Did You Know...
...that while attempting to develop a super strong glue, 3M employee Spencer Silver accidentally developed a glue that was so weak it would barely hold two pieces of paper together? However, his colleague Art Fry needed the glue. Fry sang with his church choir and marked the pages of his hymnal with small scraps of paper that often fell out. He used Silver's glue to hold the papers in place. Today we call this invention Post-it Notes.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8058776 | Laminar array ultrasound transducer and system A system for use in material testing which can be used on non-planar shapes and which is simple and inexpensive in construction. The system includes a layer of piezoelectric material sandwiched between and connected to a unified electrode and a plurality of excitabl... | 11/15/2011 |
| 7791254 | Hybrid ultrasound transducer In a nondestructive testing system, a preamplifier is connected to a piezoelectric element and is tuned to optimize the amplitude of a signal input to the piezoelectric element and the shape of a response signal. A receiver amplifier couples the signal received from... | 09/07/2010 |
| 7732993 | Ultrasonic sensor and method for manufacturing the same An ultrasonic sensor with stabilized transmitting/receiving characteristics capable of achieving a desired directivity easily and at low cost and a method for manufacturing the same are provided. The ultrasonic sensor includes a base composed of a synthetic resin. T... | 06/08/2010 |
| 7392705 | Ultrasonic sensor An ultrasonic sensor includes an ultrasonic transducer and a case. The ultrasonic transducer has a housing in a cylindrical shape with a bottom attached thereto, a piezoelectric device disposed in the housing, a connection pin electrically coupled with the piezoelec... | 07/01/2008 |
| 7372191 | Microswitch and method for manufacturing the same A microswitch is provided with a movable electrode contact component including a bending displacement component having a cantilever shape, a piezoelectric/electrostrictive element having a piezoelectric/electrostrictor and a voltage application electrode layers, and... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7348712 | Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus An ultrasonic probe includes ultrasonic piezoelectric elements that are arranged in a first direction at predetermined intervals and transmit and receive ultrasonic waves in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first direction. The respective ultrasoni... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7332849 | Method and transducers for dynamic testing of structures and materials A transducer for dynamic testing of specimen is disclosed. The transducer comprises at least two equally-spaced actuators, and a supporting block for supporting the at least two equally-spaced actuators and for mounting the transducer to the specimen. Each of the at... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7307373 | Transducer assembly for an ultrasonic fluid meter A transducer assembly for an ultrasonic fluid meter. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are transducer assemblies comprising an elongated outer housing defining an interior and an exterior, the elongated outer housing having an axis along its elongated di... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7302744 | Method of fabricating an acoustic transducer array A method that involves establishing the performance level of a proposed acoustic transducer array. Deriving a geometric shape for the array based on the established performance level. Selecting piezoceramic materials based on considerations related to the performanc... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7293461 | Ultrasonic tubulars inspection device A system, method, and apparatus for ultrasonic detection of flaws or defects in oil field tubulars utilizing composite transducers. An array of composite transducers are utilized to detect anomalies in the tubulars, such as transverse, wall or longitudinal defects. ... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7287537 | Megasonic probe energy director A megasonic cleaning apparatus configured to provide effective cleaning of a substrate without causing damage to the substrate is provided. The apparatus includes a megasonic probe, a transducer configured to energize the probe, and a heat transfer element disposed ... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7288069 | Ultrasonic probe and method of manufacturing the same An ultrasonic probe is characterized in that a piezoelectric member 111 formed of solution-based single-crystal containing at least plumbum titanate is sandwiched between resin layers 113 and 115 having smaller acoustic impedance than the piezoe... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7255007 | Configurations and methods for ultrasound time of flight diffraction analysis An ultrasound test apparatus for polymeric materials (e.g., plastic pipes) includes a low-absorption housing that at least partially encloses an ultrasound transducer, wherein the transducer emits a low frequency wide angle ultrasound beam with a narrow bandwidth. I... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7249513 | Ultrasound probe An improved ultrasound probe includes a support member, a signal cable having a plurality of electrically conductive members and an ultrasound transducer array. Distal end portions of each of the conductive members may be separately embodied within and extend throug... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7242129 | Piezoelectric and electrostatic microelectromechanical system actuator Provided is a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) actuator in which a cantilever piezoelectric actuator and a comb actuator are combined to perform dual shaft drive. The MEMS includes: a stationary comb fixed on a substrate; a movable comb disposed separately from ... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7215064 | Piezoelectric switch for tunable electronic components A piezoelectric switch for tunable electronic components comprises piezoelectric layers, metal electrodes alternated with the layers and contact pads. Cross voltages are applied to the electrodes, in order to obtain an S-shaped deformation of the switch and allow co... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7197798 | Method of fabricating a composite apparatus A method for fabricating a piezoelectric macro-fiber composite actuator comprises making a piezoelectric fiber sheet by providing a plurality of wafers of piezoelectric material, bonding the wafers together with an adhesive material to form a stack of alternating la... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7190105 | Sound or ultrasound sensor A sound or ultrasound sensor having a radiation characteristic with a preferably small beam angle and producing very little interference signals, including a pot-shaped housing closed at its bottom end by a floor, a piezoelectric element for producing and/or receivi... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7161791 | Variable capacitance membrane actuator for wide band tuning of microstrip resonators and filters A device for varying the capacitance of an electronic circuit is disclosed. The device comprises a flexible membrane located above the electronic circuit, a metal layer connected to the flexible membrane, and bias circuitry located above the membrane. Variation of t... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7148607 | Ultrasonic probe and manufacturing method thereof An ultrasonic probe for use in an ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus for a living body comprises an array transducer made up of a plurality of layered transducer elements. A specified structure (face-to-face structure) is created across two adjacent transducer elements.... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7132723 | Micro electro-mechanical system device with piezoelectric thin film actuator A radio frequency (RF) micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) device and method of making same are provided, the device including an RF circuit substrate and an RF conducting path disposed on the RF circuit substrate, a piezoelectric thin film actuator, and a conduc... | 11/07/2006 |
