Did You Know...
...that in 1800 ether was first used by partyers as a fun diversion? Sniffing the gas led to hilarious and raucous laughter as people watched each other become more and more intoxicated and silly. Several doctors independently realized the value ether would have to anesthetize surgery patients. Of those who claimed rights to the "discovery," none had a happy ending. One had a seizure and died defending his rights. Another spent his life in an asylum because he had been denied acclaim. A third became addicted to chloroform and, in a New York City jail, he soaked a cloth in the drug, severed an artery and bled to death.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7641139 | Clutch device for seatbelt retractor A quick acting clutch, the quick acting clutch comprising: a friction plate; a clutch plate movably mounted to the friction plate about a center of rotation of the friction plate and the clutch plate, the clutch plate being configured to rotate with respect to the f... | 01/05/2010 |
| 7309041 | Retractor and housing for a retractor Belt retractor and a belt-retractor spring-cassette housing for a belt retractor. The belt-retractor spring-cassette housing can be installed in a particularly simple and therefore cost-effective manner. The belt-retractor spring-cassette housing has a spring core a... | 12/18/2007 |
| 7306261 | Seatbelt apparatus A seatbelt retractor includes a spool formed into a hollow cylindrical shape and capable of winding a seatbelt onto a spool outer periphery or unwinding the seatbelt from the spool outer periphery. The retractor includes a motor accommodated in a cylindrical space o... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7305902 | Ball screw device A ball screw device comprises a screw shaft, a nut externally mounted on the screw shaft, and a multiplicity of balls interposed between thread grooves of the screw shaft and the nut. The screw shaft has a ball circulation groove for coupling downstream and upstream... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7232089 | Seat belt retractor A seat belt retractor includes a take-up drum with webbing wound therearound, a torsion bar coupled to a first end of the take-up drum non-rotatably relative thereto, and a ratchet wheel coupled to a second end of the torsion bar non-rotatably relative thereto. The ... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7219767 | Serving utensil on retractable tether A serving utensil, used for serving food on a salad bar, is attached to a retractable tether device. The retractable tether device is coupled to the under surface of a sneeze shield extending over the food on a salad bar, effectively elevating the retractable tether... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7178577 | Reeling unit for a blind A reeling unit for a blind has a base (30) and a roller (40). The base (30) has a bottom plate (31), two side brackets (34, 35), and a string hole (33) defined in the bottom plate (31). The roller (40) has two ... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7093783 | Elongate material management apparatus Disclosed is an elongate material management apparatus. It is comprised of a housing removably connected to a base plate that may be opened for the placement of tubing therein. Disposed within the housing is a dual spool to wind and unwind tubing. The dual spool is ... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7021091 | Cable security system A security system for confining movement of an object to a predetermined area. The security system has a cable, with a length, and a housing. The housing is guidable slidingly along the length of the cable and capable of being fixed at a plurality of different locat... | 04/04/2006 |
| 7009646 | Three-sided buttable CMOS image sensor An image sensor chip is formed with the image sensor abutting up to three edges of the chip. Certain parts of the row logic which are required to be adjacent to each of the rows are placed into the array, in place of certain pixels of the array. Those missing pixels... | 03/07/2006 |
| 6976318 | Tape measure An improved retractable tape measure has, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the features of a standard measure, including a housing with front and rear sides, a boundary edge and a tape opening, a retractable measuring tape positioned wit... | 12/20/2005 |
| 6966518 | Clutch for tension reducer A seat belt retractor assembly has a seat belt retractor for generating a retraction force to rewind a seat belt on a reel. A coupling device selectively couples and decouples the retractor from the reel. A tensioning device generates a tensioning force in the seat ... | 11/22/2005 |
| 6964114 | Structure tape rule An improved structure tape rule in which the blade spool has space at one side of one-piece construction for containing the coiled spring, enabling the blade spool to accommodate the winding of a ruler blade that is approximately two to three times longer than a bla... | 11/15/2005 |
| 6906684 | Controlling a telescopic antenna mast A receiver receives an electromagnetic signal via an antenna mounted on an antenna mast. A signal evaluator determines or measures a signal quality level associated with the received electromagnetic signal. The signal quality compares the determined signal quality l... | 06/14/2005 |
| 6811109 | Retainer for power-return tape measure spring A power-return tape measure uses a retainer to help keep a retraction spring in the proper position. The tape measure may have a reel with an interior central cavity with a post extending therethrough. A spring is wound substantially within the central cavity and mo... | 11/02/2004 |
| 6766588 | Drive-type tape rule A drive-type tape ruler in which a spring disposed within the blade take-up spool constitutes a spring-loaded wheel that is installed at one or two sides of the blade take-up spool, enabling the blade take-up spool to accommodate the winding of a tape ruler blade th... | 07/27/2004 |
| 6745969 | Pull-cord keeper A pull-cord keeper provided for a window treatment assembly, where the keeper comprises a housing configured for secure mounting attachment on a wall near an upper portion of the window treatment assembly, the housing further defining a cavity therein; an opening in... | 06/08/2004 |
| 6510886 | Header and removable pin, used particularly for fly screens and fly screen assemblies Header to support one end of a rewind roll and to close off at least one end of the casing, used particularly for fly screens, includes: a bottom from which, along the perimeter of the side close to the casing, there is a discontinuous border that protrudes, w... | 01/28/2003 |
| 6398145 | Measuring tape core A measuring tape core has a support (23), an opening (22) defined underneath and adjacent the support (23), an I-shaped opening (24) in communication with the opening (22) and two regulators (21) each oppositely formed adjacent to the opening (22) and on ... | 06/04/2002 |
