Patents Issued in August 15, 2000
  • Patent number: 6101920
    Abstract: A pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder (1) includes a cylinder tube (3) consisting of a non-ferromagnetic material in which a piston moves. At least one longitudinal channel (9) is recessed in the outer surface of the cylinder tube in which a signal transmitter (8) is secured to scan the piston location without physical contact. A permanent magnet is located on the piston which activates the signal transmitter (8) by its magnetic field. A leaf spring (17) is provided to secure the signal transmitter (8) in the longitudinal channel (9) and is attached to the housing of the signal transmitter by means of a screw (12) and a nut (19) with an inclined surface (20) that moves outward against the wall of the longitudinal channel (9) when the screw is tightened and thus tightly clamps the signal transmitter (8). The attaching device, consisting of the screw (12) with nut (18) and leaf spring (17), and the signal lead (10) are positioned on the same end of the signal transmitter (8).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Hygrama AG
    Inventor: Peter Leonhardt
  • Patent number: 6101921
    Abstract: A fluid pressure cylinder of the kind including a cylinder tube (23) with a slot and being shielded and sealed by an outer (11) and an inner (10) sealing band and with a cylinder bore (23') and a piston (2,5) which is movably arranged inside the tube and a transfer means (3) for transferring the piston movement through the slot to means (4) at the outside of the cylinder tube, wherein the piston comprises a seat (7) for a piston sealing member (6). The piston comprises a central body (2) and two piston end units (5) surrounding the respective end of the piston body and lying (17) against the cylinder bore, wherein each piston end unit (5) is fitted with play (s) onto the body (2) in order to allow a relative movement between these elements in directions essentially perpendicular to the cylinder axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: AB Rexroth Meeman
    Inventors: Rune Granberg, Kenneth Johansson
  • Patent number: 6101922
    Abstract: A cylinder includes a cylindrical casing, a cap mounted to the cylindrical casing, a retaining member, and a piston rod assembly which is positioned in the interior of the cylindrical casing. The cylindrical casing includes a casing wall which extends along a longitudinal axis and defines an interior, an open end, and a closed end. The piston rod assembly includes a rod end and a piston, with the piston including at least one piston seal sealing against an inner surface of the casing wall, which divides the interior of the casing wall into first and second fluid reservoirs. The rod end of the piston rod assembly extends through the cap and moves between extended positions and retracted positions as a function of the pressures in the first and second reservoirs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Jeffrey R. King
    Inventor: Jeffrey R. King
  • Patent number: 6101923
    Abstract: A coffee machine has a low overall height and allows an attractive aesthetic design to be achieved in its execution. A brewing block comprising brewing chambers is guided over a circular path, the chambers adopting three different operating positions. Brewing plungers and straining/expelling plungers move axially in the brewing chambers. Drive and control of the brewing assembly is effected by way of spur gears and cam discs which are housed in two cam disc housings located opposite one another. In accordance with a method according to the invention, the rotation to the three positions takes place in steps of 30 degrees, with resetting taking place through 60 degrees.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Egro AG
    Inventors: Anton Karg, Raffaele Puddu, Fritz Merker
  • Patent number: 6101924
    Abstract: A coffee maker has a housing having an upstanding tower, a carafe support platform extending horizontally forward from the lower end of the tower, and a fixed, tubular filter basket support extending horizontally forward from the upper end of the housing above the platform. A horizontal filter basket cover, including a water spreader, is disposed above the filter basket support and carried by the housing for pivotal movement about a vertical axis. A cover pivotal about a horizontal axis is provided over a water reservoir defined by the housing. A valve mechanism is provided that operates upon pivoting of the filter basket cover to selectively permit heated water to be supplied to the water spreader, thereby preventing burns from heated water when the water spreader is not located above the filter basket support. The coffee maker also includes an electronic controller having a control pad on the front surface of the housing platform. A pivotal cover is provided to shield the control pad from spilled coffee.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Hamilton Beach/Proctor-Silex, Inc.
