Patents by Inventor William D. Heath

William D. Heath 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: 5975275
    Abstract: A drop safe for receiving and temporarily storing currency or other valuables from a cash register or point-of-sale terminal. The drop safe uses bill acceptors to transfer cash into sealed cassettes within the safe. An envelope drop assembly allows transferring into the safe currency or non-cash items not accepted by the acceptor. The drop safe door has a door control assembly including a gas spring to counterbalance the weight of the door for controlled movement during opening. The door is locked by a pair of door bolts linked to a lock cam, which is secured by a dead bolt against movement. An electronic control unlocks the dead bolt in response to entry of correct numbers, allowing a rotary dial of the outside of the safe to move the lock cam and release the door bolts. The drop safe includes a processor programmed to control the unlocking operation and to maintain and produce various reports of deposits into the safe, enabling easy correlation of those deposits with business-day operation of the drop safe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 2, 1999
    Assignee: Brink's Incorporated
    Inventors: Jasper Newton Keith, III, William L. Gunn, William D. Heath, Jr., John F. G. Angove
  • Patent number: 5944163
    Abstract: A drop safe for receiving and temporarily storing currency or other valuables from a cash register or point-of-sale terminal. The drop safe uses bill acceptors to transfer cash into sealed cassettes within the safe. An envelope drop assembly allows transferring into the safe currency or non-cash items not accepted by the acceptor. The drop safe door has a door control assembly including a gas spring to counterbalance the weight of the door for controlled movement during opening. The door is locked by a pair of door bolts linked to a lock cam, which is secured by a dead bolt against movement. An electronic control unlocks the dead bolt in response to entry of correct numbers, allowing a rotary dial of the outside of the safe to move the lock cam and release the door bolts. The drop safe includes a processor programmed to control the unlocking operation and to maintain and produce various reports of deposits into the safe, enabling easy correlation of those deposits with business-day operation of the drop safe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 31, 1999
    Assignee: Brink's Incorporated
    Inventors: Jasper Newton Keith, III, William L. Gunn, William D. Heath, Jr., John F. G. Angove
  • Patent number: 5695038
    Abstract: A drop safe for receiving and temporarily storing currency or other valuables from a cash register or point-of-sale terminal. The drop safe uses bill acceptors to transfer cash into sealed cassettes within the safe. An envelope drop assembly allows transferring into the safe currency or non-cash items not accepted by the acceptor. The drop safe door has a door control assembly including a gas spring to counterbalance the weight of the door for controlled movement during opening. The door is locked by a pair of door bolts linked to a lock cam, which is secured by a dead bolt against movement. An electronic control unlocks the dead bolt in response to entry of correct numbers, allowing a rotary dial of the outside of the safe to move the lock cam and release the door bolts. The drop safe includes a processor programmed to control the unlocking operation and to maintain and produce various reports of deposits into the safe, enabling easy correlation of those deposits with business-day operation of the drop safe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 9, 1997
    Assignee: Brink's, Incorporated
    Inventors: Jasper Newton Keith, III, William L. Gunn, William D. Heath, Jr., John F. G. Angove
  • Patent number: 5451757
    Abstract: A system for authorizing access to a secured device, such as an automated teller machine (ATM) or a pay telephone, without a key or combination for the secured device, and without a fixed communication link extending to the device. An encoded access message is produced which identifies a present access code previously stored at the secured device, the personal identification number (PIN) of a technician, and the identification number of a particular portable terminal. The technician manually enters the encoded access message and a PIN into the terminal, which verifies the identification number of the terminal and the manually-entered PIN against information encoded in the access message. If that information is authenticated, the portable terminal is connected to the secured device. The encoded access message is transferred from the terminal to the secured device, which compares an access code previously stored at that device with information contained in the access message. The proper PIN also is re-entered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 1990
    Date of Patent: September 19, 1995
    Assignee: Brink's Incorporated
    Inventor: William D. Heath, Jr.
  • Patent number: 5321242
    Abstract: A system for authorizing access to a secured device, such as an automated teller machine (ATM) or a pay telephone, without a key or combination for the secured device, and without a fixed communication link extending to the device. An encoded access message is produced which identifies a present access code previously stored at the secured device, the personal identification number (PIN) of a technician, and the identification number of a particular portable terminal. The technician manually enters the encoded access message and a PIN into the terminal, which verifies the identification number of the terminal and the manually-entered PIN against information encoded in the access message. If that information is authenticated, the portable terminal is connected to the secured device. The encoded access message is transferred from the terminal to the secured device, which compares an access code previously stored at that device with information contained in the access message. The proper PIN also is re-entered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 1991
    Date of Patent: June 14, 1994
    Assignee: Brinks, Incorporated
    Inventor: William D. Heath, Jr.
