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Magician Harry Houdini patented a "Diver's Suit" enabling the wearer to "quickly divest himself of the suit while being submerged and to safely escape and reach the surface of the water."
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8186239 | Origin restoration mechanism for operating member and multi-direction input apparatus using the same An origin restoration mechanism includes a base unit arranged in X-Y directions to cross the axis of an operating member body of an operating member, a link mechanism arranged on the upper surface of the base unit and a pair of urging devices for urging a rotary uni... | 05/29/2012 |
| 8186240 | Joystick type switch device A joystick type switch device is provided that includes an operating shaft having an operating knob provided at one end, and a case supporting the operating shaft so that the operating shaft can move between a return position and a pushed-in position and tilt from a... | 05/29/2012 |
| 8136421 | Gimbal assembly including flexible substrate wiring harnesses A gimbal assembly includes a gimbal mechanism, an electrical connector, and a flexible substrate. The gimbal mechanism is configured to rotate about a first rotational axis and a second rotational axis that is perpendicular to the first rotational axis. The electric... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8122783 | Joystick and method of manufacturing the same A joystick having a movable member that includes a shaft portion and a spherical portion wherein the shaft portion has a diameter less than the spherical portion. An actuating member is secured to the shaft portion of the movable member to provide actuation of the m... | 02/28/2012 |
| 8100029 | Control inceptor systems and associated methods Control inceptor systems and associated methods, including inceptors suitable for high-g operations and/or inceptors having a center of rotation located within an operator's grasp region, are disclosed herein. One aspect of the invention is directed toward a control... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8096206 | Control device The invention relates to a control device, in particular for an aircraft, having a multiaxially tiltable joystick for the actuation of signal transducers, in particular for the pitch control and roll control of an aircraft, as well as having a cardan-like joint by m... | 01/17/2012 |
| 8079281 | Active stick apparatus An active stick apparatus 40 includes a stick housing 41 and a stick control member 42 pivotally mounted to the stick housing 41 at a pivot point 43. The pivot point 43 acts to divide the stick control member 42 into ... | 12/20/2011 |
| 8056432 | Active control stick assembly An active control stick assembly is provided. In one embodiment, the active control stick assembly includes a housing assembly, and a control stick support body mounted within the housing assembly for rotation about two substantially orthogonal and co-planar rotatio... | 11/15/2011 |
| 8037778 | Control lever unit A control lever unit includes a lever, a sensor, an urging body and an elastically undeformable restricting member. The lever is pivoted tiltably from a neutral position in any direction within 360 degrees including two main operation directions and intermediate dir... | 10/18/2011 |
| 8033197 | Fully floating, self-aligning, self-adjusting gimbal assembly for an active human machine interface A human-machine interface assembly is implemented with a gimbal assembly that includes a roll hub, a pitch hub, and a main hub. The gimbal assembly further includes a plurality of bearings, and is mounted via a plurality of bearing sets, that are each disposed in a ... | 10/11/2011 |
| 8028599 | Vehicle 1. Vehicle (10), in particular tracked vehicle (10). 2.1 The invention relates to a vehicle (10), in particular a tracked vehicle (10), having a manual controller (40) for controlling driving functions of the vehicle (10 | 10/04/2011 |
| 7757579 | Joystick device with redundant sensor processing A joystick device having a grip assembly pivotably connected to a base assembly. The base assembly having sensing elements that detect the movement of the grip assembly as it pivots about the base assembly. Disposed within the base assembly and the sensing elements ... | 07/20/2010 |
| 7663271 | Actuator with hit prevention mechanism An actuator including magnets arranged on a plane on a plane, coils respectively arranged to face the magnets and move relatively with facing the magnets when a current is applied thereto, a moving member connected to either the magnets or coils, a guide member that... | 02/16/2010 |
| 7650810 | Haptic control devices A haptic control device for use in control-by-wire systems in vehicles. The haptic shift device includes a manipulandum manipulatable by a user. At least one sensor detects a position of the manipulandum. At least one electrically-controlled actuator outputs a force... | 01/26/2010 |
| 7549353 | Vehicular shift lever device A vehicular shift lever device wherein a path of movement of a shift lever is defined by a guide slot having a corner portion which has an angle of bend of about 90° and which corresponds to an intermediate position of the shift lever that is spaced apart from a pa... | 06/23/2009 |
| 7490530 | Haptic feedback input device A haptic feedback input device includes a pair of driving levers journaled at a frame such that rotary shafts thereof are perpendicular to each other, an operating lever coupled to an intersection of the two driving levers such that it can rock, and a pair of rotary... | 02/17/2009 |
| 7429977 | Joystick controller A joystick controller comprises a housing (10) and a joystick (12) mounted for pivotal movement relative to the housing (10) by means of a ball (14) and socket joint (18,20). A yoke (18) resolves directional movement of the ... | 09/30/2008 |
| 7418302 | Floating deadband control A method of controlling an input device is disclosed. A deadband is generated about a first position when the input device is at the first position. The input device is moved from the first position to one or more additional positions. The deadband width is varied b... | 08/26/2008 |
