Celebrity Inventors
Glam girl Heddy Lamar may have used her good looks to good effect on the silver screen, but she put her smarts to better use as an inventor. During World War II, she co-patented a frequency-switching system for torpedo guidance that was considered years ahead of its time.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 5480111 | Missile with deployable control fins A missile (20) includes a missile body (22) and a structure for controlling the flight path of the missile body. The control structure includes at least one control fin (28) and an actuator shaft (38) that supports the control fin (28) for rotational miss... | 01/02/1996 |
| 5455587 | Three dimensional imaging millimeter wave tracking and guidance system An improved imaging system. The inventive imaging system (10) is adapted to transmit a plurality of first radar signals at millimeter wave frequencies at an area including an object along with background clutter. The return signals are processed to provid... | 10/03/1995 |
| 5444235 | Scanning light valve sensor system employing fiber optics A sensor system includes a sensor having a planar array of sensor elements, each of which produces an output responsive to an energy input. The sensed energy reaching the sensor elements is controlled by at least two, and preferably a plurality of, light ... | 08/22/1995 |
| 5430449 | Missile operable by either air or ground launching A missile (20) includes a missile body (22) having a propulsion motor (26), a gimballed target seeker (32), and control fins (30) for altering the flight path of the missile (20). The missile (20) has a missile flight control unit (44) which provides an i... | 07/04/1995 |
| 5417393 | Rotationally mounted flexible band wing A vehicle such as a missile (20) includes an aerodynamically shaped missile body (22) having a longitudinal centerline, a set of control surfaces (26) joined to the missile body (22), and, preferably, a propulsion system (28) operable to drive the missile... | 05/23/1995 |
| 5226615 | Air damped linear optical fiber dispenser An optical fiber canister (40) comprises a tapered cylindrical bobbin (42) having a length of optical fiber (28) wound thereon to form a fiber pack (43). The optical fiber (28) is wound so as to pay out with a preselected circumferential payout direction ... | 07/13/1993 |
| 5216433 | Polarimetric antenna A polarimetric antenna (20) comprises a length of circular waveguide (30) having a sidewall (32) with a cylindrical internal surface (34). The sidewall (32) has two longitudinal slots (38) that extend parallel to a longitudinal axis (36) of the waveguide ... | 06/01/1993 |
| 5205510 | Optical fiber bobbin with stress-reducing sleeve A bobbin (50) includes a substantially cylindrical bobbin support (52), formed of a structural material such as aluminum or graphite-epoxy composite material, and an overlying sleeve (58) that slides on the bobbin support (52), formed of a material having... | 04/27/1993 |
| 5191470 | Monocular optical inspection system with long eye relief and enhanced depth perception A monocular inspection system (10) having a substantial eye relief (62), a large exit pupil, and a line of sight viewing of an object under observation (14). The inspection system (10) includes an objective lens assembly (20) which forms an image of the o... | 03/02/1993 |
| 5187939 | Rapid cooldown dewar A dewar (20) useful in rapidly cooling a sensor (28) supported thereon includes a bore tube assembly having a cylindrical dewar bore tube (22) with an end cap (24) at one end to close the bore tube (22). The bore tube assembly is cooled by directing a str... | 02/23/1993 |
| 5189253 | Filament dispenser A filament dispenser (18) for a missile data link has a bobbin with end flanges (24, 26) fixedly mounted to the missile (86). A shroud (30) is spaced opposite the filament pack for frictionally engaging a ballooning filament (30) during dispensing to redu... | 02/23/1993 |
| 5181270 | Optical fiber canister The bobbin of an optical fiber canister is constructed so that the thermal expansion coefficient of the bobbin is matched to that of the optical fiber pack wound upon the bobbin. In one embodiment, an optical fiber canister (20) has a bobbin (22) in the s... | 01/19/1993 |
| 5179359 | Digitally controlled frequency generator including a crystal oscillator A digitally controlled oscillator (100) having a first oscillator circuit (108) for providing an oscillator signal Fo of a defined frequency and a digital divider (110) for dividing the oscillator signal Fo by a selectable number con... | 01/12/1993 |
