Patents by Inventor William W. French
William W. French 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).
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Patent number: 11527182Abstract: A self-rotating display device includes and outer light transmissive container (402) containing a light transmissive fluid (406) and an body (404) containing an electric motor (421) for rotating the body with respect to the outer container. The body also carries an amount of the fluid (430a) contacting the fluid in the outer container through a pressure equalizing gap (431) in the body which forms a fluid pathway between the inner cavity of the body and the inner chamber of the outer container. The fluid pathway forms self-regulating pressure relief structure which accommodates slight pressure variations in the fluid due to climactic conditions for example. A specialized reduced footprint fluid-immersible electric motor having separate field and compass magnets, which do not rotate relative to each other, helps eliminate magnetic cogging. The device can be manufactured according to a method which eliminates the necessity of a fill hole in the body.Type: GrantFiled: February 28, 2020Date of Patent: December 13, 2022Assignee: TurtleTech Design, Inc.Inventor: William W. French
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Publication number: 20200202755Abstract: A self-rotating display device includes and outer light transmissive container (402) containing a light transmissive fluid (406) and an body (404) containing an electric motor (421) for rotating the body with respect to the outer container. The body also carries an amount of the fluid (430a) contacting the fluid in the outer container through a pressure equalizing gap (431) in the body which forms a fluid pathway between the inner cavity of the body and the inner chamber of the outer container. The fluid pathway forms self-regulating pressure relief structure which accommodates slight pressure variations in the fluid due to climactic conditions for example. A specialized reduced footprint fluid-immersible electric motor having separate field and compass magnets, which do not rotate relative to each other, helps eliminate magnetic cogging. The device can be manufactured according to a method which eliminates the necessity of a fill hole in the body.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 28, 2020Publication date: June 25, 2020Applicant: TurtleTech Design, Inc.Inventor: William W. French
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Patent number: 10580332Abstract: A self-rotating display device includes and outer light transmissive container (402) containing a light transmissive fluid (406) and an body (404) containing an electric motor (421) for rotating the body with respect to the outer container. The body also carries an amount of the fluid (430a) contacting the fluid in the outer container through a pressure equalizing gap (431) in the body which forms a fluid pathway between the inner cavity of the body and the inner chamber of the outer container. The fluid pathway forms self-regulating pressure relief structure which accommodates slight pressure variations in the fluid due to climactic conditions for example. A specialized reduced footprint fluid-immersible electric motor having separate field and compass magnets, which do not rotate relative to each other, helps eliminate magnetic cogging. The device can be manufactured according to a method which eliminates the necessity of a fill hole in the body.Type: GrantFiled: December 24, 2015Date of Patent: March 3, 2020Assignee: TurtleTech Design, Inc.Inventor: William W. French
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Publication number: 20190012942Abstract: A self-rotating display device includes and outer light transmissive container (402) containing a light transmissive fluid (406) and an body (404) containing an electric motor (421) for rotating the body with respect to the outer container. The body also carries an amount of the fluid (430a) contacting the fluid in the outer container through a pressure equalizing gap (431) in the body which forms a fluid pathway between the inner cavity of the body and the inner chamber of the outer container. The fluid pathway forms self-regulating pressure relief structure which accommodates slight pressure variations in the fluid due to climactic conditions for example. A specialized reduced footprint fluid-immersible electric motor having separate field and compass magnets, which do not rotate relative to each other, helps eliminate magnetic cogging. The device can be manufactured according to a method which eliminates the necessity of a fill hole in the body.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 24, 2015Publication date: January 10, 2019Applicant: TurtleTech Design, Inc.Inventor: William W. French
