Did You Know...
...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 5251765 | Apparatus and method for segregating rods of undesirable alloy composition Apparatus and method for segregating elongate cylindrical rods of undesirable alloy composition from rods having a desired alloy composition is disclosed. The apparatus includes a rod segregation table having an upper rod transport side for individually m... | 10/12/1993 |
| 5163585 | Puncturing device for aerosol containers A puncturing device for relieving the pressure in pressurized containers and allowing the collection of the released gases and residual contents by providing a generally bottle-shaped housing member for receiving a pressurized container in an inverted pos... | 11/17/1992 |
| 5161715 | Double-barreled epoxy injection gun A double-barreled gun adapted to inject a two component epoxy into a hole to anchor a hardware element therein. The base resin and hardener components of the epoxy are stored in separate foil packs received in parallel barrels of the gun. The gun includes... | 11/10/1992 |
| 5158183 | Buffer system for the temporary storage of flat objects such as letters, and buffer for use in said buffer system A buffer system for the temporary separate storage of flat articles such as letters for sorting, video coding or other postal processing, uses a buffer which acts as a mechanical RAM and contains a number of storage pockets for separate storage of article... | 10/27/1992 |
| 5157899 | Method of and apparatus for sorting and bundling flowers The invention relates to a method of sorting and bundling flowers, comprising hanging the flowers separately in individual flower supporting members circulating in a first closed path; as they are traversing the path, designating the flowers as to at leas... | 10/27/1992 |
| 5158181 | Optical sorter A sorter is described that optically differentiates acceptable objects from unacceptable objects. The sorter illuminates the objects as they move in a stream through a viewing zone with both visible and infrared light. The detecting system and circuit pro... | 10/27/1992 |
| 5156500 | Appliance for the decantation and recovery of powdery products in pneumatic conveyors Appliance to decant and recover powdery products in pneumatic conveyors, where air is tangentially driven into an annular passage inside a body, where it is subject to an expansion of the product and which it leaves through a conduit and an outlet pipe. T... | 10/20/1992 |
| 5156278 | Product discrimination system and method therefor A product discrimination system using an off-loading conveyor with rotatably mounted bow tie rollers to convey product units past a sensing station. The sensing station includes four receptors arranged along the conveying path for sensing the physical att... | 10/20/1992 |
| 5152604 | Recirculating debris separating method and apparatus A method and apparatus are disclosed for separating debris from a material product by recirculating the product in a product chamber with a fluid flow and using the fluid flow to entrain and remove debris.... | 10/06/1992 |
| 5152401 | Agricultural commodity condition measurement The instant invention pertains to ascertaining the condition (i.e. texture, maturity and extent of damage (if any)) of an agricultural commodity by: (a) inputting band-limited vibrations (i.e. limited to a specific frequency band); (b) sensing vibrational... | 10/06/1992 |
| 5148923 | Apparatus for sorting or otherwise treating objects An apparatus for sorting or otherwise treating objects, wherein the apparatus includes an endless belt which is in contact with a guide by means of which the endless belt is given a curved portion. At least one path between the guide and the curved portio... | 09/22/1992 |
| 5147045 | Particulate separations by electrostatic coalescence The use of electrostatic demulsification methods to separate fine particulates of differing surface characteristics is disclosed. In one example, particles of hydrophobic coal and hydrophilic kaolin clay, each of nominal 3.5 micron mass mean particle diam... | 09/15/1992 |
| 5143225 | Carrier sequenced bar code sorter for documents A multi-pass sorting machine includes a housing or supporting structure which has the configuration of an A-Frame. The A-Frame structure has a slanting front side supporting several individually functional devices and a slanting back side supporting other... | 09/01/1992 |
| 5141111 | System and method for inspecting and rejecting defective containers A system and method for inspecting and rejecting defective containers comprising a plurality of reflective infrared sensors, an electronic logic control and a container removal device. The system assesses the quality of the flange of the container and sen... | 08/25/1992 |
| 5139652 | Centrifugal cleaner A centrifugal cleaner has a cleaning quotient greater than 0.5 and a rejects by weight performance value typically of less than 5% (e.g. less than 2%) for conventional paper pulp furnish. The tangential inlet nozzle to the side wall near the top of the cl... | 08/18/1992 |
| 5139154 | Wear screen plate and method of manufacture thereof An improved screen plate for a pressure screening apparatus and a method for making the basket are disclosed wherein prestressed areas are provided at each end of each slot formed in the screen plate for minimizing crack propagation.... | 08/18/1992 |
| 5137629 | Magnetic separator operating in a wet environment A high-intensity magnetic separator operating in a wet environment for separating magnetic particles from a fluid material comprises a separating unit which comprises a vertically extending housing having side walls defining a separating chamber, valved d... | 08/11/1992 |