| 5178313 | Pneumatic shoe for high speed filamentary capstan An apparatus for uniformly applying a compressive force against a filament to pneumatically drive the filament or fiber optic cable against a capstan without any concentrated amount of stress at any point on the filament is effectuated by pneumatically fo... | 01/12/1993 |
| 5179612 | Optical fiber canister with ablative coating An optical fiber payout canister (36) comprises a bobbin (42) upon which an optical fiber (34) is wound. A shroud (50) overlies the bobbin (42), and a layer (54) of an ablative material is coated onto at least a portion of the inside wall (48) of the shro... | 01/12/1993 |
| 5167382 | Inside payout optical fiber canister having reduced adhesive in the optical fiber pack An optical fiber canister (90) comprises a hollow housing (102) and an optical fiber pack (98) having a plurality of layers of optical fiber (20) supported on an inner surface of the housing (102) with a free end (96) of the optical fiber (20) positioned ... | 12/01/1992 |
| 5164994 | Solder joint locator A system (82) and method for locating features in an image. In the preferred embodiments, the present invention accepts as input a tilted view X-ray image of a PC board (10), as well as expected locations of solder joints (18) in the PC board (10). The pr... | 11/17/1992 |
| 5161051 | Simultaneous dual field of view sensor An optical system (10) for producing dual fields of view simultaneously. The system (10) includes a first optical system (12) for producing a first field of view image and a second optical system (36) for producing a second field of view image where the a... | 11/03/1992 |
| 5161208 | Optical fiber canister and process with overcoat adhesive layer to prevent dispensing end breaks An optical fiber payout canister (22) comprises a bobbin (30) having a dispensing end and an optical fiber pack having a plurality of optical fiber layers (34, 36) wound upon the bobbin (30). The pack has a transition winding pattern between the optical f... | 11/03/1992 |
| 5149970 | Dual-band optoelectronic imaging apparatus including "venetian blind" dichroic plate arrangement A "Venetian-blind" assembly of dichroic plates (36) is disposed in front of the entrance aperture (26a) of a Cassegrain-type telescope (26) which constitutes the optical focussing assembly in a tracking system for a guided missile (10) or the like. The pl... | 09/22/1992 |
| 5144422 | Optimal television imaging system for guided missile A lens assembly (30) focusses an optical image of a field of view (20) forward of a guided missile (12) onto a photosensitive target layer (50) of a television camera tube (52). The target layer (50) includes sublayers of zinc selenide (ZnSe) and cadmium ... | 09/01/1992 |
| 5143319 | Method and apparatus for dispensing an optical fiber from a powered missile through the motor exhaust A length of filament (32), wire or optical fiber, is wound into a pack (30) on a cylindrical drum (44) located within an open-ended housing (38). The housing is mounted within a missile (26) with the housing open end (38) facing aft. An undersized front w... | 09/01/1992 |
| 5140659 | Combination optical fiber and electrical connector A combination connector (20) includes a first half connector (22) with a fixed central body (40) and a slidable exterior housing (54) that is biased to a first position, and a second half connector (24) with a fixed exterior housing (70) and a slidable in... | 08/18/1992 |
| 5135183 | Dual-image optoelectronic imaging apparatus including birefringent prism arrangement A birefringent prism (36) is disposed in front of the entrance aperture (26a) of a Cassegrain-type telescope (26) which constitutes the optical focussing assembly in a tracking system for a guided missile (10) or the like. The prism (36) refracts first ra... | 08/04/1992 |
| 5129990 | Method for producing a gas-tight radome-to-fuselage structural bond The structural and gas-light bond between a radome and a fuselage in a missile cna be simultaneously fabricated in an improved methodology which reduces the numbers of fixtures required to be utilized, dramatically reduces the time for cure, simplifies th... | 07/14/1992 |
| 5125131 | Hinge locking mechanism with disengage action A locking hinge mechanism (10) that includes a hinge (10a) comprising an articulated axle (28) rotatably attached to first and second members (22,24) such that the operation of the hinge mechanism (10a) causes the members (22,24 ) to controllably move in ... | 06/30/1992 |