    Inventors: Paul M. Blankenship, Martin Brady, Derwood S. DeLong, Michael J. Morecroft, Mark K. Romandy, Dean C. Warner
  • Patent number: 6101925
    Abstract: A humidity device for an oven is composed of a reservoir in the oven having connected at its bottom to one end of a heating piper, the other end of the heating pipe is connected to a first end of a universal coupling which has a second end connected to the top of the reservoir, respectively, while a third end of the universal coupling is connected to a nozzle pipe, wherein the heating pipe is capable of vaporizing water flow in the pipe and the vapor goes through third end of the universal coupling into the nozzle pipe and spreading into the oven, whereas the water drops are collected by the reservoir through the second end of the heating pipe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Lundar Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tony Hsu
  • Patent number: 6101926
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus adaptable for various kinds of raw rice and a variety of finally cooked rice, which comprises a combination of a steaming line constructed of a single endless conveyor and a settling and/or cooling line constructed of a plurality of combined endless conveyor belts arranged downstream of the steaming line. The settling and/or cooling line is combined with the rice continuously steaming line which comprises the steps of placing rice, that has finished preliminary water absorption, on a carrying surface of a single conveyor belt evenly, moving the carrying surface while blowing steam to the rice placed on the carrying surface, and effecting primary steaming of the rice, sprinkling of hot water to absorb water into the rice, and secondary steaming of the rice having absorbed water successively during movement of the carrying surface without agitating the rice, the above steps being performed within a sealed housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Showa Sangyo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoyuki Miyagawa, Yoshio Ishii, Takashi Tanaka
  • Patent number: 6101927
    Abstract: A roller grill monitoring device having a clock face, a base which fits in between rollers of a grill roller, a stem for attaching the clock face to the base and a support structure attached to the stem disposed at a distance above the base so as to rest on the grill rollers. The device is inexpensive to make, is sanitary and made of a heat resistant material. The device can further include a signage area for identifying and marketing different types of food products such as hot dogs. It can be easily moved around the grill and takes up very little space so as not to take up cooking area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Spirit Specialty Solutions, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael M. Kurmlavage
  • Patent number: 6101928
    Abstract: An automatic bread producing machine includes, in a baking chamber, a vessel unit having a bread vessel where a mixing vane for mixing bread ingredients is rotatably provided and a cylindrical bread vessel support fixed to an underside of the bread vessel. The bread vessel support has stoppers formed on the lower circumference thereof. The machine further includes a vessel mounting support mounted at the bottom of the baking chamber for receiving therein the bread vessel support. The vessel mounting support has cutouts formed at its circumferential wall for receiving and firmly holding the stoppers, respectively. Recessed portions are further formed at the circumferential wall of the vessel mounting support for guiding the stoppers to positions adjacent to the corresponding cutouts, respectively. Each cutout is provided adjacent to a lower end of the recessed portion and at one side of the recessed portion located in a rotation direction of the mixing vane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Kakimoto, Takahiro Ohshita, Noriyuki Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 6101929
    Abstract: There is provided a fryer, which can restrain an acceleration of oxidation of an oil layer, prevent deterioration of the oil layer caused by fry sediment and carbide and generation of oil smoke, and which is used easily and safely by even a person who is not conversant with timing when drainage should be carried out in accordance with an amount of fried food.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Inventor: Ryoichi Saito
  • Patent number: 6101930
    Abstract: A baking device for use in a domestic oven. The baking device is composed of refractory insulating material and includes a base and a pair of walls. The base is generally rectangular and has a pair of spaced-apart grooves formed therein. The walls are generally rectangular and have concave interior surfaces. The walls have bottom edges adapted for insertion into the grooves so as to mount the walls to the base. When the walls are mounted to the base, the baking device is generally channel-shaped, creating a partially curvilinear baking surface resembling a "c" in cross-section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Inventor: Charles Van Over
  • Patent number: 6101931
    Abstract: A disposable, flame-resistant grill liner, having one or more pleated sections to enable the grill liner to be conformed to the interior surfaces of a grill. The grill liner may include a burner slot to enable the grill liner to be used with gas or electric grills.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Inventor: Edward J. Miklos
  • Patent number: 6101932
