Did You Know...
...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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 |
| 7819396 | Sheet separating apparatus and method of separating sheets A sheet separating mechanism and a method of separating sheets that includes a retard surface carrier that causes a retard surface to apply an alternately higher and lower friction force against the edge of an underlying sheet. The alternation of the higher and lowe... | 10/26/2010 |
| 7513494 | Method and device for selecting the sheets of a record carrier from a pile For the separation of the sheets of a record carrier from a pile (10) in order to feed them to an office machine or a printer, a rolling action device (14) sits on the uppermost sheet (12) of the pile (10). By means of the rolling action ... | 04/07/2009 |
| 7404553 | Procedure and device for separation of sheets of a medium Sheets (12, 14) of a medium stored in a stack (10) are separated and fed into an office machine. The edge of the top sheet (12) is lifted off the corresponding edge of the following second sheet (14). At least one separator (26) is... | 07/29/2008 |
| 7399076 | Media cartridge having body which receives printer A media cartridge is provided comprising a housing which incorporates a storage area in which media is stored, a receiving section configured to receive a body of a printer, an outlet arranged with respect to the storage area and receiving section so as to guide med... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7287952 | Feeder load automation system and method of use A feeder load automation system and method of use including a lifting device capable of lifting a pallet of bundled product from a lowered positioned to a raised position and a platform positioned on the lifting device which holds the pallet of bundled product. A he... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7234610 | Automatic napkin dispenser An automatic napkin dispenser includes a housing having a rotatable feed roller with protrusions on an outer surface thereof for engaging a topmost napkin on a stack of napkins, and displacing the topmost napkin between a pair of counterrotating nip rollers that dis... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7100913 | Value sheet handling apparatus A value sheet handling apparatus comprises an actuating mechanism for exerting pressure onto a value sheet so as to move the value sheet, and further comprises detecting means to detect movement of the value sheet with respect to the actuating mechanism, wherein if ... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7086644 | Media cartridge for a low power printer A media cartridge for a printer has a connector for connecting to the printer and a media storage volume in which sheets of media are stored. A manually operated slider ejects one sheet at a time through an outlet to an input slot of the printer. The printer then dr... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7004351 | Differentiator for vending machine and the like A differentiator for a vending machine includes a drive motor which drives a threaded shaft. A carrier with a port adapted to receive the threaded shaft defines the base of the differentiator with the head of the differentiator pivotally mounted on the base. A biasi... | 02/28/2006 |
| 6929257 | Slip sheet capture mechanism and method of operation A substrate manager for a substrate exposure machine is used, in one example, as a platesetter. As such, it comprises a substrate storage system, containing one or more stacks of substrates, such as plates in one implementation. A substrate picker is provided for pi... | 08/16/2005 |
| 6886826 | Apparatus and method for destacking a stack of flat articles An apparatus and method for destacking a stack of flat sheet-like articles, comprising a bearing surface for supporting the stack at a fixed elevation, and a separating arrangement for repeatedly separating the uppermost article from the stack and transferring it la... | 05/03/2005 |
| 6685182 | Sheet-fed printing machine and method of operation A sheet-fed printing machine having a feed system for feeding sheets from a sheet feeder to the sheet-fed printing machine, and an imaging device for setting an image on a printing plate disposed on the plate cylinder are provided. The feed system include... | 02/03/2004 |
| 6682064 | Method and apparatus for dismantling a stack of flat objects piece by piece A method for dismantling a stack (1) of flat objects (2, 3) piece by piece, in which the top object (2) of the stack (1) is moved in its plane, gripped at its freed edge and removed from the stack (1). The top object (2) is moved against a stop (5), at le... | 01/27/2004 |
| 6585253 | Feeder with vibrating separating device A paper feeder for use in an image forming apparatus is disclosed. The paper feeder applies vibration to paper sheets being paid out together to thereby reduce an adhering force acting between them. The paper feeder therefore reduces the simultaneous feed... | 07/01/2003 |
| 6439567 | Card guide and card picker A card guide for holding a stack of cards to be separated, and a card picker for separating a single card from a stack of cards at a first location and moving the separated card to a second location, where each card has substantially the same thickness an... | 08/27/2002 |
| 6193229 | Signature feeder and method including a variable speed separator disk A signature feeder for delivering stacked signatures to a conveyer or gatherer includes a variable speed separator disk for separating signatures from the stacked signatures. The separator disk mechanically couples with a servomotor. The separator disk ha... | 02/27/2001 |
| 6113092 | Sheet-fed printing press with rotary decollator A printing machine is described that includes a rotary plate for decollating top sheet from a stack of sheets by turning the top sheet so as to expose a second sheet. The machine also has a clamping finger that tilts into position to hold the second sheet... | 09/05/2000 |
| 5873693 | Packaging apparatus for article goods fed in stacks An apparatus for packaging article goods fed in a stack comprises a feeding table for introducing the goods with the individual articles in an upright position in the form of a continuous stack, the table defining a feeding path for the stack, an aftertre... | 02/23/1999 |
| 5785309 | Automatic plate feeding system and method A plate feeding system for grasping and moving a plate from a stack of plates. The system includes an arm mechanism having a plate grasping member for grasping the plate and a plate interposing member for interposing between the plate and an adjacent plat... | 07/28/1998 |
