Did You Know...
...that Charles Goodyear performed some of his experiments on rubber while in debtor's prison? He was there so often he referred to it as his "hotel". Chronically in debt because of poor business sense and ill health, Goodyear depended on the generosity of friends and family. Even after he unlocked the secret to vulcanizing rubber, he was unable to improve his financial situation. When he died, his estate was $200,000 in debt.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7363817 | System and technique for detecting the presence of foreign material Systems and techniques for detecting the presence of foreign material in food utilizing optical backlighting and/or ultrasonic inspection are presented. In optical backlighting, a substantially monochromatic light source optically backlights a food stream with sourc... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7143479 | Inspection device on a spinning preparation machine, especially a carding machine, cleaner or the like In a device on a spinning preparation machine, especially a carding machine, cleaner or the like, having a machinery housing, the machine and/or fiber feed and fiber discharge devices are arranged in the interior of the machinery housing. In order that the fi... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7081815 | Radio frequency security system, method for a building facility or the like, and apparatus and methods for remotely monitoring the status of fire extinguishers A system for remotely monitoring the status of one or more fire extinguishers includes means for sensing at least one parameter of each of the fire extinguishers; means for selectively transmitting the sensed parameters along with information identifying the fire ex... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7061381 | Ultrasonic transmitter and receiver systems and products using the same A transceiver preferably embedded within a wearable security watch, PDA, or other device which achieves a variety of wireless ultrasonic and/or radio-frequency based functions, including digital identification and proximity and sensation monitoring of assets, indivi... | 06/13/2006 |
| 6998559 | Detection system for sorting apparatus The present invention relates to a system for determining characteristics of products of generally unequal size, e.g. apples, which are conveyed on product carriers, such as rollers of a conveying apparatus, and pass the system, the system comprising a detection dev... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6992771 | Systems and techniques for detecting the presence of foreign material Systems and techniques for detecting the presence of foreign material in food utilizing optical backlighting and/or ultrasonic inspection are presented. In optical backlighting, a substantially monochromatic light source optically backlights a food stream with sourc... | 01/31/2006 |
| 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 |
| 6938488 | Acoustic inspection device An ultrasound inspection apparatus particularly adapted to examine containers (sealed or unsealed) containing a liquid or solid bulk material. The apparatus has an overall configuration of a hand held pistol with a front transducer contact surface that is positioned... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6920793 | Systems and apparatus for airborne ultrasonic testing of package and container seals Systems and devices for testing or inspecting the integrity of package closure seals using contact and non-contact ultrasonic systems wherein a relative movement is created between a package seal and at least one ultrasonic transmitting transducer and at least one r... | 07/26/2005 |
| 6822183 | Method of selecting wood for chemical pulping A method of selecting bulk wood units for chemical pulping in alkaline conditions which consists of establishing a reference scale by selecting a test sample, measuring the acoustic velocity through each sample units, selecting acoustic velocity bands from the sampl... | 11/23/2004 |
| 6541725 | Acoustical apparatus and method for sorting objects An object, such as a pistachio nut, is sorted based on a given trait. The sorting process commences by bouncing the object off a body so that the object emits a sound. The sound emitted by the object is converted to an electrical signal which is analyzed ... | 04/01/2003 |
| 6422392 | Ammonia removal from fly ash in an acoustically enhanced fluidized bed A process for removing ammonia from fly ash during processing on an inclined fluidized bed. The process begins by introducing a mixture of particulates having ammonia adsorbed therein into an inclined fluidized bed. Concurrently, a fluidizing gas is pre-h... | 07/23/2002 |
