Patents by Inventor Thomas P. Kearns

Thomas P. Kearns 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: 6237966
    Abstract: A pipe joint is formed using a gasket made of coextruded materials of different durometer hardnesses. The gasket includes a relatively soft, thermoplastic elasomeric sealing portion joined to a harder, plastic substrate on one side of the substrate, usually on the outer circumference of the substrate. The substrate may include stiffening regions axially spaced apart from one another and on opposite axial sides of the softer material. The inner circumference of the gasket (if the softer sealing portion is on the outer circumference) may have annular ridges spaced axially from one another to engage shoulders in one of the pipes of the joint to limit axial displacement of the gasket. The gasket, because of its relatively hard substrate, will not collapse into a groove in the pipe defined by the shoulders, thereby reducing the amount of gasket material required by a typical recess joint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2001
    Assignee: Bidco Plastic Extrusion, Inc.
    Inventor: Thomas P. Kearns