Did You Know...
...that the Eveready Battery began as an invention called the "electric flowerpot," which was a tube with a battery and light bulb inside? The idea was to fasten this gizmo to the side of a flowerpot so it would illuminate the flowers from the bottom. The idea died on the vine and the businessman who licensed the flower pot, Conrad Huber, was left with a pile of useless tubes -- until he found a way to market them as batteries to light the world!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 5841662 | Method and apparatus for chucked work piece recognition A recognition apparatus and method are provided for identifying the type of work piece loaded onto the rotating shaft chuck of an ophthalmic product generator. A digital electronic system supplies signals which control the angular displacement of the chuc... | 11/24/1998 |
| 5827173 | Prenatal audio communication device A prenatal audio communication device has a receiving chamber which accepts sound waves for transmission through a flexible tube to a megaphone secured against the abdomen of a pregnant woman so as to transfer sound waves from an external source with whic... | 10/27/1998 |
| 5814218 | Distorted rectangular filter cloth screen for vibrating screening machine A screen for use with a vibrating screening machine to filter undesired particles from a liquid uses a filter cloth having a substantially rectangular mesh suitable for separating the undesired particles from the liquid bonded in laminar relationship to a... | 09/29/1998 |
| 5806402 | Regulated speed linear actuator In a linear actuator, a cylinder is separated into forward and reverse chambers by a piston. A lead screw is threadedly engaged in the piston and a piston rod connects to the load. A turbine applies torque to the screw to urge the screw toward clockwise o... | 09/15/1998 |
| 5775556 | Opened shotgun holster A holster supports a shotgun at the side of a shooter above the ground in an opened condition. A seat supports the shotgun and spaced side walls extend upwardly to receive the pivotally connected barrel and stock portions of the shotgun therebetween so as... | 07/07/1998 |
| 5771295 | 5-2-5 matrix system A matrix system encodes five discrete audio signals down to a two-channel stereo recording and decodes the recorded stereo signal into at least five stand alone, independent channels to allow placement of specific sounds at any one of 5 or more predetermi... | 06/23/1998 |
| 5762546 | Pneumatically assisted conformal tool for an ophthalmic lens finer/polisher A conformal tool for fining/polishing ophthalmic lenses has a rigid base, a substantially air impervious elastic membrane and a bladder conformable to a surface of the lens to be fined/polished. The perimeters of the base, the membrane and the bladder are... | 06/09/1998 |
| 5730749 | Carpal tunnel surgery instruments Instruments for use in endoscopic carpal tunnel surgery include a cannula having a diameter suitable for passage in the carpal tunnel, a diametrically narrowing open tip to facilitate entry into the carpal tunnel and a matted interior surface to maximize ... | 03/24/1998 |
| 5722636 | Double disk gate assembly for block and bleed type valves A valve gate for sealing the inlet from the outlet of a block and bleed type valve consists of two independent disk-like members which are interconnected by a slide mechanism allowing the disk-like members to be moved simultaneously forwardly in a first c... | 03/03/1998 |
| 5683580 | Nonuniform forward elliptical motion end feed separator A vibratory deck of an end feed separator transfers material in a linear direction from the feed end to the discharge end of a screen mounted on the separator frame. A pair of rotary eccentric vibrators is independently mounted in mirror relationship on o... | 11/04/1997 |
| 5680806 | Compressible fluid flow control valve and constant speed pneumatic motor application therefor A flow control valve has a gate connected between an operating fluid inlet and outlet. An actuator permits manual adjustment of the gate area to allow fluid to pass from the inlet to the outlet at a threshold rate of flow for a threshold pressure at the f... | 10/28/1997 |
| 5679886 | Test head assembly for and method of testing heat exchanger components A test head assembly for heat exchanger tube bundles consists of a structural frame to support the bundle, test heads, sealing devices between the test heads and the tube sheets, clamps securing the test heads to the bundle with the sealing devices thereb... | 10/21/1997 |
