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!
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7355140 | Method of and apparatus for multi-stage sorting of glass cullets A method and system for sorting different colored objects, preferably glass cullets, into separate groups of same colored objects comprising a plurality of sorting devices for receiving an input feed of different colored objects and sorting the different colored obj... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7351929 | Method of and apparatus for high speed, high quality, contaminant removal and color sorting of glass cullet A system for sorting a mixed stream of different colored cullet into separate groups of same colored cullet comprises a light emitting source for transmitting light, such as white light, through a cullet, and a camera having a plurality of pixels for receiving light... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7339660 | Illumination device for product examination An illumination device for use with a product inspection machine inspecting products according to at least one characteristic. The invention also pertains to an illumination device for use in sorting machines that optically sort or separate nonstandard fungible obje... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7340084 | Quality assessment of product in bulk flow A method is disclosed for generating data relating to the quality of product in a bulk stream product during its passage through a monitoring station. An inspection of at least a portion of product in the monitoring station is conducted at intervals while the stream... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7335847 | Method and apparatus for foreign-body separation from a material flow Method and apparatus for the separation of foreign bodies from a material flow, in particular a tobacco stream. Method is characterized in that at least a portion of the material from the material flow is conveyed into the area of a foreign-body detection device in ... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7328808 | Apparatus for sorting wood chips in separate fractions The invention relates to an apparatus for sorting wood chips, said apparatus having a feeder for supplying the wood chips onto a sloping support surface so that the chips slide along the support surface and over a slit extending across the support surface. A flow of... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7326871 | Sorting system using narrow-band electromagnetic radiation A system for sorting articles includes a detector system having a plurality of narrow bandwidth sources of electromagnetic energy sequentially illuminating articles passing through the detector system, the detector system further including a collector for collecting... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7280202 | Ingredient analysis method and ingredient analysis apparatus In an ingredient analysis method and an ingredient analysis apparatus in accordance with the present invention, high-frequency power is supplied from a power source 4 while helium gas is supplied to an atmospheric pressure plasma source 2 disposed near... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7212654 | Measurement of fruit particles Apparatus and methods to characterize and measure fruit pieces in food products are provided. A sample is spread on a viewing cell and illuminated. The image is captured by a camera and fed to a computer with imaging software. Information useful for quality control ... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7173709 | Multi-grade object sorting system and method A paper sorting system allows the high speed determination of color, glossiness and the presence of printed matter for individual sheets of paper in a stream of waste paper. Sorting criteria may be selected from a plurality of predefined options to sort the paper st... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7173697 | Low truncation loss, non-reciprocal nephelometer with integrating sphere A non-reciprocal nephelometer is disclosed herein that uses an integrating sphere with attached truncation-reduction tubes to contain the sample volume and to integrate the scattered light. The disclosed nephelometer improves on the imperfect angular response by usi... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7071959 | Method and apparatus for arranging light-emitting diodes and light-emitting elements After measurement, light-emitting elements are temporarily numbered (1), . . . in measuring order and arranged successively on a temporary palette. In parallel with this operation, measured light intensity data are input to a computer system in association wi... | 07/04/2006 |
| 7041926 | Method and system for separating and blending objects A method for separating objects, such as stones, wherein each object is dropped through a predefined path, such as a drop tube. Then, for each object, the time when the object passes through a predefined point in the path is determined, as are selected characteristi... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7019822 | Multi-grade object sorting system and method A paper sorting system allows the high speed determination of color, glossiness and the presence of printed matter for individual sheets of paper in a stream of waste paper. Sorting criteria may be selected from a plurality of predefined options to sort the paper st... | 03/28/2006 |
| 6943692 | Apparatus and methods for on-line monitoring of fluorinated material in headspace of vial Apparatus and methods for monitoring the presence of an analyte in a closed vial wherein a sample contained within the closed vial is conveyed to an analyzer. The analyzer determines a value of a spectral property dependent on analyte concentration at a position wit... | 09/13/2005 |
| 6936784 | Illumination source for sorting machine An illumination source for a machine vision viewer for a sorter that provides a flow of articles along a scan line includes an elongated, cylindrical shroud with illumination sources mounted interior of the shroud. The illumination sources are arranged longitudinall... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6914670 | Defect detection with enhanced dynamic range Apparatus for optical inspection includes a source of optical radiation, which is adapted to scan a spot of the radiation over a sample, whereby the radiation is scattered from the spot. A detection system includes at least first and second detectors optically coupl... | 07/05/2005 |
| 6884956 | Color-based sorting apparatus A color-based sorting apparatus comprising, a material supplying device provided so as to discharge and supply the grains stored therein, a color detecting device detecting a color of each of the grains passing through a setting region, a sorting processing section ... | 04/26/2005 |
| 6881907 | Method and apparatus for product attribute measurement A method and apparatus is provided for determining an attribute of an article during the transfer of the article by an article-feeding machine during the transfer of the article from one location to another location. ... | 04/19/2005 |
