Celebrity Inventors
Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) received Patent No. 121,992 for "An Improvement in Adjustable and Detachable Straps for Garments." He later received two more patents: one for a self-pasting scrapbook and one for a game to help players remember important historical dates.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6215310 | Glow plug circuit tester A mechanism for testing electrical components in an ignition system of a diesel engine includes a metal jacket having receptacles passing through the jacket and also includes glow plugs fitting in the receptacles. The jacket has an inlet to admit water or... | 04/10/2001 |
| 6179380 | Anti blast seat assembly with knee protection mechanism A vehicle designed to survive mines exploding underneath it has an impact absorbing seat assembly for holding a human occupant of the vehicle. The assembly includes a seat having lower and upper seat members and includes a mechanism connected to the floor... | 01/30/2001 |
| 6164736 | Tracked wheel assembly A shock absorbing, tracked wheel assembly of an off-road vehicle has a set f spoke-like structures radiating from the assembly's center or spider. The spoke-like structures include cylinders affixed to the spider and pistons axially translatable in the cyl... | 12/26/2000 |
| 6155218 | Cam advancing and retarding mechanism An engine accessory retards or advances one or more cam shafts of an engine relative to the crankshaft during engine operation. The accessory acts n the timing chain that engages wheels on cam shafts and crankshaft. The accessory includes a rod translat... | 12/05/2000 |
| 6148910 | Battery heating system A system provides a controlled supply of heat from an automotive engine to attery on board the vehicle. The system has a fluid circuit, a portion of which passes through an insulated box containing the battery and thereby heats the battery. Another portion... | 11/21/2000 |
| 6014099 | Isar method to analyze radar cross sections A method of analyzing the radar cross section of a target vehicle determines the contributions to total radar cross section of various vehicle design details. The method includes obtaining ISAR images of the vehicle with a radar at a known position relati... | 01/11/2000 |
| 6003479 | Piston construction A piston for a high performance engine has a crown and a skirt integrally formed with the crown. A step is defined about the crown and an annular channel is machined in the step. A ring belt facially encircling the crown sealingly covers the annular chann... | 12/21/1999 |
| 5982422 | Accelerated imaging technique using platinum silicide camera Disclosed is a method to image events with a camera having a focal plane ay of sensors on a charge coupled device whose parallel vertical registers clock signal charges to a horizontal register. The method includes sending a first clock signal to first g... | 11/09/1999 |
| 5957495 | Vehicle exhaust orientation assembly A vehicle exhaust orientation assembly directs an extremely hot, forceful haust gas flow from a tank or other vehicle that is towing a trailer or the like. The assembly has a transition shroud affixed to the exterior of the vehicle over its exhaust portal... | 09/28/1999 |
| 5953156 | Autostereoscopic viewing system and its method of use A method to create a holographic projection adjusts both for relatively sl and relatively large head movements of the human viewer. Basically, the method includes sending sequences of images on an optical path from a projector to an eyebox array, the ima... | 09/14/1999 |
| 5949480 | Broad band imaging spectroradiometer A method for obtaining spectral radiation data for points in a field of view utilizes a broad band variable filter to produce different intensity distributions on a photocell array. The array is in the focal plane of a camera and photocell locations corre... | 09/07/1999 |
| 5933955 | Method of making a drive sprocket by water jet machining A method of making a robust sprocket for a tracked combat vehicle includes orming flat steel plates from stock metallurgically dissimilar to and harder than that of the track shoes, the thickness of the plates being at least 0.72 times the axial width of t... | 08/10/1999 |
| 5916022 | Windshield defroster assembly A defroster assembly uses heat from an engine's exhaust to heat the exterior of a windshield and the wipers thereon. The assembly comprises an air intake mechanism shared with the engine's air filter. The air intake mechanism leads to air ducts spaced fro... | 06/29/1999 |
| 5899432 | Adjustable test stand for ballistic sample testing An adjustable test stand for holding ballistic samples during testing, the est stand having trusses carrying specimen holding members the trusses having curved arms which cooperate with the specimen holders to hold the specimens at various angles of incide... | 05/04/1999 |
| 5865579 | Adaptor for palletized loading system An adaptor is provided for a vehicle load bed having stake pockets along lateral edges. The adaptor allows pallets having indented peripheries to roll over the bed and to be locked in place on the bed. The adaptor has a base lying on the bed and guides ... | 02/02/1999 |
| 5857730 | Low visibility armor structure with add-on window armor component A low visibility interior armor construction for a door of an automotive icle is removably installed in the vehicle without structural change to the vehicle. The construction has a door panel armor component facing an inboard side of the door and a compr... | 01/12/1999 |
| 5845922 | Vehicle tow bar A tow bar connecting a towed vehicle a towing vehicle has a shaft forking to tines whose hooks to engage the axle or undercarriage of the towed vehicle. A cradle or bracket slidable on the shaft engages the frame, bumper or other part of the towed vehicle... | 12/08/1998 |
| 5829935 | Fastening arrangement A fastener assembly connects two layers of different hardness in a panel. e assembly has a screw and has a mechanism for boring through the softer layer comprised of a collar of material softer than the material of the screw. The screw is tapped into the ... | 11/03/1998 |
| 5786542 | Anti-personnel mine clearing system A system for clearing anti-personnel mines includes a vehicle, a blast shd on the front of the vehicle, and arms pivoted to the blast shield. A roller wheel subassembly is connected to the arms by cables or chains. Cross members fastened diagonally betwe... | 07/28/1998 |
