Patents Issued in March 27, 2007
  • Patent number: 7194940
    Abstract: An enhancing structure of an electronic torsional tool having an electronic strain gauge for measuring a torsional force applied thereon; wherein the electronic torsional tool having a main body comprising: an extending rod mounted in the main body and extended through a longitudinal length of the main body, so as to enhance flexibility of the main body. The main body is provided with a hole to enhance flexibility of the main body. The extending rod is extended through a longitudinal length of the hole of the main body, so as to enhance the strength of the hole of the main body. The strain gauge is mounted in the hole of the main body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Inventor: Chih-Ching Hsieh
  • Patent number: 7194941
    Abstract: In an apparatus and a method for the manufacture of perforated plaster boards, provision is made for the operations of punching and cutting the sides to take place one directly after the other with the boards being held in position by grabbing and conveying equipments during the entire working time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Inventor: Erich R. Vogl
  • Patent number: 7194942
    Abstract: A punch includes a base with a base plate mounted thereto and a plurality of punch units are fixedly connected to the base plate by bolts. A plurality of connection holes and connection grooves are defined in the base plate, wherein the connection grooves communicate with the connection holes, and the connection holes and the connection grooves are arranged in a row. Each punch unit has a bottom plate and two positioning blocks extend from the bottom plate. The positioning blocks can be slid along the connection grooves so that the punch units can be easily shifted along the connection grooves to adjust the distances between the punch units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Inventor: Ying Chou Lee
  • Patent number: 7194943
    Abstract: An ignition arrangement for a barrel assembly (10) including a barrel (11) having a plurality of projectiles (15a, 15b, 15c) axially stacked within the barrel (11) together with respective propellant charges (20) for propelling the projectiles sequentially from the barrel, said ignition arrangement including a fuse (21, 22) disposed in a cavity (27) provided in a body (18) of each projectile, wherein the cavity (27) communicates both forwardly (28) and rearwardly (29) of the projectile body (18); whereby in use, said fuse (21) burns at a controlled rate in the cavity (27) and causes ignition of the propellant charge (20) associated with said projectile (15a), which in turn ignites the next following fuse (22) associated with a trailing projectile (15b).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Metal Storm Limited
    Inventor: Sean Patrick O'Dwyer
  • Patent number: 7194944
    Abstract: A bullet trap is disclosed which is formed without intervening sidewalls to enable cross-shooting and the like with reduced risk or ricochet or damage to the bullet trap. Furthermore, the bullet trap can be configured in a variety of ways to eliminate the need for facing plates while providing a removable attachment mechanism, to enable repair on the trap, to reduce bullet adhesion to the trap and to provide improved containment of lead and improved access to the trap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Action Target, Inc.
    Inventors: Spencer Lambert, Kyle Bateman, Thomas Marshall
  • Patent number: 7194945
    Abstract: A barrel assembly with a barrel is provided. The barrel comprises a plurality of external chambers containing respective propellant charges, a plurality of projectiles stacked nose to tail within the barrel and comprising respective expansion spaces for propellant gases, and a control system configured to ignite the propellant charges to create the propellant gases and propel the projectiles sequentially from the barrel. Each projectile has a corresponding external chamber and an expansion space and each chamber comprises a port that conveys propellant gas from the chamber into the expansion space for propulsion of the respective projectile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Metal Storm Limited
    Inventor: James Michael O'Dwyer
  • Patent number: 7194946
    Abstract: A pneumatic servomotor (12) for power-assisted braking for a motor vehicle, which servomotor is of the type having a substantially cylindrical rigid casing (16) inside which a moving transverse partition (18) is movably mounted that has a peripheral skirt (28) which is made of sheet metal and which is covered, at least in the vicinity of its periphery (40), with a sealing diaphragm (30) made of an elastomer material and whose periphery (32) is fixed to the casing (16) in leaktight manner, said servomotor being characterized in that, in the vicinity of the periphery (40) of the skirt (28), the skirt is provided with a stamped annular recess (42) defining an internal groove (44) which serves to receive snugly a peripheral bead (46) which projects from the surface of the diaphragm (30) in order to fix the diaphragm (30) to the skirt (28) in leaktight manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Inventor: Juan Simon Bacardit
  • Patent number: 7194947
