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 |
| 7198558 | Knife blade dressing apparatus A dressing device (10,90) for sharpening or conditioning of a blade (18) or the like includes one or more disk pairs (36–40,108), each having a pair of disks (52,54,110,112) respectively presenting a series of circumferentially spaced, ... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7172500 | Knife sharpener A knife sharpener has a housing, a base, a sharpening device and an adjustable device. The housing has a case, a cavity and a slot. The cavity is defined in the case and the slot is defined in the case and communicates with the cavity. The base is mounted on the hou... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7121935 | Blade sharpener A blade sharpener (10) comprises sharpening strip providing carriers (12) and (14) each including an obliquely extending linear sharpening strip providing rod (16) and carrier movement non-interference guiding means in the form of a slot ... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7108595 | Apparatus for manual sharpening of the blades of cutting tools An apparatus for the manual sharpening of blades of cutting tools, includes at least two sharpening elements each with at least one sharpening edge, wherein the sharpening elements can be disposed to be partially overlapping, and partially in contact with each other... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7018281 | Sharpening apparatus The sharpening apparatus of the present invention preferably comprises a hand sharpener that may be assembled or mounted on the knife (e.g., sold mounted on the knife by the knife manufacturer or purchased separately and mounted on the knife by the end-user), and wh... | 03/28/2006 |
| 7008311 | Lapping tool A lapping tool capable of increasing the accuracy of a lapping operation, extending the life of lapping tool itself, adjusting a lapping diameter, and coping with the lapping operation of various diameters, comprising a lapping tool body having a lapping part on the... | 03/07/2006 |
| 6817931 | End face polishing apparatus An end face polishing apparatus has a lapping board mounted to undergo rotation and revolving movement, a lapping member having a polishing surface and disposed on the lapping board for rotation and revolving movement therewith, a polishing fixture for supporting a ... | 11/16/2004 |
| 6769326 | Device for sharpening the blades of sharp tools A device for sharpening the blades of sharp tools includes a plate fitted with an opening letting through the tool blade, opposite which opening are provided two sharpening structures in the form of oblong spindles which cross one another. Both these sharpening spin... | 08/03/2004 |
| 6722967 | Floating sander device A resilient sanding mechanism is provided for sanding the contours of a working surface, such as an aircraft body. The mechanism comprises an elongate frame having a frame axis, a sander mechanism pivotally engaged to the frame and having a sanding surface disposed ... | 04/20/2004 |
| 6689385 | Formulations for the treatment of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus The compositions and dosage forms of the invention are clinically useful as methods for increasing the effectiveness, efficiency and safety of biguanides (metformin) and/or sulfonylureas in the prevention and treatment of insulin resistance and diabetes m... | 02/10/2004 |
| 6679767 | Device for processing a knife-edge The invention concerns a device for sharpening or polishing the blade of a knife, having a slit 2 which is provided in a base plate 1 and which is open towards the outside, for guiding the knife blade, and with processing rods 3, 3' which are pivotably di... | 01/20/2004 |
| 6296550 | Scalable multi-pad design for improved CMP process A new method of polishing very large diameter wafers. Multiple polishing pads are provided. Each polishing pad rotates around the Z-axis. Each pad can be individually controlled for Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) process parameters such as pressu... | 10/02/2001 |
| 6290582 | Sharpening device The invention relates to a sharpening device for sharpening cutting edge tools and the like, comprising two sharpening elements arranged, at a distance from each other in the axial direction, for rotation on a shaft extending along a center axis common to... | 09/18/2001 |
| 6106370 | Pipe cleaning and burnishing tool and method The pipe cleaner attachment includes a housing, a shuttle, and a shuttle guide. The housing has a closed end, an open end, a key and two brush levers and brush pad guide slots. The shuttle guide is a rod clamped in a bore through the closed end of the hou... | 08/22/2000 |
| 5976002 | Knife sharpener A knife sharpener is provided including a base. A plurality of sharpening members are positioned on the base and situated in side-by-side relationship. Also included is a biasing assembly for urging the sharpening members into abutment.... | 11/02/1999 |
| 5655959 | Knife edge sharpener Apparatus for providing a sharpened edge on an elongated cutting tool comprising a base member having an elongated slot therein and a pair of elongated sharpening elements each pivotally mounted on the base member at opposite sides of the upper end portio... | 08/12/1997 |
| 5478272 | Blade sharpening apparatus An apparatus for sharpening a blade is provided having a base member with a slot for receiving and guiding a blade to be sharpened, first and second apertures disposed on either side of the slot, first and second resilient biasing members disposed within ... | 12/26/1995 |