    Abstract: A bale press for agricultural harvest crops including a pressure channel having at least a portion of one of its sides formed by a pivotal rail section, a hydraulic device for applying pressure to the rail section, a plunger displaceable in the pressure channel for compressing a harvest crop therein, and a control device for controlling operating of the bale press and including a load sensor for sensing loading of the plunger with the loading representing a first controlled variable, a pressure sensor for sensing pressure in the hydraulic device with the pressure representing a second controlled variable, and an operator unit for changing the pressure applied to the rail section upon deviation of at least one of the controlled variables from a predetermined set value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Welger GmbH
    Inventor: Dieter Wilkens
  • Patent number: 6101933
    Abstract: Round balers include bale shaping elements which define the boundary of the bale forming chamber. One part of the bale shaping elements can be swung by an attached structural arm into the bale forming chamber. The amount the elements are swung into the chamber is defined by the tensional forces on a spring. These tensional forces can be manually adjusted using a device, in a stepwise manner. One embodiment includes a handheld lever and a stepped shift-gate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Usines Claas France
    Inventor: Dirk Esken
  • Patent number: 6101934
    Abstract: Multicolor graphic image screen printing on basketball backboards using ultraviolet light-cured inks is disclosed. The UV inks include a cure catalyst which enables the UV inks to meet adhesion and weatherability standards for basketball backboards. The UV inks are printed using fine mesh screens which provide high resolution and require less ink to print the graphic image. Four-color process printing, including photographic printing, is possible according to the present invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Lifetime Products, Inc.
    Inventor: David Makin
  • Patent number: 6101935
    Abstract: A press roller for a stencil printer of the present invention is rotatable while pressing a recording medium against an ink drum which is rotatable with a master wrapped therearound. The press drum includes a hollow cylinder and an elastic layer formed on the outer periphery of the hollow cylinder. The elastic layer has a higher compressibility than a recording medium and performs, when compressed, elastic deformation in place of bulk movement. With this configuration, the press drum protects the master from damage ascribable to the localization of a pressing force. In addition, the press drum prevents a recording medium from creasing due to a difference in linear velocity otherwise occurring between the press drum and the recording medium at a pressing position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Tohoku Ricoh Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Eiji Ohkawa
  • Patent number: 6101936
    Abstract: A squeegee for a screen-printing machine, in particular a rotary screen-printing machine, comprises a supporting part, which can in principle be attached permanently to the frame of a screen-printing machine, as well as a removable part, which is detachably connected to the supporting part. The supporting part is designed as a rigid bar which extends in the longitudinal direction of the squeegee. The removable part is displaceable in the longitudinal direction with respect to the supporting part. The removable part forms the active squeegee part. The supporting part may be of rigid design, while the removable part may be of lightweight design. The removable part comprises in particular those components which regularly have to be removed from the screen-printing machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Stork Brabant B.V.
    Inventor: Wilhelmus J.A.L.M. Claassen
  • Patent number: 6101937
    Abstract: A dispenser for a surface mounting paste or the like comprises a substrate 12 and a plurality of nozzles 9, 10 and 11 attached thereto such that they can be vertically driven. The paste dispenser 8 is moved by means of a squeegee moving mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Minami Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Takehiko Murakami
  • Patent number: 6101938
    Abstract: A system for accurately registering multiple silkscreens relative to a printing surface after they have been clamped into a silkscreen holder of a printing head of a rotary screen printing machine, and for accurate placement of an image on a framed silkscreen. A generally L-shaped registration device attached adjacent to one side of a pallet of the printing machine has first and second sides orthogonal relative to each other with a pair of gauges having visual displays positioned on the first side and a third gauge positioned on the second side. The gauges have outwardly biased plungers controlled by a lever to be simultaneously moved between a retracted positioned, a free-floating position and an engaged position relative to respective first and second sides of a silkscreen frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Inventor: Randy L. Adams
  • Patent number: 6101939
    Abstract: The web fed or sheet fed printing machine for security papers, in particular banknotes, possesses a principal printing group. It further has an additional, independent printing group (20) placed upstream of the principal printing group in the feed direction of the paper and allowing a pattern in at least one predetermined color to be printed over the entire width of the paper before the paper passes into the principal printing group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: De la Rue Giori S.A.
