Patents by Inventor Thomas A. Carroll

Thomas A. Carroll 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: 4776102
    Abstract: A tool (10) is used for detecting whether material (14) on a reference surface (12) has exceeded a predetermined height. The tool (10) includes a housing (32) having a bottom surface with at least one opening (34) therein for receiving the material (14) whose height is to be tested. A probe means (44) is slideably mounted within the housing (32) and has one end located in the opening (34) for contacting the material (14). A circuit (18, 22) includes a pair of contacts (30) spaced a given distance from a predetermined portion of the probe (44). An indicator (66) is coupled to the circuit for signaling that the height of the material (14) exceeds the predetermined height when the probe (44) slide a sufficient distance so that the portion thereof closes the contacts (30).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 1987
    Date of Patent: October 11, 1988
    Assignee: Hughes Aircraft Company
    Inventor: Thomas A. Carroll
  • Patent number: 4586292
    Abstract: An apparatus for imparting complex rotary motion is used to lap an inner spherical diameter surface of a workpiece. A lapping tool consists of a dome and rod mounted along the dome's vertical axis. The workpiece containing the lapping tool is held in a gimbal which uses power derived from a secondary takeoff means to impart rotary motion about a horizontal axis. The gimbal is rotated about a vertical axis by a take means while mounted at a radially outward position on a rotating arm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 1985
    Date of Patent: May 6, 1986
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
    Inventors: Thomas A. Carroll, Harold H. Yetter
  • Patent number: 4108552
    Abstract: A fluid matrix is sampled and evaluated for the presence of a metal carbonyl by separating predetermined elemental components from one another, forming an admixture between such elements and a carrier gas, oxidizing the admixture in the presence of an oxygen rich flame, selecting a predetermined range of wavelengths from the emission spectrum generated by the oxidized admixture and detecting the selected range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 1976
    Date of Patent: August 22, 1978
    Assignee: Union Carbide Corporation
    Inventors: Terry Marshall Austin, Eugene Thomas Carroll, Mildred Choi Bowen