Did You Know...
...Chester Carlson was a patent agent who tired of having to make multiple copies of patent applications using the only duplication method available at the time: carbon paper. In 1959 he came up with a new copying system and took it to IBM for evaluation. The "experts" at IBM determined potential sales to be only 5,000 units because people wouldn't want to use a bulky machine when they had carbon paper. Carlson's invention was the xerography process, the company founded on the system is Xerox.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7503431 | Mechanical rotational drive A mechanical rotational drive has a bar-like torsion element, whereby the torsion element is firmly clamped with a first end in a bearing device. The torsion element can be pivoted with a second free end with respect to the clamped end about the longitudinal axis, f... | 03/17/2009 |
| 6792908 | Recoil assembly for a pull starter A recoil starter including a winding housing and a reel that is rotatably coupled of the winding housing for rotation about a central axis. The winding housing includes a spring tab that is spaced from the central axis. The recoil starter also includes a spirally wo... | 09/21/2004 |
| 6725975 | Positioning rotary actuators In order to position a rotary actuator, a positioning device is coupled to the actuator. The positioning device has a coupling shaft and springs which respectively surround top and bottom portions of the shaft and are coupled thereto by respective coupling rings. Th... | 04/27/2004 |
| 6441516 | Shockproof device for a power generator with an oscillating weight The device includes a barrel (2) inserted in the kinematic chain between the rotor (11) of the generator (1) and the oscillating weight (3). The barrel includes a spiral coiled spring (4) and a sliding strip (6), wound in the same direction as the spiral ... | 08/27/2002 |
| 6283192 | Flat spring drive system and window cover A spring drive system for window covers is disclosed, which includes a so-called flat spring drive and the combination whose elements are selected from a group which includes (1) a band transmission which provides varying ratio power transfer as the cover... | 09/04/2001 |
| 6149094 | Spring motor A motor for controlling the elevating and lowering of a load comprises a storage drum, an output drum and a spring member operatively connected therebetween to provide a spring motor therewith, and a pair of cord drums aligned with and respectively adjace... | 11/21/2000 |
| 6129181 | Constant force spring actuator A constant force actuator transforms applied heat to an applied force on an output device. Strips of shape memory alloy are coiled into spirals and trained to have this configuration as a static state. The shape memory alloy springs are attached to the ou... | 10/10/2000 |
| 6098757 | Spring drive assembly A device is disclosed comprising (a) a first and second member in rotational alignment to each another; (b) a torsional resilient mechanism for providing torsional resilience between the first and second members, the torsional resilient mechanism comprisi... | 08/08/2000 |
| 6032760 | Bi-directional spring holder assembly for an actuator An actuator for power door locks having a bi-directional spring holder assembly. The assembly has a substantially cylindrical housing having a projection formed on a rim of its cylindrical wall. The projection is provided with first and second abutments f... | 03/07/2000 |
| 6006475 | Spring loaded swinging door system An spring apparatus for use with an automatic swinging door closure system wherein the system includes a motor linked to a door via a gear train and a drive arm, the train including a plurality of gears including a first gear adjacent the motor, the motor... | 12/28/1999 |
| 5809697 | Door closer A door closer includes a casing fixedly fastened to a door leaf, a shaft turned in axle holes in the casing, a spiral spring mounted around the shaft within the casing and having one end fixed to the shaft and an opposite end fixed to the casing and adapt... | 09/22/1998 |
| 5590741 | Spring motor assembly A spring motor having a large number of flat spiral wound springs connected in series is shown which allows storage of large amounts of energy in a small amount of cubic space. Only a small force is required for full wind up of the assembly. Energy can be... | 01/07/1997 |