| 6299695 | Method and apparatus for processing ceramic components A method and apparatus for processing or cleaning ceramic components that are contaminated with dust deposits are provided. Relative vibrations are generated between the ceramic components and the ambient atmosphere for dislodging dust deposits from the c... | 10/09/2001 |
| 6276536 | Method of measuring ripeness and texture of vegetable or fruit and measuring instrument A method for measuring the ripeness and the texture of a fruit, the method comprising a step for applying a vibration having sequentially hanging frequencies to a fruit to be measured, a step for measuring the intensity of the vibration applied to the fru... | 08/21/2001 |
| 6269952 | Methods and apparatus for use in processing and treating particulate material Spheres are released from within plurospheres by mixing a fluid with fly ash or bottom ash particulate material obtained by burning coal to form a slurry. The slurry is vibrated at an ultrasonic frequency and with sufficient power that plurospheres in the... | 08/07/2001 |
| 6253603 | Apparatus for checking the condition of documents In an apparatus for checking the condition of bank notes, each note is individually transported past a brush whose bristles are in contact with one face of the note. A piezoelectric bi-morph vibration sensor is attached to the brush, the voltage output fr... | 07/03/2001 |
| 6234023 | Ultrasonic monitoring technique for containers and apparatus to carry it out The invention provides an apparatus and method for fill level monitoring in which the height of contents in a container (10) is monitored. The apparatus comprises an ultrasound reciever (30) and signal processing means (50-56) adapted to receive signals f... | 05/22/2001 |
| 6186334 | Method of and apparatus for screening bulk material In a method of screening bulk material, a gas is conducted in counterflow to a direction of movement of bulk material for separating the bulk material into a fraction of coarse particles and a fraction of fine particles. In order to limit the amount of co... | 02/13/2001 |
| 5996808 | Fly ash processing using inclined fluidized bed and sound wave agitation A process and device for separating different types of particulates from a mixture, which is especially suited for separating unburned carbon from raw fly ash. The process entails separating raw fly ash by size into a fine component and a coarse component... | 12/07/1999 |
| 5981892 | Food handling conveyor apparatus having sound detection means A food handling conveyor apparatus includes a sound detection system for detecting the presence of a foreign object, such as a stone, among food product being conveyed. The apparatus includes a generally elongated vibratory conveyor bed along which food p... | 11/09/1999 |
| 5974883 | System for authenticating printed documents A system for authenticating bank notes by checking for raised print (37) produced by an intaglio printing process which only occurs on genuine bank notes. Each note (36) is individually transported past a pair of brushes (38) whose bristles are in contact... | 11/02/1999 |
| 5929337 | Non-mechanical contact ultrasound system for monitoring contents of a moving container A non-contact apparatus for monitoring the contents of a container, especially but not exclusively for quality control monitoring purposes associated with high speed packaging processes, comprises a non-contact ultrasound generation member, adapted so as ... | 07/27/1999 |
| 5922959 | Methods of measuring currency limpness Measuring the limpness of a note is necessary to separate a worn note out of circulation. Several methods are disclosed which can be used either alone or in combination to test for limpness. One method measures the note's ability to reflect light or trans... | 07/13/1999 |
| 5632381 | Apparatus for sorting materials An apparatus for sorting paper materials includes a separating mechanism for thinning the paper materials and a sensing mechanism for classifying the paper material according to type. The separating mechanism includes a plurality conveyor belts operating ... | 05/27/1997 |
| 5615778 | Process to sort waste mixtures The present invention relates to a process to sort waste mixtures by irradiating the waste objects with electromagnetic and/or acoustic waves, by picking up the waves emanating from each irradiated waste object in a signal processor to identify it, and by... | 04/01/1997 |
| 5207976 | Pellet slide and inspection assembly in a nuclear fuel pellet surface defect inspection apparatus A fuel pellet surface defect inspection apparatus has an infeed conveyor, a discharge conveyor, and a slide and inspection assembly between the conveyors. The assembly includes a slide defining an inclined track having exit and entry ends adjacent the res... | 05/04/1993 |
