Did You Know...
...that the inventor of the electric motor was a blacksmith named Thomas Davenport? Described as "a brilliantly unsuccessful inventor", Davenport invented the first rotary electric motor. In 1836 he headed out -- on foot -- from his Vermont home to file a patent application at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By the time he got there, he had squandered away his money and couldn't afford the $30 filing fee so he turned around and went home. When he later mailed in his application with money he'd raised, the Patent office was destroyed in a fire. He did finally get credit for his invention on Feb. 5, 1837.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8161505 | Interactive television system A method includes, providing a television, a reading device, an input device, and a printer. The reading device is connected to receive a digital signal transmitted by a television signal provider. The reading device is connected to provide a first output signal to ... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8154177 | Wide-band vibration energy harvester with stop A device for harvesting an external source of energy includes an electricity generating device, a flexure, and a first stop. Displacement of the flexure is limited by the first stop. The flexure has a vibration amplitude, wherein the vibration amplitude is amplitude... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8136408 | Strain sensor mounted with light curable adhesive A device includes a structure, a strain sensor and a light curable adhesive. The structure has a structure surface. The light curable adhesive bonds the strain sensor to the structure surface. ... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8134282 | Wide-band vibration energy harvester with restoring spring A device for harvesting an external source of energy includes an electricity generating device, a flexure, and a restoring spring. The electricity generating device generates electricity based on movement of the flexure. The flexure has a first stable position. When... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8101041 | Method to improve adhesion of a formed gasket to plastic closures A method of attaching a gasket to a plastic surface includes providing a plastic material having a surface; applying sufficient heat to the surface to melt the surface while other portions of the plastic material remain solid; providing a liquid gasket material on t... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8074994 | Tree stand archery target system A system includes a first cable support, a second cable support, a first cable and a second cable. The first cable is moveably mounted between the first cable support and the second cable support. The system also includes a supporting structure supported by the firs... | 12/13/2011 |
| 8032486 | Apparatus to receive electromagnetic radiation that penetrates a housing formed of a conductive material An apparatus includes a hermetically sealed housing formed of conductive material. The hermetically sealed housing contains a circuit that includes a power supply and a power using element. The power supply has a power receiving element within the hermetically seale... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8024980 | Independently calibrated wireless structural load sensor A device includes a removable load element. The removable load element includes a pin portion and a housing portion. The pin portion extends from the housing portion. The pin portion includes a sensor. The housing portion includes an electronic circuit connected to ... | 09/27/2011 |
| 8022691 | Microminiature gauging displacement sensor A device for providing displacement information includes a housing holding a displacement sensor. The displacement sensor includes a coil and a captive core. An electrical measurement of the coil provides information about displacement of the core. The coil has an a... | 09/20/2011 |
| 8013994 | Particle state and flux sensor A method of measuring parameters of a particle includes providing a particle, wherein the particle has a first portion and a second portion. The process includes providing a column of photo-detectors including a first photo-detector and a second photo-detector, wher... | 09/06/2011 |
| 8011255 | Shaft mounted energy harvesting for wireless sensor operation and data transmission One embodiment of the present patent application is a method of monitoring a rotating part. The method includes providing a shaft, a sensor, a processor, an energy storage device, and a transmitter. The method further includes mounting the sensor directly on the sha... | 09/06/2011 |
| 8010308 | Inertial measurement system with self correction A method of navigation includes providing an angular rate sensor and a direction-of-gravity reference. The method also includes determining bias error of the angular rate sensor about a vertical axis based on data substantially from the angular rate sensor and from ... | 08/30/2011 |
| 7970734 | Data collection and storage device A data collection apparatus includes a network of sensing units for sensing a parameter. Each sensing unit of the network of sensing units includes a sensor, a first data storage device, a first receiving device, and a first transmitting device. The first data stora... | 06/28/2011 |
| D640101 | Combination bar tool | 06/21/2011 |
| 7952721 | Optical linear and rotation displacement sensor A system includes a measuring tool, a fixture, and a rotatable target. The measuring tool includes a light source, an imaging device, and an electronic circuit. The fixture allows the rotatable target to rotate about an axis. The rotatable target includes a surface ... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7952047 | Feedback enhanced plasma spray tool An improved automatic feedback control scheme enhances plasma spraying of powdered material through reduction of process variability and providing better ability to engineer coating structure. The present inventors discovered that controlling centroid position of th... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7903956 | Rapid liquid heating A device for heating a liquid includes a tank, electrodes, and a conductive liquid. The tank holds the conductive liquid and the electrodes. The electrodes are connected to provide current flowing in the conductive liquid. The device also includes an electrolytic ma... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7898157 | Piezoelectric composite beam with automatically adjustable natural frequency An energy harvesting system includes a composite structure that has a first spring, a piezoelectric structure, and a proof mass. The piezoelectric structure and the proof mass are mounted on the first spring. The composite structure has a natural frequency of vibrat... | 03/01/2011 |