| 5125590 | Compliant bobbin for an optical fiber wound pack A hollow winding bobbin base (18) is constructed of a material having a relatively low thermal coefficient of expansion (e.g., quartz) and has a pair of flanges (32) slidably located on the ends. A metal tube (24) is received within the base (18) and has ... | 06/30/1992 |
| 5123610 | Retrofit digital electronics unit for a tube-launched missile A retrofit digital electronics unit replaces the analog electronics unit of a tube-launched optically-tracked wire-guided missile. The retrofit digital electronics unit is smaller in size permitting the warhead of the missile to be enlarged. Additionally,... | 06/23/1992 |
| 5123608 | Payout tester of a filament dispenser and method therefor An optical fiber (24) is removed from a wound pack (26) by applying an annular stream of pressurized air or other fluid against one or more filament loops previously taken from the pack. The annular stream is produced by passing pressurized air from a sou... | 06/23/1992 |
| 5122067 | Umbilical release mechanism An umbilical release mechanism (10) for disconnecting an electrical umbilical (14, 16) extending between a host and a releasable vehicle accomplishes the disconnection without imparting any force to the releasable vehicle, and without leaving pieces of th... | 06/16/1992 |
| 5116451 | Flow through impregnation of deep nested fiber optical canister According to the invention, a method and system of injecting material into a wound filament items such as a fiber optic canister is provided. The method is useful with a canister which, when dry wound, has at least one channel formed therein. In one aspec... | 05/26/1992 |
| 5110065 | Bobbin winding control A laser beam (12) scans a filament (8) being wound onto a bobbin (42) sensing the winding angle of attack ଲ and on determining a variance of the angle from a predetermined desired angle generating a signal in a filament position monitor and control ... | 05/05/1992 |
| 5106033 | Missile guidance electronics assembly for portable guided missile launcher A tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire guided (TOW) portable guided missile system (10) includes a launch tube (16) mounted on a tripod (18) or vehicle, and an optical/thermal sighting and tracking assembly (22) mounted on and aligned with the launch tu... | 04/21/1992 |
| 5105255 | MMIC die attach design for manufacturability An improved semiconductor device for use in microwave integrated circuits is disclosed. In particular, an improved monolithic integrated circuit (10) comprised of a semi-insulating substrate (12) and having an integrated circuit on a top surface (14) ther... | 04/14/1992 |
| 5104057 | Gas damped filament dispenser A missile data link filament (12) dispenser (10) is located within an enclosure (20) having a single eyelet opening (26) through which the filament feeds on launch. A quantity of a damping gas having an effective density of at least about two times that o... | 04/14/1992 |
| 5087921 | Array beam position control using compound slots A waveguide slotted array is disclosed, employing compound slots in a waveguide broad wall. The phase of the voltage excited in the slot is controlled by the slot offset and angle of inclination relative to the axis. Utilization of the additional phase co... | 02/11/1992 |
| 5082199 | Digital electronics assembly for a tube-launched missile A digital electronics unit (81), missile, and missile system for a tube-launched missile. The invention utilizes a positional status mechanism (10) to structure signals from the on-board gyro system (80) and a directional mechanism (11) to separate signal... | 01/21/1992 |
| 5078069 | Warhead A warhead, used in a torpedo, includes an expolsive device that is detonatable within a breached water-tight compartment such that damage to the target is enhanced by the presence of the confined incompressible fluid therewithin.... | 01/07/1992 |
| 5071333 | Apparatus for forming a powder metal mirror A mirror having optical quality reflective faces is prepared by pressing of metallurgical powders. An optical quality surface, free of scratches and irregularities, is formed by pressing the faces with an optical quality tool face, applied to the face at ... | 12/10/1991 |
| 5063846 | Modular, electronic safe-arm device A modular electronic safe arm device (MESAD) (10) for arming and igniting an explosive is universal in application and employs a standard circuit architecture which uses application specific logic modules (12) and (14), a standard voltage control module (... | 11/12/1991 |
