Celebrity Inventors
Comic actor Danny Kaye received patent D166,807 for the co-design of "Blowout Toy or the Like". It's similar to one of those toys that unravels when you blow into at a birthday party except Kaye's has three blowouts going in different directions, not just one.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7366612 | Method and apparatus for compensating attitude of inertial navigation system and method and apparatus for calculating position of inertial navigation system using the same Provided are a method and apparatus for compensating an attitude of an inertial navigation system and a method and apparatus for calculating a position of the inertial navigation system using the same. The method of compensating an attitude of the inertial navigatio... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7336345 | LADAR system with SAL follower A dual mode LADAR/SAL apparatus is disclosed. In one aspect, the apparatus includes a gimbal capable of scanning in azimuth and in elevation and a sensor mounted on the gimbal. The sensor includes a telescope, a LADAR optical path, and a SAL optical path. The telesc... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7332846 | Damping device A damping device for damping speed irregularities of a rotating shaft includes an armature having at least one armature part made of a non-ferromagnetic, electrically conductive material. An exciter configured to permeate the armature part in at least some regions w... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7185858 | Spacecraft gyro calibration system A method of calibrating a gyro (42) of a spacecraft (14) may include determining a yaw attitude residual of the spacecraft. Roll gyro bias residual is determined in response to the yaw attitude residual. The gyro (42) is calibrated in response t... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7185856 | Method for controlling the attitude of an satellites in elliptic orbits using solar radiation pressure The present invention provides a method for the attitude control of satellites in elliptic orbits or satellites initially placed in circular orbits perturbed to elliptic orbits due to environmental disturbances. The method relies on the application of solar radiatio... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7159479 | Active damper for stabilized mirrors An active damping method for a stabilized mirror, and a corresponding active damper apparatus, comprising providing a tachometer measuring speed of a motor driving the mirror, employing compensation electronics receiving input from said tachometer and the motor, and... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7134731 | Balance weight cartridge with enclosed balance media A weight comprising a cartridge having at least one interior chamber, the interior chamber at least partially filled with a flowable balance media, and wherein the cartridge is attached to the wheel in a position oblique to the radial centerline of a tire/wheel asse... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7132928 | Threat detection system interface A threat detection system interface that provides translates threat diction information into a tactile signal for a user to indicate the direction and distance of an identified threat relative to an object. The threat detection system interface having applications f... | 11/07/2006 |
| 7107168 | System for measuring the effect of bearing errors in an active device Disclosed herein are apparatus and methods for measuring error associated with the rotation of bearings (50) used within a pointing device (11) on board a space-based platform. The apparatus includes inductive, or “eddy current,” proximity sensors ... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7076341 | Autonomous manoeuvring for spinning spacecraft An inventive autonomous active manoeuvring method and system 1 for spinning spacecraft is provided having a capability to enhance the AOCMS performance of passive spinning satellites and to fulfil the emerging autonomy requirements applicable to new generatio... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7007896 | Shock and vibration isolation system An apparatus is provided for attenuating shock and vibration energy levels within a spacecraft interface isolation system. The apparatus includes one or more spring plate assemblies fitted with mechanical stops and damping devices. The isolation system is typically ... | 03/07/2006 |
| 6951998 | Controller, temperature regulator and heat treatment apparatus A plurality of individually corresponding heaters and temperature sensors are provided along with a plurality of a PID control means. An average temperature/gradient temperature calculating means calculates the average temperatures of the temperatures measured by th... | 10/04/2005 |
