Did You Know...
...that the Eveready Battery began as an invention called the "electric flowerpot," which was a tube with a battery and light bulb inside? The idea was to fasten this gizmo to the side of a flowerpot so it would illuminate the flowers from the bottom. The idea died on the vine and the businessman who licensed the flower pot, Conrad Huber, was left with a pile of useless tubes -- until he found a way to market them as batteries to light the world!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6008887 | Single beam laser surface velocity and displacement measurement apparatus Single-beam laser apparatus for measuring surface velocity at acoustic frequencies and surface displacement at ultrasonic frequencies includes a source laser and optics for directing a single laser beam at normal incidence to a surface. A photo EMF detect... | 12/28/1999 |
| 6003376 | Acoustic system for measuring the location and depth of underground pipe An acoustic method and apparatus for measuring the horizontal surface location and depth of any type of underground pipe or conduit, including nonmetallic or nonconductive pipe, such as sewer, gas, and water pipes, which cannot be detected with electromag... | 12/21/1999 |
| 6000288 | Determining average wall thickness and wall-thickness variation of a liquid-carrying pipe The average wall thickness and the wall-thickness variation of a liquid-carrying pipe are determined. An elastic wave is generated and is measured after traveling a distance along the pipe. From the received wave, the average radius of the pipe, the avera... | 12/14/1999 |
| 5996415 | Apparatus and method for characterizing semiconductor wafers during processing An apparatus and method are disclosed for characterizing semiconductor wafers or other test objects that can support acoustic waves. Source and receiving transducers are configured in various arrangements to respectively excite and detect acoustic waves (... | 12/07/1999 |
| 5996414 | Method of determining the length of a pile A method for determining a length of a pile which includes the steps of affixing a plurality of sound sensors in a vertical array adjacent to the pile, generating an elastic wave adjacent the pile such that the elastic wave propagates through or from the ... | 12/07/1999 |
| 5988873 | Portable bathymetric probe simulator The invention relates to a portable simulator for bathymetric probes of the thermometric or calorimetric types connected at the output to an acquisition card. The simulator has at least four circuits corresponding, respectively, to the following four func... | 11/23/1999 |
| 5987994 | Ultrasonic method for material monitoring An ultrasonic measurement method in an ultrasonic measurement system having an ultrasonic transducer includes emitting an ultrasonic pulse from the ultrasonic transducer. An ultrasonic pulse is received in accordance with a pulse travel time wherein the a... | 11/23/1999 |
| 5979233 | Liquid measuring system and methods Ultrasonic apparatus determines the fluid depth, volume, and temperature in a storage tank. A system description for monitoring an underground storage tank containing gasoline is described. The system determines the water's and gasoline's depth, volume, a... | 11/09/1999 |
| 5974885 | Method and apparatus for measuring silver sheath thickness during drawing of high temperature superconducting wire An ultrasonic method to measure silver sheath thickness in silver sheathed, ceramic powder core High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) wires and an associated sensor system which is designed and developed for continuous, on-line, real-time measurement duri... | 11/02/1999 |
| 5955671 | Method and apparatus for measurement of orientation in an anisotropic medium A method and apparatus are provided for simultaneously measuring the anisotropic orientation and the thickness of an article. The apparatus comprises a transducer assembly which propagates longitudinal and transverse waves through the article and which re... | 09/21/1999 |
| 5955672 | Ultrasonic blood volume measurement in soft-shell venous reservoir Blood volume in a soft-shell venous reservoir is measured for real-time display by ultrasonically measuring the distance between the walls of the reservoir bag at representative points and determining the volume of the bag by an interpolation based on the... | 09/21/1999 |
| 5951163 | Ultrasonic sensors for on-line monitoring of castings and molding processes at elevated temperatures Ultrasonic sensors and associated methods for on-line monitoring of material properties for die casting, molding and extrusion processes at elevated temperatures are disclosed. The sensors include the use of ultrasonic waveguides embedded in the processin... | 09/14/1999 |
