Did You Know...
...In 1790, the cost to obtain a patent was between $4 and $5.
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 |
| 5324931 | Process for reliably detecting the passage of a target object using a photoelectric control unit employing pseudo-random jitter factor pulses A target acquisition system for a photoelectric control unit which helps avoid interference problems due to optical and electrical noise. The system provides for the interpulse interval between light pulses transmitted by the photoelectric control unit to... | 06/28/1994 |
| 5321255 | Obstacle detecting system having a plurality of spaced laser diodes An obstacle detecting system comprises an optical unit having a plurality of spaced laser diodes each of which emits a laser beam, a convex lens spaced from the optical unit in the frontward direction thereof and establishing a combined beam after each th... | 06/14/1994 |
| 5311012 | Method and apparatus for detecting objects with modifying gain and sensor means A method and apparatus are disclosed which allow for the detection of an object (14) by the generation of a radiated beam (18) and a subsequent reflection by the object (14) of a portion (20) thereof. The detection of particulate object material (16) due ... | 05/10/1994 |
| 5302819 | Method of, and apparatus for, detecting an object A method of detecting an object, comprising the steps of generating radiation by means of a source of radiation; emitting the radiation in the direction of the object; and detecting a first radiation component at a first angle of deflection of substantial... | 04/12/1994 |
| 5302948 | Object pointer computer input apparatus A computer input device uses an ordinary sheet material such as a card, letter or envelope to select and point to a symbol. A remote portion of the sheet material covers sensors which sense available ambient light. Uncovered sensors provide background lig... | 04/12/1994 |
| 5298738 | System for monitoring vehicles having a start and a stop pair of beams A beam system for traffic monitoring which comprises transmitters for two pairs of beams which constitute a start and a stop pair of beams which in use are spaced from each other by a known distance; receivers for each beam; electronic means connected to ... | 03/29/1994 |
| 5289208 | Automatic print cartridge alignment sensor system Apparatus and techniques are disclosed for aligning the operation of the ink jet printhead cartridges of a multiple printhead ink jet swath printer that includes a print carriage that is movable along a horizontal carriage scan axis, (b) first and second ... | 02/22/1994 |
| 5281810 | Photoelectric control unit adapted for determining its own operating margin having dual variable-gain amplifier A photoelectric control unit including an electronic system having a system architecture which is adapted for allowing the unit to readily and accurately determine its own operating margin. This architecture system includes a pair of variable gain modules... | 01/25/1994 |
| 5270529 | Device for sensing rotary head position of magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus An apparatus of sensing a position for a recording and reproducing device, having first and second light receiving devices of the same photoelectric transfer characteristic, a light emitting device opposite to the first and second light receiving devices,... | 12/14/1993 |
| 5266810 | Package height detector having a first group of light sensors selectively enabled by the detector outputs of a second group of light sensors A dimensional detector useful for determining the height of a package as it moves along a conveyor, comprising a light source and corresponding light sensors oppositely disposed across the conveyor, wherein the light is interrupted by the package before b... | 11/30/1993 |
| 5260554 | System for automatically reading symbols, such as bar codes, on objects which are placed in the detection zone of a symbol reading unit, such as a bar code scanner A bar code label is read by automatically initiated scanning of the bar code symbol by a beam of light, as from a laser in a bar code scanner. Initially, the scanner is operated in a pulsed mode with low duty cycle (5%) pulses. These pulses are reflected ... | 11/09/1993 |
| 5258610 | Method and apparatus for sensing the presence of a sheet by sheet causing attenuation of radiation A sheet detection apparatus (10) capable of detecting the presence of a sheet (18). The sheet detection apparatus (10) employs a heater (11) as a thermal emission source that emits radiant energy of a particular wavelength and a detector (12) having an ou... | 11/02/1993 |
| 5254853 | Optical sensing device An optical sensing device for detecting the presence of an object within a sensing volume such as a door-frame has at least one light source consisting of a light emitting diode and a light sensor. A cylindrical rod made of a transparent material and havi... | 10/19/1993 |
