Did You Know...
...that Charles Goodyear performed some of his experiments on rubber while in debtor's prison? He was there so often he referred to it as his "hotel". Chronically in debt because of poor business sense and ill health, Goodyear depended on the generosity of friends and family. Even after he unlocked the secret to vulcanizing rubber, he was unable to improve his financial situation. When he died, his estate was $200,000 in debt.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7291058 | Method and apparatus for improving media flow The flow of media in shot peening, blast cleaning, and similar equipment is improved by applying a time varying magnetic field to the media to thereby degauss the media, allowing the media to flow through equipment without clogging and clumping due to magnetic attra... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7134946 | Apparatus to treat and inspect a substrate An apparatus for treating a substrate with a cryogenic impingement fluid includes a protective enclosure defining an internal cavity, a cryogenic fluid applicator positioned within the internal cavity and a snow generation system connected to the cryogenic fluid app... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7063596 | Vibratory material removal system, tool and method Material is removed from objects to be marked or machined by applying tools having cutouts arranged in a pattern on the objects, filling the cutouts with abrasive particles, pouring a molten metal over the tools to solidify as a backing, and then ultrasonically vibr... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7008305 | Water jet-processing machine A water jet-processing machine comprising a workpiece holding table for holding a workpiece, a nozzle for applying processing water to the workpiece held on the workpiece holding table, and a processing water supply means for supplying processing water containing ab... | 03/07/2006 |
| 6932670 | Signaling system for sandblasting A sandblasting operation includes a nozzle (10) which receives sand from a pot (12). A signaling system (20) for the sandblasting operation includes a first switch (22) to initiate the operation and a second switch (24) located at ... | 08/23/2005 |
| 6910937 | Method for forming fine barrier, method for fabricating planar display and abrasive for blast A method of forming fine partition walls by which fine partition walls with stable shape can be formed with good processing accuracy and at good grinding efficiency by a jet processing technique, a method of producing a planar display device by application of the me... | 06/28/2005 |
| 6722947 | Lapping machine, lapping method, and method of manufacturing magnetic head A lapping machine comprises a lapping surface plate (1) rotated by a rotating mechanism, a lapping jig (28) having a plurality of projections to bottom surfaces of which a work (30) to be lapped by a lapping surface on the lapping surface plate ... | 04/20/2004 |
| 6634928 | Fluid jet cutting method and apparatus A fluid jet cutting method and apparatus for cutting an object from a sheet. In one embodiment, a fluid jet stream is directed against a glass sheet to cut an annular disk substrate for use in a data storage device. The sheet is supported by first, second... | 10/21/2003 |
| 6612910 | Liquid crystal glass substrate, method of cutting the liquid crystal glass substrate, cutter for the liquid crystal glass substrate and display using the liquid crystal glass substrate A liquid crystal display device, a liquid crystal display device cutting method, and a liquid crystal display device cutting apparatus that prevents damaging attached flexible conductive lines by providing a rounded water jet cut edge of a glass liquid cr... | 09/02/2003 |
| 6599171 | Cup attaching apparatus A cup attaching apparatus for attaching a cup for eyeglass lens processing to a subject lens to be processed, includes: an imaging optical system, which obtains an image of the lens by illuminating the lens with rays of light shaped to be larger in diamet... | 07/29/2003 |
| 6422920 | Methods of obtaining a pattern of concave spaces or apertures in a plate The present invention relates to a method of obtaining a pattern of concave spaces or apertures in a plate or layer of a brittle-like material, in which method a jet of abrasive powder particles from a nozzle is directed onto a surface of the plate or lay... | 07/23/2002 |
| 6419566 | System for cleaning contamination from magnetic recording media rows A system having an array of nozzles is used to clean fabricated rows of magnetic heads. Each nozzle contains a pair of concentric tubes. The inner tube of the nozzle discharges a plume of fine dry material at a target. The outer tube of the nozzle simulta... | 07/16/2002 |