| 5784738 | Hinge modified to have torque limiting fastener A hinge connects the webbing of a first bridge span to the webbing of a second bridge span. The hinge has male hinge plates on opposite sides of the first span's webbing and has female hinge plates on opposite sides of the second span's webbing. A shaft p... | 07/28/1998 |
| 5782490 | Track wheeled trailer A flat bed off-road trailer has a rigid planar frame supporting the bed. frame has transverse members at the forward and rear edges of the bed, and has longitudinal members at lateral edges of the bed. A rigid undercarriage fixed to the trailer's axle i... | 07/21/1998 |
| 5778506 | Method for ballistically enhancing a formed panel A method to retrofit a vehicle panel with a ballistic enhancement mat sta by providing a continuous batt of fibrous material. The batt is impregnated with a matrix of material that is, or can be made to be, deformable and then hardened. The batt is cut i... | 07/14/1998 |
| 5758859 | Shock absorbing vehicle seat assembly A land vehicle seat assembly for absorbing explosive shocks is mounted on e vehicle's floor. The assembly has an anti-friction pad on the floor. A base plate on the pad swings around a pin fixed to the floor at the front of the plate. Horizontal shock abs... | 06/02/1998 |
| 5734473 | Method of determining polarization profiles for polychromatic sources A method for determining polarization profiles of individual wavelengths hin a polychromatic source utilizes a variable filter system comprised of a retarder and a linear polarizer. Polychromatic light from the source is transmitted through the system an... | 03/31/1998 |
| 5715902 | Retrofit unit for vehicle steering mechanism A retrofit mechanism adapts a pre-existing manually steered vehicle for b manual and powered remote steering control. The mechanism's steering control subassembly mounts to a bridge of a rigid adaptor assembly fixed to the vehicle's frame. A control suba... | 02/10/1998 |
| 5711542 | Trailer hitch adapter A hitch adapter serves as a connection between a prime mover and a towed icle and permits the connection to be selectively configured for on-road or off-road travel. The adapter comprises a beam which has an eye at its fore end hooked to the prime mover ... | 01/27/1998 |
| 5679918 | Interior armor for passenger vehicles A set of interior armor panels are removably installed in a passenger vehe. At least one of the panels is a door armor panel covering a lower part of a door. Hooks on the door armor panel engage the door's sill, these hooks having ends inserted into the ... | 10/21/1997 |
| 5651416 | Fire extinguishing method A scheme for essentially instantaneous kills of fires in crew compartments s shown which is effective over a wide variety of climatic temperatures. An extinguishant is mixed according to the formula, (M+ A-)sat +H2 | 07/29/1997 |
| 5644952 | Modified vehicle brake actuator A manual braking mechanism is adapted for manually overridable remote conl. The mechanism is disposed in a generally planar region forward of a vehicle's handle bar that does not interfere with the vehicle body or a human vehicle driver. The mechanism in... | 07/08/1997 |
| 5639174 | Double hinged modular cargo unit A collapsible, stackable cargo unit for carrying one or more vehicles has a wingable ramp by which vehicles roll on or off the unit. The ramp swings to a fixed upright position during vehicle shipment. After the vehicles are unloaded, the ramp swings down ... | 06/17/1997 |
| 5636911 | Double drive sprocket An improved drive connection between the track and drive sprocket of a tr laying vehicle has a specially modified sprocket and track units. The track elements of the improved drive connection include links connecting the track units at their lateral, wel... | 06/10/1997 |
| 5632500 | Modified vehicle throttle control An adapter mechanism converts a manual throttle control to a powered manuy overidable throttle control. The manual control has a housing element, a post rotatable in the housing element and a control lever connected to the post. A first rotor plate engag... | 05/27/1997 |
| 5628682 | Ballistically protective air passage A low signature, low restriction, ballistically protective air intake assly for an exteriorly armored structure. The assembly is provided is comprised of one or more ducts having an entry end, an exit end and a spiralled duct portion between the ends. Th... | 05/13/1997 |
| 5604588 | Imaging plasma in nonlinear limiter cells A method to examine laser induced plasma or bubble formations in nonlinear limiter cells includes splitting a laser pulse into an initiation pulse, a first probe pulse and a second probe pulse. The initiation pulse is focussed at a site in the cell, so th... | 02/18/1997 |
| 5592898 | Lane marker A lane marker includes a base, an illuminator, and a frangible bracket resably holding the illuminator in the lowered position on the base. A cantilever embedded in the bracket extends therefrom along the illuminator and is stronger than the bracket. The... | 01/14/1997 |
| 5588303 | Armored vehicle surface cooling system A semi-passive cooling system for an armored vehicle includes an intermittent pressure source, an accumulator for storing pressurized fluid from the intermittent source, and a mechanism to control the pressure in the accumulator. The system also includes ... | 12/31/1996 |
| 5580515 | Chemical igniter for an exothermic cutting lance An igniter for an exothermic lance has an inner peripheral wall about the lance, the inner peripheral wall defining dual purpose teeth for centering the lance relative to the igniter and holding various lances of differing diameters. The teeth space the i... | 12/03/1996 |
| 5576508 | Extendable armor A vehicle's armor assembly has a track on the vehicle's exterior, a pair of arriers translatable along the track, and a rotatable threaded rod for effecting relative axial motion of the carriers along the track. Arms of unequal length pivot on the carriers... | 11/19/1996 |
| 5575693 | Battery post connector An electrical connector that quickly clamps to or releases from a battery st has a band comprised of a flexible loop and a portion of the band remote from the loop. A flexible arm swingably mounts to the remote portion of the band, and a lever is journall... | 11/19/1996 |
| 5566987 | Hose fitting assembly A hose fitting assembly has a fitting, a spool that translates into the fitting and a sleeve sliding along the spool onto the fitting. The fitting has a bore, an exterior channel, and apertures connecting the exterior channel to the bore. Disposed at the ... | 10/22/1996 |
