...that the video game, Pong, was invented by a guy who graduated at the bottom of his engineering class? Nolan Bushnell spent more time running the games at a local amusement park than he did on his studies at the University of Utah. His dreams of working for Disney's amusement empire were dashed when the company wouldn't hire him. Taking a boring job, Nolan daydreamed about electronic versions of popular games. He invented Pong, the first video game, and went on to found Atari Co.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8091859 | Valve for controlling fluids A valve for controlling fluids having a piezoelectric actuator unit which has an actuator base and an actuator head that acts on a coupling module which is connected to a valve closing member that cooperates with a valve seat; the actuator base is braced via a spher... | 01/10/2012 |
| 7841579 | Piezoelectric actuator with a gimballed valve A gimballed valve for a flow control valve operates as a sealing member for an adjustable nozzle and is coupled to a piezoelectric actuator having stacked piezoelectric members that are toroidally shaped. The gimballed valve includes at least two support rings and a... | 11/30/2010 |
| 7357792 | Positive push medical valve with internal seal A medical valve having an open mode to permit fluid flow and a closed mode to prevent fluid flow has a body and a valving element within the interior of the body. The body also has a valving element within its interior, and a proximal port and a distal port. The val... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7322964 | Check valve for a trocar system A flap valve for a trocar system including a valve housing (12) that is proximally attachable to a guide tube (10), a lead-through opening (30) formed in the valve housing (12), and a pivotally mounted flap valve (46). The flap val... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7252501 | Nozzle and apparatus for injection molding A nozzle controls flow of melt in injection molding equipment by passive actuation with opening and closing of a mold assembly. The nozzle comprises a valve pin having a pin passage therethrough movably supported within a nozzle passage and a contact arm transverse ... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7220117 | Nozzle and apparatus for injection molding A nozzle for controlling flow of melt in a mold assembly comprises a valve pin guide interposed between a nozzle inlet and nozzle outlet, a valve pin movably supported thereby, and a contact arm engaging the valve pin and transverse to and passing through the valve ... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7207346 | Hydrostat for portable gas range Provided is a hydrostat for a portable gas range, which prevents the explosion of a gas container by automatically discharging overcompressed gas from the gas container when the inner pressure of the gas container increases to an explosion pressure. The hydrostat in... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7163188 | Solenoid valve for fluid flow A solenoid valve is provided that comprises a valve body having an inlet and an outlet, and a movable member for moving a valve element away from a valve seat to open the valve. The moveable member engages and moves the valve element away from the seat to an open po... | 01/16/2007 |
| 7124774 | Control valve A control valve for regulating flow of fluids passing through the valve. The control valve includes a body with an inlet, an outlet and a passageway through which the fluid passes from the inlet to the outlet. The control valve also includes a displaceable column pr... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7044434 | High recovery sonic gas valve A high recovery sonic gas valve design with the inlet flow entering transverse and orthogonal to the outlet flow is presented. The configuration cancels the effects of the inlet flow entering orthogonal to the axis of the nozzle and diffuser. The inlet passage is cu... | 05/16/2006 |
| 7036788 | Directly controlled proportional pressure limiting valve A proportionally adjustable pressure limiting valve wherein a valve cone may be actuated via an armature of a proportional solenoid. The valve cone is cardanically supported in the armature. Additional guidance of the valve cone is effected through the intermediary ... | 05/02/2006 |
| 7014169 | Anti-drawback medical valve A medical valve has a translating member that enlarges the volume of the interior of the valve when the valve is in an open mode (permitting fluid flow), and decreases the volume of the interior when the valve is in a closed mode (preventing fluid flow). This varyin... | 03/21/2006 |