| 5161697 | Apparatus for selecting wood stock to form panels of predetermined size The present invention represents a further extension of the automation of the various steps of the wood gluing process. This invention automatically selects and transmits to further work stations appropriately sized pieces of stock which, when glued toget... | 11/10/1992 |
| 5152401 | Agricultural commodity condition measurement The instant invention pertains to ascertaining the condition (i.e. texture, maturity and extent of damage (if any)) of an agricultural commodity by: (a) inputting band-limited vibrations (i.e. limited to a specific frequency band); (b) sensing vibrational... | 10/06/1992 |
| 5125514 | Recognizing unwanted material in textile fibers The invention relates to a method of and apparatus for detecting unwanted material in the form of string or woven fabric in a flow of wanted fiber flocks or in a wanted fiber fleece. To this end, the flock flow is guided through a wave field which detects... | 06/30/1992 |
| 5113358 | Web caliper measuring system A non-contact caliper-type gauge particularly suited for measuring the thickness of a running web. In its preferred form, the system includes a pair of opposed scanning heads defining a gap through which the running web passes, the heads being adapted to ... | 05/12/1992 |
| 5060517 | Immersion type automatic ultrasonic testing aparatus for detecting flaws of balls An immersion type automatic ultrasonic testing apparatus for detecting flaws of balls comprising a tank for containing a liquid medium of transmitting ultrasonic wave, a ball rotating device for rotating a ball to be tested, an ultrasonic flaws detection ... | 10/29/1991 |
| 4978495 | Nuclear fuel pellet surface defect inspection apparatus A modified inspection apparatus for inspecting nuclear fuel pellets for surface defects includes a pellet guide chute assembly extending through an ultrasonic inspection chamber. The guide chute assembly has a support substrate and a pair of elongated pla... | 12/18/1990 |
| 4955484 | Device for separating hard objects, such as stones, from a stream of wood A device is disclosed for separating hard objects, such as stones, from a stream of wood in an apparatus for conveying or manipulating logs or blocks of wood including a conveyor section. The device includes a transducer disposed in a location suited for ... | 09/11/1990 |
| 4943328 | Method and apparatus for selecting wood stock to form panels of predetermined size The present invention represents a further extension of the automation of the various steps of the wood gluing process. This invention automatically selects and transmits to further work stations appropriately sized pieces of stock which, when glued toget... | 07/24/1990 |
| 4894201 | Nuclear fuel pellet surface defect inspection apparatus A modified inspection apparatus for inspecting nuclear fuel pellets for surface defects includes a pellet guide chute assembly extending through an ultrasonic inspection chamber. The guide chute assembly has a support substrate and a pair of elongated pla... | 01/16/1990 |
| 4877516 | Manipulating particulate matter An acoustic standing wave is established in a fluid medium with a varying energy density in its nodal planes. Particles in the fluid medium responsive to the acoustic energy accumulate at these nodal planes and by the action of the variations of energy de... | 10/31/1989 |
| 4819783 | Automated inspection system and method An automated inspection system for identifying objects by their geometrical shapes includes an orientation device wherein objects are conveyed one-by-one at constant velocity to abut at least one stationary member which urges the objects to an orientation... | 04/11/1989 |
| 4809538 | Ultrasonic leak detector Ultrasonic leak detection apparatus which includes a cycloidal transfer mechanism for sequentially feeding a plurality of workpieces to a test station. An elevator at the test station alternately lifts workpieces in sequence to an elevated position to a t... | 03/07/1989 |
| 4735088 | Atmospheric variable compensation method and system for use with automated inspection systems An acoustic inspection system includes acoustic transducers to transmit and receive continuous acoustic waves at a constant frequency. Changes in phase and/or amplitude of acoustic waves reflected at different times from a fixed reference target through a... | 04/05/1988 |
| 4690284 | Method of and apparatus for inspecting objects using multiple position detectors Apparatus (and method) for parts sorting and the like wherein parts and the like are transported into an interaction region and irradiated with wave energy which interacts with the parts and the like to provide wave energy that emits from the interaction ... | 09/01/1987 |