| 5662518 | Pneumatically assisted unidirectional conformal tool A tool for polishing/fining an ophthalmic lens has a housing with an interior open at planar ends thereof. A cluster of rods is longitudinally aligned in sliding abutment within the housing, each rod of the cluster extending from one planar end of the hou... | 09/02/1997 |
| 5654694 | Mobile battery powered patient bed and chair occupancy monitoring system A system for monitoring a long term care device having a sensor thereon for detecting the presence of a patient on the device includes a microprocessor responsive to a resident program. A first circuit connected to the microprocessor and to the sensor aut... | 08/05/1997 |
| 5649856 | Tear-away block for an ophthalmic lens A block for coupling an ophthalmic lens to at least two machine chucks is molded, preferably using adhesive material in a liquid or gel state, as a unitary member of diameter less than a diameter of the lens with concentric inner and outer portions separa... | 07/22/1997 |
| 5648025 | Method for making light cured ophthalmic lens blocks A machine and process for making an ultraviolet cured block for an ophthalmic lens are provided in which a lens is placed at an input port to the machine by an operator. Data related to the lens is fed to or stored in the machine from either a keyboard or... | 07/15/1997 |
| 5640145 | Remote controlled system for monitoring the occupancy of an infant bearing device A system for monitoring an infant-bearing device includes a microprocessor responsive to a resident program. A first circuit connected to the microprocessor and to a sensor automatically activates operation of the microprocessor to a "monitor" mode upon d... | 06/17/1997 |
| 5638452 | Expandable multi-dimensional sound circuit An expandable multi-dimensional sound system has two modes of operation. Prior to the detection of a 20 kHz tone, the system is configured such that input audio panned hard to the left or right will result in the center and surround channels steering down... | 06/10/1997 |
| 5633627 | Hard-wired monitoring system for hospital bed or short term care patients A system connectible to an electrical power source for monitoring a short term care device having a sensor thereon for detecting the presence of a patient on the device includes a microprocessor and a plurality of circuits connected to the microprocessor.... | 05/27/1997 |
| 5629033 | Pressed earth block machine A machine for pressing earth into blocks has a rectangular breech and a press foot vertically reciprocally drivable in the breech. A bucking block is horizontally reciprocally drivable into and out of registration with an open upper end of the breech. Por... | 05/13/1997 |
| 5625267 | Constant delay filtering for synchronized motion on multiple axes In a linear feedback servo control system, the motion profile for each axis is pre-filtered before it is introduced to the servo loop for that axis. The motion profile is pre-filtered by a filter having an inverse amplitude response to the amplitude respo... | 04/29/1997 |
| 5623760 | Pressure sensitive switch A pressure sensitive switch has upper, middle and lower laminar elongated members, the middle member having an opening therethrough defining a cavity between the upper and lower members. A first array of substantially parallel, spaced-apart electrically c... | 04/29/1997 |
| 5620215 | Sliding window lock A locking assembly secures sliding windows disposed in a common track in the closed condition. One substantially inelastic strap is permanently fixed at at one end to one sliding window and has one component of a coupling device connected at its other end... | 04/15/1997 |
| 5618138 | Truck pallet locking device A latching device secures a pallet against vertical motion relative to a truck chassis. A C-shaped bracket has its web secured to the chassis in a vertical plane transverse to the direction of motion of the tines of the fork truck used to load the pallet ... | 04/08/1997 |
| 5610823 | Method for spindle speed optimization of motion profile A method of speed optimization of a spindle component of a machine having multiple synchronized components moving along multiple axes over a motion profile. The method including a first step further including: obtaining a motion error value of a synchrono... | 03/11/1997 |
| 5600108 | Docking module enclosure including connectors and power switching An enclosure is provided for mounting a bed monitoring docking module on a bed frame structure. The enclosure has an elongated sleeve-like housing with an interior cross-section substantially complimentary to the outer cross-section of the docking module.... | 02/04/1997 |