    Abstract: A hydraulic actuating device for moving a retractable hard-top of a convertible car. The actuating device comprises a double-acting hydraulic actuator, the first connection of the actuator being in communication with an associated throttling assembly which is designed to provide either an optionally controllable throttling or a clear passage opening, which is larger than the throttling opening, as a function of a switching parameter. The throttling assembly has a pressure-detection means for detecting the hydraulic pressure in the second working chamber, which pressure-detection means has associated with it a predetermined switching pressure. The throttling assembly is designed such that—when pressurized hydraulic fluid is supplied to the second working chamber—the clear passage opening is active if the detected pressure in the second working chamber is above the switching pressure and that the throttling is active if the detected second working chamber hydraulic pressure is below the switching pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Actuant Corporation
    Inventor: Laurentius Andreas Gerardus Mentink
  • Patent number: 7194948
    Abstract: An adjustor for a secondary pump of a brake includes a stationary plate attached to the secondary pump, a cylinder attached to the stationary plate, a piston movable in the cylinder, a rod extended through the cylinder and connected to the piston, a handle connected to the cylinder, an inlet valve put on the handle, and an outlet valve put on the handle. Pressurized air can enter the cylinder through the handle and drive the piston and hence the rod while going in the cylinder. The inlet valve controls the inlet of the pressurized air into the cylinder through the cylinder handle. The outlet valve controls the release of the pressurized air from the cylinder through the handle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Inventor: Lai-Chen Liu
  • Patent number: 7194949
    Abstract: A magnet type rodless cylinder comprised of cylinder tube of a double tube structure provided with an outside tube of an elliptical flattened outside circumferential shape and two inside tubes inserted into the outside tube. When pressurized air is supplied alternately to the inside tubes from a port provided at an end cap, two pistons move reciprocatingly inside the inside tubes. Due to this reciprocating motion, this reciprocating motion causes reciprocating motion of a slide magnetically coupled with the two pistons at the outside of the outside tube. The inside pressure caused by the pressurized air acts exclusively on the inside tubes and does not directly act on the outside tube of the flattened outside circumferential shape, so the thickness of the outside tube can be reduced and, even if the cylinder tube is made a double tube structure, the total thickness will not become greater than in the past.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventor: Mitsuo Noda
  • Patent number: 7194950
    Abstract: A high production nutcracking apparatus wherein the nuts are fed from a hopper on a feed conveyor which has an upwardly inclined segment which passes through the hopper, a horizontal segment which leads to the cracking apparatus, and an arcuate transition juncture which is between the two segments. The nuts are received in nut transport elements of the feed conveyor, and they are singularized and oriented while being advanced by means of a deflecting plate which overlies the feed conveyor from a point along the upwardly inclined segment, along the transition juncture, and to a delivery point where the nuts are lifted from the conveyor by a cracking turret. The downstream end portion of the deflecting plate comprises an elastomeric flap, which is highly flexible and relatively soft and which engages the advancing nuts with a frictional force sufficient to roll the nuts about their end to end axes and thereby properly orient the nuts in the nut transport elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Machine Design Incorporated
    Inventors: James B. Quantz, Pascal W. Pitts, John L. Feaster
  • Patent number: 7194951
    Abstract: A mug (10), specifically a vessel (20) incorporating a plunger assembly (30), that includes a number of fingers (42), is improved by positioning the fingers downwardly to contact the side wall of the vessel. The improvement also includes the following; a minor diameter portion (58) of the vessel sized to fit a motor vehicle cup holder. An open distal ended liner (62) intimately embracing a storage container compartment (60) formed on an inside surface of the outer shell minor diameter portion of the vessel. A closure base (66) removably engages the liner and encloses the bottom of the vessels storage container compartment. The closure base includes a number of inwardly facing spacer legs (68) that removably retain a storage container (72) including a detachable lid (74). The storage container provides a receptacle for such items as coffee grinds, tea leaves, sugar and creamer etc. such that the items may be conveniently available with the mug.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Planetary Design, LLC
    Inventor: Mark D. Porter
  • Patent number: 7194952