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Patent number: 6952151Abstract: An intriguing and educational display structure (1) appears to be spinning upon itself without any apparent drive mechanism, power supply or bearing. The structure comprises two concentric hollow spheres (3, 5) spaced apart by a transparent fluid (6). The outer sphere is totally transparent, immobile, and may rest on a tripod (2) or other type of support. The inner sphere may be partially transparent or translucent and carries over its surface, a design such as a map of the world (7). The inner sphere rotates within, and independently from, the first outer one. The internal, that is self-contained, drive mechanism uses either a conventional electrical motor (8) with its own field winding and commutator, or one made of a rotor comprising a cross-array of electromagnets (AC, BD) that interact with an ambient magnetic field such as the earth magnetic field.Type: GrantFiled: December 30, 2004Date of Patent: October 4, 2005Inventor: William W. French
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Patent number: 6937125Abstract: An intriguing and educational display structure (1) appears to be spinning upon itself without any apparent drive mechanism, power supply or bearing. The structure comprises two concentric hollow spheres (3, 5) spaced apart by a transparent fluid (6). The outer sphere is totally transparent, immobile and may rest on a tripod (2) or other type of support. The inner sphere may be partially transparent or translucent and carries over its surface, a design such as a map of the world (7). The inner sphere rotates within, and independently from the first outer one. The internal, that is self-contained drive mechanism is referenced to either a compass, a light angle detector, or a gravity sensor, and uses either a conventional electrical motor with its own internal field winding and communitator, or one made of a rotor comprising a cross-array of electromagnets (AC, BD) that interact with the earth magnetic field.Type: GrantFiled: September 26, 2000Date of Patent: August 30, 2005Inventor: William W. French
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Patent number: 6853283Abstract: An intriguing and educational display structure (1) appears to be spinning upon itself without any apparent drive mechanism, power supply or bearing. The structure comprises two concentric hollow spheres (3, 5) spaced apart by a transparent fluid (6). The outer sphere is totally transparent, immobile, and may rest on a tripod (2) or other type of support. The inner sphere may be partially transparent or translucent and carries over its surface, a design such as a map of the world (7). The inner sphere rotates within, and independently from, the first outer one. The internal, that is self-contained, drive mechanism uses either a conventional electrical motor (8) with its own field winding and commutator, or one made of a rotor comprising a cross-array of electromagnets (AC, BD) that interact with an ambient magnetic field such as the earth magnetic field.Type: GrantFiled: October 11, 2000Date of Patent: February 8, 2005Inventor: William W. French
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Patent number: 6393199Abstract: A helical scan tape recorder records VHS video and audio at speeds up to 40× the playback speed of a standard VHS VCR. The recorder employs a high speed scanner operating in a helical scan mode. Input signals feed the scanner through a capacitive coupler. For VHS recording, the scanner has 32 heads mounted on its periphery; 16 video heads and 16 audio heads. An external source of video and associated audio provides 8 channels each of video and audio, and each channel drives 2 heads in parallel. During a half rotation of the scanner, heads fed from the 8 channels contact the tape and are recorded, and during the next half rotation the other group of 8 heads are similarly recording. The audio is delayed so that a segment of video records over its associated audio segment.Type: GrantFiled: March 18, 1998Date of Patent: May 21, 2002Assignee: Recording Physics, Inc.Inventors: James U. Lemke, James C. Crosby, Robert E. Monteleone, William W. French
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Patent number: 6122143Abstract: The invention concerns a disk drive assembly in which one or more rotating rigid disks are enclosed in a "wet" operating environment in which a liquid lubricant is circulated from the surface of the rotating disks, through a wicking material within the disk drive assembly, and back to the head-disk interface. The wet environment supports the provision of open conical bearings in the spindle and actuator portions of the head-disk-actuator (HDA) of the disk drive assembly.Type: GrantFiled: September 20, 1990Date of Patent: September 19, 2000Assignee: Visqus CorporationInventors: James U. Lemke, William W. French
