Celebrity Inventors
Glam girl Heddy Lamar may have used her good looks to good effect on the silver screen, but she put her smarts to better use as an inventor. During World War II, she co-patented a frequency-switching system for torpedo guidance that was considered years ahead of its time.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7923651 | Silver-coated stainless steel strip for movable contacts and method of producing the same An electrical contact comprising a silver-coated stainless steel strip, which has an underlying layer comprising any one of nickel, cobalt, nickel alloys, and cobalt alloys, on at least a part of the surface of a stainless steel substrate, and has a silver or silver... | 04/12/2011 |
| 7339127 | Contact piece made of tungsten provided with a corrosion-resistant layer made of a base metal A contact piece is formed by a tungsten overlay soldered onto a support, wherein at least portions of the solder layer and optionally of the support are covered by a layer of a less noble metal than tungsten. The corrosion resistance of the tungsten overlay is consi... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7238432 | Metal member coated with metal layers There is provided a metal member capable of realizing a corrosion resistance and wear resistance, which are equivalent to or better than those when expensive PdNi is used even if PdNi is not used, and of being produced at relatively low costs. A first layer essentia... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7161103 | Moveable contact assembly, method of manufacturing the same, and switch using the same A movable contact assembly includes a base sheet made of insulating film, a contact provided under a bottom surface of the base sheet, and a conductive layer comprising silver paste on the base sheet. The silver paste contains 12 wt % to 15 wt % of resin binder and ... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7053799 | Keypad with illumination structure An illuminated keypad (400) includes a substantially transparent keypad (420) having a plurality of actuator buttons (412), a plurality of switches (404) residing substantially and correspondingly below the plurality of actuator buttons, ... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7025600 | Semiconductor device having external contact terminals and method for using the same A method of using a semiconductor device having a plurality of external contact terminals formed of springy wires, usable in a stable state free from variation of contact voltage for a long period even if a contact terminal repeatedly makes contact several hundreds ... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7015406 | Electric contact An electric contact comprises a main body consisting of a copper-based alloy or of stainless steel and a contact layer consisting of a gold-based alloy. The contact layer has a thickness of at least 0.3 μm and consists of gold with a content of 0.5 percent by weigh... | 03/21/2006 |
| 6930266 | Push-button switch A push-button switch includes insulating member having a surface, first and second stationary contacts electrically isolated from each other and provided at the surface of the insulating substrate, and a movable contact. The movable contact includes an elastic metal... | 08/16/2005 |
| 6777631 | Panel-type peripheral device and method of producing the same A panel-type peripheral device including first and second conductive panel members, each panel member being provided with an insulating substrate and a conductive film applied on the insulating substrate, is produced. First, a panel assembly, including the first and... | 08/17/2004 |
| 6248964 | Thick film on metal encoder element A switching element, specifically an encoder element, is fabricated by forming a conductive track on an insulative substrate, and then screen printing an insulative layer on the track in a predetermined pattern that forms a contact array that comprises a ... | 06/19/2001 |
| 6133537 | Electric contact structure as well as relay and switch using the same The present invention provides an electric contact structure comprising a first contact surface and a second contact surface, wherein at least one of the first and second contact surfaces comprises an AuAgPd alloy including 7-16% by weight of Ag and 1-10%... | 10/17/2000 |
| 5973283 | Tearable membrane switch with resinous bounded silver-palladium alloy contacts A membrane switch having a pair of flexible printed boards and a pair of contacts respectively disposed on said printed boards. The contacts are formed of powdered alloy of silver and palladium bounded by resinous material, and a conductive layer of silve... | 10/26/1999 |
| 5860513 | Material for forming contact members of control switch and control switch using same A material for forming contact members of a control switch, which has a structure including a primary layer made of Ni, Co, a Ni alloy or a Co alloy formed on a conductive base, and a surface layer made of Pd or a Pd alloy having a thickness of 0.001 to 0... | 01/19/1999 |
| 5701993 | Porosity-free electrical contact material, pressure cast method and apparatus A 100% dense, porosity free copper-chromium contact has been prepared in which deleterious porosity has been eliminated. This copper-chromium contact has been produced by pressurizing liquid copper to infiltrate an evacuated chromium based, lightly sinter... | 12/30/1997 |
| 5597064 | Electric contact materials, production methods thereof and electric contacts used these The present invention provides inexpensive electric contact materials having higher hardness and higher melting point and being more excellent in the points of wear resistance and environmental resistance over the electric contact materials of Ag type, Au... | 01/28/1997 |
| 5438175 | Electric outlet element having double flash A thin galvanically deposited gold-containing surface layer is backed by a support layer containing a palladium alloy and having a thickness between 0.05 μm and 0.5 μm. In a preferred embodiment the surface layer and the support layer have a combined th... | 08/01/1995 |
| 5422451 | Electrical contact element An electrical contact element having a core part made of an iron/nickel alloy and a gold/tin alloy applied to a portion of the core part which serves as a solderable connection part. The gold/tin alloy has a tin content of from about 10 to about 40% by we... | 06/06/1995 |
