Patents Issued in April 15, 2003
  • Patent number: 6547519
    Abstract: Blower designs for vented enclosures include an impeller having a plurality of blades. The impeller includes a plurality of blades pivotably coupled to an impeller body. The blades pivot to enable operation in one of a closed and an open state. Air flow between blades is substantially restricted when the blades are in the closed state. Air flow between the blades is permitted when the blades are in an open state. In one embodiment, the pivotable couplings are spring loaded to maintain the blades in the closed state when the impeller rotational speed is below a threshold range. The blades pivot to the open state when the rotational speed exceeds the threshold range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: James J. deBlanc, David M. Dickey, Victoria Tsang Tam
  • Patent number: 6547520
    Abstract: A vaned diffuser for a centrifugal compressor has provision for selectively adjusting the pitch of the vanes in order to accommodate variable load conditions. Each of the vanes is rotatable about a pivot pin near its leading edge and is engaged with an actuation member near its trailing edge. The actuation members are attached to a common ring which can be selectively rotated to move to the vanes in unison. The ring is supported by rollers at its outer periphery and is positioned at the outer periphery of a diffuser wall such that there is no forward facing step projecting into the flow stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Carrier Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas M. Zinsmeyer, James R. Barrett, Vishnu M. Sishtla
  • Patent number: 6547521
    Abstract: In order to make the components of a guide apparatus for an axial flow turbine easy to activate and also to permit only small gap flows, an axial flow machine is proposed with a guide apparatus, which comprises a row of adjustable guide vanes in the flow duct, which flow duct is bounded, on the one hand, by an inner spherically configured hub and, on the other hand, by an outer spherically configured guide vane carrier, the guide vanes being, on the one hand, rotationally supported in radial bearing holes of the annular guide vane carrier and, on the other hand, the spherically configured tip and root profiles of the guide vanes sealing against the guide vane carrier and the hub, in which arrangement the hub is embodied with a flexible hub contour at least in the sealing region of the inner tips of the guide vanes and the support for the guide vanes in the direction of the guide vane axes (A) is likewise designed to be flexible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: MAN B&W Diesel Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Klaus Bartholomä, Karl Heinz Schrott
  • Patent number: 6547522
    Abstract: The present invention provides, in one embodiment, an annular turbine seal for disposition in a turbine between a rotatable component having an axis of rotation and a turbine housing about the same axis of rotation. The turbine seal has a plurality of arcuate seal carrier segments that have an abradable portion secured to the seal carrier segments. In addition, at least one spring is disposed on the seal carrier segment to exert a force and maintain the seal carrier segment adjacent to the rotatable component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Norman Arnold Turnquist, Mahmut Faruk Aksit, Farshad Ghasripoor, Raymond Edward Chupp
  • Patent number: 6547523
    Abstract: A system for supporting bolted upper and lower diaphragms to one another in an outer housing of a turbine includes support screws threaded into bores adjacent opposite sides of the lower shell. The head of each support screw has a threaded bore receiving a set screw. The set screw has a length equal to the depth of the slot in which the head resides in the lower shell, minus a small clearance. With the diaphragms supported by the engagement of the set screw at the lower end with an abutment at the bottom of the slot, the clearance enables the diaphragms to move vertically upwardly, limited by the clearance distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: James Patrick Nelligan
  • Patent number: 6547524
    Abstract: The invention is a film cooled article such as a turbine engine blade or vane, having a wall with a hot surface 26 to be film cooled. The hot surface 26 includes a depression 48 featuring a descending flank 52 and an ascending flank 54. Coolant holes 60, which penetrate through the wall, have discharge openings residing on the ascending flank 54. During operation, the depression locally over-accelerates a primary fluid stream F flowing over the ascending flank while coolant jets 70 concurrently issue from the discharge openings. The local over-acceleration of the primary fluid deflects the jets onto the hot surface and spatially constrains the jets thus encouraging them to spread out laterally and coalesce into a laterally continuous, protective coolant film. In one embodiment, the depression 48 is a trough 50. In another embodiment, the depression is a dimple 72.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Atul Kohli, Joel H. Wagner, Andrew S. Aggarwala
  • Patent number: 6547525