| 5709315 | Method and apparatus for removing newspapers and similar folded sheet units from a stack Folded sheet units, such as newspapers and magazines are successively removed from a stack of such sheet units by inserting at least one sheet engaging member such as a pin in the fold between adjacent sheet layers of the sheet unit to be removed. The pin... | 01/20/1998 |
| 5678816 | System for feeding short length sheets for slitting A system for feeding and slitting short length, long width sheets and particularly suitable for solid fiberboard materials, includes a dual acting rake-type sheet feeder, a sheet decurling apparatus, and a multi-head slitter, all of which are interconnect... | 10/21/1997 |
| 5578153 | Method of assembling a windshield A method for assembling windshield assemblies for vehicles includes a conveyor for delivering at least two plys of glass to an assembly station, a first robot for lifting one of the two plys from the conveyor, a second robot for gripping and removing at l... | 11/26/1996 |
| 5503384 | Sheet feed device for image forming equipment A sheet feed device for image forming equipment and capable of feeding sheets one by one from a stack by separating them. The device has a flat plate including a dielectric portion which is capable of making surface-to-surface content with the top of the ... | 04/02/1996 |
| 5193795 | Device for the cyclic rearrangement of a pile of sheets A device for the cyclic rearrangement of a pile of sheets with a housing having a viewing window, from which housing a slider member can be withdrawn and reinserted, and with elements for removing a sheet from an inserted pile and transferring the same to... | 03/16/1993 |
| 5142129 | Passbook transport mechanism A passbook transporting or conveying mechanism has front gripping rollers for gripping the passbook in unprinted areas thereof and for moving the passbook to a printing station. The front gripping rollers are caused to be moved along guide rods in a rearw... | 08/25/1992 |
| 5116037 | Apparatus for receiving and issuing sheets An apparatus for the fault-free receiving and issue of sheets has guide rollers which are arranged on a carriage and which engage into belts to alter the geometry of the belts when the carriage is displaced on a rail over a stack by means of a drive. In t... | 05/26/1992 |
| 5102293 | Unstacking apparatus for removing a partial stack from a stack of sheets Two vertically displaceable slides (5, 9) carry in horizontally movable fashion a tabletop (1) and, respectively, a gripper with an upper gripper jaw (6) and a gripper base (7). The gripper base (7) contains a horizontally displaceable blade (12) and supp... | 04/07/1992 |
| 5085423 | Sheet feeding device An improved sheet feeding device of this invention includes a variable pressure applying unit for changing a contact pressure between a sheet and vibration members.... | 02/04/1992 |
| 5052674 | Paper feeder apparatus A simple, low cost, hand operated paper feeder includes a media chamber mounted at an acute angle with respect to a horizontal plane that allows media to exit the chamber through a membrane. A two-position, T-shaped actuator including a pair of non-rotati... | 10/01/1991 |
| 5040777 | Foot pedal operated, modular, roll up paper feeder apparatus A low cost, paper feeder for large copy sheets includes a media chamber mounted to support copy sheets in a substantially vertical plane. A two-position, T-shaped feeder mechanism including a pair of one-way clutch controlled feed rolls is slidably mounte... | 08/20/1991 |
| 5031892 | Apparatus for removing blanks from a pile and conveying them onwards A stack of blanks is guided between pile guides. Disposed on a support are holding members which can be laid against an exposed blank in the stack in order to grasp it and to be moved, with it, away from the stack. In the course of this, the support is mo... | 07/16/1991 |
| 4978113 | Pick mechanism for sheet feeding apparatus A pick mechanism for sheet feeding apparatus of a type in which the top sheet of a stack of media is separated from the remainder of the stack by pick movement to engage and lift the rear end of the top sheet from the remainder of the stack for subsequent... | 12/18/1990 |
| 4940506 | Device for use with self-adhesive removable labels A device for separating a self-adhesive removable label from its associated support paper includes a first member that has a label gripping surface and a second member that has a support paper gripping surface. The label gripping surface is slidable relat... | 07/10/1990 |
| 4928947 | Sheet feeders for soft coated sheet material A sheet-feed mechanism for feeding paper or the like from a stack of paper sheets in a tray in which the sheets have a soft or pressure-sensitive coating, includes a sheet-engaging apparatus which distributes the load over a substantial area of the sheet,... | 05/29/1990 |
| 4895357 | Lighttight film-delivery box and actuator apparatus therefor A lighttight box includes a lid movable between a first lighttight position and a second box-opening position. A clamshell film-carrying mechanism, connected to the lid, is mounted for movement (1) for a retracted position internal to the box when the lid... | 01/23/1990 |
| 4867434 | Apparatus for grasping ends of belt-like members An apparatus for grasping ends of a belt-like member, a support base for supporting the ends of the belt-like member, and an embracing member extending in width directions of the belt-like member and movable toward and away from the support base for urgin... | 09/19/1989 |
| 4848762 | Sheet feeder with articulated feed pads A sheet feed mechanism for feeding single sheets from a stack of sheets in a feed tray is adapted to feed such sheets, even though the sheets may be bowed, curved, or wavy in a direction transverse to the process or feed direction. The mechanism includes ... | 07/18/1989 |
| 4709912 | Apparatus for separating and conveying sheet-like articles In order to accomplish the separation and further conveyance of the uppert sheet of a stack of sheets by the simplest possible means, an elastic friction finger resting with slight pressure on the uppermost sheet of the stack is provided, which is set in... | 12/01/1987 |
| 4666142 | Apparatus for feeding cardboards to the carton making section An apparatus of feeding cardboards to the carton making section, the apparatus including a kicker adapted to kick each cardboard on its rear end so as to enable same to be fed to the carton making section, the kicker being adjustable in its position in ac... | 05/19/1987 |
| 4551053 | Sheet sub-stack separating and feeding apparatus A sheet sub-stack separating and feeding apparatus comprises a device for holding down sheets independently laid one upon the other in a stack, a device for detecting the level of a sheet in a predetermined position as numbered consecutively from above, a... | 11/05/1985 |