| 6416390 | Methods and apparatus for sandblasting fiber optic substrates Methods and apparatus for marring a surface of a fiber optic substrate by sandblasting one or more sides of the substrate during movement of the substrate past one or more sandblasting nozzles to produce a specific illumination pattern. The nozzles may be... | 07/09/2002 |
| 6146466 | Use of electrostatic bias to clean non-electrostatically sensitive components with a carbon dioxide spray An apparatus and method that enhances removal of contaminating particles from surfaces of a non-electrostatically sensitive components that are cleaned using a carbon dioxide cleaning spray. The apparatus includes a programmable power supply that is conne... | 11/14/2000 |
| 6120351 | Automatic machinability measuring and machining methods and apparatus therefor A method for measuring the machinability of a material which includes piercing a hole through a material to be tested while simultaneously measuring a pierce time duration, T, of the piercing step, and calculating a machinability number from the pierce ti... | 09/19/2000 |
| 5989355 | Apparatus for cleaning and testing precision components of hard drives and the like Apparatus for cleaning, assembling, testing and inspecting contamination sensitive hardware. The apparatus includes an environmental process enclosure having an inner processing chamber, and a carbon dioxide jet spray cleaning system. The enclosure includ... | 11/23/1999 |
| 5947796 | Method of fine grain milling and machine therefor A fine grain milling method mixes powder into a high-pressure fluid, and injects the mixture to a work material covered with a mask to form the work material to a desired shape. In addition, the method injects anther high-pressure fluid to the powder adhe... | 09/07/1999 |
| 5928434 | Method of mitigating electrostatic charge during cleaning of electronic circuit boards A method is provided for cleaning an electronic circuit board having first and second opposing surfaces. The method includes directing a stream of carbon dioxide particles against the first surface. Steam is sprayed toward the first and second surfaces su... | 07/27/1999 |
| 5865901 | Wafer surface cleaning apparatus and method A substrate cleaning assembly (10) and method for removing contaminant substances (11) from a surface (12) of a substrate (13) employed in microelectronics manufacturing. The cleaning assembly (10) includes a substance locator (15) adapted to locate and m... | 02/02/1999 |
| 5837064 | Electrostatic discharge protection of static sensitive devices cleaned with carbon dioxide spray An apparatus and method that enhances removal of contaminating particles from surfaces of a static-sensitive components that are cleaned using a carbon dioxide cleaning spray produced by a jet spray gun. The apparatus has a programmable power supply that ... | 11/17/1998 |
| 5833516 | Method of manufacturing a plate of electrically insulating material having a pattern of apertures and/or cavities After a plate of electrically insulating, particularly hard and brittle material has been provided with a mask having a very large number of patterned apertures, it is exposed to at least one jet of abrasive powder particles, which jet is moved relative t... | 11/10/1998 |
| 5827114 | Slurry blasting process A slurry blasting process employing a liquid carrier medium such as water contains a dispersed water-soluble particulate abrasive to enhance blast cleaning efficiency. Slurry blasting is performed at liquid pressures below 500 psi with an air to slurry ma... | 10/27/1998 |
| 5804009 | Method of providing a pattern of apertures and/or cavities in a plate or layer of non-metallic material After a plate or layer of non-metallic, particularly hard and brittle material has been provided with a (metal) mask having a plurality of apertures arranged in a pattern, it is exposed to at least one jet of abrasive powder particles, which jet is moved ... | 09/08/1998 |
| 5766368 | Integrated circuit chip module cleaning using a carbon dioxide jet spray A method of cleaning an integrated circuit chip module prior to attaching wire bonds thereto. The method involves disposing a module containing an integrated circuit chip and IC bond pads without wire bonds in an environmental process enclosure. A carbon ... | 06/16/1998 |
| 5701659 | Method of making a thin film thermal printhead A thin film thermal printhead is provided which comprises a head substrate having a first longitudinal edge and a second longitudinal edge, a glaze layer formed on a surface of the head substrate, a patterned resistor layer formed as a thin film on the gl... | 12/30/1997 |
| 5651834 | Method and apparatus for CO2 cleaning with mitigated ESD An object (12) may be cleaned by CO2 reduced ESD by directing a first water mist (23) at a surface (14) of the object while imparting a relative motion between the object board and the mist to form a film of water on the object surface. As the ... | 07/29/1997 |