    Abstract: A cooled component, such as a turbine blade for gas turbines is provided, having efficient internal cooling, with an interior cooling passageway having a round cross-section. A row of feeding holes for the coolant are arranged spaced from each other in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the cooling passageway and originating from a common coolant channel. Each of the feeding holes intersects the cooling passageway tangentially. The ease of manufacturing the cooling component is improved in that the majority of the feeding holes have a hole diameter that is smaller than half of the hydraulic diameter of the cooling passageway, and selected feeding holes have a hole diameter that is greater than half of the hydraulic diameter of the cooling channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Alstom (Switzerland) Ltd
    Inventors: Hartmut Haehnle, Ibrahim El-Nashar, Rudolf Kellerer, Beat Von Arx
  • Patent number: 6547526
    Abstract: An article that is configured to be rotatably mounted includes an embedded hollow cavity into which at least one dampening member is inserted. The dampening member or members frictionally engage the hollow cavity such that relative movement between the dampening member or members and the hollow cavity operates to attenuate vibration that is generated when the article is rotated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Thomas J. Van Daam, Timothy J. Hosking
  • Patent number: 6547527
    Abstract: A portable power unit having an internal combustion engine, a tank for holding a supply of pressurized fluid, an electrical generator powered by the internal combustion engine, and a pump selectively powered by the internal combustion engine. An electro-magnetic clutch is energized by a pressure switch on the tank when the pressure in the tank falls below a predetermined value, and a cooling fan for the pump may also be energized by the pressure switch together with the clutch. A non-slip positive drive belt couples power from the engine to the generator. The generator is overdriven at a shaft rotation speed above that of the engine's shaft, and the pump is underdriven at a shaft rotation speed below that of the engine's shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Fugitt Rubber & Supply Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Harold E. Gaither
  • Patent number: 6547528
    Abstract: A system for remote-controlling a fire pump with a simple wiring construction is provided, being capable of conducting various kinds of control and display. The fire pump control system has an engine, a fire pump, an internal control apparatus, at least one external control apparatus located away from the fire pump including the internal control apparatus, and a twisted pair line for connecting the external control apparatus with the internal control apparatus. The internal and external control apparatuses form a network through the twisted pair line so as to control the fire pump through telecommunications from the external control apparatus. This network uses a p-CSMA system for communicating data, so that a high level of remote control can be carried out, with monitoring an operation state of the fire pump.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kenichi Yoshida
  • Patent number: 6547529
    Abstract: A sensor, system, and method for determining whether sufficient water is present to safely operate a pump. The sensor includes first and second conductive fittings that are physically and electrically isolated from one another by a third non-conductive fitting. Electrodes are secured to the exteriors of the first and second fittings and are electrically connected to an electronic detection device. The electronic detection device applies a voltage across the first and second fittings and detects a current flowing between the first and second fittings. The current is correlated to the presence of water between the first and second fittings. If the detected current is below a predetermined minimum, the electronic detection device turns off the pump to prevent dry-running thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Inventor: Donald Gross
  • Patent number: 6547530
    Abstract: There is provided a fluid pump wherein in a casing at a pump unit there is provided an impeller coupled with a rotor contactless and also supported contactless by a controlled magnetic bearing unit, and rotated by a motor to output a fluid, with a position detection unit, an electromagnet or a motor stator cooled by a fluid flowing through a pump chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignees: NTN Corporation, Terumo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takayoshi Ozaki, Minoru Suzuki
  • Patent number: 6547531
    Abstract: A conventional variable-displacement, axial piston-type hydraulic fluid pump having a pump housing is provided with co-operating pump rotational speed, thrust plate position, and working pressure operating-condition sensor assemblies that are partially contained within the pump housing, that are partially contained within a separate position sensor housing which is removably secured to the pump housing, and that are sealed against high-pressure fluid leakage using only static resilient fluid pressure seals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Inventors: Terry L. Cumbo, Robert C. Hodges, Anthony L. Reilly
  • Patent number: 6547532
    Abstract: An annular suction valve includes a substantially tubular member having an inner surface defining a valve flow passage having an inlet, a nozzle disposed in the inlet and spaced from the inner surface so as to define an annular passage between the inner surface and the nozzle, the nozzle further defining an interior flow passage and having a nozzle inlet to the interior flow passage; and a power fluid inlet in one of the nozzle and the tubular member for receiving power fluid into the annular passage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Intevep, S.A.
