Did You Know...
...that while attempting to develop a super strong glue, 3M employee Spencer Silver accidentally developed a glue that was so weak it would barely hold two pieces of paper together? However, his colleague Art Fry needed the glue. Fry sang with his church choir and marked the pages of his hymnal with small scraps of paper that often fell out. He used Silver's glue to hold the papers in place. Today we call this invention Post-it Notes.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7209582 | Coin discriminating method and apparatus A coin discriminating method includes steps of irradiating a surface of a coin with light, photoelectrically detecting light reflected by the surface of the coin, producing detected pattern data of the surface of the coin, binarizing corresponding reference pattern ... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7185750 | Coin distinguishing method and device A coin distinguishing method capable of concurrently picking up the images of the surface and the side of a coin by using two light sources, downsizing a device, and providing high-accuracy coin distinguishing. The side of a coin (C) falling through a coin passage (... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7010154 | Money identifying method and device A money identifying method and a device which can identify money with high precision and quickly by optimally binarizing a surface image of the money. The center coordinates and radius of subject coin C are extracted by a coin shape extraction section from the surfa... | 03/07/2006 |
| 6907977 | Capacitance sensor for coin evaluation A capacitance sensor measures a coin to determine geometrical parameters thereof and to allow assessment of different geometrical parameters of a coin which influence the measured capacitance. In a preferred arrangement, a mechanical arrangement alters the capacitan... | 06/21/2005 |
| 6761257 | Coin discriminating device, coin handling apparatus including such a device, and coin discriminating method A coin discriminating device has a first camera for producing a first image of a first surface of a coin, a second camera for producing a second image of a second surface of the coin, and a processor, e.g. a computer, which is operatively connected to the first and ... | 07/13/2004 |
| 6688449 | Image pickup device and pattern identification apparatus A pattern identification apparatus is used to speedily identify tokens at a game arcade. The apparatus is inexpensive and has an image pickup device (15). The image pickup device has an area sensor (17) consisting of a two-dimensional matrix of photoelect... | 02/10/2004 |
| 6499581 | Coin discriminating apparatus A coin discriminating apparatus includes a magnetic sensor for detecting magnetic properties of a coin being transported and producing magnetic data of the coin, an optical sensor for producing optical data of the coin, a reference optical data memory for... | 12/31/2002 |
| 6484865 | Coin discriminating apparatus A coin discriminating apparatus includes a coin passage member, a first transporting belt disposed above the coin passage member, thereby transporting it, a first light source, a first light detector, a second transporting belt for supporting the lower su... | 11/26/2002 |
| 6305523 | Coin discriminating apparatus A coin discriminating apparatus in which, to permit easy and reliable determination of the denomination and authenticity of a coin, information on surface displacement irregularities of a stamp pattern on a coin surface is detected, and features of the st... | 10/23/2001 |
| 5002174 | Coin validator A coin validator of a static capacitance system for discerning the thickness and/or pattern of a coin in a non-contact manner. A pair of electrode assemblies including a first and a second sensor electrodes and a first and a second guard ring electrodes a... | 03/26/1991 |
| 4819780 | Device for verifying coins In order to check whether the coin (2) has the impress design of an acceptable coin, the coin surface is scanned along a track (10) by an inductive probe (5), thus producing a signal which corresponds to the depth of the impression along the track (10). T... | 04/11/1989 |
| 4726458 | Device with a sensor for the recognition of coins A sensor is used for the recognition of coins, which analyses the mintage. The main component of the sensor is a polymeric, elastic material (20) which has piezoelectrical properties. By pressing the minted face of a coin onto the sensory surface (23) a s... | 02/23/1988 |
| 4139086 | Slug rejector A slug rejector for use with coin-operated devices, in which a pair of grippers grasp an inserted coin and move it past restraining mechanism to drop it into an entrance chute of the device. The motion of the coin past the restraining mechanism is made po... | 02/13/1979 |