    Abstract: A stencil printing machine includes a rotatable printing drum including an outer peripheral wall of ink impermeable material. A stencil paper is mounted around the surface of the outer peripheral wall. An ink supplying mechanism includes an ink supplying unit in the maximum printing area of the outer peripheral wall of the printing drum and causes ink to be supplied from the ink supplying unit to the surface of the outer peripheral wall. A pressure roller presses a fed print sheet against the outer peripheral wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Riso Kagaku Corporation
    Inventors: Taku Naitou, Akira Nakamura
  • Patent number: 7194953
    Abstract: A blanket is located on an outer surface of a roller, such as printing unit roller. The blanket has an elastic and/or a compressive layer with a surface pressure that depends on the degree of the impression. The layer is selected so that a depending of the surface pressure on the impression has, at least in some areas, a slope of less than 700 (N/cm2)/mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Koenig & Bauer Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Ralf Christel, Oliver Frank Hahn, Karl Erich Albert Schaschek
  • Patent number: 7194954
    Abstract: A stamping system for forming a continuous image on an image surface. The stamping system comprises a handle assembly, a stamp wheel, and an inking system. The stamp wheel defines a stamp surface and is rotatably attached to the handle assembly. The inking system comprises a cartridge assembly comprising an inking member, an axle, and a housing member. The inking member defines a through-hole and first and second side surfaces. The axle comprises a center portion and first and second flange portions. The axle supports the inking member such that the center portion lies within the through-hole and the first and second flange portions extend at least partly along the first and second side surfaces. The housing member supports the axle for movement relative to the handle assembly. The inking system further comprises a biasing assembly supported by the handle assembly for applying a force on the housing member such that the inking member comes into contact with the stamp surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Clearsnap Holding, Inc.
    Inventor: Jeffrey M. Winston
  • Patent number: 7194955
    Abstract: An ink fountain assembly for a printing press has, or can be retrofitted with, a removable template and ink blade adjustment screws having pointer-like knobs. When the template is installed on the assembly, the knobs point to scales printed on the template.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Inventor: James R. Clark
  • Patent number: 7194956
    Abstract: There is prepared a printing plate on which a material being hydrophilic due to light energy at a first temperature and being hydrophobic at a second temperature due to heat energy which is lower than the first temperature is provided. First, the whole surface of the printing plate is forcibly made either one of hydrophobic or hydrophilic. Next, a region having the other nature out of hydrophobic and hydrophilic is formed so as to correspond to an image to be printed. Then, ink is supplied onto the region having hydrophobic nature to conduct offset printing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Nobufumi Mori, Takao Nakayama, Takashi Nakamura, Koji Kamiyama
  • Patent number: 7194957
    Abstract: Printing one or more value indicia onto a printable medium using a remote device coupled to a computer server via a communications network includes accessing the computer server with the remote device. A user is prompted to select a serial number associated with the printable medium, and the serial number is transmitted to the computer server using the remote device. A print control program is received from the computer server. Information for printing one or more value indicia are transmitted from the computer server to the remote device. The print control program executes on the remote device to print the one or more value indicia to the printable medium using a printer coupled with the remote device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Neopost Inc.
    Inventors: J. P. Leon, L. Carlton Brown, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7194958
    Abstract: A process is provided for printing a graphic image onto a cue sports cloth to form a cloth layout including a bed cloth and cushion cloths. The process comprises supplying the desired dimensions of the bed cloth and cushion cloths to a digital computer, accessing a digital image, and scaling and dividing the digital image to enable the image to be printed onto a cloth, with part of the image on the bed cloth and part of the image on at least one of the cushion cloths. The image is then printed onto the cloth using a digital printing apparatus and suitable inks to create a piece of printed cloth having on it a series of image portions making up the bed cloth and the cushions. When separated and fitted to the cue sports table, the bed cloth and cushion cloths co-ordinate to create a printed image having a portion of the said image on the bed cloth and a co-ordinating portion of the image on at least one cushion cloth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Milliken Industrials Limited
    Inventors: Alan John Brasier, Stuart Gardiner
  • Patent number: 7194959
    Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for controlling the launch and burst of pyrotechnic projectiles in a pyrotechnic, or “fireworks”, display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: MagicFire, Inc.
