Did You Know...
...that the inventor of the electric motor was a blacksmith named Thomas Davenport? Described as "a brilliantly unsuccessful inventor", Davenport invented the first rotary electric motor. In 1836 he headed out -- on foot -- from his Vermont home to file a patent application at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By the time he got there, he had squandered away his money and couldn't afford the $30 filing fee so he turned around and went home. When he later mailed in his application with money he'd raised, the Patent office was destroyed in a fire. He did finally get credit for his invention on Feb. 5, 1837.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8180483 | Overhead transfer/storage system and overhead transfer/storage method In an overhead conveyance/storage system 1 including at least a storage area 100 for the storage of products (e.g., tires) 200, at least one transfer holder 300 adapted to move through a ceiling space in the storage area 100 in thr... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8170711 | Method and system for transporting inventory items A system for transporting inventory items includes an inventory holder capable of storing inventory items and a mobile drive unit. The mobile drive unit is capable of moving to a first point with the inventory holder at least one of coupled to and supported by the m... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8160739 | Transferring storage devices within storage device testing systems A method of transferring storage devices within a storage device testing system includes actuating an automated transporter to substantially simultaneously retrieve multiple storage devices presented for testing, and actuating the automated transporter to substantia... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8140180 | Dynamic item-space allocation and retrieval Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to staging manufactured items and provide a method, system and computer program product for staging items in a manufacturing environment. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for ... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8140182 | Bulk feeding disk drives to disk drive testing systems A method of supplying disk drives to a disk drive testing system includes placing a disk drive tote, carrying multiple disk drives, in a presentation position accessible to an automated transporter of the disk drive testing system. The method includes actuating the ... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8140181 | Substrate transfer method, control program, and storage medium storing same A substrate transfer method for use in a substrate processing apparatus including a first processing unit that performs a first process on a substrate, a second processing unit performing a second process on the substrate, and a substrate transfer mechanism that tra... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8135494 | Placement of data storage cartridges in single cartridge slots and in multi-cartridge deep slot cells of an automated data storage library In an automated data storage library having a plurality of multi-cartridge deep slot cells, each configured to store a plurality of data storage cartridges arranged in sequential order of tiers from front to rear; having a plurality of single cartridge storage slots... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8108065 | Target of opportunity in an automated data storage library A method is provided for utilizing target of opportunity to perform at least one special operation while a removable storage medium is mounted within a data storage drive for another purpose. A target of opportunity is recognized by determining if at least one speci... | 01/31/2012 |
| 8095234 | Transferring disk drives within disk drive testing systems A method of transferring disk drives within a disk drive testing system includes actuating an automated transporter to retrieve multiple disk drives presented for testing, and actuating the automated transporter to deliver each retrieved disk drive to a respective t... | 01/10/2012 |
| 8086343 | Processing storage devices A storage device processing system that includes at least one automated transporter, at least one rack accessible by the at least one automated transporter, and multiple test slots housed by the at least one rack. Each test slot is configured to receive a storage de... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8082058 | Tape library with load count confirmation A data storage library is described including a tape cartridge possessing an auxiliary memory device adapted to maintain a load count that is incremented whenever the tape cartridge is loaded in a tape drive. The library also includes, a library tape drive adapted t... | 12/20/2011 |
| 8078311 | Substrate processing apparatus and substrate transfer method adopted in substrate processing apparatus In a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention, wafer transfer timing with which wafers are to be transferred to individual processing chambers from a cassette container is determined in correspondence to each processing chamber, based upon t... | 12/13/2011 |
| 8055376 | Substrate processing system, substrate placing position adjusting method and storage medium In a substrate processing system for processing a substrate, such as a wafer W, held by a substrate holding device rotatable about a vertical axis, such as a spin chuck, a jig is placed on the substrate holding device, and centrifugal acceleration imparted to a pred... | 11/08/2011 |
| 8046099 | Library unit and magazine position detecting method in the library unit A library unit of the present invention includes a magazine, a cartridge, at least one sensor and an accessor. The cartridge is loaded in the magazine and arranged in a direction in which the magazine is loaded to or unloaded from the library unit. The sensor is pro... | 10/25/2011 |
| 8041450 | Position sensor system for substrate transfer robot A substrate processing apparatus comprises a substrate handling chamber, a pair of position sensors, and a substrate transfer robot. Each of the sensors comprises an emitter configured to emit a beam of light, and a receiver configured to receive the light beam. The... | 10/18/2011 |
| 7991505 | Materials-handling system using autonomous transfer and transport vehicles Methods and apparatus for selecting and combining packages in an outbound container by employing autonomous transfer and transport vehicles which move on a network of roadways to carry a plurality of individual cases each containing the same kind of product from a l... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7987018 | Transferring disk drives within disk drive testing systems A method of transferring disk drives within a disk drive testing system includes actuating an automated transporter to retrieve multiple disk drives presented for testing, and actuating the automated transporter to deliver each retrieved disk drive to a respective t... | 07/26/2011 |
| 7953514 | Article storage facility and operating method thereof A learning marker configured such that one of learning horizontal distance information and learning vertical distance information can be learned based on detection information from a horizontal travel distance detection device or a vertical travel distance detection... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7949423 | Article storage facility and control method therefor An article storage facility includes a controller for controlling operation of a plurality of mobile bodies. The controller is constructed switchable between a total operation mode for causing all of the mobile bodies to engage in an article transporting operation f... | 05/24/2011 |
