...that to encourage use of his new invention, the shopping cart, market owner Sylvan Goldman hired fake shoppers to push the carts around his store in Oklahoma City? Seems his customers were reluctant to give up their hand-carried baskets.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7367544 | Apparatus and method for replacing existing actuator zone valves in an HVAC system with a ball valve An apparatus and method are provided for replacing existing actuator driven zone valves in an HVAC system, and particularly valves of the rubber paddle type having actuators providing less than 90 degrees of rotation, with a ball valve including a skewed seat bearin... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7306010 | Ball valve with snap-in stem A ball valve has a ball with resilient, opposed facing spaced-apart locking arms which engage a stem having outwardly projecting flanges to allow the stem to be inserted externally into the valve body and snap-locked to the resilient opposed locking arms of the ball... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7290556 | Fire collar A fire collar or fire damper for location within a concrete slab of a building. The device incorporates a damper arrangement (12) and a heat detector (18, 19) comprising a metal alloy or lead which melts when a present temperature is reached, causing t... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7287544 | Triple valve blow out preventer A triple-valve internal blow out preventer having unitary construction is provided, each valve including a tubular assembly having a central passageway with upper and lower seats mounted therein. A ball is rotatably received between the upper and lower seats and inc... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7121295 | Internal blow out preventer ball and seat An internal blow out preventer is provided that includes a ball valve including a tubular assembly having a central passageway with upper and lower seats mounted therein. A ball is rotatably received between the upper and lower seats and includes an external surface... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7080822 | Ball valve with a single piece ball-stem and an integrated actuator mounting flange A two piece side split ball valve with internal corrosion resistant plastic lining (4, 5), with an integral actuator mounting flange (30) for easier, cheaper & direct mounting of any standard actuator, with a single piece ball-stem (3, 7) for ac... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7059585 | Fluid valve control members having contoured sealing surfaces Fluid valve control members having contoured sealing surfaces and methods of making the same are disclosed. An example fluid valve control member includes a body portion having a sealing surface configured to engage a sealing ring within a fluid control valve. A fir... | 06/13/2006 |
| 6981619 | High precision metering and/or additioning device, particularly for granular materials Method and device for metering granular materials which comprises a least one dispensing element, driving means arranged to control the dispensing element, sensing means designed to detect the amount of granules delivered by the dispensing element, and a program con... | 01/03/2006 |
| 6981691 | Dual segment ball valve A ball valve has a valve body defining an inner seat and having a fluid inlet and fluid outlet and a control ball element rotatably mounted in the inner seat. The control ball element has a partially spherical outer surface, a flow passage having a leading edge, a f... | 01/03/2006 |
| 6971633 | Rotatable seal for ball valve A ball valve assembly having two end bodies selectively detachable from each other with each end body defining a fluid conveying bore is provided. A rotatable ball valve element is disposed within the end bodies and defines a central passage having an axis, with the... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6959719 | Fire collar A fire collar or fire damper for location within a concrete slab of a building. The device incorporates a damper arrangement (12) and a heat detector (18, 19) comprising a metal alloy or lead which melts when a preset temperature is reached, causing th... | 11/01/2005 |
| 6938878 | Direct flow tap for dispensing drinks, provided with improved devices for stopping the operating handle The present invention relates to a direct flow tap for dispensing drinks, of the type with ball valve and actuated by a handle linked to said ball and provided with means suitable for limiting the rotation of said handle between two end positions, respectively corre... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6899599 | Manufacturing process to make a valve ball A manufacturing process to make a ball valve of the present invention includes the following steps: a) prepare flat circular metallic plates each of which has a rectangular indentation in a circumference; b) mold those plates into bowl shape; c) remove the circular ... | 05/31/2005 |
| 6899128 | Half ball valve A half ball valve includes a body including cavity having an assembly opening, a stem opening formed at a side of the body opposite to the assembly opening to connect the cavity and the outside, and a first connection hole inclined with respect to an axis of the ste... | 05/31/2005 |
| 6837480 | Ball valve with adjustable flow coefficient A valve connected to a fluid pipe line and having a valve chamber and at least one inlet port (3) and one outlet port (4), the valve comprising a ball (5) mounted in the valve chamber between a pair of seats (8, 9), and having an exterior... | 01/04/2005 |
| 6695286 | Valve with ball of controlled deformation A valve with ball of controlled deformation for fluid shut-off comprising an external containment body (11), inside which is arranged a shutter element (13), movable between a closure position and an opening position of the valve, the shutter element coop... | 02/24/2004 |
| 6651958 | Valve seat having a frusto-conical shape A valve including an at least partially spherical valve control member and a valve seat where the valve control member is rotatable within a valve housing to obturate and to open at least one opening of the housing by bringing a passage through the valve ... | 11/25/2003 |
| 6591859 | Ball valve A plastic ball valve has a layer of metal film coated on the ball by electroplating. This prevents the ball from directly contacting the inner surface of a pipe housing socket. Microorganisms are prevented from growing at the junction of the ball and pipe... | 07/15/2003 |
| 6540206 | Bidirectional ball valve particularly for ecological frigorific gases The present finding relates to a bidirectional ball valve usable particularly for ecological frigorific gases, which has a valve body housing a ball shutter connected to a control rod sealingly protruding from said valve body. The peculiarity of the findi... | 04/01/2003 |
