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 |
| 4693251 | Clip for the occlusion of an oviduct or vas deferens The clip consists of two separate branches, the facing surfaces of which have profiles which allow the pressure effecting occlusion of the oviduct or vas deferens to be generated only in two separate pressure zones while a cavity is formed as nutrition zo... | 09/15/1987 |
| 4692319 | Method for desulfurizing flue gas in fuel oil firing systems The invention relates to a method and apparatus for desulfurizing flue gas n fuel oil firing systems comprising a residual heat exchanger forming an acid condensate. A neutralizing agent is added to the acid condensate and the neutralized condensate recirc... | 09/08/1987 |
| 4691368 | Flexible block packaging A flexible package that conforms closely to and fully encloses one or more objects with square or rectangular sides is formed of a flexible, light weight, and preferably heat sealable material such as a thermoplastic. In the preferred embodiments, the pac... | 09/01/1987 |
| 4691299 | Method and apparatus for reusing non-erasable memory media Storage media such as digital optical disks, PROMS, and paper tape consist of a number of bit positions which initially contain a "zero" and which can later be irreversibly overwritten with a "one". An apparatus and method provide for rewriting in such "n... | 09/01/1987 |
| 4690334 | Automatically adjustable shower head to maintain constant pressure spray A shower spray device comprises a head (1) including a chamber and fluid paths to supply water thereto, an outer wall (2) of the chamber being formed from a plurality of concentric spray rings (3,4,5), serrations (9,10,10a) formed in the wall of one ring ... | 09/01/1987 |
| 4690162 | Method and apparatus for regulating fluid flow A low cost, mechanical method and apparatus for controlling the size of an internal orifice in a deformable tubing, particularly tubing of a viscoelastic material such as PVC used to administer intravenous fluids. A portion of the tubing is clamped to pla... | 09/01/1987 |
| 4689889 | Device for supporting a building line reference A device for supporting a building line reference consists of an elongate plate member for adjustable attachment to a wall face having upper and lower parallel channels, and a vertically oriented square section hollow member, in which said reference is re... | 09/01/1987 |
| 4689556 | Broad band contactor assembly for testing integrated circuit devices A contactor assembly for testing electronic devices that are packaged with a dual-in-line pin array has an insulating base that mounts two rows of contacts, each adapted to flex into electrical connection with a pin of the device, and a pair of flexible g... | 08/25/1987 |
| 4685400 | Break-down shelving assembly A shelving structure comprising shelving connected without tools or bolts by slipping upright, hollow support pieces through holes in the shelving. T-shaped brackets are inserted through generally horizontally aligned openings in the uprights and secured ... | 08/11/1987 |
| 4684769 | Manual clutch switching system A switching system operable in response to the travel of a vehicular lever or pedal such as a clutch for opening and closing operating circuits of the vehicle. The system includes actuators for moving switch contacts to change the conditions of the circui... | 08/04/1987 |
| 4674881 | Open loop thin film laser gyro The laser gyro includes a laser and a ring resonator. Apparatus is provided for coupling counter-propagating beams of light from the laser into the resonator. The frequency of the laser is scanned across the resonance frequency of the resonator in steps s... | 06/23/1987 |
| 4675690 | Conical spiral antenna A photoresist-type chemical etching process is used to define a computer-generated flat pattern of conductors as if a complex conical spiral had been cut apart along a straight line through the apex and laid flat. The substrate in the shape of a circular ... | 06/23/1987 |
| 4673932 | Rapid inventory data acquistion system A computerized transceiver repeatedly sweeps through a set of transmit/receive frequencies to interrogate collectively a plurality of groups of items in a stocking area. Items in each group are tagged with a printed circuit transponder tuned to frequencie... | 06/16/1987 |
| 4665869 | Valve spring retainer and process for its production In order to adjust the fiber orientation of a valve spring retainer made of arbon fiber reinforced synthetic material to the stresses appearing in practical operation, it is suggested that several stacked carbon fiber tissue layers be bedded into the valve... | 05/19/1987 |
| 4666818 | Method of patterning resist for printed wiring board A method for patterning a photoresist or insulating layer on a printed wiring board utilizes two photoreactive coatings comprising a photoprocessable ultraviolet (UV) sensitive layer overlaid with a thin, unexposed, undeveloped strip base silver film. A w... | 05/19/1987 |
| 4666171 | Recreational sled A recreational snow sled comprises an elongated molded plastic shell having a longitudinal central rib forming a U-shaped bottom channel of gradually increasing depth toward the rear of the sled. The sled is designed to carry a person seated in a kneeling... | 05/19/1987 |
| 4662952 | Non-hygroscopic welding flux binders A welding flux binder and welding flux comprising the reaction product of a hydrolyzed and polymerized organometallic compound selected from the group consisting of metal alkoxides including tetraalkylorthosilicate, tetraalkylorthotitanate, tetraalkylorth... | 05/05/1987 |
| 4661964 | Resonant waveguide laser gyro with a switched source Passive ring resonator laser gyro. The gyro eliminates the need for separate frequency control devices for the two counter propagating beams. A semiconductor laser diode, the source, is switched between two frequencies and its output is coupled into a bra... | 04/28/1987 |
| 4659421 | System for growth of single crystal materials with extreme uniformity in their structural and electrical properties A system and process for growing extremely high quality single crystal materials, particularly silicon and other semiconductor materials, containing a generally uniform distribution of dopants, impurities, and oxygen, both axially and radially, wherein th... | 04/21/1987 |
| 4658401 | Thin film passive ring resonator laser gyro Passive ring resonator laser gyro in which the clockwise and counterclockwise beams do not coexist in the resonator. The laser gyro employs thin film technology. In particular, the preferred laser is a gallium aluminum arsenide laser. Light from the laser... | 04/14/1987 |