    Inventors: George Bossarte, Glenn W. Dillon, Paul R. McKinley, Wayne C. Haase, Larry G. Nelson
  • Patent number: 7194960
    Abstract: Projectile systems are provided herein employing an inhibiting and/or marking substance for impairing/marking a living target, such as a human or animal target. In preferred embodiments, the projectile system includes a generally frangible projectile that is optimally filled to at least about 50%, with the substance to be delivered to the target, such that the substance is radially dispersed into a cloud upon impact. In one implementation, the substance delivered comprises a powdered inhibiting substance, such as a powdered pepper. In one implementation, the powdered inhibiting substance comprises a substance having one or more capsaicinoids.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: PepperBall Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Edward J. Vasel, Scott C. Nunan, Gregory A. Niederhaus, Peter G. Coakley
  • Patent number: 7194961
    Abstract: A reactive composite projectile includes a reactive composite material in a solid form and an encasement material applied to and surrounding the solid form for exerting compressive forces thereon. Additionally or alternatively, an elongate structure can be positioned in the solid form. The elongate structure is made from a material having a mass density that is approximately 2 to 10 times the mass density of the reactive composite material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventor: Nicholas V. Nechitailo
  • Patent number: 7194962
    Abstract: A versatile oven for converting carbon based natural resources and waste material to hydrocarbon vapor and carbon char utilizing rapid thermal processing and having the capability of utilizing a portion of the relatively inexpensive carbon based material being processed as the fuel to provide at least some of the process heat and also including a means for reducing NOx emissions in the gases exhausted from a furnace used to burn the converted hydrocarbon vapor for application of the heat energy and also a means for delivering the converted hydrocarbon vapor to a condensing system if it is desired to liquefy at least some portion of the thermally converted hydrocarbon vapor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Inventor: Jerry M. Edmondson
  • Patent number: 7194963
    Abstract: The present invention utilizes radiation reflectors on the refractory wall of a fired furnace opposite the spaces between adjacent tubes. The refractory radiation reflectors have a base contiguous with the refractory surface and secured to a subjacent structure, and an isosceles triangular cross section with similar sides extending from the base. The base has a dimension less than the spaces between adjacent tubes to facilitate installation in a modular construction. The radiation reflectors focus the reflected radiation from the flame onto the dark side of the tubes. The invention increases the overall heat transfer of the tube by increasing the heat flux rate for the backside of the tube, and also decreases the flux and temperature differentials between the front and rear sides of the tubes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Inventor: Ram Ganeshan
  • Patent number: 7194964
    Abstract: In a chemical soil disinfestation method, a fungicidally, insecticidally or nematicidally active amount of a mixture M comprising a component a) of a1) 20 to 96% by weight of sulfur, a2) 4 to 80% by weight of a complexing agent and, if appropriate, one or more crop protection agents b) and/or additives c) is applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: BASF Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Jörn Tidow, Herbert Scholz, Adolf Parg, Reinhold Stadler, Karl-Heinrich Schneider, Reinhardt Hähndel, Gerhard Pompejus, Francesc Riera Forcades
  • Patent number: 7194965
    Abstract: A system and method for providing an input attribute collected in an area while harvesting a crop from the area is described. The input attribute is collected and the geographic position occupied by a machine for applying materials to the area is measured. The input attribute and the geographic position are transmitted to a central system and associated with a zone including the geographic position at which the input attribute was collected. The zone is stored along with its associated input attribute. As the crop is harvested, the geographic position occupied by the harvesting machine is measured. The measured position of the harvesting machine is compared with the stored zone. If the position of the harvesting machine is determined to be in the stored zone, the input attribute associated with the zone is supplied to the operator of the harvesting machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventors: David W. Hickey, Michael Bajc, Craig A. Sutton
  • Patent number: 7194966
    Abstract: An embroidery frame for holding an embroidering fabric in a spread-out condition is detachably attached to mounting members at a predetermined position. Positioning members are removably fixed to a base frame at a predetermined position. The mounting members are attached to the positioning members so that their mounted positions relative to the positioning members are adjustable, so that the embroidery frame is adjustably and removably mounted on the base frame via the mounting members and the positioning members. Once the position of the mounting members relative to the positioning members has been established, and when the mounting members are to be detached from the base frame, the mounting members only have to be detached together with the positioning members so that the relative positional relationship between the adjusted positional state of the mounting members relative to the positioning members can be maintained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Tokai Kogyo Mishin Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ikuo Tajima, Aisuke Murase
  • Patent number: 7194967