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Patent number: 5488521Abstract: An information storage apparatus is disclosed for reading and/or writing information on a rigid disk, which includes a non-Newtonian liquid bearing interface between a transducer and a storage medium, instead of a conventional air or Newtonian liquid bearing. The non-Newtonian liquid has a composition which exhibits plastic or pseudoplastic flow at high rates of shear. Preferably, the liquid is of the class of compounds whose viscosity shows a negative dependence on share rate. Thus, as the relative speed of the transducer and the storage medium increases, while their relative spacing decreases, the increasing shear rate to which the liquid bearing is subjected causes the viscosity of the liquid to reduce. Resultantly, very low flying heights can be achieved, which increases the potential storage density on the storage medium, while the reduced drag exerted on the transducer by the lowered viscosity greatly reduces the power required to rotate the medium.Type: GrantFiled: March 7, 1994Date of Patent: January 30, 1996Assignee: Conner Peripherals, Inc.Inventors: James U. Lemke, William W. French
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Patent number: 5317463Abstract: An information storage apparatus is disclosed for reading and/or writing information on a rigid storage medium which includes a liquid bearing interface between the transducer and medium instead of a conventional air bearing. The liquid is a fluorocarbon which has stable, self-lubricating, viscous and high-density properties. In an exemplary embodiment of a cockpit voice recorder/flight data recorder, low-density metallic components or composite parts of the rigid magnetic disk drive assembly with essentially the same density as the liquid achieve a near zero buoyancy configuration that obviates the effects of vibration and acceleration.Type: GrantFiled: September 10, 1993Date of Patent: May 31, 1994Assignee: Conner Peripherals, Inc.Inventors: James U. Lemke, William W. French, William B. McHargue
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Patent number: 5193046Abstract: An information storage apparatus is disclosed for reading and/or writing information on a rigid storage medium which includes a liquid bearing interface between the transducer and medium instead of a conventional air bearing. The liquid is a fluorocarbon which has stable, self-lubricating, viscous and high-density properties. In an exemplary embodiment of a cockpit voice recorder/flight data recorder, low-density metallic components or composite parts of the rigid magnetic disk drive assembly with essentially the same density as the liquid achieve a near zero buoyancy configuration that obviates the effects of vibration and acceleration.Type: GrantFiled: September 25, 1990Date of Patent: March 9, 1993Assignee: Conner Peripherals, nc.Inventors: James U. Lemke, William W. French, William B. McHargue
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Patent number: 5097368Abstract: An information storage apparatus is disclosed for reading and/or writing information on a rigid disk, which includes a non-Newtonian liquid bearing interface between a transducer and a storage medium, instead of a conventional air or Newtonian liquid bearing. The non-Newtonian liquid has a composition which exhibits plastic or pseudoplastic flow at high rates of shear. Preferably, the liquid is of the class of compounds whose viscosity shows a negative dependence on shear rate. Thus, as the relative speed of the transducer and the storage medium increases, while their relative spacing decreases, the increasing shear rate to which the liquid bearing is subjected causes the viscosity of the liquid to reduce. Resultantly, very low flying heights can be achieved, which increases the potential storage density on the storage medium, while the reduced drag exerted on the transducer by the lowered viscosity greatly reduces the power required to rotate the medium.Type: GrantFiled: December 20, 1989Date of Patent: March 17, 1992Assignee: Conner Peripherals, Inc.Inventors: James U. Lemke, William W. French
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Patent number: 4894741Abstract: To provide optimized performance in a magneto-resistive head having a soft adjacent magnetic biasing layer separated from a current-carrying magneto-resistive sense film by an extremely thin electrically insulating film, the invention provides that the soft adjacent magnetic biasing layer be comprised of a magnetically soft layer of high electrical resistivity, whereby the effect of pinholes in the electrically insulating film is significantly lessened.Type: GrantFiled: May 6, 1988Date of Patent: January 16, 1990Assignee: Eastman Kodak CompanyInventor: William W. French