| 6390404 | Seat belt retractor A rewind spring in a cassette for a seat belt retractor is assembled by first placing a mechanism cover on a winding jig. An arbor is fitted to a winding shaft of the jig. One end of a coiled metal bank spring is then fixed to the spring arbor. The band i... | 05/21/2002 |
| 6318661 | Spring motor A motor for controlling the elevating and lowering of a load comprises a storage drum, an output drum and a spring member operatively connected therebetween to provide a spring motor therewith, and a pair of cord drums aligned with and respectively adjace... | 11/20/2001 |
| 6149094 | Spring motor A motor for controlling the elevating and lowering of a load comprises a storage drum, an output drum and a spring member operatively connected therebetween to provide a spring motor therewith, and a pair of cord drums aligned with and respectively adjace... | 11/21/2000 |
| 6053447 | Tape measure A tape measure (11) is provided having a first plate (13), a second plate (15), and a spool assembly positioned between the first and second plates. In one embodiment, the first plate includes a central hub (17) and a plurality of upright posts (25), the ... | 04/25/2000 |
| 5996923 | Device to automatically roll up bands The present invention automatically rolls up bands, such as curtains, sunshades and mobile panes. The present invention consists of a tubular structure which incorporates in its interior a spindle with two sections threaded in opposite directions acting, ... | 12/07/1999 |
| 5964426 | Roller for rewinding and tensioning a flexible element such as a sheet of material, shutter or similar, in particular for protections on machines A roller for rewinding and tensioning a flexible element, the element having a greater length than width, includes a tubular body to which one end of the flexible element is fixed; a shaft positioned so that it is coaxial to the tubular body, the two bein... | 10/12/1999 |
| 5964385 | Cane retrieval device A cane retrieval device includes a flexible linking member that retractably joins a cane to a wrist-mounted attachment strap. A constant, tension-spring controlled positioning assembly allows placement of a tethered cane in a user-selected location remote... | 10/12/1999 |
| 5865390 | Variable-length antenna element Continously variable-length antenna, operating in a wide frequency range that's simple, lightweight and reliable, and can be constructed by using a metal case-resided, coiled steel band spring returnable metal tape for the actual antenna, and pulling or r... | 02/02/1999 |
| 5823457 | Safety belt reeling device with comfort function A safety belt reeling device with comfort function has a housing and a reeling shaft rotatably supported in the housing. A pawl wheel is fastened to the reeling shaft and switchable between a locked position in which rotation of the pawl wheel is blocked ... | 10/20/1998 |
| 5794881 | Gel tensioning device A gel tensioning device maintains tension on a gel. The gel is wound between two rollers as the diameters of the rollers change by rolling and unrolling the gel, the amount of movement between the two rollers also changes. This difference in movement is a... | 08/18/1998 |
| 5573198 | Tape roll rewind device and method for rewinding tape on a tape roll A tape roll rewind device includes a rotatable tape spool with tape wound thereon; and a device for 1) storing energy in response to rotation of the tape spool in a first direction, 2) storing a maximum amount of energy regardless of the amount of rotatio... | 11/12/1996 |
| 5460337 | Seat belt retractor The invention relates to a belt retractor for vehicular seat belt restraining systems having a spiral retraction spring (16) including a radially inner spring connection on the shaft (12) of the belt reel and a radially outer spring connection on a connec... | 10/24/1995 |
| 5255868 | Self-locking safety belt reeling device with a shock-absorbing device A self-locking safety belt reeling device comprising a reeling arbor disposed in a belt housing is further provided with a spring housing attached to the belt housing. A return spring and a shock-absorbing spring are arranged inside the spring housing whe... | 10/26/1993 |
| 5246183 | Security device for a hand-held remote control A security device for a portable hand-held control for operating an electronic device from a location remote from the electronic device. The security device consists of a housing, an elongate flexible element, structure for attaching one part of the elong... | 09/21/1993 |
| 5114091 | Dual reel cord take-up device A dual take-up reel device (10) is disclosed which includes a dual reel spool assembly (27) having a pair of winding hubs (29) axially secured together and separated by a main spool disc (28). An arcuate cord slot (31) is provided in main spool disc (28) ... | 05/19/1992 |
| 5112005 | Seat belt retractor A seat belt retractor for reducing the retracting force of a webbing on an occupant, including a casing and a spool rotatably mounted in the casing. A length of the webbing being wound on the spool. A spiral spring connected to the spool biases and rotate... | 05/12/1992 |
| 5094396 | Retractable reel assembly for telephone extension cord To provide a highly functional yet very compact retractable reel assembly for a telephone extension cord, a housing is provided which is adapted to be mounted on a wall in proximity to a telephone or telephone jack for utilization with either wall mounted... | 03/10/1992 |
| 5076510 | Automatically retractable thread bobbin A thread bobbin especially useful for tying artificial flies and the like. The bobbin has a rotatable spool mounted on an arbor. The arbor also supports a yoke that holds a thread delivery tube. An annular space is defined between the arbor and an inner s... | 12/31/1991 |
| 5060883 | Seat belt retractor The seat belt retractor comprises a frame; a drum rotatably supported by the frame to wind up the seat belt therearound; an emergency lock mechanism; and a seat belt take-up mechanism including, in particular a coiled spring for applying a take-up force t... | 10/29/1991 |
| 4982910 | Coilable tape rule with improved connection between spring and hub A power returnable tape rule has an improved connection between the inner end of the power spring and the hub. The hub has an axially elongated passage therethrough with shoulders at the axial ends thereof which seat in notches formed in the edges of the ... | 01/08/1991 |
| 4972601 | Coilable tape rule with improved connection between spring and blade A power returnable tape rule has an improved connection between the outer end of the power spring and the inner end of the coilable rule blade provided by interengaging element thereon. The rule blade has an elongated aperture adjacent its inner end with ... | 11/27/1990 |