| 5270504 | Sliding contact member for high currrent densities A sliding contact member substantially free of the toxic metals lead and antimony, includes copper, carbon, and at least one added material which is selected from the group consisting of a metal and a metal alloy having a melting temperature which is subs... | 12/14/1993 |
| 5258591 | Low inductance cantilever switch An apparatus is disclosed for providing an electrostatically actuated mechanical switch utilizing a cantilever beam element fabricated by solid-state microfabrication techniques. The apparatus reduces the required pull down voltage and lowers the switch i... | 11/02/1993 |
| 5139890 | Silver-coated electrical components There has been provided an electrical component having resistance to oxidation and wear. The component has a copper or copper alloy substrate coated with a relatively thick layer of silver. A thin layer of gold may be deposited on the external surface of ... | 08/18/1992 |
| 5066550 | Electric contact In an electric contact having a Cu-based layer, a Ni-based layer formed on the Cu-based layer, and a Pd-based layer formed on the Ni-based layer, the Ni-based layer having a thickness of at least 0.8 μm is so formed as to include a noncrystal nickel allo... | 11/19/1991 |
| 4999464 | Molded case circuit breaker contact and contact arm arrangement A molded case circuit breaker movable contact arm electrically connects with the circuit breaker load terminal requiring only a small diameter auxiliary electrical conducting braid by pivotally arranging the contact arm within its support. The contact arm... | 03/12/1991 |
| 4891480 | Apparatus including electrical contacts An electrical device is provided which has contacts having regions with a conductive matte-finish metal surface. The matte-finish surface is characterized by having a Knoop hardness number of at least 300, a diffuse reflectance of less than about 20 perce... | 01/02/1990 |
| 4800243 | Contactor rubber A rubber structure contact connector includes a support upon which is placed an electrical contact. An insulating material, such as rubber, is applied over the contact and overlies the support and it has a portion which is formed as a raised dome-shaped r... | 01/24/1989 |
| 4668375 | Electric connection terminal for a sensor element utilizing ceramics An electric connection terminal arranged at a rear end of a sensor element and capable of affording quick and easy connection of the sensor element with a contacting element connected to a lead wire extending into a connector socket or connector insulator... | 05/26/1987 |
| 4628165 | Electrical contacts and methods of making contacts by electrodeposition Methods for increasing the ductility and reducing the porosity and cracking tendency of a palladium or palladium-silver electrodeposit which comprises providing an underlayer of a palladium/nickel or palladium/cobalt alloy electrodeposit. Also dual layer ... | 12/09/1986 |
| 4607148 | Change of state contact material for electric circuit interrupters A change of state circuit breaker contact material provides a low contact resistance at a low closing force by reducing current density through a pair of circuit breaker contacts. The use of a meltable metal alloy within the contact structure forces the c... | 08/19/1986 |
| 4564731 | Scissor-type disconnect switch with contact elements having wear-resistant armatures A switch for making and breaking a connection between a load circuit and a power line, with two parallelogrammatic linkages terminating in scissorlike contactor pairs, has limitedly swivelable and/or extensible cross-links interconnecting aligned pivotal ... | 01/14/1986 |
| 4547640 | Electrical contact structure of a vacuum interrupter An electrical contact structure of a vacuum interrupter wherein a pair of electrical contacts 2 are provided within a vacuum vessel 1 through a pair of contact rods 14 so that one is in contact with the other or away therefrom. The electrical contact 2 co... | 10/15/1985 |
| 4503131 | Electrical contact materials Electrical contact materials are provided which belong to the general category of copper that is overplated with a noble metal, usually gold. The improvement resides in the provision of an electroless nickel deposit laid down over the copper layer and und... | 03/05/1985 |
| 4430635 | Variable resistance device A variable resistance device including a non-conducting base, a resistance supported by the base and forming a track surface, and an electrical terminal connected to the resistance. Also included in the device is a wiper assembly mounted for movement rela... | 02/07/1984 |
| 4374311 | Electrical multilayer contact An electrical multilayer contact, specifically for relays, comprises the following layers disposed upon each other on a contact support member: a first layer of a copper-nickel alloy for mechanically and electrically connecting the further layers to the suppor... | 02/15/1983 |
| 4339644 | Low-power electric contact A low-power electrical contact particularly suitable for switching and plug-in connections. The contact comprises an outer contact layer and a substrate composed of a copper base alloy. The contact layer consists essentially of an alloy of 35-55% by weigh... | 07/13/1982 |
| 4188515 | Telescoping disconnect switch with low resistance center conductor An isolated phase bus disconnect switch has a cylindrical aluminum center conductor coaxially disposed within a cylindrical aluminum housing. The center conductor is composed of two fixed axially spaced sections and a coaxial telescoping sleeve assembly w... | 02/12/1980 |
| 4117291 | Reed switch The cooperating contacts of a reed switch each comprise a layer of palladium. A protective layer of ruthenium deposited on the palladium layer prevents the formation of frictional polymers.... | 09/26/1978 |
| 4109125 | Contact arrangement for an electric arc-electrode consisting of graphite and a method for the manufacture thereof A contact arrangement for a graphite electric arc-electrode employs a contact spud composed of a metal having a high melting point and a soldering layer disposed between the contact spud and graphite electrode. The soldering layer contains at least one ca... | 08/22/1978 |
| 4105828 | Low-current contact construction A low-current contact structure formed on a contact member or substrate of various layers is described. A layer of refractory material is connected via a layer of easily diffusive metal with a layer of noble metal through diffusion annealing.... | 08/08/1978 |
