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 |
| 6325129 | Test tube orienting system A test tube orienting system consisting of a test tube hopper, and a test tube transport system for directing test tubes out of the test tube hopper with a consistent orientation. The test tube hopper has an open mouth, an internal cavity communicating wi... | 12/04/2001 |
| 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 |
| 5913428 | Vibratory bowl and associated parts orienting tooling with pivotal top confinement A vibratory bowl defines a number of predetermined attachment locations in one side thereof adjacent to a parts discharge port defined by the bowl. One or more support plates are detachably mounted to the bowl side in a vertical position via the number of... | 06/22/1999 |
| 4832175 | Sorting and orienting structure and method Sorting and orienting structure and method. The structure includes a frame, a hopper supported by the frame, conveyor structure extending vertically through the hopper for feeding work pieces from the hopper onto the sorting and orienting table with rando... | 05/23/1989 |
| 4828100 | Rotating ring orienting feeder A rotating ring orienting feeder including a hopper for containing a supply of articles. A ring is positioned above the hopper. A support member is provided for retaining the ring in a substantially horizontal position. The supports also provide rotation ... | 05/09/1989 |
| 4651657 | Button orientating apparatus A button support 53 is upwardly biased and is movable along a vertical axis between three positions. Buttons formed with at least two thread holes are orientated by rotary frictional drive means 60 and 61 through effecting relative rotation between the bu... | 03/24/1987 |
| 4579251 | Separator for pneumatic single grain sowing machines In a separator for pneumatic single grade sowing machines, a supporting plate (1) is provided to which a plurality of fingers (8; 28; 41) are pivotally connected. One end of the fingers forms an effective area section (12) which engages passing seed grain... | 04/01/1986 |
| 4474197 | Coin transfer apparatus An improved apparatus for transferring coins to a coin counting system, a coin selecting system or the like by way of a coin passage under centrifugal force caused by rotation of a rotary disc is disclosed. The improvement consists in that the rotary disc... | 10/02/1984 |
| 4462508 | Apparatus for aligning and feeding elongated objects An apparatus for aligning and feeding the elongated objects comprising a vibrating bowl for receiving elongated objects, the bowl having a base portion, a side wall, and a ramp spiralling around the inner perimeter of the side wall such that the elongated... | 07/31/1984 |
| 4383602 | Unscramblers for bowl shaped articles An unscrambler, to which lightweight cup- or bowl-shaped articles such as the bottoms for plastic bottles or caps for aerosol containers, are fed prior to delivery to another, e.g. a bottle-making or cap-applying machine, for which they must all be presen... | 05/17/1983 |
| 4347926 | Screw orienter A screw orienting assembly in which slotted headless screws are sequentially fed with their elongate axis perpendicular to and in the same plane as a guide rail having a width less than the width of the screw slots. The screws are rotated about their elon... | 09/07/1982 |
| 4312438 | Bullet alignment apparatus A ring having a plurality of successive receptacles revolves around a flat disc within a containment wall holding a plurality of randomly piled conical bullets. The disc and receptacles are inclined with the upper edge of the disc being positioned closely... | 01/26/1982 |
| 4266653 | Stoppering machine A stoppering machine is disclosed which includes an inclined rotatable member which contacts a supply of stoppers for selectively arranging and feeding the stoppers to a stopper inserting device where they are inserted into the openings of successively pr... | 05/12/1981 |
| 4236302 | Electrical contact feeding and attachment apparatus A crimping apparatus or machine is disclosed in which electrical contacts of any one of a variety of conformations are fed from a receptacle or reservoir which holds a supply of contacts of selected conformation. The contacts are fed seriatim from the rec... | 12/02/1980 |
| 4221376 | Document cartridge and mounting apparatus A portable cartridge and mounting apparatus includes, within the cartridge, a document separator, a stack follower, a double document restraint, and a three position lock and latch mechanism for selectively locking the cartridge cover and the issue slot. ... | 09/09/1980 |
| 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 |
| 4148389 | Apparatus for feeding and orienting screws Randomly oriented screws are deposited onto two horizontally spaced endless belts and are advanced toward a track located adjacent the ends of the upper runs of the belts. As the screws are advanced, the belts are vibrated vertically to shake the screws t... | 04/10/1979 |
| 4138009 | Endless belt parts transporter A material handling apparatus for transporting parts having a bowl provided with an upright curved wall surrounding a rotatable floor. The curved wall is formed with a track that supports an endless belt capable of bending in an edgewise direction for mov... | 02/06/1979 |
| 4063642 | Apparatus for singling small parts Entangled parts are singled by placing them in a holding container, discharging them through an outlet to a path of travel communicating therewith and arranged to deliver the parts along the path of travel to a flat receptacle capable of supporting a plur... | 12/20/1977 |
| 4008812 | Stick storage apparatus with automatic reject system for misaligned sticks Apparatus for storing a supply of flat, elongated sticks stacked in an aligned, face-to-face relationship has a double ended guideway formed by rigid guide members closely spaced from the edges of the sticks. The guideway has a first vertical section with... | 02/22/1977 |
| 3970214 | Method and apparatus for handling coiled springs Disclosed is a method and apparatus for feeding individual coiled springs from a bulk source to a point at which they can be utilized in a product assembly operation. The apparatus includes a supply bin for bulk quantities of uniform diameter coiled sprin... | 07/20/1976 |