| 7004453 | Pendulum valve with a full range of position control Embodiments of the present invention provide a pendulum valve with a full range of normal position control. The pendulum valve can include a valve housing having a flow channel, and a valve body that is movable within the valve housing between a fully open position ... | 02/28/2006 |
| 6991218 | Control valve with retained pin for easy valve trim maintenance A process control valve includes a valve stem, a valve plug. The valve stem and the valve plug are attached to one another by an arrangement that includes a locking pin that passes through substantially aligned bores in the valve stem and the valve plug. The locking... | 01/31/2006 |
| 6962322 | Waste water valve system A drain pipe dispenses waste water from the vehicle. The drain pipe has a circumferential slot and a gate collar around the drain pipe over the slot. A gate valve is coupled to the gate collar. A gate reciprocable between a closed and open position is provided. A dr... | 11/08/2005 |
| 6959908 | Gate valve flexible wedge A flexible wedge has a pair of pressure retaining plates and a central wedge body therebetween. The pressure retaining plates have inclined seating surfaces on opposed outer faces thereof for mating with corresponding valve seats within the valve body to prevent sub... | 11/01/2005 |
| 6959718 | Valve There is provided a valve enabling complete prevention of leakage and a backflow and having durability and less noise, and further there may be implemented a valve capable of predicting the tendency of occurrence of damage on the functions of the valve before the fu... | 11/01/2005 |
| 6951330 | Valve with damping element The invention relates to a valve, in particular for a fluid-regulated heating and/or cooling system of a motor vehicle, having a valve chamber (18, 218), with at least one inlet conduit (14, 214) and at least one outlet conduit (16, 216) branchi... | 10/04/2005 |
| 6938878 | Direct flow tap for dispensing drinks, provided with improved devices for stopping the operating handle The present invention relates to a direct flow tap for dispensing drinks, of the type with ball valve and actuated by a handle linked to said ball and provided with means suitable for limiting the rotation of said handle between two end positions, respectively corre... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6929239 | Microfluid system for reactions and transfers The invention concerns a device for performing a reaction or at least two reactions in parallel or in series, and for transferring a fluid flow, consisting of. an upper surface (2) and a lower surface (3) mutually linked by an edge (4); at least... | 08/16/2005 |
| 6923202 | Modular pressure relief valve A pressure relief valve having a modular design that allows the release pressure of the valve to be altered during assembly is provided by the present invention. The valve includes a serrated valve tube that fits inside of a valve body. A spring retainer ring fits o... | 08/02/2005 |
| 6895996 | Fuel pressure regulator having offset head and orifice axes A fuel pressure regulator including a valve head having a centerline offset from the centerline of a corresponding fuel orifice. The valve head may be offset with respect to the valve seat and orifice, the orifice may be offset within the seat with respect to the he... | 05/24/2005 |
| 6668858 | Check valve A check valve is provided having a valve body and a sealing assembly within the valve body. The sealing assembly is biased, via a biasing force, in a seated position against a valve seat adjacent or surrounding an inlet port of the valve body. The sealing... | 12/30/2003 |
| 6609696 | Male luer valve A valve that has at least one internal port on a valve core and at least one an internal slot in a valve body. The valve core is biased into a position wherein the port of the valve core is aligned with a sealing surface of the valve body thereby prohibit... | 08/26/2003 |
| 6543745 | Male luer valve A valve that has at least one internal port on a valve core and at least one an internal slot in a valve body. The valve core is biased into a position wherein the port of the valve core is aligned with a sealing surface of the valve body thereby prohibit... | 04/08/2003 |
| 6533242 | Shaft having variable compliance to a bushing A system for seating a head of a valve shaft that is received within a first axial bore in a primary bushing includes a second bushing having a second axial bore. The second axial bore has a second bore diameter, and is substantially concentric relative t... | 03/18/2003 |
