Patents by Inventor William A. Reed

William A. Reed 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: 7874176
    Abstract: A drawer refrigerator has a partitioned cabinet with one or more pull-out drawers. The pull-out drawer(s) can have an adjustable divider fence for dividing the storage space of the drawer. The divider fence can have two dividers each defined by two spaced apart elongated rods that are coupled together at a hub and have end pieces with flat surfaces that abut inside surfaces of the drawer walls. A hand operated screw knob mounted to the hub can be used to lock the position of the divider fence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2011
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: Philip J. Uihlein, Jennifer U. Straszewski, William A. Reed, Thomas W. Rand, Joseph E. Braun, Jack L. Vaughn, Andrew J. Doberstein, Ami M. Verhalen, Daniel R. Bullis, Jr.
  • Publication number: 20090133434
    Abstract: A drawer refrigerator has a partitioned cabinet with one or more pull-out drawers. The pull-out drawer(s) can have an adjustable divider fence for dividing the storage space of the drawer. The divider fence can have two dividers each defined by two spaced apart elongated rods that are coupled together at a hub and have end pieces with flat surfaces that abut inside surfaces of the drawer walls. A hand operated screw knob mounted to the hub can be used to lock the position of the divider fence.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2009
    Publication date: May 28, 2009
    Inventors: Philip J. Uihlein, Jennifer U. Straszewski, William A. Reed, Thomas W. Rand, Joseph E. Braun, Jack L. Vaughn, Andrew J. Doberstein, Ami M. Verhalen, Daniel R. Bullis, JR.
  • Patent number: 7429091
    Abstract: A refrigeration unit with improved storage and accessibility features has a thermally insulated cabinet and door defining a storage space with a plurality of support elements. The support elements include easily removable door shelves and horizontal cabinet shelves that can be removed or repositioned without the door being fully opened due to dished regions adjacent the shelf supports that allow the shelves to be pivoted and removed rather than slid straight out of the cabinet. Indicia on one of the shelves follows the contour of one of the door shelves to indicate approximately the shelf space occupied by an adjacent door shelf and thus where items can be set without interfering with the closure of the door. The refrigeration unit also includes a cam assembly at the lower door hinge which biases the door closed when open approximately 35 degrees or less. The refrigeration unit also includes features for attaching an overlay panel to the door easily.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2008
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: William A. Reed, Thomas W. Rand, Joseph E. Braun, Andrew J. Doberstein, Lawrence D. Moye, Jack L. Vaughn, Jeffrey A. Ziminski
  • Patent number: 7296433
    Abstract: A drawer refrigerator, including an evaporator, compressor and condenser, has a partitioned cabinet with two vertically stacked pull-out drawers having drawer bins. A single evaporator is located adjacent both drawer cavities and is partitioned to keep the temperature in both drawer bins approximately equal. The pull-out drawers can have a bottle bin with recesses holding the necks of wine, soda or like bottles. The bottle bin slides on the top edges of the drawer bin at its sides and can be moved front to back. The pull-out drawers can have an underside compartment opening at both sides of the drawer containing a removable storage bin. The pull-out drawers can also have an adjustable divider fence with pairs of lateral and transverse divider rods extending between the side walls and between the door panels and the rear walls of the drawer bins. The rods are coupled by a hub having a hand operated screw knob for locking the position of the fence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2007
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: Philip J. Uihlein, Jennifer U. Strazewski, William A. Reed, Thomas W. Rand, Joseph E. Braun, Jack L. Vaughn, Andrew J. Doberstein, Ami M. Verhalen, Daniel R. Bullis, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7082783
    Abstract: A drawer refrigerator, including an evaporator, compressor and condenser, has a partitioned cabinet with two vertically stacked pull-out drawers having drawer bins. A single evaporator is located adjacent both drawer cavities and is partitioned to keep the temperature in both drawer bins approximately equal. The pull-out drawers can have a bottle bin with recesses holding the necks of wine, soda or like bottles. The bottle bin slides on the top edges of the drawer bin at its sides and can be moved front to back. The pull-out drawers can have an underside compartment opening at both sides of the drawer containing a removable storage bin. The pull-out drawers can also have an adjustable divider fence with pairs of lateral and transverse divider rods extending between the side walls and between the door panels and the rear walls of the drawer bins. The rods are coupled by a hub having a hand operated screw knob for locking the position of the fence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2006