    Inventors: Fausto Giori, Johannes Schaede
  • Patent number: 6101940
    Abstract: Two ink rolls in a flexographic printing machine are disclosed with a pivoted connection of the ink roll mounting elements such that one or other of the ink rolls may be engaged with the print cylinder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Ward Holding Co., Inc.
    Inventor: William H. Huff
  • Patent number: 6101941
    Abstract: In a rotary printing press, a printing unit cylinder having a printing form with bent ends fastened thereon so as to form a printing form cylinder with a printing form mounted thereon, the bent ends of the printing form being provided with fastening tabs extendable into the interior of lock-up gap sections formed in the printing form cylinder, and webs respectively alternatingly disposed opposite one another being formed on a leading edge and on a trailing edge of the printing form, between the fastening tabs of the printing form, includes a plurality of pockets formed on a circumferential surface of the printing form cylinder, wherein the fastening tabs of the printing form engage, the webs provided between the fastening tabs and formed on the printing-form leading edge and the printing-form trailing edge terminating on generating lines of the printing form cylinder which differ from one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Philippe Aubert, Alain Blanchard, Herve Dumor, Robert Gaultier, Patrick Lepeltier, Jany Michaux, Francois Recolet
  • Patent number: 6101942
    Abstract: A cylinder of a rotary printing press has a plate end insertion slit which receives the angled ends of plates. A rotatable spindle is supported in a bore in the cylinder and carries a plurality of projections. These projections can function as plate end clamps. They also have hooks or protrusions which will engage edge positions of the plate ends to push the plate ends out of the cylinder slit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Koenig & Bauer Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Muller Robert
  • Patent number: 6101943
    Abstract: There is disclosed a device for cleaning the cylinder of a printing press with a cleaning fabric. The device comprises a pad including a surface opposed to the cylinder. The cleaning fabric is directed between the surface of the pad and the cylinder, the surface of the pad being at least partially uneven. The device further comprises means for moving the surface of the pad toward the cylinder so that the cleaning fabric is pressed against the cylinder by the pad to clean the cylinder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Baldwin-Japan, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akira Hara, Hiraku Onuma, Hideo Oyaizu, Ryozo Suzuki
  • Patent number: 6101944
    Abstract: A method of operating a rotary printing press, wherein, during printing with a first printing form, a second printing form is imaged. A device for implementing the method has at least one imaging apparatus associated with the printing forms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Gotthard Schmid, John Sheridan Richards
  • Patent number: 6101945
    Abstract: There is disclosed an apparatus for identifying a page of printing plate or printed product. The apparatus comprises reading head means for reading out at least one of items in a local descriptive portion of the page of printing plate or printed product. The apparatus further comprises identifying means for identifying the page of printing plate or printed product in accordance with the read out data transmitted from the reading head means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Baldwin-Japan, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akira Hara, Yoshio Tsukamoto, Takeo Onda
  • Patent number: 6101946
    Abstract: The invention herein describes a device for fabricating microarrays of biochemical substances, consisting of a holder and one or more printing pins. The holder contains apertures with regular spacing that define the location of one or more printing pins during the printing process. The tip of each printing pin contains a sample channel that holds a predetermined volume of biological or chemical sample and a point that is machined to precision with an electronic discharge machine (EDM). The device can be attached to a motion control system for precise and automated movement in three dimensions. The flat tips of the pins are immersed in a biochemical sample such that a predefined volume of sample fills the sample channel of each pin. The holder and pins are then moved in proximity to a printing substrate whereby direct contact between the flat tips of the pins and the surface results in the transfer of a small amount of the sample onto the solid surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: TeleChem International Inc.