| 5938334 | Methods of measuring currency limpness Measuring the limpness of a note is necessary to separate a worn note out of circulation. Several methods are disclosed which can be used either alone or in combination to test for limpness. One method measures the note's ability to reflect light or trans... | 08/17/1999 |
| 5936160 | Method and apparatus for measuring sound velocity in liquid A method and apparatus for measuring sound velocity in a liquid, said method comprising the transmitting of a sound pulse or a group of sound pulses to the liquid to be measured and the measuring of the transit time of the sound pulse or the group of soun... | 08/10/1999 |
| 5929337 | Non-mechanical contact ultrasound system for monitoring contents of a moving container A non-contact apparatus for monitoring the contents of a container, especially but not exclusively for quality control monitoring purposes associated with high speed packaging processes, comprises a non-contact ultrasound generation member, adapted so as ... | 07/27/1999 |
| 5929349 | Inspection tool for measuring wall thickness of underground storage tanks The invention comprises a tool which can be inserted through the fill nozzle of an underground fuel storage tank to measure the tank wall thickness. The invention, in a preferred embodiment, uses ultrasonic thickness measurement technology, a well known i... | 07/27/1999 |
| 5922960 | Ultrasonic material constant measuring system An ultrasonic material constant measuring system comprising a reference unit, an examination unit, at least a case equipped in at least the examination unit, and a signal processing unit. The reference unit consists of at least an input ultrasonic transdu... | 07/13/1999 |
| 5922959 | Methods of measuring currency limpness Measuring the limpness of a note is necessary to separate a worn note out of circulation. Several methods are disclosed which can be used either alone or in combination to test for limpness. One method measures the note's ability to reflect light or trans... | 07/13/1999 |
| 5920014 | Process for assessing welded joints A process for on-line assessment of resistance weldings uses an ultrasonic source which impinges shear waves onto the weld region and an ultrasound receiver. The time at which the melting point of the weld material is reached and a weld nugget begins to f... | 07/06/1999 |
| 5918281 | Personal speedometer The speed of an object is measured using a device which includes a transmitter spaced a predetermined distance from a receiver. A first sound wave is propagated through air with a first velocity, typically zero velocity. A second sound wave is propagated ... | 06/29/1999 |
| 5907099 | Ultrasonic device with enhanced acoustic properties for measuring a volume amount of fluid An ultrasonic measurement device measures a volume-related quantity of a fluid flowing from a first zone to a second zone of the device. The device includes two ultrasound transducers emitting and receiving ultrasound signals and each disposed in one of t... | 05/25/1999 |
| 5900535 | Method and apparatus for ultrasonic measurement of fuel quantity and density An ultrasonic fuel-gauging system has a tank with several ultrasonic probes having reflectors spaced along their length. A vibrating cylinder densitometer is located at the bottom of the tank and provides an output to a control unit representative of fuel... | 05/04/1999 |
| 5897786 | Method and apparatus for determining thickness of a charge wall being formed in a centrifugal machine An ultrasonic probe is mounted in a centrifugal machine within close proximity to a maximum charge wall which is to be formed within a charge basket of the centrifugal machine. The probe comprises a tubular member which extends from an upper portion of an... | 04/27/1999 |
| 5877407 | Plasma etch end point detection process A method for determining the endpoint of a plasma etch process is disclosed. The endpoint of the plasma etch process is determined using an acoustic cell attached to an exhaust port on a reaction chamber of a plasma reactor. At least a portion of the gas ... | 03/02/1999 |
| 5866820 | Coil volumetric and surface defect detection system A EMAT inspection system is utiliized on sheet metal prior to it being formed or rolled to identify surface defects and sub-surface defects such as pencil pipe inclusions by using ultrasonic Lamb waves with the results being displayed on a remote screen o... | 02/02/1999 |
| 5847281 | System for measuring ultrasonically the elastic properties of a moving paper web An arrangement for ultrasonically measuring the elastic properties of a moving web includes an ultrasonic wave generator and at least two ultrasonic wave detection devices which receive the generated ultrasonic wave without contacting the web. The receive... | 12/08/1998 |