| 6705573 | Survivability and mission flexibility enhancements for reconnaissance aircraft A pod (34) containing sensors and/or targeting systems such as laser designators or range finders are hung on a cable (30) below an aircraft (12). The line (30) can be reeled in or out similar to towed decoys. This allows the aircraft ( | 03/16/2004 |
| 6672543 | Compact mechanism for retrieval of a towed body from moving vehicles Recovery of a towed body, in one embodiment in the form of a decoy which is initially stowed in a receptacle or canister and which is allowed to pay out behind an aircraft on a towing cable wrapped around a spindle, is accomplished by snaring or lassoing ... | 01/06/2004 |
| 6634861 | Power plant for propeller aircraft A power plant for propeller aircraft has two propulsion devices, each having a propeller, an engine for powering the propeller, and a gear transmission interposed between the engine and the propeller. The transmission has a power input shaft connected dir... | 10/21/2003 |
| 6499699 | Satellite attitude control system and method A satellite attitude control system includes a programmed processor system which includes a gyroscopic actuator first control stage for changing the attitude of the satellite and a reaction wheel second control stage for assuring that pointing of the sate... | 12/31/2002 |
| 6439509 | Pre-bias scheme for roll momentum unloads on pitch momentum bias/yaw reaction wheel spacecraft An automatic, on-board system for orbiting spacecraft that controls and reduces short-term transients caused by roll momentum unloads by manipulating the states of the nutation damper through resetting one of the states in the polynomial transfer function... | 08/27/2002 |
| 6341750 | Spacecraft motion estimation using a gimballed momentum wheel A method for estimating motion of a dual-spin spacecraft having a gimballed momentum wheel. The method disengages the gimbal from its drive train in anticipation of a short disturbance. Then, the gimbal slip resulting from the disturbance is measured. The... | 01/29/2002 |
| 6290183 | Three-axis, six degree-of-freedom, whole-spacecraft passive vibration isolation system The excitations from the engines of launch vehicles and the aerodynamics of flight produce large vibrations which are highly detrimental to spacecraft during launch. Significant dynamic loads often exist in all three translations and for rotations as well... | 09/18/2001 |
| 6289268 | Attitude determination system and method A star tracker coupled to the spacecraft having a star catalog associated therewith. A sun sensor is coupled to the spacecraft. A control processor is coupled to the star tracker and the sun sensor. The processor obtains star data using a star tracker and... | 09/11/2001 |
| 6199801 | Whole-spacecraft passive isolation devices Excitations from engines of the launch vehicles and the aerodynamics of flight produce large vibrations which are very detrimental to spacecraft during launch. Whole-spacecraft vibration isolation systems that greatly reduce the transmitted structure-born... | 03/13/2001 |
| 6138061 | Onboard orbit propagation using quaternions A method for controlling orbiting spacecraft uploads a plurality of parameters to an onboard processor, the parameters including a plurality of quaternion elements describing an inertial to orbit reference frame, and including radial position, radial velo... | 10/24/2000 |
| 6062512 | Wobble and nutation control, and spin stabilization for a spacecraft using momentum conserving devices A method of damping nutation and removing wobble of a spacecraft provided with first and second momentum sources having linearly independent momentum components in the plane transverse to the given axis. The method includes sensing angular velocities of t... | 05/16/2000 |
| 6003817 | Actively controlled thermal panel and method therefor One or more deployable thermal panels (24, 28, 70) are actively controlled throughout the orbit of a satellite (20) to provide thermal dissipation. Adjusting the incident angle between the panel (24, 28, 70) and the sun and controlling the flow of fluid t... | 12/21/1999 |
| 6000661 | Autonomous spacecraft payload base motion estimation and correction A feedback motion compensation (FMC) component for use in a spacecraft having a payload. The FMC component includes a controller having sensor data inputs and an open loop dynamics model that is driven by actuator commands to produce a high accuracy attit... | 12/14/1999 |
| 5957410 | Earth oriented satellite and process for controlling the position, nutation and spin A low earth orbiting satellite control arrangement according to the invention has an earth sensor for measuring roll and pitch of the satellite relative to an earth oriented moving reference system, a spin wheel mounted along an axis perpendicular to the ... | 09/28/1999 |