| 5593528 | Method of providing a pattern of apertures and/or cavities in a plate or layer of non-metallic material After a plate or layer of non-metallic, particularly hard and brittle material has been provided with a (metal) mask having a plurality of apertures arranged in a pattern, it is exposed to at least one jet of abrasive powder particles, which jet is moved ... | 01/14/1997 |
| 5560743 | Method of fine grain milling and machine therefor A fine grain milling method which mixes powder into a high-pressure fluid, and injects the mixture to a workpiece covered with a mask or pattern to process the workpiece to a desired shape. Another high-pressure fluid is injected to remove the powder adhe... | 10/01/1996 |
| 5533922 | Method and apparatus for pretreating electronic component manufacturing frame A method is provided for pretreating an electronic component manufacturing frame which is prepared by punching. The method comprises blasting abrasive particles entrained in a high speed air stream toward the frame, wherein the abrasive particles has an a... | 07/09/1996 |
| 5409418 | Electrostatic discharge control during jet spray An improved apparatus and method adapted for use in removing trace contaminants from the surface of a chosen substrate, such as delicate surfaces or precision parts, by application of a stream or jet spray of expanded fluid to the substrate surface. The i... | 04/25/1995 |
| 5367840 | Method and system for the abrasive cleaning of surfaces A system for abrasively cleaning surfaces such as by sandblasting and including a vacuum arrangement for recovering the material abrasively removed from the surface as well as the abrasive material is provided with a control circuit operable to actuate an... | 11/29/1994 |
| 5364472 | Probemat cleaning system using CO2 pellets A system for cleaning test probes attached to a probe mat fixture by propelling CO2 pellets at the test probes, by rotating the fixture so that the pellets impact different sides of the test probes, and by providing electrostatic protection for... | 11/15/1994 |
| 5196034 | Semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus A semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus provided with an ice making unit and a jet nozzle for ejecting fine ice particles against a wafer held within a cleaning vessel includes an exhaust chamber having an expanded portion and connected to the cleaning v... | 03/23/1993 |
| 5133160 | Process for the removal of specific crystal structures defects from semiconductor discs The invention relates to an improved method for removing point defects and oint defect clusters from semiconductor discs, which defects impair the quality of electronic components or structural elements made from such discs. According to the invention, pri... | 07/28/1992 |
| 5105588 | Method and apparatus for simultaneously forming a plurality of openings through a substrate An improved method and apparatus for abrasive jet machining. A special spray nozzle unit is provided which is mounted within a cavity in a retaining block. Each nozzle unit is preferably made of multiple components secured together within the cavity. Also... | 04/21/1992 |
| 5052155 | Apparatus for the treatment of articles by high velocity impacting thereof with a particulate abrasive material A method is provided for soldering using tin-containing solder to substrate surfaces that are gold plated wherein a selected portion of the gold plated surface is treated by impacting with a high velocity stream of fine nickel containing abrasive particle... | 10/01/1991 |
| 4974375 | Ice particle forming and blasting device A solid surface cleaning device utilizes a jet of ice particles of ultrapure water for removing contaminants from a surface of a solid such as a semiconductor wafer. The electrical resistivity of ultrapure water stored in a tank is reduced by means of a g... | 12/04/1990 |
| 4917708 | Deburring and cleaning apparatus with multi-station rotary drum and reciprocating blasting guns A blasting apparatus for cleaning and deburring workpieces having a housing defining a blasting chamber therein. A rotary drum within the chamber is supported for rotation about a horizontal axis. A drive effects rotation of the drum through a plurality o... | 04/17/1990 |
| 4896464 | Formation of metallic interconnects by grit blasting This invention relates to a ceramic module and to methods for forming protruding, upstanding electrically conducting pins by the selective abrasion of a surface 18 of a multilayered ceramic module 10. An abrasive blasting device 40 is disposed adjacent to... | 01/30/1990 |
| 4893440 | Abrasive jet machining Apparatus for developing and handling an abrasive-laden gas stream for abrasive jet machining, employing equipment for storage, feeding, and control of abrasive powder in a carrier jet delivered through an upright feed tube at relatively high pressure and... | 01/16/1990 |
