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.
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7975635 | Furling and unfurling device for asymmetric sails An asymmetric sail furling and unfurling device comprises a tubular outer foil and an inner stay foil, the inner and outer foils providing a foil assembly adapted to transmit a torque for furling an unhoisted sail, which is furled on a sheath foil fitted on the oute... | 07/12/2011 |
| 7293517 | Method and apparatus for compacting sail cars The invention relates to method and apparatus for compactly stacking a sail having a tack, clew and head, the sail being mounted to batten or sail cars above a boom when the sail is stowed, furled or fully lowered. More specifically, most of the cars are compacted o... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7275491 | Sail furling system with recirculating halyard A sail furler with a recirculating halyard includes a foil having a longitudinal halyard channel and a longitudinal recirculating halyard channel formed within; and a halyard, having a first and second end, the halyard affixed at its first end to a slider, the slide... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7263941 | Sail furling device A sail furling/unfurling device comprises at least an outer foil wound about and made rigid with an inner foil or stay designed for transmitting the furling torque required for furling a sail being wound on a sheath profiled element, thereby the device allows to fur... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7211144 | Pulsed nucleation deposition of tungsten layers A method of forming a tungsten nucleation layer using a sequential deposition process. The tungsten nucleation layer is formed by reacting pulses of a tungsten-containing precursor and a reducing gas in a process chamber to deposit tungsten on the substrate. Thereaf... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7201803 | Valve control system for atomic layer deposition chamber A valve control system for a semiconductor processing chamber includes a system control computer and a plurality of electrically controlled valves associated with the processing chamber. The system further includes a programmable logic controller in communication wi... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7096812 | Aerodynamic headstay foil A foil for the headsail of a sailboat for use with a headstay has an aerodynamic shape. It includes a headstay channel for containing the headstay, which may be snapped into place in the channel. The foil has a first and second sidewall, a forward wall, and two or m... | 08/29/2006 |
| 7090236 | Mounting system, sail, steering mechanism and frame for a landsailer A mounting system for a boom (14) of a landsailer (1) includes a resilient flexible member (12), at one end engageable with a rearward portion of the landsailer frame (2) and at the other end with the main sheet (13). A steering me... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7085616 | Atomic layer deposition apparatus A method and apparatus for atomic layer deposition (ALD) is described. The apparatus comprises a deposition chamber and a wafer support. The deposition chamber is divided into two or more deposition regions that are integrally connected one to another. The wafer sup... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7022948 | Chamber for uniform substrate heating Embodiments of the invention generally provide an apparatus and a method for providing a uniform thermal profile to a plurality of substrates during heat processing. In one embodiment, a cassette containing one or more heated substrate supports is moveably disposed ... | 04/04/2006 |
| 6998014 | Apparatus and method for plasma assisted deposition Embodiments of the present invention relate to an apparatus and method of plasma assisted deposition by generation of a plasma adjacent a processing region. One embodiment of the apparatus comprises a substrate processing chamber including a top shower plate, a powe... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6998579 | Chamber for uniform substrate heating In a first aspect, a first apparatus is provided for heating substrates. The first apparatus includes (1) a chamber having a bottom portion and a top portion; (2) a plurality of heated supports disposed within the chamber to support at least two substrates thereon; ... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6951804 | Formation of a tantalum-nitride layer A method of forming a tantalum-nitride layer (204) for integrated circuit fabrication is disclosed. Alternating or co-reacting pulses of a tantalum containing precursor and a nitrogen containing precursor are provided to a chamber (100) to form layers ... | 10/04/2005 |
| 6936906 | Integration of barrier layer and seed layer The present invention generally relates to filling of a feature by depositing a barrier layer, depositing a seed layer over the barrier layer, and depositing a conductive layer over the seed layer. In one embodiment, the seed layer comprises a copper alloy seed laye... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6916398 | Gas delivery apparatus and method for atomic layer deposition One embodiment of the gas delivery assembly comprises a covering member having an expanding channel at a central portion of the covering member and having a bottom surface extending from the expanding channel to a peripheral portion of the covering member. One or mo... | 07/12/2005 |
| 6911391 | Integration of titanium and titanium nitride layers Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to an apparatus and method of integration of titanium and titanium nitride layers. One embodiment includes providing one or more cycles of a first set of compounds, providing one or more cycles of a second set of... | 06/28/2005 |
| 6769374 | Apparatus and method for guiding and hoisting a sail An apparatus and method for guiding a sail while it is being hoisted on a sail-powered marine vessel are disclosed. The apparatus is a pre-feeder or feeder for use on a forestay, mast, or foremast; the apparatus having two oppositely-facing members that are movable ... | 08/03/2004 |
| 6634311 | Apparatus and method for guiding and hoisting a sail An apparatus and method for guiding a sail while it is being hoisted on a sail-powered marine vessel are disclosed. The apparatus is a pre-feeder or feeder for use on a forestay, mast or foremast; the apparatus having two oppositely-facing members that ar... | 10/21/2003 |
| 5787830 | Sail slide A track slide intended to be moved along a track, particularly a mast or boom, having a groove with an enlarged inner portion and a narrow slot defined by two opposite walls of the track. The slide comprises a central profiled member having an enlarged in... | 08/04/1998 |