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Patent number: 4796111Abstract: The invention in one embodiment thereof employs separate and respective heads for disparate signal frequency bands. One head is kept in intimate contact with the recording medium to maximize the response to the higher frequency signal band; and the other head is vibrated relative to the surface of the recording medium, thereby to augment(d.phi./dt)and to improve the playback response to the lower frequency signal band. Since the two heads cannot reside physically at the same location, a suitable delay device is employed to bring the signals from the two heads into proper timed relationship, the outputs of the two heads being appropriately band-passed to reconstruct a complex signal composed of the two signal bands.Type: GrantFiled: March 13, 1987Date of Patent: January 3, 1989Assignee: Eastman Kodak CompanyInventor: William W. French
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Patent number: 4705613Abstract: It has been found that, if a (negative) bias is applied to a substrate during the sputtering thereto of Alfesil, selective re-sputtering from the substrate film of aluminum and silicon will leave that film rich in iron and, attendantly, of higher saturation magnetization (17,000 gauss) than the starting material Alfesil (10,000 gauss). Such being the case, the invention provides that the sputtering of Alfesil-type material during the manufacture of a magnetic head be performed in two phases, first, while applying a bias of a first sense to a substrate to be sputtered upon, and, second, while applying a bias of different sense (e.g. a zero bias) to the substrate, thereby to cause a composite thin film to be formed on the substrate. The composition of the thin film in question is: 1. a (generally thin) region of material of high saturation magnetization layered with 2. a (generally thicker) region of lesser saturation magnetization.Type: GrantFiled: July 28, 1986Date of Patent: November 10, 1987Assignee: Eastman Kodak CompanyInventor: William W. French
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Patent number: 4631613Abstract: It has been found that, if a (negative) bias is applied to a substrate during the sputtering thereto of Alfesil, selective re-sputtering from the substrate film of aluminum and silicon will leave that film rich in iron and, attendantly, of higher saturation magnetization (17,000 gauss) than the starting material Alfesil (10,000 gauss). Such being the case, the invention provides that the sputtering of Alfesil-type material during the manufacture of a magnetic head be performed in two phases, first, while applying a bias of a first sense to a substrate to be sputtered upon, and, second, while applying a bias of different sense (e.g. a zero bias) to the substrate, thereby to cause a composite thin film to be formed on the substrate. The composition of the thin film in question is: 1. a (generally thin) region of material of high saturation magnetization layered with 2. a (generally thicker) region of lesser saturation magnetization.Type: GrantFiled: April 16, 1984Date of Patent: December 23, 1986Assignee: Eastman Kodak CompanyInventor: William W. French
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Patent number: 4412379Abstract: A multitrack magnetic head is made from an electrically conductive first helix formed on an iron wire that is, in turn, wound to form a second helix. By cutting or lapping a longitudinal flat along one side of the second helix, the first helix is severed into respective discrete coil-wound gapped cores.Type: GrantFiled: September 17, 1981Date of Patent: November 1, 1983Assignee: Eastman Technology Inc.Inventors: James U. Lemke, William W. French
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Patent number: 4398345Abstract: A multitrack magnetic head is made from an electrically conductive first helix formed on an iron wire that is, in turn, wound to form a second helix. By longitudinally cutting along one side of the second helix, the first helix is severed into respective coils on discrete gapped cores.Type: GrantFiled: June 2, 1981Date of Patent: August 16, 1983Assignee: Eastman Kodak CompanyInventors: William W. French, James U. Lemke, Richard J. McClure
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Patent number: RE45824Abstract: An intriguing and educational display structure (1) appears to be spinning upon itself without any apparent drive mechanism, power supply or bearing. The structure comprises two concentric hollow spheres (3, 5) spaced apart by a transparent fluid (6). The outer sphere is totally transparent, immobile, and may rest on a tripod (2) or other type of support. The inner sphere may be partially transparent or translucent and carries over its surface, a design such as a map of the world (7). The inner sphere rotates within, and independently from, the first outer one. The internal, that is self-contained, drive mechanism uses either a conventional electrical motor (8) with its own field winding and commutator, or one made of a rotor comprising a cross-array of electromagnets (AC, BD) that interact with an ambient magnetic field such as the earth magnetic field.Type: GrantFiled: October 4, 2007Date of Patent: December 22, 2015Inventor: William W. French