| 7941243 | Storage system A very high density storage system comprising a storage grid having a number of storage cells and individual cargo carriers where a cargo carrier is stored in a storage cell. The storage system uses a unique set of individually actuatable gear drives on both the top... | 05/10/2011 |
| 7930060 | Medicine supply system A medicine supply system including a cart supply line (48) on which a plurality of carts (8) are disposed and aligned; a first transport unit for transporting the plurality of carts (8) on the cart supply line (48); a tray discharge unit ... | 04/19/2011 |
| 7925375 | Storage machine for objects A machine for storing objects includes a compartment system with a plurality of compartments and having at least one closure mechanism which can be moved relative to a central, predefined access orifice in the machine housing to permit or prevent access to a specifi... | 04/12/2011 |
| 7908029 | Processing storage devices A storage device processing system that includes at least one automated transporter, at least one rack accessible by the at least one automated transporter, and multiple test slots housed by the at least one rack. Each test slot is configured to receive a storage de... | 03/15/2011 |
| 7894933 | Method and system for retrieving inventory items A method for retrieving inventory items within an inventory system includes receiving a retrieval request that identifies an inventory item and selecting, from a plurality of inventory stations, an inventory station to fulfill an order associated with the retrieval ... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7894932 | Method and system for replenishing inventory items A method for storing inventory items in an inventory system includes receiving a replenish request identifying an inventory item to be stored in an inventory system and determining a classification of the inventory item to be stored. The method also includes selecti... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7890207 | Transferring storage devices within storage device testing systems A method of transferring storage devices within a storage device testing system includes actuating an automated transporter to substantially simultaneously retrieve multiple storage devices presented for testing, and actuating the automated transporter to substantia... | 02/15/2011 |
| 7890206 | Automated store and relative storage method An automated store comprising at least a plurality of shelves, on which objects are able to be disposed, and a transfer device able to move each of said objects towards a specific shelf; the transfer device comprises a supporting base, able to be disposed aligned an... | 02/15/2011 |
| 7881820 | Method and system for inventory placement according to expected item picking rates A method and system for inventory placement according to expected item picking rates. In one embodiment, a method may include determining a respective expected picking rate for each of a number of inventory items, and dependent upon the expected picking rate, select... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7881819 | Substrate transfer apparatus, method of transferring substrate, and method of manufacturing electro-optical device A substrate transfer apparatus transfers substrates stored in a first substrate storage case, which has support grooves in its inner wall, along the support grooves to substrate storage surfaces included in a second substrate storage case. The substrate transfer app... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7826919 | Method and system for transporting inventory items A system for transporting inventory items includes an inventory holder capable of storing inventory items and a mobile drive unit. The mobile drive unit is capable of moving to a first point with the inventory holder at least one of coupled to and supported by the m... | 11/02/2010 |
| 7826918 | Transfer system and transfer method of object to be processed A transfer method employs a transfer system including a semiconductor handling device and an automatic transfer device. The semiconductor handling device includes a first transfer mechanism and a first optically coupled parallel I/O communications interface. The aut... | 11/02/2010 |
| 7787985 | Article storage facility and method for operating the facility In response to a storing command to store a plurality of articles to different storage units of the rack, the control device of article storage facility performs a multiple storing operation wherein the control device controls horizontal movements of the plurality o... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7774095 | System and program for virtualization of data storage library addresses Disclosed is a system and program for using storage slots efficiently. A storage element count is assigned to each one of multiple logical libraries, and the sum of the storage element count for each one of the multiple logical libraries exceeds the total number of ... | 08/10/2010 |
| 7751928 | Method and system for agent exchange-based materials handling A method and system for agent exchange-based materials handling. According to one embodiment, a method of agent exchange-based order fulfillment may include a number of agents moving along respective paths through an inventory storage area of a materials handling fa... | 07/06/2010 |
| 7747342 | Product location method utilizing product bar code and aisle-situated, aisle-identifying bar code An item location directory method and system involves the use of item-identifying bar codes on the items to be included in the directory, and location-identifying bar codes physically applied to the corresponding locations. These are read in a preset manner with a b... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7729797 | Article transport apparatus for an article storage system, and a method of operating the apparatus An article transport apparatus comprises: an article transporting mobile body movable along a predetermined path extending along a storage rack having a plurality of article storage units; a loading unit disposed o... | 06/01/2010 |
| 7725212 | Datacenter with automated robotic maintenance A datacenter with automated robotic maintenance comprises: a plurality of computer systems disposed at different locations therein, each system including: a cabinet rack; and a plurality of system cell units disposed therein for operation of the corresponding comput... | 05/25/2010 |
| 7720564 | Systems and methods for cross-intrabay transport A transport system. The transport system comprises a first interbay component, a second interbay component, a plurality of intrabay components, and a route controller. The first and second interbay components transport the vehicles between the tool bays. Each of the... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7720563 | Stocker driving system and stocker driving method using the same Disclosed is a stocking system that effectively copes with contingencies such as a sudden increase in the number of units to be stocked or malfunctions that render a port disabled. The stocking system includes a plurality of input ports and output ports that are ope... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7672753 | Optimized library device management Various embodiments of a system and method for optimizing storage library operations. In one embodiment a method may comprise storing a plurality of efficiency values indicative of relative efficiencies of storage targets in a storage library, and executing a storag... | 03/02/2010 |