    Abstract: The present invention provides a placement holder for embroidering patches. The placement holder fits inside an embroidery hoop for use in an automated embroidery machine and contains a cutout section in the shape of the patch. The patch is placed inside the cutout section of the holder, which aligns the patch with the needles of the embroidery machine. The placement holder allows the patch to be properly aligned without the need for making a running stitch and securing the patch within the bounds of the running stitch with adhesives.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Inventor: Monier Bowlus
  • Patent number: 7194968
    Abstract: An embroidery frame of the present disclosure is provided with an upper frame and a lower frame, both of which clamping a workpiece cloth therebetween, and a clamping unit that presses the upper frame against the lower frame. A projection is formed on an upper surface of the lower frame, wherein a plurality of notched recesses are formed on an outer peripheral surface of the projection. On the other hand a groove capable of being fitted with the projection is formed on a lower surface of the upper frame, wherein a plurality of protrusions capable of being fitted with the notched recesses are formed in the groove.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yoshiyuki Okazaki
  • Patent number: 7194969
    Abstract: A needle plate includes a first needle plate fixed to a sewing machine bed and having a needle hole through which a sewing needle is penetratable and a square hole through which a feed dog for feeding a workpiece cloth is projected and retracted; a second needle plate positioned in front of the first needle plate and above a horizontal hook mechanism and detachably attached to the first needle plate; an engagement mechanisms in which the second needle plate is slid into engagement with the first needle plate; and a disengagement mechanism for disengagement of the engagement mechanisms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tomoyasu Niizeki, Hiroshi Yamasaki
  • Patent number: 7194970
    Abstract: A method of forming a fabric block that depicts an eight-point star by using only square-shaped and rectangular-shaped pieces of fabric. A square-shaped piece of fabric is sewn to a first rectangular-shaped piece of fabric and this combination is sewn to a second rectangular shaped piece of fabric to form a square-shaped fabric segment that is sewn to a second square-shaped fabric segment to form a square-shaped quarter portion depicting two points of the star. The four square-shaped quarter portions are sewn together resulting in a square-shaped fabric block depicting an eight-point star. This method overcomes the challenges and difficulties encountered when attempting to make an eight-point star design from diamond, triangle, and square geometric shapes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Silver Star, Inc.
    Inventor: Nancy I. Srebro
  • Patent number: 7194971
    Abstract: A lifting arrangement for lifting boats 2 off the water and for putting boats 2 onto the water is provided, which comprises a crane 8, 9, 27 and pallets or cassettes 16 to be arranged under the hull of a boat 2 to be lifted or put down, connected to the crane. These lifting elements can be lowered below the floating boat, with preferably centering elements 41, 42 being provided for aligning the boat 2 in reference to a lifting element 16 positioned underneath.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Keuro Besitz GmbH & Co. EDV - Dienslleistungs KG
    Inventor: Armin Stolzer
  • Patent number: 7194972
    Abstract: A vessel that varies its draft by adopting any one of three primary hull forms or configurations is disclosed. The primary hull forms include: a catamaran configuration, a barge configuration, and a SWATH configuration. The vessel is capable of reconfiguring between these hull forms while underway. Reconfiguration is accomplished by vertical movement of a center hull and/or at least one of two side-hull members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventor: Steven J. Schmitz, Sr.
  • Patent number: 7194973
    Abstract: A fluid cushioned platform adapted to float on a body of liquid. The platform includes a deck having upper and lower surfaces and a lower peripheral member extending around the outer perimeter of the deck. A pump having a pump outlet is supported by the deck. A fill pipe has a first end connected to the pump outlet and a second end in communication with the lower surface of the deck. The pump is adapted to pump a fluid through the fill pipe to a blow tank formed beneath the deck between the surface of the liquid and the deck within the area circumscribed by the lower peripheral member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Inventor: James L. Dunn
  • Patent number: 7194974
    Abstract: A steering device of a personal watercraft is disclosed. The steering device typically includes a lower steering column that is mounted to a body of the watercraft and is configured to be rotatable around a rotational axis extending rearward and upward, and an upper steering column that is configured to support a steering handle and is movably coupled to the lower steering column. The upper steering column is movable close to and away from the lower steering column along a straight line extending to be inclined rearward with respect to the rotational axis of the lower steering column.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kunihiko Kamio
  • Patent number: 7194975
    Abstract: A health monitoring system for an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) is disposed within a submerged docking station. The health monitoring system receive signals representative of performance of the docking station equipment and uses the data to determine the health status of the docking station equipment, to generate health status data representative thereof, and transmits the health status data to a remote station. The health monitoring system also retrieves health status data from UUVs that are periodically docked in the docking station, and transmits this data to the remote station.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Honeywell International, Inc.