| 5482100 | Cordless, balanced venetian blind or shade with consistent variable force spring motor A cordless, balanced venetian blind or shade with a constant variable spring motor includes conventional window covering components without the outside hanging lifting cords or cord locking mechanisms. One or more constant variable force spring motors are... | 01/09/1996 |
| 5386884 | Spring assemblies A spring assembly of the kind having a coiled strip spring member (34) supported at one end on an arcuate drum portion (16) about which it is reverse wound and coiled at its other end about an abutment (20) further includes a base plate (10) mounting the ... | 02/07/1995 |
| 5294097 | Apparatus for mounting a spiral spring There is provided a two point mounting system for the outside end of a spiral spring. The mounting system induces a torsional load on the outside end of the spiral spring to overcome the tendency of the spiral spring coils to move into a non-concentric po... | 03/15/1994 |
| 5213183 | Control device for a valve with a spiral spring Control device for a valve provided with a spiral spring whose release brings about rotation of the drive shaft of the stopper of the valve. Rotation of the auxiliary shaft of the control device is dependent upon a shock absorbing device, wherein rotation... | 05/25/1993 |
| 5188198 | Power spring drive apparatus A power spring drive apparatus having a power spring on a power spring wind up shaft, an output shaft, and a gear train for winding the power spring and for transferring the rotational force of a wound power spring to the output shaft. The apparatus is in... | 02/23/1993 |
| 5187612 | Gyrating programmable scanner A miniature device for moving a reference plane or point on an axis in rotational or x-y directions, particularly useful for two dimensional beam scanning. The device consists of a ferromagnetic ring surrounding a magnetic core which is flexibly mounted a... | 02/16/1993 |
| 5103936 | Spring drive unit of pull-back windup type A thin spiral spring drive unit, in particular for a toy car, employs a crown gear in a gear train between an output shaft and a drive shaft on which a spiral spring is wound as a source of the driving force. The unit can be assembled with a small number ... | 04/14/1992 |
| 5067451 | Recoil spring end retainer A rope pulley for an internal combustion engine recoil starter using a spiral recoil spring to rewind the starter rope upon the pulley. The improvement consists of the use of a recoil spring end lock defined on the pulley to prevent the spring end from di... | 11/26/1991 |
| 4995567 | Spring-loaded barrel, in particular for a seat belt retractor The barrel, which consists, inter alia, of a casing (10) defining a chamber (100), of a coverplate (20) with an orifice (21), of a hub (30) and of a spiral spring (40), comprises a device (50) for temporarily immobilizing the hub (30) in this chamber (100... | 02/26/1991 |
| 4986141 | Tape drive with self-expanding coils for sludge collector Apparatus for taking up and paying out first and second ends of an endless loop of tape that has an intermediate section. A first reel connected to the first end carries a first coil of the tape. The first coil extends from the first reel and is normally ... | 01/22/1991 |
| 4927537 | Tape drive with self-expanding coils for sludge collector Apparatus for taking up and paying out first and second ends of an endless loop of tape that has an intermediate section. A first reel connected to the first end carries a first coil of the tape. The first coil extends from the first reel and is normally ... | 05/22/1990 |
| 4881621 | Spiral spring power source for toy This invention relates to a spiral spring power source for a toy, which can select a method of winding a power spiral spring 7 by a pulling string type winding cord 25 and a method of winding the power spiral spring 7 by a winding key 43 by removing a mec... | 11/21/1989 |
| 4850233 | Recoil apparatus A recoil apparatus has a drum rotatably disposed within a casing. A peripheral groove is formed in the drum in such a manner as to open in the outer periphery of the drum. A recoil spring member is formed into a spiral shape and is received within the per... | 07/25/1989 |
| 4817927 | Coil torsion spring mounting cones with groove break and method of mounting This invention relates to a novel anchor cone and winding cone apparatus and method for mounting a coil torsion spring to an overhead door. Indicia are provided on the cones to assure proper orientation of the cones to the spring and the cone/spring assem... | 04/04/1989 |