    Inventor: Richard S Martinsky
  • Patent number: 6101947
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a low temperature autoignition composition for safely initiating combustion of a main pyrotechnic charge in a gas generator or pyrotechnic device exposed to flame or a high temperature environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Talley Defense Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory D. Knowlton, Christopher P. Ludwig
  • Patent number: 6101948
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing solid rocket motors comprises placing a mandrel having at least one collapsible solid slot former positioned thereon substantially centrally along the axis of a rocket case, casting uncured solid rocket propellant about the mandrel and the collapsible solid slot former, curing the solid propellant, removing the mandrel and pressurizing the propellant and slot former, causing the slot former to collapse, and easily removed from the cured propellant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Donald Lee Knaresboro, Forrest Ray Goodson, Frank Stephen Inman
  • Patent number: 6101949
    Abstract: Composite spherical projectiles are provided for shotgun cartridges which are environmentally compatible, relatively inexpensive and have ballistic properties similar to lead shot or projectiles and which consist of metal particles dispersed in a biogradable polymeric solid matrix which includes a hydrocarbon binder containing ester functional groups which are linked to C.sub.1-20 aliphatic hydrocarbon chains, starch, and titanium dioxide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Societe Nationale des Poudres et Explosifs
    Inventors: Jacques Maucourt, Claude Combette
  • Patent number: 6101950
    Abstract: Projectile simulation means serve for an acoustic and/or optical representation of the firing of canons or the like. The projectile simulation means are arranged in a pivotable receiving plate of a firing apparatus. There is a danger that, when pivoting the receiving plate for closing the firing apparatus, the projectile simulation means drop out of the receiving plate.According to the invention, the projectile simulation means are provided with spring tongues (27) which project from the outside of the casing (11) and are pressed together when pushing-in the projectile simulation means into the receiving plate. In this manner, the spring tongues (27) are resiliently preloaded, as a result of which they hold the projectile simulation means in the receiving plate in a hook-lie manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: COMET GmbH
    Inventor: Thorsten Kothe
  • Patent number: 6101951
    Abstract: A robot for the repair of sewer pipes comprises a carriage unit driven by a traction motor (2) arranged internally of a carriage housing (1) with wheels (7,9). The carriage housing (1) is connected to a rotary head (15) arranged immediately before the carriage housing (1). The rotary head (15), having tools and/or inspection devices mounted thereon, is driven by rotary motor (22). The traction motor (2) and the rotary motor (22) are arranged in a mutually overlapping relationship. The rotary head (15) is connected to a hollow shaft (23) extending through the whole carriage housing (1). The rotary head (15) is adapted for attachment of a robot arm carrying a tool support. A swivel arm of the robot arm as well as the tool support can be swiveled by hydraulic cylinders. The end of the robot arm facing away from the rotary head (15) is provided with a support wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Scheiff GmbH
    Inventor: Alwin Sigel
  • Patent number: 6101952
    Abstract: A system for guidance and/or switching of a vehicle or other object comprises a guideway, a guide plate that moves along the guideway, and a magnetic field source that induces a magnetic force between the guide plate and at least a portion of the guideway over which the guide plate is moving. The guide plate is attached to the vehicle or coupled to its steering systems. The magnetic force centers the guide plate along the guideway by opposing any lateral deviation from center. The magnetic field source is a permanent magnet, an electromagnet (including a superconducting magnet) or any other known magnetic field source. It is preferably included in, or forms part of, the guide plate. Likewise, the guide rail preferably comprises ferromagnetic or paramagnetic material, i.e., a material that forms a temporary magnet in the presence of the magnetic field of the source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: MagneMotion, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard D. Thornton, Tracy M. Clark, Dariusz A. Bushko
  • Patent number: 6101953
    Abstract: An apparatus for facilitating the travel of a motor vehicle, designed for roadway travel, upon railways has the capacity to be towed to the rail site by the motor vehicle. The apparatus has a platform having at least one rotatable axle of roadway tires attached thereto. In the deployed position, the roadway wheels allow the apparatus to be towed similarly to a trailer. When the apparatus is properly positioned over a railroad crossing, the rotatable wheels are drawn back to a retraced position, the apparatus is lowered so that rail wheels, mounted to the platform, engage the rails exactly as other rail vehicles. A removable ramp allows the motor vehicle to mount the platform. The wheels of the motor vehicle engage either one or two sets of rollers disposed upon the platform. After the motor vehicle is properly secured, the motor vehicle can be engaged to drive the rollers, with the power delivered to the rollers being transmitted to the train wheels to supply the necessary locomotion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Inventor: Stephen Christopher Spata
