...that Charles Goodyear performed some of his experiments on rubber while in debtor's prison? He was there so often he referred to it as his "hotel". Chronically in debt because of poor business sense and ill health, Goodyear depended on the generosity of friends and family. Even after he unlocked the secret to vulcanizing rubber, he was unable to improve his financial situation. When he died, his estate was $200,000 in debt.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7314404 | Burnishing head A burnishing head comprises at least two rails, each rail having an inner wall and an outer wall. The outer walls are at an angle relative to one another and relative to a central axis of the burnishing head. This angle permits the burnishing head to exhibit improve... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7278902 | Enabling location specific burnishing of a disk Various embodiments of the present invention pertain to enabling location specific burnishing of a disk. According to one embodiment, the smoothness of a disk is evaluated by gliding over a disk to determine if there is an asperity on the disk. If there is an asperi... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7238092 | Low-force electrochemical mechanical processing method and apparatus The present invention relates to semiconductor integrated circuit technology and discloses an electrochemical mechanical processing system for uniformly distributing an applied force to a workpiece surface. The system includes a workpiece carrier for positioning or ... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7194802 | Tool for certifying a head-gimbal assembly A device and method for testing a slider of a head-gimbal assembly during disc drive manufacturing. The device includes a test disc, an actuator arm and a control module. The test disc has a first circumferential area for detecting contact between the slider and the... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7169028 | Flexible finishing shoe A flexible finishing shoe for finishing a workpiece have a bearing surface and an adjacent side, the flexible finishing shoe comprising a shoe base having a first side and an opposing second side and a finishing body disposed between the first and second sides, the ... | 01/30/2007 |
| 7160172 | Multi-station disk finishing apparatus and method Multi-disk processing system and method of continuous finishing of memory media disks for digital data storage systems in preparation for magnetic memory coating, comprising four main sub-systems: 1) multiple driven spindles mounted on a chassis, at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7153192 | Method for selectively sensing and removing asperities from hard disk drive media utilizing active thermally controlled flying heights A method for selectively sensing and removing asperities from the surface of hard disk drive media is disclosed. A thermally controlled flying height burnish slider is flown on a test stand with its thermal flying height control deactivated. The burnish slider flies... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7153193 | System and apparatus for selectively sensing and removing asperities from hard disk drive media utilizing active thermally controlled flying heights A system for selectively sensing and removing asperities from hard disk drive disk is disclosed. The system includes a test stand supporting the disk, the test stand having at least one suspension for flying over a surface of the disk. The system also includes a gli... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7052363 | Method and apparatus for treating the surface of a media, such as a magnetic hard disk, while operating, such as during dynamic electrical testing A system and method for treating (e.g. polishing to remove defects) the surface of a media, such as a magnetic hard disk, while in operation, such as during dynamic electrical testing is disclosed. Further, a method for manufacturing a head for treating the surface ... | 05/30/2006 |
| 6790133 | Suspension assembly for magnetic disk glide and burnish applications A glide/burnish suspension assembly processes magnetic memory storage disks by “flying” a glide/burnish slider across the surface of a rotating disk. A glide/burnish suspension assembly as described herein includes mounting holes and a tooling hole that are comp... | 09/14/2004 |
| 6620033 | Thrustwall polishing assembly A thrustwall surface polishing tool for use with a power means for rotating a workpiece about an axis for treating a workpiece thrustwall surface.... | 09/16/2003 |
| 6557608 | Method for attaching web based polishing materials together on a polishing tool A method and apparatus for thermally attaching web-based polishing pads in a chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) system. Specifically, one end of a first web-based polishing pad and an end of a second web-based polishing pad are inserted in a thermal ... | 05/06/2003 |