| 4658151 | Battery-supported integrated switching element The circuit element contains inside a cup-shaped plastic housing (3) a gas-tight primary battery (B) and a wiring arrangement which is arranged next to the battery (B) in the hollow space (3') of the housing and which comprises semiconductor switching ele... | 04/14/1987 |
| 4655096 | Flexure mount assembly for a dynamically tuned gyroscope A flexure mount assembly particularly adapted for use in a dynamically tuned two-degree-of-freedom gyroscope to provide a universal coupling between a rotor element and a drive shaft. The mount features a substantially planar "spider" member normally orie... | 04/07/1987 |
| 4655392 | Steam-generator control method A steam-generator control method is proposed for controlling the mass flows f an oxidant and a fuel which are supplied for combustion. In order to control the flows at stoichiometric ratios with a required accuracy, the controlled variables are established... | 04/07/1987 |
| 4653794 | Universal adjustable gripper with center push A universal gripper particularly adapted for handling parts such as axial leaded electronic components. The gripper includes a pair of jaws with depending fingers mounted on a baseplate for linear motion equally about the centerline of the baseplate. A lo... | 03/31/1987 |
| 4654071 | Process for the treatment of liquid manure In order to reduce the volume increase of liquid manure during its storage, a process is proposed for the treatment of liquid manure in which at least one copper electrode and one counter-electrode are placed in the liquid manure, and copper ions from the... | 03/31/1987 |
| 4651493 | Wall/roof assemblies A bracket assembly, for use in spacing apart the inner and outer membranes of a cavity wall or roof construction, consists of a support member attached to an inner lining membrane and having a C-shaped cross-section and a bracket element formed from a tra... | 03/24/1987 |
| 4651263 | Support of sun tanning canopies A sun tanning canopy is carried on an arm extending from a sleeve slidably engaging a vertical support column for heightwise movement up and down the said column, the sleeve and canopy being supported by a counterbalancing device consisting a coiled const... | 03/17/1987 |
| 4649759 | Force transducer Two pairs of parallel plate electrodes forming respectively a sensor capacitor and a reference capacitor are mounted on a parallelogram structure designed to deform under load in such a way that the gap width of the sensor capacitor changes as a function ... | 03/17/1987 |
| 4649351 | Apparatus and method for coherently adding laser beams The disclosed apparatus includes a diffraction grating illuminated by a plurality of lasers. Apparatus is provided for summing the plurality of lasers coherently by, (a) phase locking the plurality of lasers and by, (b) diffracting the plurality of beams ... | 03/10/1987 |
| 4649238 | Clutch actuator switch A multi-function actuator switch attaches onto an actuator of already assembled clutch assembly or the like with a simple sideways snap-fit, is fully enclosed when assembled onto the shaft, and is compact. The switch has a hollow housing with a longitudin... | 03/10/1987 |
| 4648284 | Apparatus and method for reducing gyro activation time The apparatus and method for reducing gyro activation time is to be used with a gyroscope including a float floated within an outer case. An electromagnetic suspension is provided for maintaining the float at an equilibrium position within the outer case.... | 03/10/1987 |
| 4646910 | Generalized high speed belt to belt transfer chute A high speed belt to belt transfer chute useful in handling, without modification or adjustments, material ranging from sticky clay and fine dust to large rocks. The generalized chute is designed either to bend the material flow to the vertical after it h... | 03/03/1987 |
| 4641738 | Momentum arresting device for an integrated circuit tester A device that brings a vertically falling integrated circuit to a rapid, bounce-free stop at a test site includes a set of relatively lightweight blades arrayed next to the fall path with their faces in a mutually spaced relationship. At its upper end, ea... | 02/10/1987 |
| 4637395 | Applicator for C-shaped scalp clips An applicator for C-shaped scalp clips, with which a plurality of scalp clips can be applied one after the other without having to insert an individual scalp clip into the applicator after each application. For this purpose, a magazine for receiving a plu... | 01/20/1987 |
| 4637911 | Apparatus and method for closed-loop control of reactor power Closed-loop controller for altering the power level of nuclear reactors in a safe manner and without overshoot. Apparatus is provided for moving a control element such as a control rod or for adjusting the concentration of a soluble neutron absorber (chem... | 01/20/1987 |
| 4636404 | Method and apparatus for forming low resistance lateral links in a semiconductor device A method and apparatus for reliably forming low resistance links between two aluminum conductors deposited on an insulating polysilicon or amorphous silicon layer, employ a laser to bridge a lateral gap between the conductors. The apparatus and method are... | 01/13/1987 |
| 4635675 | Flat sided ball valve A top-entry, single-body ball valve is provided which may easily be assembled or disassembled. The valve includes a rotatably mounted ball member having a passage extending therethrough, a valve seat for sealingly engaging the ball member, the ball member... | 01/13/1987 |
| 4632862 | I-beam honeycomb material Honeycomb structure material having a web fabricated from sheets or ribbons of material into corrugated members which are joined together in such a fashion that I-beams are formed, the I-beams being stacked one upon another and the stacks being spaced apa... | 12/30/1986 |
| 4630885 | Multichannel optical wave guide resonator A multichannel optical waveguide resonator having a plurality of evanescently coupled optical dielectric waveguide rings and an input optical waveguide and an output optical waveguide located adjacent to one of the waveguide rings. The input and output di... | 12/23/1986 |
| 4631240 | Electrochemical cell An improved metal-halogen electrochemical cell, particularly a zinc bromide cell, contains a water soluble tetraorgano-substituted amino acid, ester or betaine salt in the electrolyte which forms a substantially water insoluble liquid complex with cathodi... | 12/23/1986 |