  • Patent number: 6101954
    Abstract: A worktop and frame construction which utilizes a frame body that forms a generally flat, relatively thick panel that has an hour-glass shape in plan view so that in the center of the frame body clearance is provided for knees of a user of the worktop. The frame body is supported on legs that are assembled without using tools by having tapered sockets and mating tapers at the ends of the legs that tightly and securely fit into the tapered sockets. The workstation parts can be easily assembled on site. The frame body is a sandwich construction which has peripheral frame members that form outwardly opening raceways for wiring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Rosemount Office Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Russell J. Rein, Barry R. Mumm, Lloyd C. Mollenkopf
  • Patent number: 6101955
    Abstract: A plastic pallet cover is specially formed as a one-piece, high-strength device for ideally isolating a pallet load from the wood surface of a pallet. The pallet cover thereby protects the load from being contaminated by any bacteria, mold, or other disease-causing agents on the pallet, and provides a safe and sanitary surface for the storage and transport of food product loads such as shellfish or other edible products susceptible to contamination. The pallet cover is preferably made of plastic formed by the molding process to include a horizontal upper surface which fits over a conventional wooden pallet to isolate the pallet from the load, as well as a grid of internal ribs and edge walls to provide strength, rigidity, and positional stability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Inventor: Gary J. Salce
  • Patent number: 6101956
    Abstract: A veterinary medical lift device to treat animals having a mobile veterinary preparation table with a sloping flange or an angled ramp that is height-adjustable and that allows a large degree of ease in relocating an animal to the top of the table. In another embodiment, the veterinary medical lift device may have a fixed exam table which lowers close to the floor and which would have its height adjustable table situated such that it would be perpendicular to the wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Inventor: Charles C. Keil
  • Patent number: 6101957
    Abstract: An apparatus for the disposal of solid rocket motors which produce exhaust ases containing flammable and/or explosive products. The solid rocket motor to be burned is first detachably connected to and inserted in one end of an elongated mixing chamber which has, at an opposite end, a multi-step expansion nozzle. The rocket motor is then ignited and the exhaust gas is passed into the mixing chamber, which is sufficiently large to reduce the velocity of exhaust gases from supersonic to subsonic. Air is injected into the mixing chamber to react with flammable and/or explosive products in the exhaust gases and the resultant mixture is then discharged from the mixing chamber through a multi-step expansion nozzle to expand the gaseous mixture and, at the same time, produce substantial turbulence within the gas mixture which is about six times higher than the turbulence levels produced by a constant area circular nozzle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: Kenneth J. Wilson, Eric D. Erickson, Klaus C. Schadow
  • Patent number: 6101958
    Abstract: A method of and an apparatus for the thermal degradation of refuse, garbage and other waste material in which the waste material stream is reacted with air or oxygen in a reaction chamber for pyrolysis, destructive distillation or incineration of the waste material. The released thermal energy, spatial temperature distribution or outlet gas temperature is measured and used to control a feeder which supplies particles of a supplemental fuel, itself recovered from a waste material separate from the waste material stream, to the reaction chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Deutsche Babcock Anlagen GmbH
    Inventors: Ralf Beckmann, Arvid Christmann, Joachim Dohmann, Kai Keldenich, Rolf Kummel, Frank Niermann, Wilhelm Ruben, Johannes Seippel
  • Patent number: 6101959
    Abstract: Oil shale having a relatively wide range of heating value is combusted by supplying the oil shale and a further fuel having a heating value greater than the heating value of the oil shale to a combustor. The oil shale is fed to the combustor at a substantially fixed rate, independently of the heating value of the oil shale, and the further fuel is fed to the combustor at a rate such that the heating value of the fuel in the combustor remains substantially constant in the face of variations in the heating value of the oil shale. Preferably, the temperature of combustion of the products of combustion is the parameter used to control the rate at which the further fuel is fed to the combustor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Ormat Industries Ltd.
