Patents by Inventor William James Crowe

William James Crowe 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: 6688313
    Abstract: An electrical smoking system comprising a cigarette and an electric lighter, wherein the cigarette comprises a tubular tobacco mat partially filled with material tobacco so as to define a filled tobacco rod portion and an unfilled tobacco rod portion. The cigarette and the lighter are mutually arranged so that when the cigarette is received in the lighter, the electrical heater element of the lighter at least partially superposes at least a portion of the filled tobacco rod portion. The cigarette and the lighter are also mutually arranged so that when the cigarette is received in the lighter, the free end of the cigarette is occluded. The cigarette includes a zone of perforations at a location along the filled tobacco rod portion, with the cigarette being free of perforations along the unfilled tobacco rod portion. An apparatus for perforating a cigarette which can be smoked in an electrical smoking device includes a drum link-up assembly and a laser perforating apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2004
    Assignee: Philip Morris Incorporated
    Inventors: Susan E. Wrenn, A. Clifton Lilly, Jr., Traci L. Franklin, Patrick H. Hayes, Mary Ellen Counts, William James Crowe
  • Publication number: 20020005207
    Abstract: An electrical smoking system comprising a cigarette and an electric lighter, wherein the cigarette comprises a tubular tobacco mat partially filled with material tobacco so as to define a filled tobacco rod portion and an unfilled tobacco rod portion. The cigarette and the lighter are mutually arranged so that when the cigarette is received in the lighter, the electrical heater element of the lighter at least partially superposes at least a portion of the filled tobacco rod portion. The cigarette and the lighter are also mutually arranged so that when the cigarette is received in the lighter, the free end of the cigarette is occluded. The cigarette includes a zone of perforations at a location along the filled tobacco rod portion, with the cigarette being free of perforations along the unfilled tobacco rod portion. An apparatus for perforating a cigarette which can be smoked in an electrical smoking device includes a drum link-up assembly and a laser perforating apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2001
    Publication date: January 17, 2002
    Inventors: Susan E. Wrenn, A. Clifton Lilly, Traci L. Franklin, Patrick H. Hayes, Mary Ellen Counts, Wesley G. Sanderson, Brett W. Stevenson, William James Crowe, Charles W. Harris, Donald H. Jones, Barry S. Smith, Jeffrey A. Swepston, Mikhail S. Braunshteyn, James W. Hall
  • Patent number: 6116247
    Abstract: A cleaning unit used to clean condensates formed during use of a component of a smoking system. The component can be a heating fixture having a cigarette receiving section and a plurality of longitudinally extending circumferentially spaced apart heating elements located within a can which accumulates the condensates. During a cleaning operation, the heating fixture is fitted within a cavity in the cleaning unit such that the cigarette receiving end of the heating fixture engages an O-ring and the terminal base portion abuts against an indented stop in an interior sidewall of a removable portion of the housing. The cleaning unit includes a water inlet connected to a source of pressurized water such as a faucet and a spray member extends into the cigarette receiving section to spray jets of water against the interior of the can.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2000
    Assignee: Philip Morris Incorporated
    Inventors: Joseph Leslie Banyasz, Aubry T. Burton, John M. Campbell, Woontung Geoffrey Chan, Mary Ellen Counts, William James Crowe, Jay A Fournier, Patrick H. Hayes, Willie Gray Houck, Jr., Robert E. Lee, III, Donald Bruce Losee, John B. Paine, III, Robert L. Ripley, Charles Edwin Thomas, Jr.
  • Patent number: D447597
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2001
    Assignee: Philip Morris Incorporated
    Inventors: Arun Sinha, Wendy Marin, Brendan Anderson, Jan Jones, Robert Pandorf, James Collins, Charles T. Higgins, William James Crowe, Takahide Takeda
  • Patent number: D452930
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2002
    Assignee: Philip Morris Incorporated
    Inventors: Arun Sinha, Wendy Marin, Brendan Anderson, Jan Jones, Chuck Krausie, Phil Hill, Charles T. Higgins, William James Crowe, Takahide Takeda