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!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8186874 | Thermally based system and method for detecting counterfeit drugs The invention relates to a thermal system for determining the authenticity of a pharmaceutical product, said system comprises: (a) a signal generator and heat/cooling source for applying a temperature variation signal to a pharmaceutical product; (b) a thermal appar... | 05/29/2012 |
| 8152364 | Method for measuring the creep of a thin film inserted between two rigid substrates, with one cantilever end A film is inserted between two rigid substrates which form a sample. The sample is fixed at a first end in a device for measuring creep. The device comprises means for applying a predetermined force on a free end of the sample. The film being sheared, study of its c... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8147134 | Method and apparatus for isotope identification and radioactivity measurement of alpha-emitting-radionuclides using a low temperature detector Disclosed herein are a method and an apparatus to identify alpha-emitting radionuclides and to measure absolute alpha radioactivity using a low temperature detector. A 4π metallic absorber which encloses a radioactive material containing alpha-emitting radionuclide... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8136982 | Thermal profiling to validate electronic device authenticity Counterfeit electronic devices are detected by comparing a thermal profile of the counterfeit device and an authentic device under predetermined operating conditions. A thermal profile for an authentic electronic device is recorded executing an instruction set over ... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8118481 | Fluid detector A detector for identifying a fluid is disclosed. The detector comprises a probe having a thermistor, the probe being arranged to be exposed to a fluid and to allow thermal flow between the fluid and the thermistor; a temperature sensor to measure the ambient tempera... | 02/21/2012 |
| 8092079 | Method for determining whether a liquid is properly stirred A stirring determination method uses an analyzer in which a liquid contained in a vessel is stirred by an acoustic wave generated by an acoustic wave generating unit attached to the vessel, optical characteristics of a reaction solution obtained by stirring the liqu... | 01/10/2012 |
| 8047709 | Method and system for interface detection A method and system for detecting the location of an air/sea interface on an Instrumented Tow Cable (ITC) when distributed temperature measurements are provided. The air/sea interface is determined by estimating the variance of observed temperature in the proximity ... | 11/01/2011 |
| 7976216 | Determining the temperature of silicon at high temperatures The temperature of an object such as a semiconductor wafer that includes silicon can be determined based on the variation of the optical absorption coefficient of silicon with temperature. Temperatures above about 850° C., can be found by measuring phenomena that a... | 07/12/2011 |
| 7927010 | Disposable, pre-calibrated, pre-validated sensors for use in bio-processing applications Disposable, pre-sterilized, and pre-calibrated, pre-validated conductivity sensors are provided. These sensors are designed to store sensor-specific information, such as calibration and production information, in a non-volatile memory chip on the sensor. The sensors... | 04/19/2011 |
| 7857506 | Disposable, pre-calibrated, pre-validated sensors for use in bio-processing applications Disposable, pre-sterilized, and pre-calibrated, pre-validated conductivity sensors are provided. These sensors are designed to store sensor-specific information, such as calibration and production information, in a non-volatile memory chip on the sensor. The sensors... | 12/28/2010 |
| 7815366 | Method of detecting extraneous matter on heat processing plate, heat processing apparatus, program, and computer-readable recording medium with program recorded thereon In the present invention, a heating plate is divided into a plurality of regions. Integrated values of temperature fluctuations in each of the regions when a substrate is mounted on the heating plate in a normal state without extraneous matter are collected. A Mahal... | 10/19/2010 |
| 7780343 | Micromachined gas and liquid concentration sensor and method of making the same A device with micromachined (a.k.a. MEMS, Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) silicon sensor to measure gas or liquid concentration in a binary mixture formality is disclosed in the present invention. A process for fabricating the said MEMS silicon concentration senso... | 08/24/2010 |
| 7740402 | Fluid detector A detector and a method for determining the presence of a fluid are disclosed. The detector comprises a probe having a thermistor with the probe being arranged to be exposed to a fluid and to allow thermal flow between the thermistor and the fluid, a temperature sen... | 06/22/2010 |
| 7651262 | Apparatus for discriminating liquid reducing agent A discriminating apparatus of liquid reducing agent is disclosed, in which, based on concentration of liquid reducing agent which is measured at each predetermined time after starting of engine, discrimination is processed whether the storage tank is filled with dis... | 01/26/2010 |
| 7520667 | Method and system for determining process parameters The present invention relates to a method and a system for determining a set of process parameters of a treatment unit in which unit a product is subjected to a temperature treatment, the method comprising: subjecting a product to an electromagnetic signal before, d... | 04/21/2009 |
| 7494271 | Power-line sag calculation by way of power-system state estimation A sag calculator (122) computes sag for a span of a section of a power line based at least in part upon a temperature of conductor lines in the line section. A temperature calculator (120) determines the temperature by computing a resistance ascertaine... | 02/24/2009 |
| 7440852 | Stochastic analytical solution to quantify the earth's subsurface heat flow An analytical closed form solution to mean and variance in heat flow is obtained by solving the stochastic heat conduction equation incorporating randomness in the thermal conductivity. The method has a wide range of applications in quantifying the thermal state of ... | 10/21/2008 |