    Inventors: Calvin C. Potter, Sharon K. Brault, Paul T. Wingett
  • Patent number: 7194976
    Abstract: A boat cover system for covering a boat. The boat cover system is attached to an existing structure and includes a track assembly, a roller assembly, and a cover. The track assembly includes at least one section of track and a coupling assembly for attaching the track assembly to the existing structure. The roller assembly is slidingly coupled to the track and includes a pulley system that moves the cover from a first position to a second position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Inventor: Timothy A. Kramer
  • Patent number: 7194977
    Abstract: Bird feeding apparatus comprising a main body that provides access to bird food and a base member having a plurality of shedding faces which are inclined so that a bed of food particles in the main body settling under gravity is shed towards feeding ports located proximal the periphery of the base; where each shedding face has at least two mutually inclined substantially flat surfaces that together form a valley the floor of which descends as it approaches the periphery of the base.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: CJ Wildbird Foods Limited
    Inventor: Robert Kenneth Nock
  • Patent number: 7194978
    Abstract: The present invention provides for a method for inducing sterility in fish by administering at least one compound that disrupts the establishment of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone system during early development thereby inhibiting sexual maturity in the treated fish. Effective compounds include GABA, GABA receptor agonists, or GABA receptor antagonists.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignees: University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, Ramot at Tel Aviv University, United States of America
    Inventors: Yonathan Zohar, Yoav Gothilf, Susan Wray
  • Patent number: 7194979
    Abstract: Ammonia in the air exhausted from animal containment facilities may be removed by scrubbing the air with a solution of a suitable salt of an acidic proton donor such as alum. Ammonia may be removed from the air within any enclosed animal building which includes at least one air inlet and at least one outlet, a ventilation system having an air mover effective to draw fresh air into the building through the inlet and exhaust contaminated air through the outlet, and an air scrubber in communication with the outlet. Prior to exhausting the air into the environment, the air is passed through the scrubber where it is contacted with a solution of the salt of an acidic proton donor effective for flocculating ammonia therein. The flocculated ammonia may then be removed from the solution, which may then be recycled to the scrubber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture
    Inventor: Philip A. Moore, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7194980
    Abstract: An automated carrier-based pest control system including a substantially automated sprayer. The system also includes a container in fluid communication with the substantially automated sprayer for holding a mixture of carrier-based ingredients, including one or more forms of wax, for discharge from the substantially automated sprayer. Also includes is one or more discharge control units operably connectable to the substantially automated sprayer and to the container for regulating discharge of the mixture of carrier-based ingredients.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Inventor: John Stuart Greeson
  • Patent number: 7194981
    Abstract: A rawhide pet chew is made by folding a first sheet of rawhide around at least a second sheet of rawhide and a third sheet of rawhide. The second and third sheets of rawhide are flavored to be appetizing to a pet, and the flavoring may impregnate the second and third sheets of rawhide. An edge of the second sheet of rawhide protrudes from under the first sheet to entice chewing and consumption of the pet chew by the pet. An edge of the third sheet of rawhide protrudes from under the first and second sheets to entice chewing and consumption of the pet chew by the pet. The first sheet of rawhide reduces opportunities for contact between the second and third sheets of rawhide and a decorative surface upon which the pet chew may rest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Aspen Pet Products, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert J. Kirch, Jack W. Renforth
  • Patent number: 7194982
    Abstract: A leash assembly includes a housing including a handle at one end and a leash extendable from and retractable into the housing. The leash assembly further includes a plurality of bags disposed within the handle. The leash assembly also includes a lid permitting access to the handle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: RPG Bags, LLC
    Inventor: Timothy Edwards
  • Patent number: 7194983
    Abstract: A circulating fluidized bed boiler including a furnace, a separator which is connected to the furnace to separate fluidized bed material from a flow leaving the furnace, as well as a return duct between the separator and the furnace to return the separated fluidized bed material into the furnace. The return duct includes a loop seal equipped with a heat exchanger and a supply of fluidizing medium and having an inlet and an outlet, which open into a chamber including the heat exchanger, i.e. a heat exchanger chamber, and are situated at different heights, the outlet being connected through a return conduit to the furnace. The flow cross-section area of the outlet is at an angle to the flow cross-section area of the inlet in such a way that the fluidized bed material is transferred in the heat exchanger chamber in lateral direction with respect to the inlet direction of its inlet flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Kvaerner Power Oy
    Inventor: Ari Kokko
  • Patent number: 7194984
    Abstract: A fuel system for improved fuel efficiency may include a fuel injector to transmit fuel in droplet form to a reaction region. A reaction rod may be positioned in the reaction region, where the reaction rod may have a convex end and a concave end. The fuel system may be used with engines such as gasoline engines, turbine engines, diesel engines, and steam engines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: PlasmaDrive, Inc.