  • Patent number: 5105964
    Abstract: A beverage can cap for protecting the drinking area of a beverage can from becoming unsanitary including a resilient cap which fits to the tapered upper portion of the beverage can with an internal annular groove to fit within the inside vertical lip on the top of the beverage can and having a protrusion in its internal surface to fit beneath the external bead of the beverage can to retain the cap in place on the beverage can.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 1990
    Date of Patent: April 21, 1992
    Inventor: William D. Heath
  • Patent number: 5040657
    Abstract: This is a coin sorting and counting apparatus for providing very accurate high throughput processing of heterogeneous coin mixtures. A rotating drum having parallel annular channels, each of which has equally spaced counterbores located around it is rotated within a vacuum plenum. A novel sensor coil constructed as a balanced transformer of four coils having rectangular geometries is used, in conjunction with a dual frequency excitation signal, to detect at least three electronic signatures for each coin, the signatures are detected by separating the frequency components in the output of the sensor coil and obtaining a peak value for the excursion of the high frequency response caused by passage of the coin, and width values corresponding to the time the excursion of the signal was above a predetermined threshold for both the high and low frequency responsive channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 1990
    Date of Patent: August 20, 1991
    Assignee: Brink's Incorporated
    Inventors: William L. Gunn, William D. Heath, Jr., John C. Mantovani
  • Patent number: 5017758
    Abstract: A selected quantity of lubricating oil in the reservoir of an oil system exposed to low ambient temperatures is maintained at a temperature above 170 degrees F. but below the oil breakdown temperature of 300 degrees F. by a non-thermostatically controlled flexible planar electric heating element adhesively secured to the exterior surface of the reservoir. The heating element has a uniform power density of at least about 15 watts per square inch and a constant power output of about 20 to 40 watts per quart of oil in the reservoir. The thermal balance formed between the continuous heat generation by the heating element and the continual heat dissipation from the oil system maintains the oil temperature between the desired limits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 1989
    Date of Patent: May 21, 1991
    Assignee: Toddco Research and Development Company, Inc.
    Inventors: Todd A. Kirkman, William D. Heath
  • Patent number: 4963118
    Abstract: This is a coin sorting and counting apparatus for providing very accurate high throughput processing of heterogeneous coin mixtures. A rotating drum having parallel annular channels, each of which has equally spaced counterbores located around it is rotated within a vacuum plenum. A novel sensor coil constructed as a balanced transformer of four coils having rectangular geometries is used, in conjunction with a dual frequency excitation signal, to detect at least three electronic signatures for each coin, the signatures are detected by separating the frequency components in the output of the sensor coil and obtaining a peak value for the excursion of the high frequency response caused by passage of the coin, and width values corresponding to the time the excursion of the signal was above a predetermined threshold for both the high and low frequency responsive channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 1988
    Date of Patent: October 16, 1990
    Assignee: Brink's Incorporated
    Inventors: William L. Gunn, William D. Heath, Jr., John C. Mantovani
  • Patent number: 4898564
    Abstract: This is a coin sorting and counting apparatus for providing very accurate high throughput processing of heterogeneous coin mixtures. A rotating drum having parallel annular channels, each of which has equally spaced counterbores located around it is rotated within a vacuum plenum. A novel sensor coil contructed as a balanced transformer of four coils having rectangular geometries is used, in conjuction with a dual frequency excitation signal, to detect at least three electronic signatures for each coin, the signatures are detected by separating the frequency components in the output of the sensor coil and obtaining a peak value for the excursion of the high frequency response caused by passage of the coin, and width values corresponding to the time the excursion of the signal was above a predetermined threshold for both the high and low frequency responsive channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 1989
    Date of Patent: February 6, 1990
    Assignee: Brink's Incorporated
    Inventors: William L. Gunn, William D. Heath, Jr., John C. Mantovani
  • Patent number: 4738274
    Abstract: A cap for covering an open structure such as the box of a pick-up truck, said cap, including a fabric cover and a readily assembled and disassembled tubular frame with telescopic members including struts with clips on each end, the cover being stretched over the frame and including a flap at one end to permit ingress and egress into the cap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 1986
    Date of Patent: April 19, 1988
    Inventor: William D. Heath