| 5906339 | Multiple axis solar sailing In a satellite (20), two-axis solar panel drives (56, 58) allow two degrees of rotational freedom of movement for solar panels (22, 24). Regulation of electrical current loops (46, 48) within the solar panels (22, 24) generates a magnetic field. When the ... | 05/25/1999 |
| 5884869 | Satellite spin vector control with sun sensor A method for simultaneously controlling satellite nutation, sun angle and attitude walk using a dual-slit sun sensor and thrusters. The sun angle and nutation angles are computed from sun sensor data, and the thrusters are fired when their use improves bo... | 03/23/1999 |
| 5826828 | Sun/earth acquisition without thrusters Methods for performing attitude maneuvers of a spinning satellite without the use of thrusters, or with a minimal number of thrusters, are disclosed. The attitude maneuvers are primarily achieved through the use of gimballed momentum wheels and solar wing... | 10/27/1998 |
| 5816538 | Dynamic decoupler for improved attitude control The invention provides a method for controlling the precession of a spinning spacecraft (20) which allows the spacecraft body to respond to an input torque without the nutation normally attendant when an input torque is applied about one transverse axis t... | 10/06/1998 |
| 5794892 | Critical nutation dampling on spinning bodies via momentum wheels or similar devices A method and system of damping nutation of a spacecraft (20) having a desired spin axis along a first principal inertia axis utilizes a momentum source (28) oriented along a second principal inertia axis perpendicular to the first principal inertia axis. ... | 08/18/1998 |
| 5752675 | Thruster control of yaw without yaw measurements An automatic, on-board system for orbiting spacecraft that controls yaw excursions caused by solar torques and thruster firings, which system combines inputs indicative of roll and yaw momentum increases and inputs containing information comprising the un... | 05/19/1998 |
| 5702067 | Method and apparatus for determining the angular momentum vector of a satellite The invention relates to a method for determining the angular momentum vector of a satellite, located in an external magnetic field, relative to a satellite-integral orthogonal system of coordinates. The satellite has a torque generating system to generat... | 12/30/1997 |
| 5597143 | Process and a device for controlling the attitude of a three-axis stabilized spinning spacecraft The invention provides an improved process and apparatus for controlling the attitude of a three-axis stabilized spacecraft. Separate dead zone elements are used to define threshold values for limiting nutation amplitude and deviation of the spin directio... | 01/28/1997 |
| 5597141 | Efficient mass translation device A dynamic balance mechanism for balance control of a gyro stabilized (spinning) satellite is disclosed. An elongated gear rack is attached to the spacecraft. A movable mass is mounted by guide rollers on the gear rack and translates along the gear rack ac... | 01/28/1997 |
| 5582369 | Method of minimizing, damping or compensating disturbances to a spin-stabilized satellite For using, on a spin-stabilized satellite, an actuator having an active axis substantially parallel to the spin axis wherein the actuator is activated in a predetermined mode and the resulting nutation period is measured. The actuator is activated in this... | 12/10/1996 |
| 5395076 | Spacecraft velocity change maneuvers by variable arcjets A spacecraft uses monopropellant arcjets for velocity change such as for north-south stationkeeping. It has been discovered that, while an arcjet cannot be modulated by pulsing the fuel supply, the amount of thrust can be varied by modulating the power ap... | 03/07/1995 |
| 5308025 | Spacecraft spin axis capture system and method A control system and method for causing a spacecraft (10) initially spinning about a principal axis of inertia (H) to transition to spin about an arbitrary command axis (3) is presented in which the capture maneuver is performed in a way to preserve space... | 05/03/1994 |
| 5222023 | Compensated transition for spacecraft attitude control An improved method for transitioning a spacecraft from a thruster (5) controlled, station keeping mode to an operational, on-orbit mode, in which attitude control is maintained using internal momentum wheels (3). The method first utilizes a thruster compe... | 06/22/1993 |
| 5201833 | Attitude control system with reaction wheel friction compensation A spacecraft attitude control system uses one or more momentum or reaction wheels. Wheel bearing viscous (velocity-dependent) friction reduces the actual torque imparted to the spacecraft in response to a torque command signal. Friction compensation is pr... | 04/13/1993 |
