Did You Know...
...that the inventor of the electric motor was a blacksmith named Thomas Davenport? Described as "a brilliantly unsuccessful inventor", Davenport invented the first rotary electric motor. In 1836 he headed out -- on foot -- from his Vermont home to file a patent application at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By the time he got there, he had squandered away his money and couldn't afford the $30 filing fee so he turned around and went home. When he later mailed in his application with money he'd raised, the Patent office was destroyed in a fire. He did finally get credit for his invention on Feb. 5, 1837.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7158870 | Post collision restraints control module A restraints control module (RCM) for a vehicle is provided including a memory device. The memory device stores a deployment time of a deployment event. A controller is electrically coupled to the memory device and deploys a restraint in response to a collision sign... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7140248 | Speed measuring device and method A velocity measuring device is mounted to a support, optionally a wearable support such as a glove, watch, wrist or arm band, or the like. Alternatively, the support is a sports club or removably attaches to a sports club. The velocity measuring device includes a po... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7134687 | Rear view mirror monitor A vehicle including a system for obtaining information about occupants of the vehicle including a rear-view mirror including a mirror part and a support for mounting the mirror part to the vehicle (such as to a windshield of the vehicle), a wave-receiving system arr... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7001283 | Training machine for golf swing A training machine for golf swing includes a plurality of magnets provided in the opposite position to the grip; a collision device attachable to the magnets, and adapted to be separated from the magnets and collided with other objects by the centrifugal force more ... | 02/21/2006 |
| 6969257 | Golf swing timing/training device A golf swing timing training aid for perfecting a golf swing that provides both an audible and vibrational feedback indicator when the apogee of a back swing has been reached, when the swing accelerates downward, and when the apogee of the follow-through swing has b... | 11/29/2005 |
| 6950022 | Method and arrangement for obtaining and conveying information about occupancy of a vehicle Method and arrangement for obtaining and conveying information about occupancy of a passenger compartment of a vehicle including at least one sensor for obtaining data from the passenger compartment. Information about the occupancy is generated based on the data and... | 09/27/2005 |
| 6942248 | Occupant restraint device control system and method Control system for controlling an occupant restraint device effective for protection of an occupant of the seat including a receiving device arranged in the vehicle for obtaining information about contents of the seat and generating a signal based on any contents of... | 09/13/2005 |
| 6910711 | Method for controlling deployment of an occupant protection device Method for controlling a vehicular component based on the position and velocity of an occupant in which the current position and velocity of the occupant are determined, an expected position of the occupant is determined based on the current position and current vel... | 06/28/2005 |
| 6851316 | Apparatus and method for recovery and recycle of tracer gas from leak testing process with randomly varying demand An apparatus and method for recovering and recycling a tracer gas from a leak testing process. The apparatus comprises a leak testing section, a gas recovery/blending section, and a gas analysis/recycle section. The leak testing section operates to perform various l... | 02/08/2005 |
| 6826957 | Self-contained portable air pressure decay test apparatus A portable air pressure decay test apparatus for leak testing of a sealed system includes a hollow housing, an air pump having an inlet and an outlet disposed in the housing, and a controller disposed in the housing and connected to the pump for controlling the oper... | 12/07/2004 |
| 6805005 | Device for increasing and measuring the speed of a golf, tennis or batting swing A device for increasing and measuring the speed of a golf, tennis or batting swing comprising an elongated, hollow metal tube having a gripping portion provided at one end thereof. A swing speed or velocity indicator is positioned in the other end of the tube with t... | 10/19/2004 |
| 6691017 | Vehicle behavior control device A vehicle behavior control device includes a turning limit state detecting device for detecting a turning limit state of a vehicle and an engine output control device for performing a torque-down control by decreasing an engine output when the turning lim... | 02/10/2004 |
| 6668661 | Pressure distribution image analysis process A method of analyzing force on a surface is described including providing a pressure-sensitive medium, applying the force to the medium, determining any change in the medium as a result of the applied force, correlating the change in the medium with a pre... | 12/30/2003 |
| 6553832 | Method for the determination for an actual speed of a movable displacement element Method for the determination for an actual speed of a movable displacement element wherein an acceleration sensor is used to record an acceleration (a), and a position sensor is used to record a measured position of a displacement element. A model speed (... | 04/29/2003 |
| 6397151 | Impulse force estimating device, impulse force estimating method, and medium storing impulse force estimation program When a person wearing the wristwatch device (11) on his or her dominant arm has struck a blow, an acceleration sensor (12) senses acceleration at regular intervals of time, extracts accelerations x1 to x20 sensed at 20 points in front of the hit point H a... | 05/28/2002 |
| 6182511 | Acoustic bottle tester and conveyor therefor A vacuum conveyor for transporting articles across a space wherein the conveyor belt for the vacuum conveyor has a plurality of equally spaced apart fluid passageways formed therein and wherein a one way valve is installed in each fluid passageway so that... | 02/06/2001 |
| 5883815 | Leak detection system A method for thermal volume modeling of the pipe fluid volume change by taking temperature change measurements of pipe fluid taken at a single location, and comparing it to the changes in the fluid volume inside a tank hydraulically connected to a said pi... | 03/16/1999 |
| 5646345 | Acceleration responsive device An acceleration responsive device 30 includes a support 34 which supports a rod 46 between two spaced portions of the support. A weighted disc 48 is mounted for movement on the rod and is held by a spring 128 at one end of the rod 46. An indicator 50 is a... | 07/08/1997 |