    Inventors: Jose Rafael Gonzalez, Marice V Urbina, Luis R Casique
  • Patent number: 6547533
    Abstract: A piston type compressor has a housing, a crank chamber and a drive shaft supported by the housing. A front restriction and a rear restriction are located in the housing. The front and rear restrictions restrict axial movement of the drive shaft. The front restriction restricts forward movement of the drive shaft. The rear restriction restricts rearward axial movement of the drive shaft. A first clearance is located between the rear end of the drive shaft and the rear restriction when the drive shaft is restricted by the front restriction. A second clearance is formed between the piston and a valve plate when the drive shaft is restricted by the front restriction and when the piston is in the top dead center position. The first clearance is narrower than the second clearance. The method of assembly the piston easily sets the first clearance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho
    Inventors: Masaki Ota, Kazuya Kimura, Hiroaki Kayukawa, Satoshi Umemura, Ken Suitou
  • Patent number: 6547534
    Abstract: There is disclosed a high-pressure compressor comprising a compression mechanism for reciprocating/driving a piston with respect to a conventional cylinder by rotation of a motor and compressing an operating fluid sucked by this driving to generate the high-pressure operating fluid according to improvements in a piston shape, positions of a cylinder operation surface and the piston, specifics shapes of the cylinder and piston, and connecting constitution of the piston to a connecting rod, which solves problems such as occurrence of wear on a cylinder inner surface by displacement of the piston, size enlargement by an increase of a removal capacity, difficulty in processing the piston and connecting rod, and a large top clearance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuo Sakamoto, Hiroshi Nishikawa, Makoto Aida, Takahiro Nishikawa, Kazuya Sato, Takayuki Mizuno, Aritomo Sato
  • Patent number: 6547535
    Abstract: A suction muffler for a compressor employed in a home appliance having a refrigeration cycle reduces noise produced by the compressor. The suction muffler includes a muffler body and a refrigerant suction pipe. The muffler body defines a resonance chamber and is coupled to a refrigerant supply pipe. The refrigerant suction pipe connects the resonance chamber to a compressor cylinder. The refrigerant suction pipe has at least one hole formed in its cylindrical wall. The muffler further includes a guiding portion in the resonance chamber to direct refrigerant from the supply pipe to the at least one hole in the refrigerant suction pipe and to direct noise exiting an upper end of the refrigerant suction pipe away from the refrigerant supply pipe. The suction muffler shortens the refrigerant flow path and lengthens the noise transmission path, thereby reducing the level of noise emitted while increasing efficiency of the compressor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Samsung Kwangju Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Young-su Kueon
  • Patent number: 6547536
    Abstract: A reciprocating compressor has a pair of discharge mufflers disposed on a lower portion of a cylinder block, a first and a second refrigerant channels for intercommunicating the pair of discharge mufflers with a refrigerant discharge chamber of a cylinder head, a pair of muffler covers for sealing the pair of discharge mufflers, respectively, a connecting pipe for connecting the pair of muffler covers with each other, and a refrigerant discharge pipe connected to either one of the pair of muffler covers that is intercommunicated with the second refrigerant channel. The first and the second refrigerant channels have refrigerant inflow sides connected to the refrigerant discharge chamber, and refrigerant outflow sides having a cross-sectional area smaller than the cross-sectional area of the refrigerant inflow sides.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Samsung Kwangju Electronics., Ltd.