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: Philip J. Uihlein, Jennifer U. Strazewski, William A. Reed, Thomas W. Rand, Joseph E. Braun, Jack L. Vaughn, Andrew J. Doberstein, Ami M. Verhalen, Daniel R. Bullis, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7013678
    Abstract: A GRIN fiber lens is fabricated by the steps of providing a graded index glass preform, thinning the graded index preform to remove a sufficient thickness of the graded glass to establish a desired ?n, and drawing a graded index optical fiber from the thinned graded index preform. Thinning, in this context, refers to removal of graded index glass from the outside of the graded index preform so as to reduce its outer diameter. The thinning thus changes ?n which is the refractive index difference between the center of the preform and its outer surface. The graded index preform can be provided by MCVD deposition followed by removal of the starting tube glass, by OVD deposition, by VAD, or by ion exchange fabrication. The thinned graded index preform is advantageously annealed before drawing in order to minimize ripple. And, in a variation of the process, an overcladding can be applied over the thinned graded preform before draw for further adjustment or control of the ?n.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2006
    Assignee: Fitel USA Corp
    Inventors: David J. DiGiovanni, William A. Reed, Andrew D. Yablon, Man F. Yan
  • Patent number: 6935712
    Abstract: A refrigeration unit with improved storage and accessibility features has a thermally insulated cabinet and door defining a storage space with a plurality of support elements. The support elements include easily removable door shelves and horizontal cabinet shelves that can be removed or repositioned without the door being fully opened due to dished regions adjacent the shelf supports that allow the shelves to be pivoted and removed rather than slid straight out of the cabinet. Indicia on one of the shelves follows the contour of one of the door shelves to indicate approximately the shelf space occupied by an adjacent door shelf and thus where items can be set without interfering with the closure of the door. The refrigeration unit also includes a cam assembly at the lower door hinge which biases the door closed when open approximately 35 degrees or less. The refrigeration unit also includes features for attaching an overlay panel to the door easily.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2005
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: William A. Reed, Thomas W. Rand, Dean G. Byczynski, Joseph E. Braun, Andrew J. Doberstein, Lawrence D. Moye, Jack L. Vaughn, Jeffrey A. Ziminski
  • Patent number: 6930768
    Abstract: A system and technique for determining discontinuities over a span of a multimode optical fiber (MMF). An optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) has an operating port, and a first end face of a singlemode optical fiber (SMF) is coupled to the operating port. Light pulses produced by the OTDR emerge from a second end face of the SMF, and an alignment stage aligns the second end face with an end face of a multimode optical fiber (MMF) having a core of given radius. The light pulses from the second end face of the SMF are applied at selected radial positions on the MMF core to excite corresponding mode groups in the MMF. Backscatter light produced by each excited mode group is coupled to the OTDR through the SMF. Locations and values of events detected along the MMF are indicated on the OTDR for each selected radial position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2005
    Assignee: Furukawa Electric North America
    Inventors: Andrew L. Ingles, Jr., Alice Liu, William A. Reed, Peng Wang, Ming Yang
  • Publication number: 20040227930
    Abstract: A system and technique for determining discontinuities or events over a span of a multimode optical fiber (MMF). An optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) has an operating port, and a first end face of a singlemode optical fiber (SMF) is coupled to the operating port. Light pulses produced by a source in the OTDR emerge from a second end face of the SMF, and an alignment stage aligns and matches the second end face with an end face of a multimode optical fiber (MMF) having a fiber core of given radius. The light pulses from the second end face of the SMF are applied at selected radial positions on the MMF core to excite corresponding mode groups in the MMF. Backscatter light produced by each excited mode group is coupled to the OTDR through the SMF, and locations and values of events detected along the MMF are indicated on the OTDR for each of the selected radial positions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2003
    Publication date: November 18, 2004
    Applicant: Fitel USA Corp.
