Did You Know...
...that Thomas Edison's patent application on his phonograph was approved by the Patent Office in just seven weeks? In contrast, it took Gordon Gould, the inventor of the laser, 30 years to obtain his patent -- finally awarded in 1988!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7849756 | Linear drive with safety mechanism for moving a structure A linear drive for adjusting at least one movable structure includes at least one spindle drive having a rotatable spindle. Disposed on the spindle and restrained against rotation is a lifting nut which is linked to the movable structure. At least one safety mechani... | 12/14/2010 |
| 7685898 | Linear actuator A linear actuator includes a spindle, a main nut, and a safety nut which cooperates with the main nut. The flank of the safety nut closest to the load supported by the spindle is made steep, i.e., forms an acute angle of between about 20 to 30 degrees with its longi... | 03/30/2010 |
| 7669493 | Spindle drive and a patient positioning system A spindle drive and patient positioning system is provided. The spindle drive includes a drive that is operative to drive a spindle nut. An axially transportable spindle is circled by the spindle nut. A catch nut that is not in mutual engagement with the spindle has... | 03/02/2010 |
| 7404468 | Elevator having second driving device An elevator includes an elevator car guided to move up and down relative to a supporting member, a screw shaft having an upper end attached to the supporting member, a driving nut rotatably supported in a coupling device and threaded with the screw shaft, one drivin... | 07/29/2008 |
| 7353723 | Use of an electrified pin to detect load transfer to a secondary nut in a screw actuator The invention relates to an actuator for actuating a moving member, said actuator essentially comprising a screw and at least two nuts engaged on the screw, relative movement between the screw and the nuts generating said actuation, said actuator further comprising ... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7347115 | Linear actuator A rotary shaft and a rotation driven member are connected as to transmit motive power when the rotary shaft rotates relatively to the rotation driven member. A roller gets displaced to a first position where a frictional force with an outer race and the rotation dri... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7299703 | Bearing balls escape and wear annunciator arrangement for ball screw An arrangement for detecting a load bearing failure includes a primary load-carrying system for bearing axially translatably a coaxial load, said primary load-carrying system having a rotor portion and an axially displaceable stator portion. A plurality of bearing b... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7231842 | Actuating device An actuation device for adjusting a powered control device opposite the adjusting direction. The actuation device comprises an actuation element axially displaceable in a housing by a feed device at least in the adjusting direction. The actuation device includes an ... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7190096 | Fault-tolerant electro-mechanical actuator having motor armatures to drive a ram and having an armature release mechanism An electrical actuator comprises two or more electrical motors to drive a threaded screw ram. Each motor has an armature that drives a threaded roller screw that is engaged to the threaded screw ram. Each armature of each motor is independently engageable and/or dis... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7172169 | Actuating device An actuating device for regulating a control mechanism which is subject to a force against the direction of regulation. The actuating device includes a drive device which has a drive shaft and is connected in a moveable manner to a rotating spindle, by which means a... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7159482 | Electric actuator An electric actuator comprises a gear mechanism which transmits the rotary driving force of a rotary driving source, and a ball spline mechanism which includes a ball spline shaft provided movably back and forth from a connecting block to the outside and which conve... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7152496 | Screw nut assembly of linear actuation device A screw nut assembly of a linear actuation device, having a screw, a main screw nut and a safety screw nut is disclosed. The main screw nut and the safety screw nut engaged with the screw are operative to displace linearly along an axis of the screw. The safety scre... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7100870 | Jam tolerant electromechanical actuation systems and methods of operation In a vehicle, having a fixed supporting structure and a load movable relative thereto, a jam tolerant actuating system, a method for controlling this system including: Locating a physical coupling/decoupling mechanism between the load and an actuator assembly as clo... | 09/05/2006 |
| 6981428 | Linear actuators A linear actuator comprises rotary motion producing means (1,2,3,4,5); linear motion producing means (6,7,10,11,12) coupled with the rotary motion producing means for converting rotary motion to linear motion; a driven member (18) movable linear... | 01/03/2006 |