| 5250801 | Optical sensor for detecting articles in a monitored region and method for operating the same An optical sensor device for detecting reflecting objects (11) has a light pulse emitter (12) and a light receiver (13) connected to an evaluation circuit (14) having a pulse generator (17) and a reception signal processing stage (24) which only emits an ... | 10/05/1993 |
| 5250769 | Roadway treadle switch assembly A treadle switch assembly for installation in a roadway bed for use in sensing vehicular traffic flow thereover is disclosed. The assembly includes at least one elongated treadle constructed of a compressible, resilient material which contains a hollow pa... | 10/05/1993 |
| 5245178 | Apparatus for automatically testing safety light curtain and measuring machine stoppage time An apparatus and method for automatically testing a safety light curtain used to protect to an unsafe moving part of an industrial machine. A combined beam splitter and photodetector is temporarily attached to the receiver of the light curtain with beam s... | 09/14/1993 |
| 5243183 | Obstruction position detecting system with comparison and memory means The present invention employs a plurality of spaced light beam sources and corresponding photodetectors to form a light screen. A programmed microprocessor and memory circuitry senses the photodetector output and stores information on the position of an a... | 09/07/1993 |
| 5243182 | Photoelectric switch including synch timing signal emitter and detector and photoelectric detector system using the same This invention relates to a photoelectric switch and a photoelectric detector for detecting the presence or absence of an object by using a light, and more particularly to prevention of mutual interference in the case of using a plurality of photoelectric... | 09/07/1993 |
| 5237161 | System for automatically reading symbols, such as bar codes, on objects which are placed in the detection zone of a symbol reading unit, such as a bar code scanner A bar code label is ready by automatically initiated scanning of the bar code symbol by a scanner on a stand. Light is reflected back to the scanner as from the bars of a code being scanned. Initially, the scanner is operated in a pulsed mode with low dut... | 08/17/1993 |
| 5235855 | Rod positioning apparatus A rod positioning apparatus is disclosed for positioning the end of a rod for a subsequent work operation on the rod such as ultrasonic testing of the rod end. A rod stop member receives the end of a rod advanced into a rod working position. A light emitt... | 08/17/1993 |
| 5233185 | Light beam detector for door openers using fiber optics A light beam transmitter and receiver are located in or near a door opener enclosure, and fiber optics connect the transmitter and receiver to the sides of the door opening. Lens arrangements are attached to the ends of the optic cables and are mounted ne... | 08/03/1993 |
| 5229753 | Warning device for a washing apparatus which advises whether its contents are clean or soiled An indicating system for a washing device having has at least one rack for holding articles during the washing of same and a door for gaining access to the articles. The indicating system includes a detector for sensing whether or not the rack holds artic... | 07/20/1993 |
| 5225689 | Reflected light sensor having dual emitters and receivers A reflected light sensor having a light transmitter including at least two mutually independent light sources and a light receiver including at least two separately evaluatable photosensitive elements. A switching point or distance limit of the light sens... | 07/06/1993 |
| 5222324 | Crop spraying system A crop spraying system adapted for attachment to an implement frame pulled by a traction vehicle employs a spray nozzle for each crop row in combination with a photo detector arrangement for sensing the presence of weeds or other unwanted plants extending... | 06/29/1993 |
| 5221837 | Non-contact envelope counter using distance measurement A counter for counting objects in a stack employs a beam moved by a scan carriage along an edge of the stack. A detector on the carriage determines the position of the portion of the beam reflected by the stack and determines, by optical triangulation tec... | 06/22/1993 |
| 5206500 | Pulsed-laser detection with pulse stretcher and noise averaging A photodetector receives an optical signal and converts it an electrical signal. A pulse stretcher converts the electrical signal into a first signal which is characterized by having an increased pulse width relative to the electrical signal. A noise aver... | 04/27/1993 |