| 5706750 | Sailboat single-handed reefing system A single-handed reefing system for a sailboat including a sail, halyard, reefing line and winch mechanism. The reefing line is secured to the leach of a flexible sail approximately half the distance between the head and foot and passes alternately through... | 01/13/1998 |
| 5638763 | Corner reefing sail A sailing rig (20) has a sail cloth (26) adjustable in area by folding of the aft corner of sail (26), a clew sail (38). Sail cloth (26) is redesigned so clew sail (38) is not a structural part of rig (20) so it can be reefed without altering the remainde... | 06/17/1997 |
| 5636584 | Lief furling system for gathering flexible material A system for gathering cloth, intended for but not limited to sails. A web of vein lines (11) are connected a piece of flexible material in strategic positions depending on the size and cut of the cloth. These vein lines (11) are then lead through the bel... | 06/10/1997 |
| 5562063 | Sail support device Sail support device comprising a plurality of slides (1) adapted to be retained to a sail (21) by webbing (8A). The slides (1) are accommodated in a groove (3) of a track member adapted for mounting on a stay (23). Each slide (1) has an elongate hollow bo... | 10/08/1996 |
| 5474010 | Sail gathering system A dropped sail is gathered along a boom extending generally horizontally from a mast upon which the sail can be raised during sailing, the mast being supported by a lateral stays. On each side of the boom, a first line, when tensioned, extends from the fr... | 12/12/1995 |
| 5463970 | Furling foil for sailing vessel A furling foil rotatably mounted on a stay of a sailing vessel carries the forward edge of the sail, and the foil is rotated to furl the sail. The foil is of composite construction and has an inner reinforcing braided layer of high tensile filaments exten... | 11/07/1995 |
| 5413061 | Masthead spinnaker halyard turret and method A spinnaker halyard turret is affixed to a sail boat's masthead permitting a spinnaker halyard to be lead from within the mast through an exit tube at the top of the mast; then over a pair of sheaves aligned one forward of the other to a point on an arc b... | 05/09/1995 |
| 5327842 | Sail control system A device for keeping a lowered sail on the boom, preventing it from falling to the deck, the device being so constructed that it can be deployed for use when lowering the sail, and retracted to lie along the boom when sailing or when the sail cover is to ... | 07/12/1994 |
| 5271349 | Wing sail structure A wingsail structure wherein the sail comprises a plurality of ribs encircling the mast and is guided slidably along the mast. A fabric skin is wrapped around the ribs. In a preferred embodiment, the mast is provided with at least two opposed, parallel lo... | 12/21/1993 |
| 5263429 | Airfoil sail Airfoil sail for a sailboat of which the length-adjustable mast consists of several telescoping pipes 12, 18, 20 holding individually raised or reefed sail crossbeams 44, 48, 52 with sail coverings spanning the vertical spacings between said crossbeams. E... | 11/23/1993 |
| 5115755 | Quick attachment release jib handling and stowage system A sail magazine and rigging device for automatically rigging and stowing a stay sail, comprising a elongated flat member having a spear-shaped blade section for catching and opening sail hanks and removing them from the stay. When used on a properly confi... | 05/26/1992 |
| 5076187 | Sails away A device for gathering in and folding the mainsail on the boom of a sailboat. Four battens are inserted into the slots of the batten holders, which are secured to the boom with fasteners, forming a cradle projecting out at 45° from vertical on both sides... | 12/31/1991 |
| 5048443 | Sail handling system The specification discloses a sail handling system having a series of lines interwoven through a sail, and lines passing through grommets on the sail to prevent the sail from falling freely down the mast and to stack the sail. The sail handling system has... | 09/17/1991 |
| 4951589 | Mainsail construction facilitating airflow thereover An improved mainsail construction having a barrier extending laterally outward from the mainsail and the mainsail boom to prevent flow of air from the high pressure side to the low pressure side of the sail and thus improve efficiency thereof. The barrier... | 08/28/1990 |
| 4905621 | Sail changing cartridge A sail changing system wherein the sail is controlled by slides which are attached to the lufftape by short cords, which slide along beside the lufftape in a grooved track on the foil when the sail is raised, and which feed into a cartridge when the sail ... | 03/06/1990 |
| 4838192 | Marine sails with battens and furling systems therefor A marine sail having a pocket, or double ply section, at the luff and a plurality of elongated battens which are attached to the sail at the leech and which extend forwardly along the sail and project through openings at the trailing edge of the double pl... | 06/13/1989 |
| 4838191 | Low-drag sailboat mast A mast for a sailboat includes a plurality of spaced parallel bars arranged as a polygon in cross-section wherein the bars are of a size to permit air flow therebetween and being oriented such that one of the bars is disposed nearer the aft of the boat th... | 06/13/1989 |
| 4796554 | Sailboat The invention relates to a sailboat in which the hull is defined by cross-sections forming equilateral triangles standing on one tip with convex sides and which continuously decrease in size toward the bow and stern so that the keel line and the side edge... | 01/10/1989 |
| 4745871 | Method and apparatus for covering and containing a sail A sail cover apparatus and method for completely covering a sail that is slidably supported on the mast and boom of a sailboat wherein a pair of elongated flexible cover halves are provided having mating lower edges for detachable securement along the foo... | 05/24/1988 |
| 4688506 | Boat sail control system System for controlling a boat sail as it is dropped, the sail being made of flexible material and being folded to lie when it is a mainsail, for example, on top of the boom of the boat. One or more control lines run parallel to the mast from the boom to a... | 08/25/1987 |
| 4669407 | Body sail A body sail device mountable around the body of a user for propelling the user through the water. The body sail includes an upstanding mast and a mounting member attachable on the body of the user for mounting the mast on the user. An outwardly extending ... | 06/02/1987 |