| 5841032 | Variable and fixed frequency pulsed phase locked loop A measuring apparatus uses a variable and fixed frequency pulsed phase locked loop to measure the phase shift caused by a delay path to a high degree of accuracy. This accurate measurement of total phase change through greater than 360 degrees allows the ... | 11/24/1998 |
| 5836200 | Cell for measuring acoustical properties of fluid samples under high pressure A cell for measuring acoustical properties for fluid sample includes a stack consisting essentially of a first end piece (20), a first, wafer-shaped electro-acoustical transducer (18), a main body (12), a second electro-acoustical transducer (16) and a se... | 11/17/1998 |
| 5834648 | Method for identifying a compound using an acoustic microscope A non-destructive method of identifying a type of compound in a sample using an acoustic microscope, particularly, identifying the type of compound used in an integrated circuit package by comparing attributes of the tested molding compound with known att... | 11/10/1998 |
| 5824906 | Pressing tool A measurement apparatus is disclosed for a pipe joint assembly (27, 63, 92, 103, 116) to detect the depth of penetration of a pipe end into a press fitting. The measurement apparatus is characterized in that it has an apparatus support (1, 42, 82, 102) th... | 10/20/1998 |
| 5814730 | Material characteristic testing method and apparatus using interferometry to detect ultrasonic signals in a web A non-destructive, non-contact testing apparatus and method which generally includes an ultrasonic signal generator for inducing one or more ultrasonic signals in a material and an optical interferometer that includes a laser for illuminating a section of... | 09/29/1998 |
| 5808199 | System for measuring ultrasonically the elastic properties of a moving paper web The invention relates to a system for measuring ultrasonically the elastic properties of a moving paper web. A noise type ultrasonic sound wave is generated by an ultrasonic sound generating device in the web at an excitation point. A reference ultrasonic... | 09/15/1998 |
| 5808201 | Acoustic strain gauge Applicant's invention defines an improved electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) for monitoring stress in an underlying workpiece. The EMATs are provided with positioning pins for fixing the registration of the EMAT relative to the workpiece. The bott... | 09/15/1998 |
| 5804725 | Measurement of the cure state of a curable material using an ultrasonic wire waveguide The cure state of a mass of a curable material, such as a composite material formed of a fiber embedded in a curable polymeric matrix, is measured. At least two wire segments are embedded into the mass, and an ultrasonic signal is propagated through the w... | 09/08/1998 |
| 5804727 | Measurement of physical characteristics of materials by ultrasonic methods A method is described for determining and evaluating physical characteristics of a material. In particular, the present invention provides for determining and evaluating the anisotropic characteristics of materials, especially those resulting from such ma... | 09/08/1998 |
| 5780744 | Out-of-plane ultrasonic velocity measurement A method for improving the accuracy of measuring the velocity and time of flight of ultrasonic signals through moving web-like materials such as paper, paperboard and the like, includes a pair of ultrasonic transducers disposed on opposing sides of a movi... | 07/14/1998 |
| 5780743 | Resonance identification in hydraulic cylinder piston position sensing The ability to be able to identify, distinguish and verify a lock onto harmonic frequency signals in the oil of a hydraulic cylinder using a ratio between consecutively detected harmonics. The identification is useful in providing early and reliable harmo... | 07/14/1998 |
| 5768937 | Acoustic sensor for in-line continuous monitoring of gasses An acoustic cell includes multiple acoustic cavities fluidly coupled together. At least two of the acoustic cavities have unequal lengths and cross sections. End segments of the acoustic cell are uniformly cylindrically shaped or conically shaped. A drive... | 06/23/1998 |
| 5767407 | Noninvasive identification of fluids by swept-frequency acoustic interferometry A method for rapid, noninvasive identification and monitoring of chemicals in sealed containers or containers where direct access to the chemical is not possible is described. Multiple ultrasonic acoustic properties (up to four) of a fluid are simultaneou... | 06/16/1998 |
| 5767408 | Method and system for obtaining near-surface characteristics of materials using ultrasonic Rayleigh waves In a method for obtaining near-surface characteristics of a material, a broadband ultrasonic Rayleigh wave including a plurality of components is generated, with a generating system, in the material. The Rayleigh wave is detected with a detection system r... | 06/16/1998 |