| 6503132 | Hybrid burnish/glide head with advanced air bearing fly height control rails A disc burnishing system configured to contact and level irregularities located on a surface of a disc is provided. The system includes a motor to rotate the disc and an armature. A slider is carried on the armature over the surface of the disc. The slide... | 01/07/2003 |
| 6497021 | Method and apparatus for providing a low cost contact burnish slider A method and apparatus for providing a low cost contact burnish slider is disclosed that can remain in contact or at the initial low flying heights even as the pad surfaces and leading edges wear. The burnish slider includes a body having a leading edge a... | 12/24/2002 |
| 6491573 | Quick change insert system for a finishing arm A quick change insert system for a microfinishing machine comprising an insert body having a connection side and a finishing side, the connection side including a keyway defined by a central wall and a pair of oppositely disposed sidewalls, the finishing ... | 12/10/2002 |
| 6419551 | High speed burnishing of asperities in a disk drive A method of burnishing an asperity on a magnetic surface of an operational disk drive. The disk drive includes a slider maintaining an MR element. Rotation of the disk relative to the slider forms an air bearing between the slider and the disk surface, ge... | 07/16/2002 |
| 6357095 | Hard disk burnishing head The burnishing head for hard disk processing includes a solid body having generally rectangular surfaces, including an upper surface, a burnishing pad surface, a front surface, a rear surface and two side surfaces. A plurality of burnishing pads are dispo... | 03/19/2002 |
| 6358123 | Apparatus and method for reducing disc surface asperities to sub-microinch height A honing head for microburnishing surface of a recording/reproducing disc to a smoothness at which asperities are limited to submicron heights including a hardened contact bearing surface having an array of depressions with abrupt trailing edges interconn... | 03/19/2002 |
| 6322431 | Burnish head with ion milled aerodynamic pads configured in an elliptical pattern A burnishing head configured to provide extremely close control of the burnishing height, to aerodynamically eject particles generated by the burnishing process from beneath the burnishing head onto the disc surface, whence they can be swept from the disc... | 11/27/2001 |
| 6309287 | Cam micro-finishing tool A shoe assembly for a micro-finishing machine for finishing a workpiece includes a C-frame structure adapted for nonrotatable mounting to the micro-finishing machine. The C-frame assembly includes a pair of slats and a replaceable insert secured nonrotata... | 10/30/2001 |
| 6296552 | Burnishing head with fly height control spacer A burnishing head configured to provide extremely close control of the burnishing height, to minimize stiction between the burnishing head and a disc being burnished, and to optimize the tribological relationship between the burnishing head and a disc bei... | 10/02/2001 |
| 6273793 | Apparatus and method for reducing disc surface asperities to sub-microinch height A honing head for microburnishing surface of a recording/reproducing disc to a smoothness at which asperities are limited to submicron heights including a hardened contact bearing surface having an array of depressions with abrupt trailing edges interconn... | 08/14/2001 |
| 6249945 | Hard disk burnishing head The burnishing head for hard disk processing includes a solid body having generally rectangular surfaces, including an upper surface, a burnishing pad surface, a front surface, a rear surface and two side surfaces. A plurality of burnishing pads are dispo... | 06/26/2001 |
| 6230380 | Slider for burnishing a disc A system for burnishing a disc includes a slider having burnish pads. The burnish pads are disposed on air bearing surface of the slider and extends therefrom. The burnish pad includes a burnish face which configured to burnish a surface of the disc and b... | 05/15/2001 |
| 6183349 | Burnishing head with circular burnishing pads A burnishing head for burnishing the surface of magnetic or magneto-optical memory disks is described. The burnishing head comprises a plurality of curved burnishing pads symmetrically arranged on the bottom surface of the head. In one embodiment, there a... | 02/06/2001 |
| 6099387 | CMP of a circlet wafer using disc-like brake polish pads Apparatus and method for polishing one or both sides of a semiconductor wafer that has a central opening are provided. In one aspect, the apparatus includes a mandrel for holding the wafer and a motor coupled to the mandrel that is operable to rotate the ... | 08/08/2000 |