    Inventor: Seung-don Seo
  • Patent number: 6547537
    Abstract: Three or more diaphragm pumps (12,14,16) are interconnected to sequentially receive an activation fluid from corresponding piston and cylinder pumps (18,20,22) synchronized by a control mechanism (24) which includes a distributor plate (42) with directive shallow slots (80,82,84) for conduiting activation fluid to a porting plate (44) and via openings (60,62,64) to the piston and cylinder pumps (18,20,22).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Inventor: Lawrence P. Olson
  • Patent number: 6547538
    Abstract: A compressor includes a compressing section accommodated in a hermetic container and a motor section, coupled to the compressing section, for driving the compressing section. The motor section has a bored section on an end of the compressing section side and a motor having two rotor poles and including a rotor core in which permanent magnets are buried. The compressing section includes a bearing made of non-magnetic material and extending inside the bored section. This structure reduces both of loss torque due to magnetic attraction between an inner wall of the bored section and the bearing, and eddy-current-loss in the bearing, so that a highly efficient compressor is obtainable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignees: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Matsushita Refrigeration Company
    Inventors: Teruo Tamura, Tatsuyuki Iizuka, Kenji Sasaki, Fumitoshi Saito
  • Patent number: 6547539
    Abstract: A pump for transferring fragile and aggressive fluids such as human blood, the pump comprising a housing with a sealed annular wall of uniform thickness forming a pumping chamber. The chamber is provided with inlet and outlet ports with a rotor being housed within the chamber coaxially of the housing. The housing includes opposed end cap portions with a cylindrical body portion interposed therebetween. The body portion includes first and second cylindrical segments with mating side walls adapted to be coupled together along an annular bonding seam, the arrangement providing for separation along the bonding seam to permit removal and reworking of the rotor for replacement in a fresh housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Advanced Bionics, Inc.
    Inventor: Valentin M. Izraelev
  • Patent number: 6547540
    Abstract: A fan having a supercharging structure includes a casing having an air passage hole with an air inlet at a first end thereof and an air outlet at a second end thereof. A base is mounted to the air outlet end of the casing. A supporting plate is mounted in the air passage hole of the casing or an air outlet in the base for engaging with a stator bobbin that pivotally holds a fan wheel to be driven. Plural supercharging plates are mounted between the supporting plate and the base.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Sunonwealth Electric Machine Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Alex Horng, Ching-Shen Hong, Ching-Lin Wu
  • Patent number: 6547541
    Abstract: It is an object of the invention to, even in the case where liquid containing a sedimenting material such as slurry is used, prevent sedimenting and aggregation from occurring in a pump. As means for attaining the object, a bellows 7 that is extendingly and contractingly deformable in the axial direction is placed in a pump body 1 with setting the axis B of the bellows vertical so as to be driven to perform extending and contracting deformation, and form a liquid chamber 9 inside the bellows 7. A suction port 18 and a discharge port 19 are formed in an inner bottom face 4a of the pump body 1 facing the liquid chamber 9. Liquid is sucked from the suction port 18 into the liquid chamber 9 by extension of the bellows 7, and the liquid in the liquid chamber 9 is discharged from the discharge port 19 by contraction of the bellows 7. The inner bottom face 4a is formed into a conical shape in which the face is downward inclined as moving toward the discharge port 19.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Nippon Pillar Packing Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kiyoshi Nishio
  • Patent number: 6547542
    Abstract: The invention is relative to a series of gear motors for differing output volumes with at least two gear motors. Each gear motor has at least two intermeshing displacing elements, a first displacing element and a second displacing element in the form of gears. The individual gear motors of the series comprise substantially identical dimensions for the axial interval between the theoretical axes and between the theoretical axes of rotation of the two displacing elements, and a substantially identical gearing width in the form of a substantially identical axial extension of the gearing elements. The individual gear motors differ from each other at least as regards the size of the tip circle diameter of at least one of the two displacing elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Voith Turbo GmbH & Co KG
    Inventor: Tillman Körner
  • Patent number: 6547543
    Abstract: A scroll compressor has a non-orbiting scroll axially secured within an end cap without being mechanically fixed to the end cap. The compressor is of the sort wherein the back pressure chamber is defined behind the orbiting scroll. In one embodiment a spring biases the non-orbiting scroll toward the orbiting scroll. In other embodiments the non-orbiting scroll is force fit within the end cap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Scroll Technologies