| RE42159 | Circuit for compensation for time variation of temperature in an inductive sensor A sensing device includes a circuit that compensates for time and spatial changes in temperature. The circuit includes elements to correct for variation in permeability of a highly permeable core of a differential variable reluctance transducer as temperature change... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7880370 | Piezoelectric composite with tapered beam An energy harvesting system includes a composite structure that includes a base spring and a first piezoelectric element. The first piezoelectric element is mounted on the base spring. The base spring has a base spring thickness, a base spring length, and a base spr... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7860680 | Robotic system for powering and interrogating sensors A mobile system powers, charges, and communicates with separate devices, such as sensors and actuators. The mobile system includes an unmanned vehicle for approaching and wirelessly electromagnetically powering the separate device. ... | 12/28/2010 |
| 7839058 | Wideband vibration energy harvester In one embodiment a device comprises a composite structure that includes a piezoelectric flexure and a length-constraining element. The length-constraining element provides the piezoelectric flexure with a bowed shape. The piezoelectric flexure has a first stable bo... | 11/23/2010 |
| 7786867 | Remotely powered and remotely interrogated wireless digital sensor telemetry system An electronic system includes a reader and a remotely powered and remotely interrogated sensor transponder. The sensor transponder includes a reader and a remotely powered and remotely interrogated sensor transponder. The sensor transponder includes a sensor and a r... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7781943 | Capacitive discharge energy harvesting converter An energy harvesting circuit includes a device for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy, a solid state voltage dependent switch, and an inductor. The piezoelectric device, the solid state voltage dependent switch, and the inductor are all connected in... | 08/24/2010 |
| 7780609 | Temporary threshold shift detector A method of detecting a change in hearing of a user includes providing a sound generating device for providing both a content audio signal and a hearing test audio signal. The sound generating device is used to provide hearing test audio sounds of different loudness... | 08/24/2010 |
| 7764958 | Wireless sensor system A network of wireless sensor nodes for wireless transmission to a base station is provided. The sensor nodes can provide real time streaming of data over separate frequency links that can all be received by the base station. The base station includes a receiver for ... | 07/27/2010 |
| 7759567 | Single vertex damped cable tailpiece for bowed string instruments One aspect of the present patent application is a musical instrument comprising a body, a bridge, a plurality of strings, a plurality of separate cables, a single cable, and a saddle. The plurality of strings extends from a first side to a second side of the bridge.... | 07/20/2010 |
| 7747415 | Sensor powered event logger A system includes a structure and a circuit. The circuit is mounted to the structure. The circuit includes a sensor, a non-volatile memory, and a voltage sensitive switch. The memory and the voltage sensitive switch are connected for recording an event sensed by sai... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7719416 | Energy harvesting, wireless structural health monitoring system A method of maintaining a structure includes providing a structure having a component subject to failure. A sensor, a memory and an energy harvesting device are mounted on the structure. The sensor is used and data derived from the sensor logged in the memory, where... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7698830 | Posture and body movement measuring system A system for measuring a living subject having a spine comprises a flexible strip, a first sensor, a processor, and a data storage device. The flexible strip, the first sensor, the processor, and the data storage device are located along the spine of the living subj... | 04/20/2010 |
| 7696621 | RFID tag packaging system An electronic packaging system includes an electronic device. The electronic packaging system also includes a flexible material located adjacent a plurality of sides of the electronic device. The electronic device is located in a cavity in the flexible material. The... | 04/13/2010 |
| 7692365 | Slotted beam piezoelectric composite One aspect of the present patent application is an energy harvesting device comprising a composite structure including a base spring and a piezoelectric structure. The base spring has a base spring surface having elevated portions separated by a recessed portion. Th... | 04/06/2010 |
| 7683248 | Piano key leveling device and method A keyboard musical instrument includes a key, a balance rail, and a key leveling tab. The key leveling tab is permanently mounted on the balance rail. The key leveling tab is non-resonating and has a varying thickness. ... | 03/23/2010 |
| 7672781 | Miniaturized wireless inertial sensing system A system includes a moveable body and a first device for mounting on the movable body. The first device includes an orientation sensor, an inertial position sensor, a first processor, a frequency agile RF transceiver, and a memory device. ... | 03/02/2010 |
| 7668667 | Miniature stimulating and sensing system An electronic system for testing a material includes at least one module for mechanically mounting on the material. The module includes a signal generator for generating a signal generator signal. The module also includes a stimulus signal delivering device (SSDD) a... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7646135 | Integrated piezoelectric composite and support circuit A module includes a first piezoelectric element and first electronic device. The first piezoelectric provides physical support for said first electronic device. One embodiment includes a first insulating layer. The first insulating layer is mounted on the first piez... | 01/12/2010 |
| D607220 | Inflatable travel crib | 01/05/2010 |
| 7639135 | Identifying substantially related objects in a wireless sensor network Substantially related objects are identified by providing a first wireless sensing device having a first sensor and providing a second wireless sensing device having a second sensor. Next, comparing data derived from the second sensor with data derived from the firs... | 12/29/2009 |
| 7633176 | Direct drive induction electrical power generator An electrical power generator is provided which is a direct drive induction generator capable of being directly connected to the power grid for the creation of electrical power. The rotor of the induction generator is located along the outside periphery of the stato... | 12/15/2009 |
| 7591187 | Wireless vibrating strain gauge for smart civil structures A gauge includes a wire, a housing, a coil, a processor, and a power supply. The wire is mounted in the housing to vibrate at a natural frequency. The coil is magnetically coupled to the wire. The processor is connected to provide a digital signal to the coil and th... | 09/22/2009 |