| 6928895 | Ballscrew locking nut A ballnut assembly is provided in which a locknut (20), which is normally unloaded becomes loaded in the event of failure of a primary load path. This loading causes relative motion between locking nut (24) and the threads of a shaft (8) such th... | 08/16/2005 |
| 6928894 | Compensated actuator with optimized power An actuator combining mechanical and hydraulic forces includes a cylindrical body and a piston that can slide relative to the cylindrical body. The piston and the cylindrical body are connected by a mechanical system for transmitting mechanical power that constitute... | 08/16/2005 |
| 6791215 | Fault tolerant linear actuator In varying embodiments, the fault tolerant linear actuator of the present invention is a new and improved linear actuator with fault tolerance and positional control that may incorporate velocity summing, force summing, or a combination of the two. In one embodiment... | 09/14/2004 |
| 6769322 | Lift for sealing device A lifting mechanism for a sealing device comprises a lift including an upper pulley assembly and a lower pulley assembly, the lift being coupled to the sealing device by a thread rod for either lifting or lowering the sealing device; a rope assembly the rope assembl... | 08/03/2004 |
| 6711963 | Ball screw One end of a cylinder disposed on the outer periphery of a ball screw shaft is fixed to the end face of a ball nut, while the other end of the cylinder is closed by an end plate to thereby form a lubricant filling space between the end plate and the leading end face... | 03/30/2004 |
| 6334276 | Actuator for operating an access door and access door comprising same The invention relates to an actuator for operating an access door on an aeroplane, comprising a body (18) fitted with a motor member (20) and with a drive member (24) that is movable relative to the body (18) under the action of the motor member (20). The... | 01/01/2002 |
| 6308587 | Actuator for vehicle-door locking mechanism An actuator for vehicle-door locking mechanism, includes a driving motor, a first deceleration mechanism for decelerating a rotation of the driving motor, a lead screw to which the rotation of the driving motor is transmitted through the first deceleratio... | 10/30/2001 |
| 5918505 | Linear actuator and method of making a linear actuator A linear actuator includes a driven spindle (10) of metal having a nut (12) of polymeric material which further is connected to the expelling rod (14) of the actuator. The nut and expelling rod are joined to each other by intermeshing embossing mate for c... | 07/06/1999 |
| 5214972 | Fault-tolerant linear electromechanical actuator A linear electromechanical actuator includes back-to-back screw-type actuators whose screw nuts are secured together. During operation, the leadscrew of one screw-type actuator is rotated while the leadscrew of the other screw-type actuator is locked.... | 06/01/1993 |
| 5144851 | Jam tolerant linear actuator The invention is directed to a jam tolerant ballscrew actuator. The ballscrew actuator is driven through a differential via plural power paths therein. A first of these differential power paths is drivingly coupled to a reciprocating dual ballscrew assemb... | 09/08/1992 |
| 5106055 | Dynamic double action valve A valve includes a hollow body having both a valve seat, and a threaded portion having helical right-handed threads. A stem disposed within the body has a threaded portion at one end, with left-hand threads. The stem is moved within the body by turning a ... | 04/21/1992 |
| 4679485 | Ballistic tolerant dual load path ballscrew and ballscrew actuator Ballscrew actuators are well known for use as a primary flight control actuator for operating a flight control surface. The operation of the ballscrew actuator is critical to the success of an aircraft mission; however, when the actuator is subject to bal... | 07/14/1987 |
| 4637272 | Ballscrew actuator There are many requirements for an actuator where safety considerations dictate several independent means of actuation. This invention pertains to an actuator utilizing a single ballscrew with drive units associated therewith to provide a level of redunda... | 01/20/1987 |
| 4317384 | Manual override drive apparatus A manual override drive apparatus for use with normally powered driving assemblies, such as valve actuators, is disclosed which has a body having an axial bore therethrough, a shaft movable axially but not rotatably extending through the bore and having s... | 03/02/1982 |
| 4279329 | Safety device for lift equipment A safety device for spindle-operated lifting equipment, particularly for two-post motor-vehicle lifts having a lifting nut supporting a lift carriage guided on a post, the lifting nut being itself guided on a spindle. The safety device has a safety nut gu... | 07/21/1981 |
| 4179944 | Fail safe redundant actuator An electromechanical actuator is provided which is capable of disconnecting the output shaft and the drive mechanisms in such a way that, in the event of either a rotational or translational failure during operation, the output shaft can be effectively fr... | 12/25/1979 |