    Inventors: Zili Sun, Greg Hahn
  • Patent number: 6547544
    Abstract: The present invention provides a hermetic or open compressor for hydrocarbon refrigerant having high reliability. According to the present invention, in the compressor using hydrocarbon as refrigerant, synthetic oil such as polyalkylene glycol oil, ester oil or ether oil is used as freezer oil. Sliding member of the compressor includes both a portion made of aluminum material and a portion made of iron material. Therefore, it is possible to realize a compressor having excellent wear resistance and high reliability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mototaka Esumi, Osamu Aiba, Shuichi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 6547545
    Abstract: A rotary machine for a compression or an expansion of a gaseous working fluid comprises a machine housing (10), a rotor (11) which is rotatably mounted within said housing and which, in its peripheral outer surface, is provided with at least one helically extending groove (14), having a depth varying along its length and serving as a flow passage for the working fluid, and a rotatable separation wheel (15) which is provided with a number of blades (17), evenly distributed in the circumferential direction of said wheel and serving as separation elements, successively insertable into the groove (14) of the rotor (11) and arranged to divide the groove (14) into a number of working chambers which follow one after the other in the longitudinal direction of the groove and which, during coordinated simultaneous rotation of the rotor (11) and the separation wheel (15), are brought to move along the groove (14) in the longitudinal direction thereof while successively changing their volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Inventor: John Holger Jönsson
  • Patent number: 6547546
    Abstract: The present invention may be used in pumps and hydraulic engines and increases the functional capacities of rotary machines. This invention relates to a rotary machine comprising a body in which an adjustment member is mounted so as to be capable of displacement along the rotation axis. A plurality of systems, that define the axial and mutual disposition of sliders, are mounted so as to be capable of changing their position relative to the rotor and the body, and are cinematically connected to the adjustment member. The sliders are mounted so as to be capable of changing their position upon displacement of the adjustment member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Inventors: Alexandr Anatolievich Stroganov, Alexandr Nikolaevich Zimnikov
  • Patent number: 6547547
    Abstract: Apparatus for integrally molding articles with a foam member, including a charger for supplying raw material beads made of resin to a die cavity containing articles for integral molding with foam, a plurality of work piece nozzles each having a nozzle opening in fluid communication with the cavity. At least one of the workpiece nozzles is located at a position corresponding to an opening located in an article located in the die. A plurality of exhaust nozzles for exhausting air from the cavity, the exhausting air beginning with a group of exhaust nozzles at locations maximally distant from the raw material charging port, and groups of exhaust nozzles located successively closer to the raw material charging port, each group in turn for sequentially exhausting air from the cavity, while the port is charging the cavity with raw material beads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Daisen Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Iwao Nohara, Shigeki Yoshimura, Kiyotaka Ida
  • Patent number: 6547548
    Abstract: A tire vulcanizing system has a mold assembly M for vulcanizing a tire, which has a bladder assembly M300 which is supplied with a heating/pressurizing medium, a heating chamber C1a at the outer peripheral portion of a tire mold C, and upper and lower heating plates M100A and M200A of the tire mold, and is configured movably and so as to be capable of overcoming a force to open the mold by means of the pressure in a bladder BL; a plurality of mold opening/closing and vulcanizing stations 300 each of which receives the mold assembly M and opens and closes the same, and has a vulcanized tire unloader 302, a green tire loader 301, and a bladder operating/driving device 314; a changing/preheating station 200 which performs the change and preheating of the tire mold C incorporated in the mold assembly M and a bladder assembly 300; and mold transportation apparatus 100 which reciprocates between these two stations 300 and 200 to transport the mold assembly M.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Nobuhiko Irie
  • Patent number: 6547549
    Abstract: A pelletizing die for a pelletizer comprises a base body with holes for melt to pass through; the holes are disposed in rows. Allocated to the holes are wearing-protection inserts, having holes which are in alignment with the holes in the base body. The inserts which are disposed to adjoin each other in a row have a chordal surface where they are turned toward an adjoining insert and are provided with at least one surface of an arcuate segment of a cylinder laterally of the chordal surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Krupp, Werner & Pfeiderer GmbH
    Inventors: Friedrich Schneider, Ulrich Wiesner, Jürgen Bartl
  • Patent number: 6547550