| 5576491 | Acceleration recorder and playback module The present invention is directed to methods and apparatus relating to an accelerometer electrical signal recorder and playback module. The recorder module may be manufactured in lightweight configuration and includes analog memory components to store dat... | 11/19/1996 |
| 5520049 | Acceleration responsive device An acceleration responsive device 30 includes a support 34 which supports a rod 46 between two spaced portions of the support. A weighted disc 48 is mounted for movement on the rod and is held by a spring 128 at one end of the rod 46. An indicator 50 is a... | 05/28/1996 |
| 5483447 | Apparatus for tripping a system for the protection of occupants of a vehicle An apparatus for tripping a system for the protection of occupants of a vehicle has a first sensor (10) for sensing the acceleration of the vehicle in its direction of forward motion and a second sensor (12) for sensing the acceleration of the vehicle in ... | 01/09/1996 |
| 5313848 | Disposable electronic monitor device Apparatus for monitoring an externally applied parameter to selected products. The invention involves a housing enclosing a sensor, and a monitoring and output network. The sensor has a characteristic that varies in some predetermined manner with variatio... | 05/24/1994 |
| 5269252 | Shock sensor A shock sensor is able to detect an externally applied acceleration. A weight is fixed to a first end of a first supporting member. The weight is rotatably movable about an opposite end of the supporting member. A second supporting member, having an indic... | 12/14/1993 |
| 5269187 | Automotive accelerometer An automotive straight line G-meter utilizes the input from a piezoresistive accelerometer to accurately measure and display both straight line forward and backward as well as lateral or side to side acceleration and deceleration of a vehicle. The automot... | 12/14/1993 |
| 5170664 | Mountable force measurement apparatus A conventional centrifugal forcemeter having a centrifugally leadwardly extendable spindle is trailwardly provided with a fixture having an underlying trough portion abuttable against the external contour of a baseball bat, a golfclub, or other selectable... | 12/15/1992 |
| 4989462 | Impact sensor A housing, simulating the configuration of a container such as a glass bottle, includes an internal chamber for supporting a center post having an axial bore for receiving a biaxial accelerometer electrically connected to circuitry for detecting and recor... | 02/05/1991 |
| 4967596 | Swing velocity indicator An apparatus for indicating the peak tangential velocity of a swung sporting goods implement such as a tennis racquet, golf club, or baseball bat, comprises a tube having a longitudinal bore. A seismic mass is slideably disposed within the bore of the tub... | 11/06/1990 |
| 4871168 | Ball bat A hollow plastic ball bat has an internally mounted swing metering device that provides a visual indication of swing velocity. The bat is defined by inner and outer members that are coupled to one another to define a recess that receives a transparent ann... | 10/03/1989 |
| 4856318 | Surface resiliency tester A method and apparatus for determining the suitability of playground, recreation and sports facilities surfaces as well as determining natural or synthetic surface compactness and hardness. The apparatus includes a transducer module consisting of an impac... | 08/15/1989 |
| 4848792 | Event sequence indicator A miniature device for indicating if an airbag inflator for a vehicle was set off in an accident. The device records the movement of a ball in an enclosed tube. The record is made when the tube is collapsed around the ball in response to pressure or heat ... | 07/18/1989 |
| 4819960 | Angled vehicle crash sensor The sensor means crashes earlier and discriminates better when mounted at an angle to a horizontal plane passing through the horizontal axis of the vehicle. The sensor preferably is of the damped ball-in-tube type and the angular mounting thereof ranges f... | 04/11/1989 |
| 4807475 | Accelerometer An accelerometer has a single pendulum-type acceleration sensitive element, the movement of the pendulum moving a pointer through a gear arrangement such that scale graduations on a face of the instrument may be linear or of other character. Auxiliary poi... | 02/28/1989 |
| 4802437 | External speed display device for motor vehicles A device for displaying and recording the speed of motor vehicles suitable for application to the front and rear bumpers of automobiles is described, consisting of an indicator 1 whose movement is dependent on the speed of the vehicle and which activates ... | 02/07/1989 |
| 4787246 | Bidirectional shock sensor A bidirectional shock sensor in which a slidable weight is slidably fit in a container. Elastic projections on the ends of the weight face pressure-sensitive sheets placed on the walls of the container so as to record the impact acceleration of the weight... | 11/29/1988 |
| 4745564 | Impact detection apparatus An apparatus for measuring and recording accelerations or other physical quantities experienced by easily damaged items of commerce such as fruit and electronic computers. A triaxial accelerometer or other suitable sensor produces signals which are sample... | 05/17/1988 |
| 4622548 | Solid state electronic G-force indicator A G-force acceleration measuring instrument for use in an aircraft, spacecraft, submarine, or other vehicle, and employing electronic sensing and display transducers for increased reliability, small size, and small mass. The instrument includes a bar grap... | 11/11/1986 |
| 4470302 | Indicating shipping accelerometer An indicating shipping accelerometer having a transparent tube within which an inertial mass moves indicators relative to a scale affixed to the transparent tube to give an indication of the maximum shock incurred in either direction of its longitudinal a... | 09/11/1984 |
| 4361106 | Shock indicating device A device is disclosed for providing a non-resettable visual indication of a shock above a predetermined value which is sustained by an object carrying the device, comprising a dome-like housing, at least part of which is transparent; a flange means secure... | 11/30/1982 |
| 4345124 | Acceleration switch The disclosure relates to an improved integrating acceleration switch of the type having a mass suspended within a fluid filled chamber, with the motion of the mass initially opposed by a spring and subsequently not so opposed.... | 08/17/1982 |
| 4278219 | Device for detecting hard landings A device for detecting a hard landing of an aircraft. The aircraft is equipped with a detector for determining the vertical acceleration produced by the impact of the airplane with the ground. The device is equipped with a threshold trigger for indicating... | 07/14/1981 |
