process for joining a base for an airfoil to a disk for an integrally bladed rotor stage in a gas turbine engine includes providing a disk having a radially outer rim with a slot defined therein by a recessed surface, and further includes providing a base having a longitudinally extending root portion facing opposite a longitudinally extending support portion for supporting the airfoil. The root portion has a root surface and the support portion has an outer surface. The process further includes bringing the root surface of the root portion into contact with the recessed surface bounding the slot, applying pressure and relative movement between the base and the rim to achieve during welding, substantial contiguity between the root surface and the recessed surface over the area of the recessed surface, resulting in a substantially continuous linear friction weld between the base and the rim.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2000
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Herbert L. Walker, Stephen A. Hilton, JoAnn Barbieri, John P. Fournier, Richard D. Trask
  • Patent number: 5865364
    Abstract: A linear friction welding process provides two members to be joined together into a final product, where each of the members has a major outer surface, where one of the two members is a stub which is surrounded, at least in part, on its outer major surface by a collar. The stub is generally restrained without substantial restraining contact on its outer major surface by tooling, thereby eliminating the risk that tooling will cause physical or chemical damage to the final shape. Thereafter, pressure and relative movement are applied between said members to linear friction weld the members together. A collar comprises a major inner surface surrounding a portion of a major outer (lateral) surface of a member to be linear friction welded, and further comprises a radially outer surface which extends a surface to be interfaced of the member. The collar has an outer lateral surface which may be curved in order to prevent stress and cracking of the collar during linear friction welding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 1996
    Date of Patent: February 2, 1999
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Richard D. Trask, Susan H. Goetschius, Stephen A. Hilton