    Abstract: This specification discloses a method and apparatus for forming and extruding ceramic materials. The apparatus utilizes a vacuum chamber mounted within a heating chamber or element; and the ceramic forming chamber is mounted within the vacuum chamber. A press is slidably mounted within vacuum and forming chambers in order to apply pressure to the ceramic materials during the heating step and subsequently during the ceramics extrusion step. The heating chamber applies heat to the vacuum chamber and forming chamber during the sintering and extrusion step. The forming chamber preferably remains in position within the vacuum chamber during the entire ceramic article manufacturing process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Inventor: Ross Guenther
  • Patent number: 6547551
    Abstract: In a conventional multilayer crosshead, only one pressure sensor is disposed in the inlet of the annular passage, preventing monitoring of membrane discontinuities; parison thickness is not constant; as the crosshead body is not cooled and parison temperature is high, a long time is required for cooling during blow molding, preventing the reduction of the molding cycle. A multilayer crosshead according to the present invention includes pressure sensors disposed in at least two positions of the annular passage so that the flow rate is controlled and monitored so as to eliminate the pressure difference between the pressure sensors, and parison temperature is lowered to a greater degree by a cooling jacket with a built-in heater disposed in the crosshead body so that a blow molding cycle is shortened.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignees: The Japan Steel Works, Ltd., Yachiyo Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuzo Omi, Syouji Satou, Takatoshi Watanabe, Akira Rikiishi, Hajime Kudo, Yoshitaka Ohno, Toshio Kagitani, Sohei Masaki, Shoji Abe
  • Patent number: 6547552
    Abstract: Improved apparatus are diclosed for stepwise, layer by layer fabrication of three-dimensional objects by irradiation of radiation-curable materials, in which the critical steps of fast and efficient deposition of thin, flat layers of material covered with a radiation-transmitting film, as well as careful separation of the film upon irradiation, are achieved by using a reciprocating carriage that during its motion changes the elevation of the film. When the carriage is moving in one direction, the film is being laid down forming a layer, and when upon irradiation the carriage is returning, it is peeling the film off without distorting the formed layer. Improved apparatus are provided that build the whole object on an open platform without using a container or form each layer above container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Inventor: Efrem V. Fudim
  • Patent number: 6547553
    Abstract: A plastic article is formed in an injection mold by injecting molten plastic into the injection mold at an elevated temperature, cooling the plastic from the molten condition to a solid condition, and crystallizing a portion of the plastic by slowing down the cooling of said portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd.
    Inventors: Michael Koch, Robert D. Schad, Laura Martin, James D. Sykes, Dan Stracovsky, Bruce Catoen
  • Patent number: 6547554
    Abstract: A combustion system and a method for adapting the combustion system to utilize a first fuel when the system has been designed for a second fuel. The method and system provide inlets for adding air to lower the quality of the first fuel to the quality of the second fuel or inlets for adding a third fuel of a higher quality than the second fuel to raise the quality of the first fuel to the level of the quality of the second fuel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Rational Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Rudolf Koegl, Manfred Lichtenstern, Roland Hegmann, Simon Pattermann, Franz Koch, Jaroslav Klouda, Rainer Otminghaus
  • Patent number: 6547555
    Abstract: In a regenerator made of materials each comprising alumina as a main ingredient, and used for the regenerative combustion burner which is fired with alternately and repeatedly operations of heat storage by the passage of high-temperature flue gas in a fixed time and heating of combustion air by passage of the combustion air in a next fixed time, under the condition that the flue gas includes metal dust; the alumina purities in the materials for the regenerator are lowered in the order, the high-temperature, medium-temperature and low-temperature parts of the regenerator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignees: NKK Corporation, Nippon Furnace Kogyo Kaisha, Ltd., NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Isao Mori, Yutaka Suzukawa, Jun Sudo, Yoshiyuki Kasai
  • Patent number: 6547556
    Abstract: A single furnace system integrates, in combination, two or more distinct heating environments (which in the preferred embodiments include a conduction heating environment and a convection heating environment) integrated such that the multiple environments define a continuous heating chamber through which a moving workpiece (such as a casting) transitions from one heating environment to the other without being exposed to the atmosphere. In accordance with the preferred methods, the transitioning of the casting from one environment to the other is accomplished with no meaningful change in temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Consolidated Engineering Company, Inc.
