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3M employee and church chorister Art Fry needed something to temporarily mark pages in his hymnal. He was in luck because his colleague, Spencer Silver, accidentally developed a glue that was too weak for other purposes. After initially discouraging consumer response, Post-it Notes became a hit in 1979.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 4604027 | Manipulator of articles and methods of moving articles over an extended distance Apparatus (11), which includes two adjacent wafer treating facilities (21 and 22), features an overhead positioning mechanism (20), the operation of which is controlled by a control module (48) to handle articles, such as semiconductor wafers (16), in a p... | 08/05/1986 |
| 4580188 | Methods of and apparatus for protecting circuit elements from electrostatic discharges The continuity of a ground strap (16) is tested by pushing down on a switch activating toggle lever (37). The toggle lever is conductive, is isolated from ground and is coupled to a signal input terminal of a test circuit module (14). Thus, when the hand ... | 04/01/1986 |
| 4570338 | Methods of forming a screw terminal A screw terminal (14) is formed on a circuit board (12) by inserting a typical terminal screw (22) in a thread-forming operation into a tube (27) of a rim-like seat (21). The screw (22) is inserted into the tube (27) to a predetermined depth which is equa... | 02/18/1986 |
| 4556362 | Methods of and apparatus for handling semiconductor devices Apparatus (11) for handling articles (12), such as semiconductor devices, temporarily mounted to an adhesively coated surface of a diaphragm (29) of a mounting frame (21) includes an index table (31) for positioning a selected one of the articles (12) at ... | 12/03/1985 |
| 4514436 | Methods of highlighting pinholes in a surface layer of an article A production control process includes a method of highlighting pinholes in a surface layer (37), such as a photoresist layer, of an article (31), such as a semiconductor wafer. The photoresist typically covers a dielectric base layer, such as an oxide lay... | 04/30/1985 |
| 4505035 | Methods of aligning and mounting a plurality of electrical leads to a plurality of terminals A circuit board connector (14) is assembled to a printed wiring board (11) by first aligning a plurality of leads (18) by urging them into spaced guide grooves (49) of a workholder (41). The spacing of the guide grooves (49) corresponds to the spacing of ... | 03/19/1985 |
| 4480990 | Article support rack and methods of weighting down articles An article support rack (10) has at least one article support (12), such as a shelf, which is horizontally slidable in a first frame (18). A second frame (29) is mounted for vertical movement relative to the first frame (18). At least one weight (26) is s... | 11/06/1984 |
| 4466872 | Methods of and apparatus for depositing a continuous film of minimum thickness A film of material (29) is deposited on a substrate (15), as, for example, in a sputtering process, wherein a gas-permeable substrate (73) covers an opening (71) in a process chamber (14) of a passage communicating with a monitoring chamber (52). A monito... | 08/21/1984 |
| 4466864 | Methods of and apparatus for electroplating preselected surface regions of electrical articles An article, such as a semiconductor wafer (31), is selectively electrolytically plated to form metal deposits, such as contacts (26), adjacent to anodes of diode regions within such wafer by mounting the wafer in a plating chamber (36) opposite first and ... | 08/21/1984 |
| 4460421 | Methods of and apparatus for indexing a repetitively patterned strip past a plurality of work stations In methods of and apparatus (28) for indexing a repetitively patterned strip (12) past a plurality of work stations, such as, for example, a bonding station (33) and a dewebbing station (65) of a lead frame bonder, a cyclical, automated adjustment of the ... | 07/17/1984 |
| 4453414 | Pull testing electrical device leads The bond strength of electrical leads (12) bonded to a device (13), such as a silicon integrated circuit chip, is tested by mounting the device (13) onto a pedestal (22) and then pulling on such lead with a freely manipulatable grasping tool (52). The ped... | 06/12/1984 |
| 4439918 | Methods of packaging an electronic device An electronic device assembly (11) includes a heat dissipating substrate (18) having a seat (16). A device (14) is uniformly spaced from a base surface of the seat (16), and a layer of solder of uniform thickness occupies a gap between the surface of the ... | 04/03/1984 |