    Inventors: Lucien Y. Bronicki, Benjamin Doron, Daniel Goldman
  • Patent number: 6101960
    Abstract: An overlock sewing machine has a movable cutter which is activated in association with rotation of a main drive shaft to cooperate with a fixed cutter provided in the same plane with an upper surface of a needle plate, to thereby cut a work while the work is being stitched. A link mechanism includes a drive link having one end rotatably connected to a mount and the other end is connected to the movable cutter and a swingable link having an arcuate guide groove extending between one end and a center axis thereof around which the swingable link is swingingly moved. The drive link has a point between opposite ends thereof operatively connected to the arcuate guide groove of the swingable link. An operating device includes an operating shaft which is operatively connected to the point of the drive shaft so that the point of the drive link may be substantially moved along the arcuate guide groove of the swingable link between said one end and center axis thereof by manipulation of an operating knob.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Janome Sewing Machine Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshikazu Ebata, Satoshi Maruo, Eiichi Shomura
  • Patent number: 6101961
    Abstract: A thread feeding apparatus for a sewing machine which has a simplified mechanism for accuracy of manufacturing and improved durability so as to accommodate high speed sewing. The thread feeding apparatus for the sewing machine has upstream grippers for respectively gripping an upper looper thread and a lower looper thread, closed by a stitch forming device at the time of the stitch forming and opened at the time of the cloth feeding, downstream grippers for gripping the respective threads introduced from the respective upstream grippers, opened at the time of the stitch forming so that the respective threads are pulled by the stitch forming device and closed at the time of cloth feeding, and reciprocators which are respectively driven in a synchronous manner with a left needle, a right needle, an upper looper and a lower looper, at the time of cloth feeding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Suzuki Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kouichi Sakuma
  • Patent number: 6101962
    Abstract: Shadow work embroidery designs which can be performed by a sewing machine, preferably a computerized machine with digitized design embroidery patterns. The method employs at least two layers of material, an outer layer (8) of fabric which allows color to show through and an inner layer or layers (6,11), such as fabric or a removable stabilizer. On the inner layer of material is sewn an interior of a selected embroidery design (7) which is filled in with machine stitching. Once completed, an outer layer of garment fabric (8) is placed over the inner layer of material and an outline (9) of the selected embroidery design is stitched on the outer layer of material through the inner layer of material so that both layers of material are sewn together. If the inner layer of material is a removable stabilizer than the outline stitch (9) must catch the edges of the threads of the embroidered design (7).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Inventor: Suzanne B. Hinshaw
  • Patent number: 6101963
    Abstract: Cavitation of a hydrofoil element, such as the rudder of a marine vessel, om exposure to a body of water during onset flow at different angles to the chordal axis of the rudder profile, is suppressed by a tab on the lower end tip of the rudder. Such tab has external surfaces thereon which affect flow separation relative to the rudder so as to suppress or delay cavitation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: Young T. Shen, Scott Gowing
  • Patent number: 6101964
    Abstract: A floatable fuel tank that is capable of serving as a barge or lifeboat/dingy. Tank comprises a plurality of bladders with each having a fuel chamber and air chamber running longitudinally from stern to a forward bladder. If used as a fuel storage device, tank is attached to boat using towing lines and fuel lines so boat consumes fuel held by fuel chambers. In emergency situations, tank is capable of use as a lifeboat by detaching towing lines, air lines and fuel lines and pumping fuel out of fuel chambers with air so that persons may reside on top of tank. Under normal conditions in this configuration, it could be used as a dingy for normal transportation to and from a boat at anchor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Edward R. Lesesne