    Inventors: Scott P. Crafton, James L. Lewis, Jr.
  • Patent number: 6547557
    Abstract: A water-coolable furnace roller for conveying goods to be transported through a roller hearth heating furnace has a shaft supported external to the furnace and driven in rotation. The shaft has an outer contact surface. Support rings having a receiving bore, respectively, are arranged with the receiving bore on the shaft, wherein the support rings form a conveying plane. The receiving bore has an inner contact surface, and at least one of the inner and the outer contact surfaces has a shape of a polygon contour of substantially constant diameter with fitting surfaces defining an orbiform curve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: SMS Demag Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Jürgen Lemke
  • Patent number: 6547558
    Abstract: An inner combustion chamber access door member for a fuel-fired water heater has main and pilot burner structures respectively supported thereon by gas supply tubes sealingly extending through and anchored to the door member, and is further provided with a wire pass-through tube and a sight glass opening. After the door member has been externally secured to a side wall portion of the water heater over an access opening therein, with the main and pilot burner structures disposed in the combustion chamber of the water heater, a lighting wand is extended through the sight glass opening to light and test the burners. Subsequently, a sight glass structure is snapped into the sight glass opening to complete the installation of the door/burner assembly. Thermocouple and igniter wires extend through the pass-through tube, and are sealed therein by a laterally split resilient cylindrical sealing plug member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: The Water Heater Industry Joint Research and Development Consortium
    Inventor: Shannon H. McCall
  • Patent number: 6547559
    Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for supporting a semiconductor wafer in a vacuum and transferring heat by gas conduction between the wafer and a wafer chuck to facilitate wafer processing. The wafer substrate is loaded onto a seat plate, and then a clamp ring is lowered against the force of compression springs that bias the seat plate upward on guides extending upward from the body of the chuck. The clamp ring touches the wafer on the front or top side with an inner O-ring that is attached to the bottom of the clamp ring, and forces the wafer and the seat plate down to a lower position parallel to a heat transfer surface of the chuck, spaced therefrom by a narrow gap. In the lower position, an outer O-ring that is also attached to the bottom of the clamp contacts an outer sealing surface that surrounds the heat transfer surface, thereby enclosing a cavity that includes an annular chamber around the outside of the chuck and the narrow gap. Gas is supplied to the passage and thus to the gap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Veeco Instruments, Inc.
    Inventor: Julian Hodos
  • Patent number: 6547560
    Abstract: An orthodontic bite jumping device for use in the treatment of malocclusion or overbite, having a telescoping limiting assembly to prevent an inner cylindrical member from being completely pulled-out of an outer tube as a patient opens their mouth very wide. The outer tube is adapted to be mounted to an upper jaw or maxilla and the inner cylindrical member is concentrically disposed in the outer tube and adapted to be mounted to a lower jaw or mandible. The telescoping limiting assembly limits the distance the inner cylindrical member can slide out of the outer tube via a pair of notches and an L-shaped resilient lever arm. The first notch is formed in close proximity to a free end of the outer tube. The second notch is formed in close proximity to a free end of the inner cylindrical member and has a rear blocking surface and a forward descending slope or ramped surface to a bottom of the rear blocking surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Inventor: Juan F. Vazquez
  • Patent number: 6547561
    Abstract: An intraosseous delivery apparatus having a drilling member and a sleeve member. The drilling member includes a drill housing, a connecting portion for establishing a connection to a conventional dental drilling apparatus, and a drill extending from the drill housing. The sleeve member includes a sleeve housing, and a hollow sleeve extending from the sleeve housing. The sleeve housing is adapted to be removably engaged with the drill housing such that the drill is inserted into the hollow sleeve. The drill has a length such that when the drill is inserted into the hollow sleeve, a portion of the drill extends beyond the hollow sleeve. As a result, when the drill is used to drill a hole in bone, the drill is inserted deeper into the hole than the hollow sleeve. The hollow sleeve is adapted to be left inserted in the bone when the drill is removed therefrom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Tulsa Dental Products Inc.
