Did You Know...
...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6471040 | Vibratory feeder embodying self-contained control A vibratory conveying feeder, which includes a power control circuit for locally providing an adjusted drive signal to the vibratory drive. Inclusion of a power control circuit into one or more vibratory conveying feeders within a system including multipl... | 10/29/2002 |
| 6109475 | Parts feeder system adaptable to both manual feed and auxiliary hopper feed The present invention includes a parts feeder system capable of being used in either a first mode without an auxiliary hopper or in a second mode with and auxiliary hopper. The parts feeder system includes an enclosure having an opening therein. In the fi... | 08/29/2000 |
| 5821657 | Electromagnetic vibratory feeder with rare earth magnet A vibratory feeder for feeding low density powered material having a tray, a base and a motor supporting the tray on the base. The motor includes an electromagnet having an AC coil supported on an intermediate leg between the outer legs and an armature ha... | 10/13/1998 |
| 5660265 | Vibratory conveyor for particles of bulk material A vibratory conveyor for particles of tobacco or other bulk material has a trough with an elongated bottom wall the upper side of which merges smoothly into a downwardly sloping convex cylindrical or substantially cylindrical external surface of a tubular... | 08/26/1997 |
| 5263591 | Refuse recycling system A controllable refuse recycling system includes a conveyor for conveying refuse. The refuse is carried past a plurality of operating personnel who extract recyclable materials from the refuse, and deposit the extracted materials into separate deposit chut... | 11/23/1993 |
| 5236092 | Method of an apparatus for X-radiation sorting of raw materials In a method of X-radiation sorting of raw materials, after the stock lumps have been spread in monolayer on the transporting surface and stabilized, they are brought into the mode of unsupported movement along the stabilized paths without rotation. The ex... | 08/17/1993 |
| 5207312 | Method of and apparatus for cramming electronic components into storage means A method of cramming electronic components into a plate-like casing, comprises preparing the casing having a spiral passageway, an opening as a continuation of the passageway to communicate with the exterior of the casing and vents; preparing components; ... | 05/04/1993 |
| 5207310 | Vibratory conveyor A distribution system including a vibratory conveyor having a number of conveyor modules to distribute bulk food products to packaging machines at user locations. The product is fed using longitudinal vibration of a product carrying tray mounted on leaf s... | 05/04/1993 |
| 5183143 | Apparatus and methods for conveying materials Conveying apparatus and methods employ a continuously vibrating element and a plurality of longitudinally aligned, overlapping, inclined conveyor pans, each of which has its own independently operable discharge gate. Material may be moved by the conveyor ... | 02/02/1993 |
| 5131996 | Surface-treating apparatus for agitatable material An apparatus is provided for surface treating agitable material that includes a conveyor trough for transporting the agitatable material. The trough is at least partially submerged in a treatment bath and it includes at least a first and second shaking ch... | 07/21/1992 |
| 5105930 | Method and device for successively feeding flat products A method and device for successively feeding flat products, i.e. flat slab-shaped products such as sweets or biscuits, from an input container to a user machine, whereby the products are fed in bulk, and in excess of the capacity of the user machine, to a... | 04/21/1992 |
| 5038918 | Root crop harvester A root crop harvester including two endless web sections, with the first section overhanging the second section to form a step portion, and drive mechanism to vibrate the two web sections in their own planes by amounts that are unequal or can be made uneq... | 08/13/1991 |
| 4979608 | Two trough, electromagnetically vibratory feeder A three mass, two trough feeder transfers articles on first and second troughs by vibrating the troughs. First and second leaf springs support the troughs on a base with the troughs in line with each other and with one trough overlapping the other. The ra... | 12/25/1990 |
| 4602711 | Apparatus for feeding cylindrical workpieces to a workplace A device for feeding cylindrical components such as diodes, resistors or capacitors includes a buffer container for receiving components from a storage container, a horizontal exit track at the bottom of the buffer container, a delivery container for rece... | 07/29/1986 |
| 4540082 | Vibratory distribution system A vibratory distribution system for flowable material such as bulk food products has a number of vibratable cascaded elongate primary conveyor channel sections tilted to one side about their longitudinal axes to cause the product to gravitate towards the ... | 09/10/1985 |
| 4396104 | Vibration assisted sluices A vibration assisted sluice is constructed with a plurality of trough sections connected end to end and supported above the earth. Each of the sections is yieldably supported so that the individual trough can vibrate to assist in moving the material in th... | 08/02/1983 |
| 4175654 | Vibratory feeder system and mechanism A vibratory feeder device has a forward moving mechanism and recirculating, or return, mechanism side by side and separately and independently controllable. The forward feeding mechanism has a feeder track that includes an angularly sloping surface down w... | 11/27/1979 |
| 3996032 | Insulated heater tray for making glass fibers and method for using same An improved method and apparatus for forming chopped glass fiber strands is disclosed. The improvement comprises a vibratory conveyor under a drying apparatus for said glass fiber strands which is insulated such that cold spots do not develop on the tray ... | 12/07/1976 |
| 3942628 | Table feeder An improved table feeder type material handling apparatus includes a support table or tray which is moved through forward and return strokes by a dirve assembly to convey ore or other material disposed on the tray in a forward direction relative to the tr... | 03/09/1976 |
