Famous Patents
3M employee and church chorister Art Fry needed something to temporarily mark pages in his hymnal. He was in luck because his colleague, Spencer Silver, accidentally developed a glue that was too weak for other purposes. After initially discouraging consumer response, Post-it Notes became a hit in 1979.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7788815 | Prism pole with direct readout A prism pole has a tubular housing having an open top, a flange at the open top, a bottom portion for contacting ground soil, a height-adjustable rod insertable into the tubular housing with an outer diameter less than inner diameter of the tubular housing to provid... | 09/07/2010 |
| 7373725 | Surveying systems and methods for detecting and measuring changes in elevation Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of grade rods, grade-rod readers, and combinations thereof. In one exemplary embodiment, a grade rod is provided that has a reference surface extending along at least a portion of the rod. The reference surface include... | 05/20/2008 |
| 7266898 | Laser level A light detector which includes a housing having front and rear walls, a light receiving section disposed on the front wall, and displays disposed on the front and rear walls for showing the location of received light relative on the light receiving section. Also di... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7257903 | Leveling rod with stencil A leveling rod and a method of surveying utilizing the disclosed leveling rod are disclosed. The leveling rod comprises an elongated shaft and at least one tape with measurement graduations affixed longitudinally to the elongated shaft. The leveling rod also compris... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7251899 | Prism pole A direct reading prism pole has a tubular housing having an open top, a flange at the open top, a conical bottom portion for wedging the tubular housing into ground soil, a height-adjusting rod partially inserted into the tubular housing by a friction fit, a lip pos... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7190439 | Direct reading stadia rod for use with laser level A direct-reading stadia rod includes a flexible tape and a sensing head that is movable therealong. The sensing head includes a keyboard, a movement sensor, a laser beam receiver, and a display. The rod is calibrated with a benchmark elevation by placing the base of... | 03/13/2007 |
| 6915585 | Spirit level A spirit level including first and second profile elements which can be displaced relative to one another in a telescopic manner and fixed relative to one another by means of a fixing element. In order to ensure that the first and second profile elements remain alig... | 07/12/2005 |
| 6182372 | Interpolation using digital means for range findings in a total station A distance interpolator incorporated into a total station and a method for digitally interpolating a distance measurement from the total station to a target, such that the distance interpolator measures the distance from the total station to the target us... | 02/06/2001 |
| 6167629 | Electronic level and a leveling rod for use in combination with the same A leveling rod for an electronic level has a plurality of bar-shaped marks disposed adjacent each other in a longitudinal direction along the leveling rod in parallel with each other and perpendicular to a length of the leveling rod. The marks are arrange... | 01/02/2001 |
| 6161295 | Brake mechanism for computerized grade rod A brake mechanism for use with a computerized grade rod comprising a housing containing a tunnel adapted to receive the grade rod and having the grade rod extend therethrough. A sensing wheel is mounted on the housing and tangentially engages the outer su... | 12/19/2000 |
| 6131296 | Method and device for determining positions of objects As equipment has a transducer (G) that receives signals from a number of objects with unknown positions and senses the directions from the transducer to the objects. The directions of the sight lines to the objects are sensed in at least two separate tran... | 10/17/2000 |
| 6085452 | Method and apparatus for marking a location A device and method for marking a location with a marker stake. An elongate wire-like rod is partially inserted in the ground at a location to be marked, and the rod is received in a pre-sized panel having a pair of flag faces and an open-ended longitudin... | 07/11/2000 |
| 6076267 | Leveling pole A leveling pole which includes a scale visibly provided on a front surface of the leveling pole and at least two colored divisions formed on the front surface of the leveling pole. A border between two adjacent colored divisions of the at least two colore... | 06/20/2000 |
| 5983511 | Apparatus for displaying an appropriate height An apparatus for displaying a direction for adjusting its height to its appropriate height includes a plurality of light sources, a light receiving portion, and a control unit. The light sources are arranged in the form of a matrix in a display portion of... | 11/16/1999 |
| 5894344 | Elevation Measurement apparatus An elevation measurement instrument including a support ruler, an optical instrument and a bracket pivotally coupling the optical instrument to the support ruler. The optical instrument includes a first ocular mount having a telescope with a horizontal cr... | 04/13/1999 |