| 4437229 | Methods of marking and electrically identifying an article A hybrid integrated circuit package (11) typically includes a circuit substrate or article (12) on which are formed thin film components (17, 18, 19) of a circuit (22) and to which is bonded at least one semiconductor chip (21). Prior to bonding the chip ... | 03/20/1984 |
| 4429298 | Methods of trimming film resistors A bar-type film resistor (40) is adjusted to a high degree of precision by longitudinally offset plunge cuts (41, 42 and 43) extending from alternately opposite edges (29, 49) into the resistive layer (13), by a trim cut (46) which extends from the most r... | 01/31/1984 |
| 4428815 | Vacuum-type article holder and methods of supportively retaining articles A vacuum-type holder (10) for retaining fragile articles such as semiconductor wafers (16) during a manufacturing operation, such as an electrolytic treatment includes a vacuum-operated support (36) at each of the seats (23) which exerts a supporting forc... | 01/31/1984 |
| 4424096 | R-F Electrode type workholder and methods of supporting workpieces during R-F powered reactive treatment Workpieces (11), such as semiconductor wafers, are treated in a plasma reaction apparatus (10). The wafers are loaded onto a workholder (18), where they become seated in contact with facing surfaces of a plurality of spaced, parallel plates (19, 21). Plas... | 01/03/1984 |
| 4416057 | Methods of testing the integrity of an electrical coil as it is wound In the manufacture of electrical coils (10), particularly large transformer coils, an insulated wire (11) is wound on a rotatable winding arbor (12) so as to form a succession of turns of the insulated wire. Particularly when large gauge enamelled copper ... | 11/22/1983 |
| 4408753 | Holder for aligning paramagnetic articles Paramagnetic articles such as a stem (14) and an armature (17) are placed into mutual coextensive alignment with a gap (19) of a predetermined width between adjacent portions of such articles. To repetitively establish the predetermined gap between succes... | 10/11/1983 |
| 4406545 | Methods of and apparatus for measuring surface areas A technique for identifying and measuring a first surface area and apparatus for aiding such identification are disclosed. Each incremental portion of said first surface area and at least adjacent portions of surrounding surface areas are illuminated with... | 09/27/1983 |
| 4399610 | Assembling an electronic device An electronic device (10) is attached to a carrier tape (20) by a cluster (22) of leads (12) which are closely spaced relative to each other. The device (10) is detached from tape (20) along with the leads (12) and tape members (28) interconnecting such l... | 08/23/1983 |
| 4397385 | Centering articles Articles (12) are loaded onto a movable article holder such as pedestals (18) mounted to a rotary table (20). The table is indexed to advance the articles (12) first to a centering station (41) and then to a work station (49) which may be, for example, a ... | 08/09/1983 |
| 4383495 | Apparatus for coating surfaces of a substrate The walls 41 (FIG. 4) of thru holes 11 in a printed wiring board substrate 12 are coated with a liquid 24 by inserting fingers 22 into the thru holes. Each of the fingers has a diameter slightly less than the diameter of the associated thru hole and has a... | 05/17/1983 |
| 4383357 | Methods of aligning paramagnetic articles Paramagnetic articles such as a stem (14) and an armature (17) are placed into mutual coextensive alignment with a gap (19) of a predetermined width between adjacent portions of such articles. To repetitively establish the predetermined gap between succes... | 05/17/1983 |
| 4376584 | Pattern printing including aligning masks and monitoring such alignment A circuit pattern printing system includes alignment apparatus (71) which is located remote from a printer (35). The alignment apparatus includes a means for displaying a cursor (69) on a video screen (101). The cursor identifies a desired position of a f... | 03/15/1983 |
| 4376017 | Methods of electrolytically treating portions of digitated strips and treating cell A pair of opposite surfaces (17 and 18) of shaped, digitated edge features (12) of a metal strip (11) are selectively treated in an electrolytic treating cell (32) while adjacent edge surfaces (22 and 23) of such features are shielded from exposure to the... | 03/08/1983 |
| 4360964 | Nondestructive testing of semiconductor materials An n-type region of a semiconductor body, such as a surface region of a bulk wafer or an epitaxial layer region grown on a wafer (12), is successfully submitted to a capacitance-voltage test using a mercury probe (11) after being subjected to a pretreatme... | 11/30/1982 |