| 6431209 | Multi-pressure ball-poppet control valve A high-pressure primary fluid control valve and a multi-pressure selector fluid control valve are disclosed for operating a fluid-actuated device. Preferably a spherical ball-poppet and frusto-conical valve seat adapted for substantially line-contact ther... | 08/13/2002 |
| 6431207 | High-pressure ball-poppet control valve A high-pressure fluid control valve is disclosed for operating a fluid-actuated device. Preferably a ball-poppet and frusto-conical valve seat adapted for substantially line-type contact therebetween are provided with an upstream restricted flow area in o... | 08/13/2002 |
| 6382587 | Fluid control valve A fluid control valve comprising a valve housing in which there is a reciprocating shaft on which is mounted a valve body that is brought into and out of contact with respect to a valve seat disposed within a fluid flow passage to permit or prevent fluid ... | 05/07/2002 |
| 6308930 | Regulating valve having an essentially horizontal stem and process for manufacturing the same The invention relates to a regulating valve having a valve housing (1) and an essentially horizontally arranged linearly movable valve member (2) for regulating a flow through the valve. The valve member is by a cylindrical portion (22) arranged in a bear... | 10/30/2001 |
| 6270054 | Universal coupler for a self aligning linear actuator A universal coupler for a self aligning linear actuator for a valve assembly. The self aligning linear actuator utilizes a drive screw or other threaded drive means to drive a plunger for a throttle valve. The drive screw rotates within a frame while a th... | 08/07/2001 |
| 6230742 | Poppet valve assembly apparatus having two simultaneously-seating heads A two-headed force-balanced poppet valve assembly wherein the spacing of the valve heads along the pintle shaft is directed by the spacing between the valve seats during assembly and wherein at least one of the valve heads is compliantly mounted on the pi... | 05/15/2001 |
| 6213447 | Poppet value having a compliant shaft guide and compliant valve head A poppet valve wherein centering of the valve stem and head and mating of the valve head to the valve seat are compliantly directed by contact with the valve seat. The poppet valve employs an integral radially-floating valve stem sealing guide or bearing ... | 04/10/2001 |
| 6173736 | Diaphragm actuated pressure relief valve with pressure balanced outlet and fail-safe operation A diaphragm/spring operated pressure relief valve having a sensing passage of substantially the same flow area as the outlet orifice of the valve whereby failure of either diaphragm results in "fail open" configuration with the addition of a sensing inlet... | 01/16/2001 |
| 6129105 | Interrupter having an anti-fire valve member for a gas meter, and a gas meter fitted with such an interrupter A gas flow interrupter for a gas meter, the interrupter comprising a valve member that is movable relative to a valve seat which defines an opening for passing said gas flow, said valve member comprising firstly a membrane having a main surface including ... | 10/10/2000 |
| 6109302 | Three-way gas management valve A three way valve for selectively controlling a flow of gas between one passage and at least one of two additional passages includes a valve assembly having a body including a lower chamber communicating with first and second oppositely disposed controlle... | 08/29/2000 |
| 6095490 | Flow control valve for reducing valve leakage A flow control valve having a seating surface formed on a valve element to contact a valve seat when the valve is closed has a shape of a part of a hypothetical spherical surface having a spherical center at a center of a supporting member. Therefore, the... | 08/01/2000 |
| 6056262 | Universal coupler for a self aligning linear actuator A universal coupler for a self aligning linear actuator for a valve assembly. The self aligning linear actuator utilizes a drive screw or other threaded drive means to drive a plunger for a throttle valve. The drive screw rotates within a frame while a th... | 05/02/2000 |
| 5967358 | Tank filling and pressure relief assembly A tank filling and pressure relief assembly. A cover member has a seat for sealingly closing the tank opening. A stem is attached at one end to a piston in a cylinder (which is attached to the cover member and extends downwardly therefrom into the tank) a... | 10/19/1999 |
| 5908047 | Three-way valve and exhaust gas purifier using the same A three-way valve for changing over the direction of flow of high-temperature gas which can completely close flow paths and which is durable enough to prevent increase in leakage of gas even if the gas is engine exhaust. A valve mechanism provided in a va... | 06/01/1999 |