| 6646218 | Multi-band spectral sorting system for light-weight articles An article sorting apparatus and method is disclosed and which conveys a mixture of articles on a conveyor belt and through an inspection zone, and which includes at least one illumination source emitting red, green, and infrared radiation for illuminatin... | 11/11/2003 |
| 6629611 | Granular object sorting apparatus A reciprocating rod of the ejector is borne in a non-sliding state by permanent magnets on the reciprocating rod and permanent magnets surrounding the reciprocating rod. The reciprocating rod linearly projects out and retracts by the reciprocating compone... | 10/07/2003 |
| 6631211 | Interactive system for analyzing scatter plots A scanner system analyses data plotted in a scatter plot in accordance with user-specified criteria or statistical measures from the data population, to produce a scatter plot that displays in the plotted data the boundaries for the selection of out-lyer ... | 10/07/2003 |
| 6614041 | Method for determining the wood/bark ratio from a flow of wood material A method for determining the wood/bark ratio from a flow of wood material, in which the flow is illuminated in a non-flashing manner, scanned along a transverse line with a video camera with at least three channels, the line image corresponding to the lin... | 09/02/2003 |
| 6335501 | Optical paper sorter An optical paper sorter that uses diffuse reflectance to identify a sheet of paper as either white or non-white. An illuminating fiber optic bundle carries light from a tungsten halogen lamp onto a sheet of paper. A receiving trifurcated fiber optic bundl... | 01/01/2002 |
| 6252188 | Sorter for agricultural products A sorter is provided for sorting unacceptable agricultural products or foreign objects from acceptable ones. Preferably, the sorter is a monochromatic one performed as the products pass in streams past an illuminated viewing station. The view station incl... | 06/26/2001 |
| 6075217 | Color detection apparatus A chip sorting apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes an article transport mechanism, a light source positioned to direct light across surfaces of transported articles, and a detector positioned to detect light reflected from such surfaces and emi... | 06/13/2000 |
| 5973286 | Grain sorting method and a device thereof A grain sorting method and a device is provided which serves to continuously and quickly detect the appearance quality of the grains. The grain sorting device includes a feeding mechanism and a scattering mechanism where the grains are separately scattere... | 10/26/1999 |
| 5911327 | Method of automatically discriminating and separating scraps containing copper from iron scraps Scrap containing copper is discriminated from iron scrap after being pulverized by imaging iron scrap using a color TV camera, treating RGB signals processed by each of the points in the image as a color vector, and discriminating scrap containing copper ... | 06/15/1999 |
| 5845784 | Jam resistant channel slide for sorting machine A multiple channel gravity-fed slide for a sorting machine is disclosed wherein the heights of the divider ribs between channels are at least high enough to define the channels and keep normally sized products flowing within the respective channels. At le... | 12/08/1998 |
| 5789741 | Detecting plants in a field by detecting a change in slope in a reflectance characteristic An agricultural implement (for example, a spray device) differentiates living plants growing in a field from background materials (such as soil) by detecting a change in slope of a reflectance characteristic of objects in a field of view. By using a chang... | 08/04/1998 |
| 5693484 | Method of classifying and counting cells in urine A reagent for analyzing cells in urine and a method for analyzing cells in urine with the use of the reagent are provided. The present invention discloses a reagent for analyzing cells in urine which comprises solution(s) containing a fluorescent dye, an ... | 12/02/1997 |
| 5669510 | Method and device for selecting low-pressure murcury discharge lamps A method of selecting low-pressure mercury discharge lamps comprising a luminescent layer, the luminescent layer being excited and the low-pressure mercury discharge lamps being selected in dependence on the emission spectrum of the visible light emitted ... | 09/23/1997 |
| 5586663 | Processing for the optical sorting of bulk material The invention relates to a process for the optical sorting of bulk material in a colour-sorting machine while it is conveyed over a transport belt and moves past an observation head with a light source and a product signal receiver arranged in the vicinit... | 12/24/1996 |
| 5536935 | Detection of foaming contaminants in containers using image processing To detect a foaming contaminant in a moving container, an image of the moving container and any contents thereof is produced. Thereafter, image processing techniques are used to determine levels of low and high frequency spatial variations in intensity in... | 07/16/1996 |
| 5502559 | Apparatus and method for detection of material used in construction of containers and color of same An apparatus for analyzing the character of a translucent container including a light source for directing a beam of light along an optical axis through a container. A first optical analyzer is provided for analyzing the color of light passing through a c... | 03/26/1996 |
| 5407082 | Automatic ejector rate normalizer using multiple trip levels established in a master channel In a bichromatic sorting machine, a polygon pattern of trip level boundaries is established for a master channel programmable memory that is representative of orthogonally plotting detected products in each of two reflectivity spectral bands. The rate of ... | 04/18/1995 |
| 5389781 | Structure and method usable for differentiating a plant from soil in a field An apparatus and a method are provided for selectively eliminating weeds in agriculture operations. To provide selective elimination, at least two light (radiation) emitters, powered by an internal power source, are modulated to switch on and off at very ... | 02/14/1995 |
| 5361912 | Apparatus and process for classifying the contents of non-disposable beverage bottles and containers The invention relates to a process and an apparatus for the selective on-line identification and distinguishing of pollutants and contents in bottles/containers in filling systems in the beverage or drinks industry using the absorption, reflection and sca... | 11/08/1994 |
| 5333739 | Method and apparatus for sorting bulk material A method and apparatus for sorting bulk material, such as scrap glass, which consists of individual glass parts. Glass scraps are serially fed into a chute and illuminated by a white light source. An optical detector comprising two optical sensors measure... | 08/02/1994 |
| 5325169 | Apparatus and method for analyzing cells in urine A method and apparatus are provided for analyzing cells in urine. A constricted zone through which various cells contained in a urine specimen flow in single file is irradiated with light having a light beam width in the direction of cell flow of between ... | 06/28/1994 |