| 5596646 | Audio tape saturation simulator An analog tape saturation simulator produces the same results as analog tape saturation in a controllable environment which can be user adjusted to the desirable level of saturation effect. A log-based audio detector receives the audio signal in front of ... | 01/21/1997 |
| 5595019 | Plant support A support for a plant has a rod with at least two spaced apart brackets, the uppermost bracket being proximate the upper end of the rod. One or more cages has means thereon adapted to cooperate with the brackets to connect the cage substantially concentri... | 01/21/1997 |
| 5592973 | Pressure capture valve A valve has a first set of passages for simultaneously connecting an inlet of a first chamber hydraulically to a source of fluid under pressure and an outlet of a second chamber hydraulically to a venting tank and a second set of passages for simultaneous... | 01/14/1997 |
| 5588290 | Reel-to-reel pipe wrap machine A machine wraps pipe as it travels along a substantially linear path between a feeder reel from which the pipe is unwound to a take up reel onto which the pipe is rewound. A pipe wrap assembly for wrapping one or more layers of tape about the pipe is rota... | 12/31/1996 |
| 5584087 | Rake for moving bubbles in a waterbed A rake for moving an air bubble entrapped between the surface of the water in and the underside of the top of a waterbed mattress to a vent through the top of the mattress is provided consisting of an elongated member and a handle. The elongated member ha... | 12/17/1996 |
| 5582407 | Golf swing trainer A golf swing trainer employs a solid steel shaft homogeneously weighted throughout its entire length. One end of the shaft is fitted with a standard golf club grip and the other end of the shaft is fitted with a rubber tip to afford some protection for wa... | 12/10/1996 |
| 5582085 | Dynamic infeed control with workpiece oscillation for segmenting swarf in a lathe application A dynamic infeed control is used to segment swarf produced in a lathing operation into short manageable segments. The preferred dynamic method for segmenting the swarf is to add a sine wave motion to the nominal infeed motion. The amplitude of the sine wa... | 12/10/1996 |
| 5577950 | Conformal tool operating apparatus and process for an ophthalmic lens finer/polisher A tool for fining/polishing an opthalmic lens has a spindle and a pliant casing containing a conformable filler connected to the spindle for rotation therewith. A pliant pad adhered to the casing has a plurality of slots extending from its perimeter towar... | 11/26/1996 |
| 5577433 | Regulated speed linear actuator In a linear actuator, a cylinder is separated into forward and reverse chambers by a piston. A lead screw is threadedly engaged in the piston and a piston rod connects to the load. A turbine applies torque to the screw to urge the screw toward clockwise o... | 11/26/1996 |
| 5567198 | Compression sleeve ophthalmic lens chuck An ophthalmic lens block and lens generating machine compression sleeve chuck are provided such that the block is of diameter suitable for the lens edging step of the lens generating process. The lens generating chuck consists of a plurality of concentric... | 10/22/1996 |
| 5564266 | Grass rake tongs Grass rake tongs consist of a pair of rakes each having an array of tines joined to a handle by a ferrule and means such as a pin or bolt disposed through the handles above the ferrules at a point approximately mid-way between the lower end of the tines a... | 10/15/1996 |
| 5558424 | Emergency vehicle light bar assembly An emergency vehicle light bar assembly employs first and second connected substantially horizontal elongated frames mounted transversely across the upper surface of an emergency vehicle. The connecting assembly is such that the second frame may be substa... | 09/24/1996 |
| 5558245 | Storage tank bladder seal A bladder mounting for a storage tank has a plurality of threaded studs, spaced circumferentially along an upper portion of an inner surface of the tank side wall. At least one layer of geotextile padding, is adhered to the inner surface of the wall below... | 09/24/1996 |
| 5557885 | Hydroponic planter An inexpensive, self-contained, hydroponic planter for various house plants automatically supplies to the plants the correct amount of water, nutrients and adequate root exposure to gases in the air. The planter includes a tank storing the mixture of wate... | 09/24/1996 |
