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 |
| 7491957 | Optical displacement sensor An optical displacement sensor structure includes a plurality of light receiving elements and a plurality of optical fibers together with one light source, wherein light emitted from the one light source is efficiently introduced into the plurality of optical fibers... | 02/17/2009 |
| 7423279 | Systems and methods that detect changes in incident optical radiation Systems, methods and sensors detect changes in incident optical radiation. Current is driven through one or more active areas of a detector while the incident optical radiation illuminates the active areas. Voltage is sensed across one or more of the active areas, a... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7333185 | Optical velocimeter, displacement information measurement device and conveying and processing device There is provided an optical velocimeter for achieving miniaturization and lower power consumption thereof and for accurately detecting two-dimensional travel velocity of a measured object. This optical velocimeter includes a light-emitting element, a diffraction gr... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7278290 | Projectile impact energy and location measurement system A projectile impact energy and location measurement system is taught employing a target apparatus having an impact plate of a solid durable substance such as steel or titanium. Disposed over the plate is a layer of elastoluminescent material composed of zinc sulfide... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7280624 | Method and apparatus for noise threshold calculation in wireless communication Determination of the impulse position in a multipath channel in a noisy environment includes dynamically adjusting a threshold value when making comparisons against a signal property level. ... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7216828 | Apparatus to adjust the tension of a material web that is moved through a processing station processing the material web In order to be able to adjust the tension and position of a material web, for example, a paper web, that should be printed by a printer, an electrostatically-acting braking device is described that provides a charger, for example, a corotron, and a braking plate, be... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7196779 | Sight adjuster The present invention provides a sight adjuster for a velocity measurement system for sighting a projectile. A velocity measurement unit has a front sensor area and a back sensor area, and the sight adjuster has a front panel with a sighting bore such that the front... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7161133 | Method and device for evaluating a parameter of a moving object A method for measuring a parameter of a movement of an object, in which a series of successive first time-spaced linear images and a second spaced linear image are taken, (a) a first development of first linear images and (b) a second development consisting of at le... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7129508 | Compact VCSEL sensor with multiple sensing capabilities The invention includes also a sensor tat includes at least one laser, at least one detector, and at least one lens system that includes a sensor surface having three individual surfaces that are virtually the same, and an object surface having two individual surface... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7122818 | Optical displacement sensor using optical fiber, and external force detecting device An optical displacement sensor is provided, in which an optical fiber is disposed between a light source and a light receiving means so that light emitted from the light source is conducted therethrough so as to be duly received by the light receiving means whereby ... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7087877 | Auto focus for a flow imaging system A pair of optical gratings are used to modulate light from an object, and the modulated light from either grating is used to determine the velocity of the object. Each optical grating is offset from a reference focal point by the same distance, one grating being off... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7078673 | Method and sensing device for motion detection in an optical pointing device, such as an optical mouse There is described a method for measuring relative motion between an illuminated portion of a surface and an optical sensing device comprising a photodetector array including a plurality of rows and columns of pixels respectively aligned along first and second axes ... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7046215 | Head tracker system A head tracker system for determining a user's head orientation relative to a datum (22) comprises: a head mounting (2) for attachment to the user's head; an optical sensor (12) which in use is located in fixed relation with a known fixed point ... | 05/16/2006 |
| 6909515 | Multiple source alignment sensor with improved optics Features of the present invention provide an optical layout that can accommodate the relatively strict enclosure requirements for compact component alignment sensor. Specifically, aspects of the present invention provide a single optical component that reduces the d... | 06/21/2005 |
| 6909106 | Web velocity-based registration control system The present invention provides a method and apparatus (20) for controlling a registration between a target point (22) on a moving web (24), and a production outcome provided by a production operation. A method aspect can include a transporting o... | 06/21/2005 |
| 6801875 | Methods, systems, and software for performing measurements Methods of measuring widths of illumination spots and distances between two points, and predicting detected signal widths are provided. Systems, software, and kits for performing the methods of the invention are also provided. ... | 10/05/2004 |
| 6762847 | Laser align sensor with sequencing light sources A sensor for sensing placement information of a component to be placed by a pick and place machine is disclosed. The sensor includes a plurality of light sources each of which is disposed to direct illumination at different angles of incidence upon the component. Ea... | 07/13/2004 |
| 6759671 | Method of measuring the movement of a material sheet and optical sensor for performing the method Measurements on a sheet (12), for example measurement of the movement of the sheet in a printer, can be performed by directing a measuring beam (8) towards the sheet and utilizing the effects of self-mixing in a diode laser (2) and Doppler shift... | 07/06/2004 |
| 6683598 | Mouse optical sampling scheme Methods and systems for implementing an improved mouse optical sampling scheme are disclosed. At least one counter state machine is used to control at least one PTR state machine. At least one PTR state machine is used at a sample rate in order to determi... | 01/27/2004 |
| 6617601 | Molten metal pouring control system and method A method for controlling a molten metal pouring operation is disclosed which works in the presence of unusual pouring conditions such as typically encountered in aluminum casting and utilizes a laser type sensor, for example a triangulation based light se... | 09/09/2003 |