| 5551159 | Scalable measuring apparatus and displacement display device, system and method Scalable measuring apparatus for use by an operator with a laser beam from a laser-level transmitter comprising a vertically disposed grade pole having lower and upper extremities. A laser-level receiver is provided for detecting the laser level beam. A c... | 09/03/1996 |
| 5457890 | Scalable measuring apparatus and displacement display device, system and method Scalable measuring apparatus for use by an operator with a laser beam from a laser-level transmitter comprising a vertically disposed grade pole having lower and upper extremities. A laser-level receiver is provided for detecting the laser level beam. A c... | 10/17/1995 |
| 5402223 | Electronic survey stadia An electronic survey stadia to ascertain distance and elevation data from a rotary laser beam(s) in relation to known points. To ascertain elevation data stadia is in perpendicular position in relation to rotary laser beam plane. When beam impinges upon s... | 03/28/1995 |
| 5313409 | Arrangement for performing position determination An arrangement for one-man surveying, including a measuring station (1) and a target unit (2). A sighting-marker arrangement is provided which can be indicated by an indicator arrangement (7) on the measuring station. The measuring station (1) automatical... | 05/17/1994 |
| 5272814 | Device for defining a horizontal plane A device for defining a plane to determine relative elevations comprising in combination a stationary housing (7) having an aperture (8) and locating a pair of vertical reflecting surfaces (6) at right angles to each other which may be a pair of mirrors (... | 12/28/1993 |
| 5189484 | Laser beam detector for grade elevation measurement This laser beam detector system may comprise an array of photodetectors usable in conjunction with a laser employed to define an elevation or grade. The detector array is utilized on an elongate device having a plurality of faces, with a plurality of dete... | 02/23/1993 |
| 5087125 | Equipment for measuring a difference in elevation An equipment for measuring difference in elevation employing a leveling pole and a level is disclosed. The leveling pole comprises divisions of coded marks each indicating height at a unit interval. The level comprises a telescope and an image sensor. The... | 02/11/1992 |
| 4820041 | Position sensing system for surveying and grading A position sensing apparatus and method useful for surveying, marking, and grading implement sensing and control is disclosed. The position sensing apparatus includes two laser reference stations, each of which projects a laser beam that periodically swee... | 04/11/1989 |
| 4730920 | Optoelectronic stadia An optoelectronic stadia is proposed, which is intended for a levelling system with a rotary laser. The stadia has at least one vertical row of light sensitive diodes, which are electrically connected in matrix form. One diode pair in each case forms one ... | 03/15/1988 |
| 4673287 | Laser-optical surveying system A laser-optical surveying system comprising a leveling system which uses a surveyor's rod wherein a laser beam rotates in a horizontal plane and is adapted to strike a surveyor's rod. The surveyor's rod is equipped with a coding representing the length, t... | 06/16/1987 |
| 4653910 | Remote indicator for a laser alignment system A laser alignment system includes a remote indicator to display the alignment data when the main receiver is out of sight. The remote indicator receives both operating power and alignment data through a connecting cable to the main receiver. A Liquid Crys... | 03/31/1987 |
| 4471532 | Direct reading grade rod with a sliding scale A direct reading grade rod as provided with a fixed scale having display windows therein and one or more sliding members slidable behind the fixed member and carrying a plurality of number sets, with different positions of the sliding member resulting in ... | 09/18/1984 |
| 4345382 | Contractor's grade rod apparatus and procedure for setting and checking grades Apparatus for use in setting and checking grades in construction of roads, parking lots, building, or the like comprising a level support in combination with a level rod wherein the level support has a nominal length of X plus Y, for example, the level ro... | 08/24/1982 |
| 4271598 | Surveying staffs A surveyor's levelling staff which comprises an endless graduated band or strip on a hollow elongated body with a portion of the strip to be viewed extending along a longitudinal face of the body and the remainder of the strip disposed within the body. Th... | 06/09/1981 |
| 4030832 | Automatic grade rod and method of operation A grade rod and method of operation for use in a surveying system employing a laser beam which is rotated in a plane. A flexible tape formed with a graduated scale is mounted for movement in a loop within the housing. A slider on the tape carries a pair o... | 06/21/1977 |
| 4029415 | Laser land-surveying apparatus with digital display A land-surveying apparatus for use with a laser beam source to obtain grade and range distances has a grade pole with a laser beam detection unit slidably mounted thereon, electrical measuring means being connected between the grade pole and the detection... | 06/14/1977 |