| 7411521 | Control system A control system comprising a control input device having a movable magnet, a pole-piece frame arrangement positioned about the magnet and positioned therein at least two magnetic flux sensors for sensing movement of the magnet in a given direction. The control syst... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7371980 | Apparatus and methods for securing switch devices Apparatus and methods for lockout of toggle switches, such as those toggle switches that include a captivating switch head (e.g., an enlarged and/or offset switch head) disposed on a cylindrical-shaped switch arm of the toggle switch. In one example, the apparatus a... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7363836 | Shift lever apparatus A shift lever apparatus includes a base member, a shift lever, and one or more planar four-bar linkage mechanisms supporting the shift lever so as to be movable relative to the base member. The four-bar linkage mechanism includes four link elements including a base-... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7361910 | Movable stage apparatus A movable stage apparatus includes a reticle stage on which a reflecting reticle is to be mounted, in which when a space is divided by a plane including a reflection surface of the reticle, a guide surface to guide movement of the master reticle stage is arranged in... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7357202 | User input for vehicle control A user input for controlling acceleration of a vehicle. The user input has a movable member capable of deflection by a user such that a degree of deflection corresponds to a specified velocity commanded by the user. The correspondence between the degree of deflectio... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7353652 | Hydraulically operated loading apparatus with dual three-function joystick controls A control apparatus is provided for operating six hydraulic valves from two different positions. The control apparatus is particularly suitable for operating the hydraulic controls of a six function trash loader. First and second three-function joysticks are mounted... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7341124 | Driving operation device A driving operation device includes an input portion which inputs an amount of operation by the driver, an output portion to which the amount of operation is transmitted and a form modifying portion which modifies an orientation of the input portion based on an outp... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7334496 | Gearshift device for controlling the gear selection of a motor vehicle gearbox A shifting device is provided for controlling the gear selection of a motor vehicle transmission with a housing, with a gearshift lever, which is arranged within a recess of the housing and can be pivoted in at least one vertical plane. A cover plate follows the piv... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7336006 | Magnetic actuator with reduced magnetic flux leakage and haptic sense presenting device A magnetic actuator, comprising a magnet, mutually opposite magnetic poles thereof being arranged opposing each other, and a coil, at least one portion thereof being inserted between the corresponding magnetic poles, wherein a driving force for the coil is generated... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7325466 | Manipulator with electromagnetic detent for the driving servo-control of hydraulic mechanisms A servo control device for driving hydraulic equipment with electromagnetic coupling, and more precisely it refers to a manipulator with detent to lock the system in particular positions in order to allow its continuous operation, with possible actions on pushers ne... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7320263 | Controller and method for controlling a control object The invention relates to a controller and a method for controlling a maneuverable control object and comprising a control lever (1) designed to be manually maneuvered by an operator into various positions and a console (2) in which the control lever is... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7319466 | Method and apparatus for generating and interfacing with a haptic virtual reality environment A method for generating a haptic interactive representation including the steps of defining a haptic interaction space and building a hierarchical construct, for use within the haptic interaction space, using a plurality of underlying constructs. In one embodiment t... | 01/15/2008 |
| 7317169 | Switching device with a switching lever in particular for a vehicle A switching device in particular for a vehicle has a switching lever which can be deflected into different switching positions to activate switching processes. An actuator is driven by a control device to cause the switching lever to vibrate, the control device rece... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7293480 | Shifting device A shifting device includes a housing, a shift lever, and a sensor unit. The shift lever is moved along frontward or rearward and leftward or rightward to select one of shift positions. The sensor unit is of a non-contact type and detects the selected shift position.... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7293625 | Operating lever device for construction machine and construction machine At the front end of an operating lever constituted as a joystick lever, a grip that is not allowed to rotate relative to the operating lever is attached. At the front end of the grip, a rotary operating member to be used for prime mover rotation speed adjustment is ... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7292224 | Ergonomic hand-held computer input and control device A hand-held computer input and control device designed to be held in the palm of a relaxed free floating hand, wherein the device is balanced for use with the user's thumb, 1st and/or 2nd fingers. In one exemplary embodiment, a hand held struct... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7286073 | Device for detecting operation of operator on sound control apparatus Knob-type operator provided on an operation section is provided with a switch mechanism that switches between ON and OFF states in response to depressing operation of the operator along the rotation axis of the operator. Operator operation detection circuit outputs,... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7282820 | Stage device and exposure apparatus An exposure apparatus which aligns a substrate by a stage device for driving a movable element, mounted with a substrate thereon, by using a plane motor. The stage device includes (i) a stator unit having a coil group, and (ii) the movable element, which moves on th... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7282819 | Stage apparatus, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method A stage apparatus in which support units supporting a counter-mass surface plate on a reference surface each include a first permanent magnet disposed on one of the surface plate and the reference surface, and a pair of second permanent magnets disposed on the other... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7283124 | Mouse scroll wheel module A mouse scroll wheel module includes a retention part, a holding part sitting on the retention part to swing from front to back and from left to right, a revolving part installed on the holding part, a mechanical revolving encoder to receive output of encoded electr... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7280098 | Joystick housing and mounting bracket A joystick includes a handle, a base shaft having opposite upper and lower ends, and a curvilinear housing. The handle is mounted on the upper end of the base shaft. The lower end of the base shaft is mounted into the curvilinear housing. The curvilinear housing has... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7275457 | Control lever with partially enclosed rotary wheel A control lever assembly having a moveable lever and a knob mounted on an end of the lever. The knob has a hollow housing which is removably attached to a cylindrical base. The housing has a cylindrical side wall which forms an opening. A wheel is received in and pa... | 10/02/2007 |