| 4352785 | Crystal grower with torque supportive collapsible pulling mechanism A Czochralski-type crystal growing apparatus (10) supports a crystal (12) with respect to a melt (14) by a plurality of flexible cables (41, 42 and 43). The supporting lengths of the cables are radially offset in a horizontal plane from a vertical central... | 10/05/1982 |
| 4349589 | Method for distributing liquid over a surface A surface of a substrate 11 (FIG. 2) is uniformly coated with a liquid L by wetting the surface with the liquid and compressibly contacting the wetted surface with an applicator member 10 having an outer layer 14 of a compressible liquid absorbing materia... | 09/14/1982 |
| 4347431 | Diffusion furnace A diffusion furnace (11) includes a typical process tube (12) and an outer envelope (26) which forms an annular chamber (37) with the process tube. A heating element (29) of high purity graphite substantially surrounds the process tube within the chamber ... | 08/31/1982 |
| 4346396 | Electronic device assembly and methods of making same An electronic device assembly (11) includes a heat dissipating substrate (18) having a seat (16). A device (14) is uniformly spaced from a base surface of the seat (16), and a layer of solder of uniform thickness occupies a gap between the surface of the ... | 08/24/1982 |
| 4344064 | Article carrying a distinctive mark A Hybrid Integrated Circuit package (11) typically includes a circuit substrate or article (12) on which are formed thin film components (17, 18, 19) of a circuit (22) and to which is bonded at least one semiconductor chip (21). Prior to bonding the chip ... | 08/10/1982 |
| 4343643 | Sealing articles into a glass envelope and compound holder therefor A holder (55) for supporting in alignment a plurality of spaced electrodes (18) and (19) to be sealed into a corresponding plurality of envelopes (14) includes a metal base (82) which supports a stripper plate (87). A plurality of posts (36) extend from t... | 08/10/1982 |
| 4343585 | Article handling methods including reorienting randomly misoriented articles Initially randomly oriented elongated articles (11) are uniformly oriented and inserted into cavities (47) of a magazine (48) in a mass insertion process. The articles (11) are first aligned in parallel grooves (32) of a rack (31), wherein they initially ... | 08/10/1982 |
| 4343388 | Apparatus for sorting articles Diode chips (44) are cut from a p-n sheet-diffused semiconductor wafer (41). Instead of having conventional rectangular shapes, the chips have a rhomboidal shape. This makes the shape of the chips asymmetric in that one surface (46) of each chip becomes a... | 08/10/1982 |
| 4328046 | Chromate conversion coatings A chromate conversion coating formed on an article in an acidic chromating bath in reaction with a metal surface on the article, such as cadmium or zinc, is stabilized by subjecting the coating to an alkaline bath having a pH in a range between 11 and 12,... | 05/04/1982 |
| 4328087 | Apparatus for treating portions of articles in a liquid Articles 12 are mounted in a holder 24 and the holder is floatingly supported on a liquid 16 such that only portions 53 of the articles 12 to be treated in the liquid 16 become immersed to a predetermined depth therein. The relative position of the holder... | 05/04/1982 |
| 4312716 | Supporting an array of elongate articles End portions of a plurality of articles (12) are simultaneously treated in an electrolytic bath. End portions of the articles are inserted into an array of apertures (17) extending between major surfaces of a planar holder (11). Inserting the articles (12... | 01/26/1982 |
| 4284466 | Bonding head A thermode (12) of a thermocompression bonding head (11) is adjustably mounted to a frame (35). A bonding tip (26) of the thermode (12) rests against a reference surface (17). After an initial adjustment of the thermode (12) with respect to a bonding plat... | 08/18/1981 |
| 4283747 | Methods of making a gas tube surge protector A gas tube surge protector (11) includes a housing (12) and spaced electrodes (14 and 16) which form a gastight envelope (27). A width of a gap (31) between the electrodes is precisely established by urging at last one of the electrodes (14) toward the ot... | 08/11/1981 |
| 4282744 | Leak testing hermetically sealed electronic articles Hermetically sealed electronic articles (11) such as, for example, diodes are leak tested by exposing the articles to a fluid (28) under pressure. The fluid is capable of altering the electrical characteristics of the articles to a value outside of an acc... | 08/11/1981 |