| 6485000 | Device by ball valve A ball valve having a valve housing with an inlet and an outlet, a valve body with a bore and sealing bodies, and valve seats which are in sealing planes parallel to one another forming an oblique angle with the inlet and the outlet, and in which the seal... | 11/26/2002 |
| 6471183 | Ball valve The present invention relates to a valve member for a valve of the ball valve type, including two shell parts rigidly joined together to form a valve member and generally snap-fitted over a frame. The two shells have opposed sealing surfaces and a flow pa... | 10/29/2002 |
| 6412756 | Gastight ball valve for granules A gastight shut-off device (1) which can be fitted between a supply pipeline (2) and a discharge pipeline (3), in the form of a ball valve, includes a housing (4), a housing flow passage with an inlet section (5) and an outlet section (6), a shut-off ball... | 07/02/2002 |
| 6378842 | V-ball control valve A V-ball-type control valve having: a valve body installable in a piping system; a V-ball-type valve element rotatably positioned in the valve body; a valve shaft extending from the V-ball-valve element; and a bonnet removably attachable to the valve body... | 04/30/2002 |
| 6322050 | Method of manufacture of element having ceramic insert and high-strength element-to-shaft connection for use in a valve An element for controlling the fluid flow rate through a fluid valve. The element may include a generally spherical metal housing encasing a cylindrical ceramic insert. The element may also include a cone-shaped metal housing encasing a cylindrical cerami... | 11/27/2001 |
| 6267353 | Self draining valve A self cleaning and self draining valve. The valve may include a valve body that has an inlet port and an outlet port and a flow control chamber between the inlet and outlet ports wherein a flow control member is operably supported. The inlet and outlet p... | 07/31/2001 |
| 6260820 | Valve with rotatable valve member and method for forming same A method of producing a valve includes the steps of: providing a mold comprising a pair of mating mold halves, with each of the mold halves including a mold cavity; providing a valve member-stem unit comprising a valve member of substantially circular cro... | 07/17/2001 |
| 6247839 | Valve disposition and configuration designed to improve color dosing response time in a process of coloring polyurethane foam carpet underlay This invention relates to an improved procedure and apparatus for making colored polyurethane foam products, such as carpet underlay and the like, as well as the improved colored product itself. Such a procedure entails the utilization of at least one val... | 06/19/2001 |
| 6199824 | Spherical valve A spherical valve is formed of a main body, a cover, and a spherical body. The main body is of a hollow construction and is provided in the interior with a partition dividing the interior into an inner receiving cell and an outer receiving cell. The main ... | 03/13/2001 |
| 6173940 | Valve ball configuration A valve ball physically configured to minimize rotational forces imparted to the ball by fluid pressure acting thereon in flow throttling positions of the ball. In part, the physical configurations that produce the desired effect include a hollowed out ba... | 01/16/2001 |
| 6138715 | One-piece ballkey A valve wherein the stem and valve element are a unitary structure and the stem includes a weakened section adjacent the exterior of the body. Preferably, the unitary structure is a one-piece molded plastic structure. The weakened section is exterior of t... | 10/31/2000 |
| 6032813 | Ball and socket closure for specimen collection container incorporating an integral flexible seal A closure for sealing the open end of a specimen collection container from the environment is provided. The closure includes a generally spherical-shaped ball having a passageway extending therethrough. The ball is capable of rotative movement between an ... | 03/07/2000 |
| 5988590 | Ball valve element and method of manufacturing a ball valve element A method of manufacturing a ball valve element includes a recess forming step in which a press die is used to form two stem recesses in an outer peripheral surface of pipe material cut to a prescribed size, the stem recesses being formed at positions that... | 11/23/1999 |
| 5979873 | Method of making ball valves A method of making ball valves, including the steps of forging two symmetrical ball valve halves into shape such that they each have a spherically curved outer wall and a cylindrical inner wall joined at one end to the outer wall and otherwise separated b... | 11/09/1999 |
| 5941266 | Angle entry rotary valve Straight line flow rotary valves with the valve member flow passage (21) turned away from the pipeline flow axis (22), to dispose the valve internals to an access port (50) located downstream on the same flow axis of the valve member (11). Another embodim... | 08/24/1999 |
| 5937890 | Insert for flow throttling ball valves A volume control insert for a ball valve that is attachable in a fluid passage of the ball valve to provide a predetermined flow condition therethrough. The insert has a convex shape corresponding to an outer surface of a valving member seated in the ball... | 08/17/1999 |
| 5881996 | Valve plug A valve plug in which excess metal has been removed, leaving only the necessary surfaces for providing sealing and a flow passage. The invention abandons the truncated cone shape of the prior art for a non-conical shape; the only portions of the plug whic... | 03/16/1999 |
| 5820103 | Ball segment valve and ball segment valve arrangement A ball segment valve comprise a valve housing (23) with a circular annular valve seat (28), a valve body (26) which has the shape of a spherical segment which is rotatable about an axis of rotation (49) which intersects the center of the sphere of which t... | 10/13/1998 |
| 5799928 | Ball valve with improved valve seat and bonnet assembly A ball valve for controlling fluid flow comprises a housing with a chamber therein and a fluid flow passage therethrough having an inlet and outlet portion to and from the chamber adjacent the lower end of the housing, and generally annular recesses exten... | 09/01/1998 |
| 5727413 | Process for hot forming hollow spherical bodies A process for forming a hollow spherical body and the spherical structure so formed. The forming includes a first phase in which a blank is provided with a half having a spherical outer surface, a remaining part having two concentric, outer and inner wall... | 03/17/1998 |
| 5655560 | Clog-free valving system In an exemplary aspect, the invention provides a fluid distribution system including a first fluid path, and a second fluid path that is laterally spaced-apart from the first fluid path. A third fluid path connects the first and the second fluid paths. A ... | 08/12/1997 |