    Inventors: Moshe Meller, Michael Feldman
  • Patent number: 6547562
    Abstract: The invention provides a depth gauging system and a method for forming depth indicating bands on amorphous hard carbon coated dental tool bits and the like. The method uses a laser to process, treat or pseudo-etch selected surfaces of the coated tool bit. Advantageously, the laser pseudo-etching creates bands or indicia that substantially preserve or retain some or all of the desirable bulk properties of the hard carbon coating, for example, the corrosion resistance. Desirably, the bands provide visual differentiation during the preparation of an osteotomy in bone material which allows a surgeon to precisely control the depth of the osteotomy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Nobel Biocare AB
    Inventor: Ajay Kumar
  • Patent number: 6547563
    Abstract: A method which comprises using silicone rubber as a material for dental tissue conditioner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Tokuyama Corporation
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Hosoi, Osamu Iwamoto, Takaaki Imakura
  • Patent number: 6547564
    Abstract: Implant (10) having a shaft which is adapted in use to be embedded in bone tissue and which has an outer surface provided with a circumferentially-oriented roughness. The circumferentially-oriented roughness has first and second axial sections (19, 21) with each section comprising a series of circumferentially-oriented peaks which have a crest and which are axially spaced apart by troughs. The axial spacing (d) between the crests of adjacent peaks in the first axial section (19) is less than the axial spacing (3d) between the crests of adjacent peaks in the second axial section (21). Although the axial spacing between the crests of adjacent peaks in the first and second axial sections of circumferentially-oriented roughness differs, the first and second axial sections of circumferentially-oriented roughness are adapted in use to provide the same or substantially the same pitch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Astra Aktiebolag
    Inventor: Stig Hansson
  • Patent number: 6547565
    Abstract: An instrument is connected to a driving-in tool or drilling tool for elements on or in the form of an implant or drill for dentine. The tool includes an electric motor, the torque of which can be sensed, and which can be controlled by a control unit. A display unit is arranged so as to partly or fully display a curve representing the driving-in function performed. A tightening function is determined by a scale based on the slope of the curve, wherein a flatter slope represents a lower quality function and a steeper slope represents a higher quality function. A frictional resistance which exists for an element during the driving-in of the element can be determined in order to allow secure locking (preload) of the element by tension in the material of the element. A torque-time curve can be used assess the bone quality of bone being implanted or drilled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Nobel Biocare AB (publ)
    Inventors: Andrew Dawood, Anders Petersson
  • Patent number: 6547566
    Abstract: A method of restoring a tooth using a dental construct of the type wherein the construct is placed onto the tooth using a dental cement to bond the construct to the tooth. After placement of the construct onto the tooth, excess cement is removed with a soft, pointed brush. The dental margins are then brushed with a photocurable dental resin cement which is the same as or different from the dental cement used to bond the construct to the tooth. The resin cement is then light cured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Dentsply Research & Development Corp.
    Inventors: Cornelis Pameijer, Daniel Fortin, Steven R. Jefferies
  • Patent number: 6547567
    Abstract: An apparatus has a ball that bounces vertically on a vibrating piston. The system demonstrates the complex dynamics impact systems for education and research in dynamical systems theory and feedback control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: The University of Arizona
    Inventors: Thomas Lange Vincent, Bradley Evan Paden, Randolph James Crowson, II, Tom Dragnes, David Brian Paden
  • Patent number: 6547568
    Abstract: The education intermediary system and method for facilitating an interested learner to have a worldwide choice of an instructor who is best matched with his expectations are disclosed. The education intermediary system comprises a first database and a first processing means. The first database contains data of a plurality of instructors. The first processing means receives a first set of data inputted by an interested learner and, based on selection criteria containing the first set of data, selects from the first database an instructor who is best matched with the selection criteria, and provides from the first database at least part of the data of the selected instructor to the interested learner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Inventor: Kiyokazu Yamano