    Inventors: Andrew L. Ingles, Alice Liu, William A. Reed, Peng Wang, Ming Yang
  • Patent number: 6768847
    Abstract: A dispersion compensating fiber and module are described for controlling residual dispersion in a dispersion compensated system. The dispersion compensating fiber is designed with dispersion curve having an inflection point at a wavelength near the optical transmission operating wavelength region. The dispersion curve, having an inflection point near the operating wavelength region, produces a relative dispersion slope that closely matches the relative dispersion slope of the transmission fiber over a relatively wide bandwidth surrounding the operating wavelength region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2004
    Assignee: Fitel USA Corp.
    Inventors: David John DiGiovanni, William A. Reed, Man F. Yan, Lars Gruner-Nielsen, Susanne Dyrbol
  • Patent number: 6724956
    Abstract: A dispersion compensation module (DCM) for compensating dispersion of an optical fiber transmission link is provided. The optical fiber transmission link comprises a transmission fiber and the DCM. The DCM comprises at least first and second dispersion compensating fibers, DCF1 and DCF2, respectively. DCF1 and DCF2 each have a dispersion, D1 and D2, respectively, a dispersion slope, S1 and S2, respectively, and a relative dispersion slope, RDS1 and RDS2, respectively. The transmission fiber also has a dispersion, DTransFiber, a dispersion slope, STransFiber, and a relative dispersion slope, RDSTransFiber. DCF1 and DCF2 are selected based on their respective relative dispersion slopes, RDS1 and RDS2, respectively. DCF1 and DCF2 have particular, lengths, L1 and L2, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2004
    Assignee: Fitel USA Corporation
    Inventors: Bent Edvold, Lene V. Jorgensen, Lars Gruner-Nielsen, William A. Reed
  • Patent number: D500659
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2005
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: William A. Reed, Thomas W. Rand, Joseph E. Braun, Jeffrey A. Ziminski, Michael J. Nickel, David H. Roland, Brett J. Vladika
  • Patent number: D505140
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2005
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: William A. Reed, Joseph E. Braun, Michael J. Nickel, David H. Roland, Brett J. Vladika
  • Patent number: D506870
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2005
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: Philip J. Uihlein, Jennifer U. Strazewski, William A. Reed, Thomas W. Rand, Joseph E. Braun, Ami M. Verhalen, Richard A. Nelipovich
  • Patent number: D551264
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2007
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: William A. Reed, Jack L. Vaughn, Joseph E. Braun, Thomas W. Rand
  • Patent number: D573614
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2008
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: William A. Reed, Jack L. Vaughn, Joseph E. Braun, Thomas W. Rand
  • Patent number: D492149
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2004
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: Philip J. Uihlein, Jennifer U. Strazewski, William A. Reed, Thomas W. Rand, Joseph E. Braun, Ami M. Verhalen, Cory R. Boudreau, Daniel R. Bullis, Jr., Richard A. Nelipovich
  • Patent number: D492328
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2004
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: Philip J. Uihlein, Jennifer U. Strazewski, William A. Reed, Thomas W. Rand, Joseph E. Braun, Cory R. Boudreau, Richard A. Nelipovich, Ami M. Verhalen, Daniel R. Bullis, Jr.
  • Patent number: D495346
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2004
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: William A. Reed, Joseph E. Braun, Lawrence D. Moye, Michael J. Nickel, David H. Roland, Brett J. Vladika
  • Patent number: D604141
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2009
    Assignee: U-Line Corporation
    Inventors: William A. Reed, Jennifer U. Straszewski, Thomas W. Rand, Joseph H. Zyduck