| 7082810 | Gas sensor A gas sensor (10) including a measurement chamber (28) into which a gas GS is flown and a detection element main body (40) facing the measurement chamber (28). The detection element main body (40) includes an element case 42, | 08/01/2006 |
| 7080543 | Sensor and method for manufacturing the same A detecting-element assembly (40) is configured such that a piezoelectric element (51) is housed in a casing body portion (43) of a casing (42), and is attached to a housing portion (22) of a flow path formation member (20) ... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7075216 | Lateral field excited acoustic wave sensor An acoustic wave sensor having a piezoelectric substrate shaped to generate lateral electric fields. The sensor has a pair of electrodes deposited upon a reference surface of the substrate. A sensing surface that is opposite from the reference surface is adapted to ... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7061162 | Laminated piezoelectric element A laminated piezoelectric element (1) having a ceramic laminate (10) formed by alternatively laminating a plurality of piezoelectric layers (11) and a plurality of internal electrode layer (21). A side surface (101) provided with t... | 06/13/2006 |
| 7061381 | Ultrasonic transmitter and receiver systems and products using the same A transceiver preferably embedded within a wearable security watch, PDA, or other device which achieves a variety of wireless ultrasonic and/or radio-frequency based functions, including digital identification and proximity and sensation monitoring of assets, indivi... | 06/13/2006 |
| 6993812 | Method of manufacturing the piezoelectric transducer Inner individual electrodes are formed at intervals on a piezoelectric ceramic layer so as to correspond in a one-to-one relationship with ink channels, and an inner common electrode are formed on another piezoelectric ceramic layer. The required number of piezoelec... | 02/07/2006 |
| 6952967 | Ultrasonic transducer An ultrasonic transducer is provided having a transduction element in the form of a truncated cone. The angle of the transduction element is selected so that the majority of the acoustic energy incident on the target is refracted beyond the longitudinal critical ang... | 10/11/2005 |
| 6936008 | Ultrasound system with cableless coupling assembly An ultrasound imaging device having a cableless coupling for coupling a two-dimensional array of ultrasound transducers to a signal generating and receiving unit such as a motherboard. The coupling includes an acoustically attenuating and electrically conductive str... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6929608 | Apparatus for deposition of ultrasound energy in body tissue An apparatus for providing ultrasonic energy for deposition in body tissue including an array of elements having at least two different sizes and at least one element being aperiodically spaced with the respect to other elements in the array. Excitation of the eleme... | 08/16/2005 |
| 6915696 | Intersecting ultrasonic transducer arrays A method is provided for manufacturing crossing/intersecting transducer arrays including first and second ultrasonic transducer arrays which intersect centrally of one another. Each transducer operates independently without any decrease in acoustic performance. The ... | 07/12/2005 |
| 6876127 | Ultrasonic transceiver and ultrasonic clearance sonar using the same In an ultrasonic transceiver, an inner housing has a bottom portion, a first tubular side wall extending from one end surface of the bottom portion and a first flange portion formed on an outer peripheral portion of the first tubular side wall. The bottom portion an... | 04/05/2005 |
| 6876128 | Short-circuit noise abatement device and method for a gas ultrasonic transducer A vibration attenuator, for an ultrasonic transducer having a transducer shaft, having: a compressible sleeve mountable on said shaft wherein said sleeve comprises vibration attenuating material; a housing for said sleeve mountable on the shaft, and a compression de... | 04/05/2005 |
| 6868594 | Method for making a transducer A method for producing transducers having a 1-3 composite structure. The transducer element includes a plurality of thin piezoceramic wafers which are electroded on opposing major surfaces. The spaced wafers are separated by a passive polymer layer in a composite st... | 03/22/2005 |
| 6821253 | Ultrasonic transducer array By bonding a conductive first matching layer 14 to the acoustic radiation surface side, which is the bottom side, of a belt-shape piezoelectric element on both faces with electrodes provided, and using a dicing machine to form divided grooves 16, an ar... | 11/23/2004 |
| 6815872 | Ultrasonic transducer system having an organic-structural-material housing An ultrasonic transducer system has at least one ultrasonic transducer. Each ultrasonic transducer includes a housing having a wall that is made at least in part of an organic structural material that is substantially impervious to water; and an ultrasonic sensor el... | 11/09/2004 |
| 6781287 | Non-contacting ultrasonic transducer An ultrasonic transducer for sensing liquid within an article, such as a vassel or pipe, without contacting the liquid has a body, a sealed capsule of a flexible material containing a liquid capable of transmitting ultrasonic energy carried by the body from which a ... | 08/24/2004 |
| 6771006 | Cylindrical ultrasound transceivers An ultrasound transducer that includes a piezoelectric film having a first end and a second end, a plurality of electrodes disposed on the piezoelectric film, at least one securing member and a support structure which is generally cylindrical. The first end and the ... | 08/03/2004 |
| 6758094 | Ultrasonic transducer wafer having variable acoustic impedance The invention is a wafer having variable acoustic properties. The wafer may be used as a substrate over which to form an ultrasonic transducer, an IC, or may be used as a circuit board. An ultrasonic transducer formed on the wafer may include piezoelectric ceramic t... | 07/06/2004 |
| 6726627 | System and method for ultrasonic harmonic imaging for therapy guidance and monitoring An ultrasound system is provided which includes a therapy ultrasound transducer and a diagnostic ultrasound transducer and operates in accordance with a method to direct the application of the therapy ultrasound. The method includes operating the diagnostic ultrasou... | 04/27/2004 |