| 7434990 | Method to detect termite infestation in a structure A method for confirming the presence of termites in a structure, involving a preliminary infrared scan of a structure and confirmation of termite infestation with at least one detector in order to quickly locate potential areas of termite infestation. ... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7434986 | Method and apparatus for monitoring and detecting defects in plastic package sealing An apparatus for monitoring and detecting thermal sealing defects includes a thermal imager, a controller, and an output device. The thermal imager is mounted along a process line that transports an object having at least one recently created thermal-seal. The contr... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7427157 | Wind velocity measuring apparatus A wind velocity measuring apparatus. The apparatus includes a thermal sensor and a processor operatively coupled to the thermal sensor. The processor is configured to receive a first temperature reading from the thermal sensor of a beginning temperature sensed by th... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7390122 | Automated ball mounting process with solder ball testing An automated ball mounting process is disclosed in which solder balls are tested by heating the solder balls to a temperature between the eutectic temperature of lead-tin and the melting temperature of a lead free solder ball. If the heated solder balls melt they ar... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7367711 | Type identification system for diesel oil and method for identifying type of diesel oil Apparatus and method for identifying type and distillation properties of light oil. A pulse voltage is applied for a predetermined period of time to a liquid type identification sensor heater comprising a heater and an identification liquid temperature sensor provid... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7364354 | Method and system for measuring the thermal diffusivity The present invention concerns a method and a system for measuring the thermal diffusivity. Said method comprises the steps of: subjecting a surface region of an object to a modulated heating beam (3) while providing a signal (MLS) thereof, the heated spot or... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7365864 | Method of determining properties of patterned thin film metal structures using transient thermal response The present invention measures a structure including multiple narrow metallic regions, each being disposed between neighboring regions comprising a second, non-metallic material. One step of the method is exciting the structure by irradiating it with a spatially per... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7363831 | Environmental chamber for electronic systems testing and methods of use An environmental chamber for use with an environmental contamination testing system provides airborne contaminants effects for electronic systems. The environmental chamber includes a platform for supporting the plurality of electronic systems and receiving the sett... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7353722 | Contactless measurement of the surface temperature of naturally or artificially weathered samples A holding frame (2) is mounted in a weathering chamber (1) of a weathering tester so that it can be rotated around a xenon radiation source (3), which is located on the cylinder or rotation axis, and an infrared filter (5) placed around i... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7350557 | Method to detect the distribution of service temperatures in a technological process A method to detect the distribution of service temperatures in a technological process that includes the automatic and programmable performance of explorative excursions done by means of an adjustable equipment (1) connected to a structure (2) provided... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7340331 | Vehicle data recorder using digital and analog diagnostic data A vehicle diagnostic system monitors user-selected analog diagnostic data that is received from a vehicle to determine whether it meets a user-specified trigger characteristic and records user-selected digital diagnostic data that is received from the vehicle in res... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7338629 | Integrated metal processing facility A system and method for forming and heat treating a metal casting are provided. ... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7334938 | Mold and fungus growth warning apparatus and method An apparatus for monitoring environmental conditions favorable for mold, mildew and fungus growth includes a microprocessor having a data map, a temperature sensor attached to the microprocessor, a relative humidity sensor attached to the microprocessor, an indicato... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7331374 | Method and apparatus for assisting removal of sand moldings from castings Disclosed is a method for dislodging a mold from a casting formed within the mold. The mold may be removed from the casting by scoring the mold and applying a force sufficient to cause the mold to fracture and break into pieces. Additionally, the mold may be fractur... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7329389 | Sensor device and method for qualitative and quantitative analysis of gas phase substances New sensors and methods for qualitative and quantitative analysis of multiple gaseous substances simultaneously with both high selectivity and high sensitivity are provided. The new sensors rely on a characteristic difference in energy between the interaction of a p... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7329043 | Thermal properties testing apparatus and methods An apparatus for testing properties of a product comprising a thermal barrier layer comprises an ignition source, a test stand that extends a sample of the product over the ignition source, and a means for measuring thermal transfer across the sample. The apparatus ... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7325971 | Method and apparatus for locating hydrocarbon deposits A method and apparatus for locating hydrocarbon deposits includes temperature 16 sensor for measuring earth surface temperature at each of a plurality of locations, and a solar absorption sensor 14 for measuring the absorption coefficient of the earth'... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7319531 | Method for measuring a thickness of a coating A method for measuring a thickness of a coating of a constructional unit, in particular a heat-compatible coating on a component of a gas turbine, includes measuring coordinates of the constructional unit three-dimensionally with a measuring device, in particular an... | 01/15/2008 |
| 7304490 | In-situ wafer and probe desorption using closed loop heating A semiconductor wafer is tested by heating an electrical contact to a temperature sufficient to desorb water vapor and/or organic material from a surface thereof. The semiconductor wafer is also heated to a temperature sufficient to desorb water vapor and/or organic... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7301619 | Evaluating a multi-layered structure for voids A method and apparatus measure properties of two layers of a damascene structure (e.g. a silicon wafer during fabrication), and use the two measurements to identify a location as having voids. The two measurements may be used in any manner, e.g. compared to one anot... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7300203 | Non-contacting sensor multichip module with integral heat-sinks A sensor assembly having a housing including a first portion and a second portion. One of the portions of the housing includes a plurality of walls. The walls at least partially define a chamber. The assembly also includes a hinge connected to the first portion and ... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7290583 | Methods and apparatus for heat treatment and sand removal for castings A system and method for heat treating castings and removing sand cores therefrom. The castings are initially located in indexed positions with their x, y, and z coordinates known. The castings are passed through a heat treatment station typically having a series of ... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7286944 | Method and device for securely storing data A system for providing reliable, unalterable mechanical data associated with the mechanical properties of a concrete mass. The system includes a logger, a second memory device and an outbound data transfer device. The logger is provided with one or more sensors, a m... | 10/23/2007 |