| 6586721 | Movement detector including a vertical resonator and receiver disposed within an open housing A reflected light barrier has a housing with a base element. A semiconductor light emitter and a semiconductor light receiver are arranged on the base element in such a way that there is no free-standing partition between the light emitter and light recei... | 07/01/2003 |
| 6548804 | Apparatus for detecting an object using a differential image An object detecting apparatus including an imaging section, an extracting section for extracting edge images from image signals supplied from the imaging section, a forming section for forming a differential image between a first edge image extracted from... | 04/15/2003 |
| 6324296 | Distributed-processing motion tracking system for tracking individually modulated light points Disclosed is a distributed-processing motion capture system (and inherent method) comprising: plural light point devices, e.g., infrared LEDs, in a motion capture environment, each providing a unique sequence of light pulses representing a unique identity... | 11/27/2001 |
| 6311973 | Paper stacker apparatus used with facsimile device An apparatus for dropping paper sheets at a predetermined paper-stack position when the paper sheets are ejected from a facsimile device includes a conveyor belt which carries the paper sheets, a housing, containing the conveyer belt, which is detachably ... | 11/06/2001 |
| 6259111 | System for tracking movement of an object The present invention is generally directed to a system for taking displacement measurements of an object. The invention is realized by various embodiments. In one embodiment, the invention utilizes the Moire effect to take precise displacement measuremen... | 07/10/2001 |
| 6020594 | Ballistic velocity measurement system having dual sensor unit with parabolic slit mirrors A chronograph for determining the muzzle velocity of a projectile fired from either a small arm or a rifle includes two IR light beam assemblies attached to a platform with respective photodetection circuits and a clamp for holding a vertical shot dispers... | 02/01/2000 |
| 5783817 | Device for detecting a position of an object moving in rotation or translation relative to a base In a device for detecting a position of an object (linear or circular strip) moving in rotation or translation relative to a base, an incremental track bearing periodically recurring marks and two index tracks bearing a plurality of index marks are scanne... | 07/21/1998 |
| 5734173 | Method and device for positioning of moving machinery parts A method and device for positioning moving machine parts by using two sensors to detect the spacing of code markers on a code bearing part attached to the machine part and counting the number of code markers detected while accounting for uneven spacing be... | 03/31/1998 |
| 5710432 | Non-contact tension measurement of moving fiber using traveling wave time-of-flight analysis The invention provides an optical fiber producing apparatus having non-contact fiber tension monitoring, comprising: a traveling wave wavelet transformation processor and a time-of-flight fiber tension processor. The traveling wave transformation processo... | 01/20/1998 |
| 5698861 | System for detecting a position of a movable object without contact A position detecting system for detecting a position of a movable object having a light emitter without contact, the system includes: a first light sensor which has a first view area and receives light from the light emitter of the movable object in the f... | 12/16/1997 |
| 5663796 | Optical sensor and optical apparatus using the same In an optical apparatus utilizing moire fringes to inspect surface irregularities of a test object, a single light beam forms a light beam network in an optical sensor (28) such that the test object can be two-dimensionally detected, thereby preventing th... | 09/02/1997 |
| 5648657 | Sensor for measuring a movement characteristic of an object A sensor for measuring a movement characteristic of an object has a housing, an emitter emitting electromagnetic radiation, a detector for receiving electromagnetic radiation, a rod having a graduated scale with a plurality of first regions and second reg... | 07/15/1997 |
| 5620854 | Method for identifying biochemical and chemical reactions and micromechanical processes using nanomechanical and electronic signal identification A scanning probe microscope, such as an atomic force microscope (AFM) or a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), is operated in a stationary mode on a site where an activity of interest occurs to measure and identify characteristic time-varying micromotion... | 04/15/1997 |
| 5483078 | Ink penetrometer having fiber optic cables and stationary ink paddle An improved penetrometer includes a stationary ink delivery system and an improved photohead, which connects to a light source and a photodetector via two fiber optic cables. A solid state electronic circuit automatically controls the operation cycle of t... | 01/09/1996 |
| 5442187 | Device and method for positioning the sensors of a web movement control device To reach an originally set web position again with a web movement control device following a tear in the web and renewed drawing-in of a web of material, sensors which can be adjusted independently of one another and coupled such that two sensors move syn... | 08/15/1995 |
| 5424556 | Gradient reflector location sensing system A multi-band high-speed videometric head tracking system having a gradient reflector array attached to a helmet on a person's head, ultraviolet light source emitting light which is reflected by the reflector array to a video camera which provides an image... | 06/13/1995 |
| 5319186 | Apparatus for controlling the movement of a tool along the edge of glass panes The apparatus comprises a horizontal conveyor (1), on which the glass panes (4) are conveyed while they are supported by backing means (2), which by their supporting forward surface define a plane of pane travel (3), a tool (18) for processing the glass p... | 06/07/1994 |
| 5291024 | Method for determining the position and shape of a yarn fed to a textile machine A method and device for determining the state of a movement or stoppage of a yarn fed to a textile machine in which a variation in the shape and/or position of the yarn relative to an optical sensor in front of which the yarn runs during its feed to the t... | 03/01/1994 |
| 5256885 | Doppler velocimeter having a diffraction grating and dual lens groups with identical focal distances An apparatus for detecting the velocity information of an object comprises a light source; optical system for irradiating beam from the light source, which is provided with a first lens or lens group and a second lens or lens group having an identical foc... | 10/26/1993 |
| 5208064 | Method and apparatus for optically monitoring and controlling a moving fiber of material A beam of light is transmitted from a transmitter (30) which is broken as the moving fiber (22) passes through the beam. A receiver (32) receives the light and generates a signal in response thereto. The signal is processed to determine the status of the ... | 05/04/1993 |