| 5980369 | Level flying burnishing head with circular burnishing pads A burnishing head for burnishing the surface of magnetic or magneto-optical memory disks is described. The burnishing head comprises a plurality of curved burnishing pads symmetrically arranged on the bottom surface of the head. In one embodiment, there a... | 11/09/1999 |
| 5885143 | Disk texturing apparatus A disk texturing apparatus for texturing surfaces of a magnetic disk or the like with cross-pattern grooves. The texturing apparatus is basically constituted by a rotational drive having a spindle for supporting and rotating a disk, and a tape transport m... | 03/23/1999 |
| 5803796 | Microfinishing machine A surface polishing machine for polishing a workpiece, the machine including a body member adapted to be positioned adjacent the workpiece and having first and second pivot means spaced apart from each other, a pair of polishing arms, each pivotable on a ... | 09/08/1998 |
| 5782680 | Burnishing head for polishing surfaces of carriers of magnetic media A burnishing head, which is used to polish the surface of carriers that hold magnetic media (e.g., disks for computer hard drives), includes a slider that is mounted on a suspension. The slider includes at least four protrusions that protrude toward the s... | 07/21/1998 |
| 5683291 | Device for surface machining of workpieces A device and process for the surface machining of workpieces with convex surfaces, the device including an abrasive belt, abrasive belt clamping devices, an abrasive belt tensioning device, and clamping tongs device with two clamping arms, one of which is... | 11/04/1997 |
| 5672093 | Specimen load control mechanism for automatic polishing apparatus An improved mechanism for applying a controlled load to a specimen being polishing in an automatic polishing machine including a tension spring for exerting a downward load which is transmitted to the specimen to press the same against an abrasive polishi... | 09/30/1997 |
| 5651719 | Tooling for abrasive belt machining of cylindrical bearing surfaces with provision for monitoring bearing surface diameter Tooling for applying an abrasive belt on a machine for abrasive belt machining of cylindrical bearing surfaces comprises, for each bearing surface to be machined, an arm and three abrasive belt application shoes a first of which is mounted in a top median... | 07/29/1997 |
| 5569061 | Method and device for magneto-abrasive machining of parts A method of and a device for magnetic-abrasive machining of parts has an external magnetic field providing a magnetic flux, a supply of a magnetic-abrasive powder to the part in the magnetic field. The part is rotated and oscillated about the longitudinal... | 10/29/1996 |
| 5487697 | Polishing apparatus and method using a rotary work holder travelling down a rail for polishing a workpiece with linear pads The present invention relates to an apparatus for polishing semiconductor wafers and, in particular, one in which the polishing pads are linear, that is, the polishing pads have a long linear dimension relative to their width and have a uniform cross-sect... | 01/30/1996 |
| 5437125 | Surface polishing assembly A universal surface polishing assembly movable along the longitudinal axis of a workpiece including a pair of polishing arms with a surface grinding material affixed to each end of the polishing arms respectively, a regulated cylinder for actuating the po... | 08/01/1995 |
| 5341607 | Method and apparatus for polishing hot strip mill run-out table rolls The invention relates to an apparatus and method for polishing run-out table rolls. The apparatus includes a polishing block assembly having linked abrasive blocks and a positioning apparatus to position the blocks in contact with the surface of the run-o... | 08/30/1994 |
| 5095663 | Size control shoe for microfinishing machine Microfinishing devices and processes for in-process gauging of a microfinishing process of generally cylindrical workpieces. A size control shoe is used with a microfinishing shoe such that the diameter of a generally cylindrical workpiece can be continua... | 03/17/1992 |
| 5065548 | Surface treating tape cartridge and surface treating machine Described herein is a surface treating tape cartridge packaging a surface treating tape in a casing ready for loading the tape on a surface treating machine, and a surface treating machine capable of automatically loading a surface treating tape in positi... | 11/19/1991 |
| 5065547 | Surface processing machine for hard disks and the like A surface processing machine employing a processing tape cartridge for polishing or grinding disks or the like. The machine employs a processing tape cartridge which rotatably accommodates in a casing a pair of reels for the winding of processing tape. Th... | 11/19/1991 |