    Inventor: Edward R Lesesne
  • Patent number: 6101965
    Abstract: A watercraft is disclosed including an improved ride plate for enhanced handling, responsiveness and performance of the watercraft. The ride plate preferably has two grooves formed in the undersurface of the ride plate. The grooves are of continuous cross section, extend the entire length of the ride plate and are located behind the water intake duct opening. Finally, the grooves are strategically located to avoid the turbulent water caused by the water entering the water intake opening so as to increase the handling, responsiveness and performance of the watercraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Yamaha Hadsudoki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Tomoyoshi Koyanagi
  • Patent number: 6101966
    Abstract: A multifunctional utility station is suitable for use as a utility table, tackle box and/or storage chest and has an adjustable mount can be used on a recreational watercraft or other boat. The multifunctional utility station is affixed to and supported on the boat by at least one support member having a horizontal end and a vertical end, where the horizontal end of each support member is slidably and adjustably positioned within a receiving channel and sleeve situated along the bottom of the station. Position setting means, in the form of either a bolt that cooperates with grooves with position stops formed along the interior of the receiving channels or a toggle bolt or some other device, may be used to set the depth of the station relative to the horizontal end of the support member. The vertical end of each support member is slidably and adjustably positioned within a channel bracket that is affixed to the hull of a fishing or general recreation boat.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Inventor: Paul F. Cumisky
  • Patent number: 6101967
    Abstract: A plastic barricade assembly including two leg and panel units pivotally interconnected. Each leg and panel unit comprises first and second leg members and a plurality of panel members, the members being separately blow molded. The first leg members of each leg and panel unit are identical to each other and, at the same time, different than the second leg members of each leg and panel unit which are, in turn, identical to each other. Each leg and panel unit is assembled by bolting a first and second leg member together with a plurality of panel members. The leg and panel members of each unit are bolted together in interlocking relationship.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Plasticade Products Corporation
    Inventors: Geoffrey M. Glass, Wayne J. Brocka, Douglas C. Madsen
  • Patent number: 6101968
    Abstract: In the housing is a motor and gear train driven by the motor, the train adapted to selectively engage a gear rack secured to the compression element to drive it down to squeeze the collapsible frosting container. When the train has moved into engagement, it closes a switch activating the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Innovative Injectors, Inc.
    Inventors: James F. Fitzgibbons, Christopher Young
  • Patent number: 6101969
    Abstract: A plasma generating electrode device including a substrate 31 made of a dense ceramic, and an electrode 55 buried in said substrate 31, wherein said electrode 55 is isolated from a setting face of said substrate 31, and plasma is generated over said substrate. It is preferable that the minimum thickness of an electromagnetic wave permeation layer 37 is not less than 0.1 mm, the average thickness of the electromagnetic wave permeation layer is not less than 0.5 mm, the electrode 55 is a planar electrode made of a metal bulk, and the electrode is a monolithic sinter free from a joint face. This structure can be applied to an electric dust collector, an electromagnetic shield device or an electrostatic chuck. These can be preferably installed inside a semiconductor production unit using a halogen-based corrosive gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yusuke Niori, Koichi Umemoto, Ryusuke Ushikoshi