| 4807347 | Method and tool for rewinding a recoil starter spring A tool for rewinding the recoil starter spring within a recoil starter mechanism for a small engine which allows the repair person to rewind the spring with a minimum of trouble and without the danger of the spring flying out of the central spring receivi... | 02/28/1989 |
| 4776574 | Seat belt retractor rewind spring assembly This invention relates to an improved seat belt retractor rewind spring assembly. In accordance with this invention, a rewind spring assembly is provided having the "bridling" effect wherein the coiled flat strip spring is retained by a spring cap which e... | 10/11/1988 |
| 4771965 | Barrel for a pre-stressed spiral spring and its application in a safety belt winder, in particular for a ground motor vehicle The barrel comprises a pre-stressed spiral spring which arms the barrel and further comprises a housing (100), a rotatable hub (200) and the spring (300) which is wound around the hub and anchored to the latter and to the housing. The barrel includes betw... | 09/20/1988 |
| 4732121 | Recoil starter A recoil starter is disclosed which comprises a cup-shaped casing, a side plate integrally having an annular projection disposed in opposition to an inside of a bottom portion of the casing and having an engagement hole to be engated with an engagement pr... | 03/22/1988 |
| 4719992 | B-motor with floating locking plug A spring motor comprises an output drum rotatably mounted to a casing and a first end of a spring attached to the output drum. A second end of the spring is attached to a free floating locking plug, around which the spring coils in an unstressed state. A ... | 01/19/1988 |
| 4713508 | Circuit breaker operating mechanism equipped with a stored energy system having removable and replaceable closing spring mechanisms A stored energy system of a circuit breaker operating mechanism comprises a telescopic link having a guide and a cap with relative movement between which at least one closing spring is inserted. At the end of charging travel, a removable blocking device c... | 12/15/1987 |
| 4709586 | Spring-driven gyroscope The invention relates to a gyroscope which is comprised of a hollow rotor adapted to rotate about a fixed shaft, a leaf spring housed inside the rotor, one end of which is releasably connected to the fixed shaft and the second end of the spring is fixedly... | 12/01/1987 |
| 4702350 | Spring drive device A spring drive device in which a spring holder, a rotor and an output gear are all loosely mounted on a shaft. The spring holder is prevented from rotating and holds one end of a coil spring, the other end of which is held by the output gear. The rotor ro... | 10/27/1987 |
| 4662477 | Drive mechanism for toy running vehicles A drive mechanism using a spiral spring as a driving force for driving toy motorcars and other running toys comprises a frame having a mounting hole for easily assembling a spiral spring within the frame permitting all the components required for construc... | 05/05/1987 |
| 4635755 | Backwound pre-stressed spring motor and method A backwound pre-stressed flat spring motor and method of making the same having a pre-stressed spring element backwound on a central arbor within a cup wherein a portion of the spring element extends beyond the arbor wherein the initial turns of spring el... | 01/13/1987 |
| 4632312 | Impact drive sprinkler An impact drive sprinkler is provided from a relatively small number of easily assembled components which can be formed predominantly from lightweight molded plastic or the like. The sprinkler includes a unitary sprinkler body having a lower riser tube ro... | 12/30/1986 |
| 4595184 | Controllable spiral spring, in particular with logarithmic characteristics An instrument has a rotatable part and a helical spring secured to the instrument casing at its outer end and to the rotatable part at its inner end. The spring characteristics are made to depart from linear, by changing the cross-sectional area of the sp... | 06/17/1986 |
| 4552249 | Mounting device for spiral spring A mounting device for a spiral spring which includes a rotatable shaft, a casing having a wall through which a first end of said rotatable shaft extends, a spiral spring for biasing the rotatable shaft in one direction, the spiral spring having an inner e... | 11/12/1985 |
| 4478313 | Spring powered prime mover An improved spring-wound prime mover provides a housing cavity that can automatically fix one end of a spring upon insertion. The gear train includes individual gears that automatically provide a first gear ratio for storing energy and a second gear ratio... | 10/23/1984 |