| 5440953 | Knife sharpener A knife sharpening device includes a vertically-oriented base having a vertically-oriented slot. Mounted on the base, on one side of the slot are two crossed sharpening members of a rod-like configuration. A lower end of each of the crossed sharpening mem... | 08/15/1995 |
| 5389032 | Abrasive article The present invention relates to an abrasive article for abrading material from a workpiece. In one embodiment, the abrasive article includes a back-up pad having first and second major surfaces. The first major surface includes a shaft adapted to connect... | 02/14/1995 |
| 5175964 | Method and apparatus for removing flaws from internal pipe walls An improved technique is provided for removing flaws from internal pipe walls, and particularly the internal walls of tubes used in petroleum drilling and recovering operations. An ultrasonic detection unit positioned exterior of the oilfield tube is used... | 01/05/1993 |
| 5136816 | Edge sharpener for skis According to the present invention there is provided an apparatus for sharpening an elongate edge, especially the blade edge of a ski. The apparatus comprises an abrasive disc set in a housing, a motor unit for rotating the disc about its axis, a guide su... | 08/11/1992 |
| 5040435 | Knife edge deburring apparatus A knife deburring or steeling device includes a frame with an elongated knife blade-receiving slot. Deburring rods are crossed over the knife slot in an X-shaped configuration, with the ends of each rod being fixed to slide members having shanks extending... | 08/20/1991 |
| 4936173 | Machine tools A machine tool includes an elongate tool holder which is mounted by a pair of spring strips for pivotal movement on a mounting. One end of the tool holder carries the tool while the other end of the tool holder is moved by an actuator via a rod. Tool posi... | 06/26/1990 |
| 4934110 | Edge sharpening apparatus A device for sharpening a cutting edge including a base an elongated slot that is dimensioned to permit free passage of a cutting blade therealong. At least one sharpening element is pivotally secured to the base near its upper end and extends across the ... | 06/19/1990 |
| 4912885 | Knife sharpener A knife sharpener having a base, a pair of leg assemblies, a cover, and a pair of rod members formed of abrasive material. The leg assemblies each have an elongated leg member having a pivot pin passing downwardly therethrough to secure the leg member to ... | 04/03/1990 |
| 4794738 | Knife sheath incorporating sharpening means for the blade A knife sheath contains a sharpening device which functions to sharpen a knife's blade at the introduction and extraction of the knife into and out of, respectively, the sheath. The device is incoporated in the form of a separate subassembly that is remov... | 01/03/1989 |
| 4751795 | Knife sharpener A crossed abrasive rod manual knife sharpener that can be rigidly supported on readily available with only light hand pressure and in other positions with the user's supporting hand well away from the sharpening area, and that is provided with a knife-bla... | 06/21/1988 |
| 4718200 | Sharpening sheath combined with a knife A blade-sharpening sheath contains sharpening elements (31) resiliently mounted in a crossed arrangement so as to define between them a blade-sharpening cavity which extends above a line (P) of intersection of the sharpening profiles (34). The rest positi... | 01/12/1988 |
| 4672778 | Rollable knife sharpener Knife sharpener rollable on a support and having two substantially coaxially disposed equally sized rollers (2,4) pressed resiliently against each other. The rollers have on their facing sides externally conical intermeshing toothed rings (32) which consi... | 06/16/1987 |
| 4607461 | Accurate positioning apparatus The incremental very accurate positioning device is operable to control accurate positioning of a movable member such as a tool. The apparatus comprises a base with a mounting bar spaced from the base for mounting the member. The bar is movable along its ... | 08/26/1986 |
| 4587768 | Apparatus and method for polishing ends of fiber optics A method and apparatus for polishing the ends of fiber optic connectors by gripping an end to be polished and yieldingly urging it against a moving abrasive member in a manner so as to gradually build up the force between the fiber optic end and the abras... | 05/13/1986 |
| 4442636 | Dual head edge sharpening device for skis An edge sharpening device that simultaneously sharpens the edge faces on both sides of the skis has a hand-grippable support (31) capable of changing in length that carries a pair of opposed edge sharpening heads (32, 33). The heads are movable to a sprea... | 04/17/1984 |
| 4011693 | Cleaner for cauterizing implements A cleaner for cauterizing implements, involving a mounting member one side of which is adapted to be secured by pressure sensitive adhesive to a surgical towel or drape and the other side being provided with upstanding parallel backing strips between whic... | 03/15/1977 |
| 3982357 | Cleaning device for cauterizing knives A cleaning device for cauterizing knives presterilized for single surgical use and including a supporting frame adapted to be attached to a towel or drape used in surgery and held by an atraumatic clip also used in surgery, the frame containing a pair of ... | 09/28/1976 |