    Inventor: Clarence Hugh Jonson
  • Patent number: 7194985
    Abstract: An engine cooling structure for a water cooled engine includes water pump and a thermostat. The water pump pumps coolant to a water jacket of the engine. The water pump and thermostat are provided on a cover member installed on an outside of a crankcase of the engine, and a coolant passage, which communicates with the water jacket through the water pump from the thermostat, is integrally formed in the cover member, so as to obtain arrangement of the cooling structure that is efficient in terms of space. The engine cooling structure increases the degree of freedom of layout around a cylinder head by keeping the projection amount on a side of the cylinder head small, simplifies the piping construction, and reduces the number of assembly steps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Karou Wachigai, Kenji Oki
  • Patent number: 7194986
    Abstract: A blow-off valve assembly for an internal combustion engine cooling system is biased to prevent coolant flow from the cooling system to the internal combustion engine when a pressure of the coolant is below a threshold. An actuating assembly is configured to impart a force on the blow-off valve sufficient to overcome the bias of the blow-off valve assembly when pressure of the coolant is insufficient to open the blow-off valve assembly. An engine control unit (ECU) is configured to determine if engine operating conditions warrant activation of the actuating assembly to unseat the blow-off valve if coolant pressure is below the threshold and, if so, transmit an actuating command signal to the actuating assembly to open the blow-off valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: BRP US Inc.
    Inventor: Sebastian Strauss
  • Patent number: 7194987
    Abstract: With an increase in torque demand, the internal combustion engine of the invention successively changes over a combination of a compression ratio, an air-fuel ratio, and a boost status of an air-fuel mixture from (1) settings of a high compression ratio, a lean air-fuel ratio, and a non-boosting state, (2) settings of the high compression ratio, the lean air-fuel ratio, and a boosting state, (3) settings of a low compression ratio, the lean air-fuel ratio, and the boosting state, to (4) settings of the low compression ratio, a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, and the boosting state. The changeover strategy desirably widens a driving area of the internal combustion engine at the high compression ratio of a high thermal efficiency or at the lean air-fuel ratio. Under the condition of a large torque demand, the internal combustion engine is driven with boosting the stoichiometric air-fuel mixture at the low compression ratio to output a sufficiently large torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kazuhisa Mogi
  • Patent number: 7194988
    Abstract: A combustion-type power tool includes a cylinder and a combustion chamber disposed on top of the cylinder that accommodates a gaseous mixture of existing air in the combustion chamber and fuel injected therein. A spark plug generates a spark to combust the gaseous mixture in the combustion chamber. A trigger switch produces the spark in the spark plug when operated. A piston is movably supported in the cylinder and driven by combustion in the combustion chamber. A driving blade is integrally formed with the piston for driving a fastener. A push lever is provided at one end of the housing and coupled with the combustion chamber frame. A temperature sensor is provided, for example, on the combustion chamber frame to sense the temperature thereof. A stopper is operated to adjust the position of the push lever to be shifted from an initial position when the sensed temperature is higher than a critical value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi Koki Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuki Ohmori, Shinki Ohtsu
  • Patent number: 7194989
    Abstract: A precision cast engine has a piston unit and a rotor unit to translate linear thrust from the piston unit into rotary power. Each piston rod is attached to a thrust absorber carriage running on precision bearings to eliminate piston drag on the cylinder walls. One or more drive rods extend from the carriage each into a curved groove on a power rotor to rotate it to transmit power via one or more drive shafts connected to drive components of transportation or other devices. An air intake valve on each piston provides automatic self aspirating to force combusted gasses out and draw in a controlled recharge of air for the fuel air mix.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Inventor: Samuel Raymond Hallenbeck