| 5206520 | Imaging card device having an optical validation sensor An imaging device of the present invention, utilized for game cards or the like, comprises an optical validation sensor configured to prevent fraudulent play by a retailer or the like to pick out winning game cards. The optical validation sensor activates... | 04/27/1993 |
| 5200608 | Photo-interrupter operating on wide-ranged power voltage with a constant current means An LED and a photo-diode are arranged such that they are optically coupled with each other. The first terminal to which a power supply voltage is applied is connected to the anode of the LED. Between the cathode of the LED and the second terminal for outp... | 04/06/1993 |
| 5198661 | Segmented light curtain system and method A light curtain system for sensing the intrusion of objects into detection planes which define a protected zone. A plurality of light curtain segments are provided with each segment including spaced-apart transmitter and receiver heads. The transmitter an... | 03/30/1993 |
| 5194863 | Touch panel display A system which can control a plurality of opto-matrix input devices. Each opto-matrix device uses multiplexed scanning of emitter/detector pairs under control of a separate computer. The output of the opto-matrix input device is analog data which is provi... | 03/16/1993 |
| 5194729 | Document reading apparatus with area recognizing sensor and obstacle detection A document reading apparatus comprising a document table, a reading section disposed above the document table for reading a document placed on the document table. The reading section includes a sensor for detecting variations of brightness within a select... | 03/16/1993 |
| 5187361 | Object detection apparatus of the photoelectric reflection type with sampled data The object detection apparatus of the photoelectric reflection type is comprised of an optical source for generating an optical ray, an optical projection system having an optical axis extending through an observation zone along a limited observation rang... | 02/16/1993 |
| 5172003 | Reflex type optical sheet sensor having a dustproof plate with a roughed surface An optically transparent dustproof plate provided to a reflex type optical sheet sensor being for detecting passage of a sheet, transferred in front of the sheet sensor, by irradiating light from a light source provided in the sheet sensor to the sheet an... | 12/15/1992 |
| 5164607 | Fill sensor for paint gun used in an electrically isolated area A fill sensor for a paint gun provides a light sensor opposite a light source in a housing surrounding a transparent portion of paint gun overflow line so that reception by the light sensor of light radiated from the light source through the transparent p... | 11/17/1992 |
| 5160850 | Light beam interrupt detection apparatus for use in a vibrating environment A light beam interrupt detection apparatus for use in a vibrating environment comprises a light source for producing a beam of light, a light receiver for receiving and detecting the beam, the receiver having a detector surface sufficiently larger than th... | 11/03/1992 |
| 5160839 | Apparatus and method for determining instantaneous spatial position of spherical flying object The present invention utilizes, in combination, an irradiator, a screen and an optical sensor. The irradiator generates a parallel light band to form a linear image region on the screen. A spherical flying object is made to pass transversely through the p... | 11/03/1992 |
| 5155350 | Light gate with adjustable light transmitter A light switching device has a transmitter for generating light, a control circuit for controlling the light transmitted by said transmitter and a receiver for receiving the transmitted light. The receiver generates an indication signal which varies with ... | 10/13/1992 |
| 5151591 | Asynchronous signal interrogation circuit for an detection apparatus An asynchronous photodetector circuit is provided to interrogate incoming signals and determine whether the frequency of those incoming signal pulses is acceptable. The circuitry of the present invention permits a series of incoming pulses to be interroga... | 09/29/1992 |
| 5146081 | Switching circuit for a contact display panel The invention relates to a contact display panel circuitry in which the phototransistors are on two adjacent sides of the contact display panel and the diodes emitting infrared radiation to the phototransistors are on the opposite sides, and in which, und... | 09/08/1992 |
| 5144286 | Photosensitive switch with circuit for indicating malfunction An alarm for a photosensitive detector used for detecting registration marks on a web or the like measures the voltage levels of an intensity signal derived from the registration marks and the background as it moves past the photosensitive switch. Pulses ... | 09/01/1992 |