| 5137181 | Manually operated appliance, in particular for a double dispensing cartridge for two-component substances A manually operated appliance, particularly adapted for a two-component substance double dispensing cartridge, features two rams between which a thrust member is disposed in cylindrical sliding guides. Pivotably attached to the thrust member are ratchets,... | 08/11/1992 |
| 5137622 | Filter screen assembly An assembly comprises a rectangular principal frame (12) of moulded plastics material and subdivided by crosspieces (14, 16) to form sub-areas (18). Each sub-area receives as a releasable snap-fit a plastics moulded insert (20) in the form of a sub-frame ... | 08/11/1992 |
| 5137155 | Method and an apparatus for treating plant fibres A method and an apparatus for removing impurities from plant fibrous material which constitutes residual products in the refining of tuber or root vegetables, fruits etc. The plant fibrous material is, for forming a first substance, adjusted to a TS conte... | 08/11/1992 |
| 5135115 | Document sorter and stacker, particularly for document processors A document sorter/stacker apparatus includes a plurality of slotted disk assemblies respectively associated with bins or pockets in which high-speed transported documents are to be sorted and stacked. Each of the disk assemblies is selectively rotated to ... | 08/04/1992 |
| 5135114 | Apparatus for evaluating the grade of rice grains An apparatus for evaluating the grade of rice grains includes a grain supply unit, vibrating troughs on which the rice grains run in their longitudinal posture, flow-down troughs having slits each opening to each of the flow-down troughs, a reflected ligh... | 08/04/1992 |
| 5135113 | High-speed tablet sorting machine A device for sorting tablets by capacitive measurement, including a disk rotating between capacitor plates, a tablet fielding device for sequentially metering a series of tablets onto the disk, an arcuate guide assembly for guiding the tablets along a gui... | 08/04/1992 |
| 5127586 | Method of magnetic separation and apparatus therefore A method and apparatus for magnetically beneficiating a raw sample, such as coal or lunar soil is disclosed. The beneficiation is achieved using a novel of fractionating the sample into components of different magnetic susceptibilities. The results of the... | 07/07/1992 |
| 5123543 | Apparatus for separating angel hair Apparatus for separating angel hair from bulk material includes a hollow drum which is partly immersed in the flow of bulk material and rotates in such a manner that the immersed part of the drum moves in opposite direction to the bulk material flow. The ... | 06/23/1992 |
| 5124029 | Method of and device for fractionating suspensions A device for fractionating pulp suspensions has a series of vertical filter sheets attached to a horizontal shaft. Suspension is sprayed against the sheets to effect a separation of coarse and fine solids. Cleansing liquid is also sprayed against the shee... | 06/23/1992 |
| 5119954 | Multi-pass sorting machine A mail document sorting device includes a document input feeder, and at least one singulation device for orienting and singulating the documents so that indicia on their faces can be disposed at a predetermined level about a data reference plane. Single d... | 06/09/1992 |
| 5120431 | Pneumatic centrifugal separator A pneumatic centrifugal separator comprises guide vanes disposed along the generatrices of a fictitious cylinder having a vertical axis, the guide vanes being adapted to impart to a gas stream entering the fictitious cylinder a rotary motion about the ver... | 06/09/1992 |
| 5115918 | Apparatus for the automated processing of bulk mail and the like An apparatus for orienting a plurality of documents received in differing orientations relative to the apparatus, for delivery from the apparatus in a uniform orientation, generally comprises a device for determining the orientation of a document accordin... | 05/26/1992 |
| 5114230 | Electro-optical inspection A method and apparatus for inspecting workpieces for rapid and accurate determination of dimensions and the like. The equipment is electro-optical in nature and there is no contact between the inspecting elements and the workpiece under inspection. An ele... | 05/19/1992 |
| 5114015 | Delivery device and sorting machine for rod-like articles A device for sorting rod-like articles, for example cigarettes, according to their weight. The device feeds a single article from a hopper into a channel with the aid of two ribbed drums. The article then drops into a groove in a delivery shaft where it i... | 05/19/1992 |
| 5112474 | Screening apparatus with tiltable vibratory screen There is disclosed a screening apparatus for screening particulate material and which comprises a base frame, an elevating conveyor adjustably mounted on the base frame and arranged to convey material from a loading station at or near a lower end of the c... | 05/12/1992 |
| 5110453 | Split feed reject claimer A method and apparatus for separation and cleaning of fibers for papermaking machines for the removal of reject material such as tramp iron and knots, delivering a flow of fibers with mixed reject material and releasing the flow to descend gravitationally... | 05/05/1992 |
| 5108587 | Apparatus for the electrodynamic separation of non-ferromagnetic free-flowing material Electrodynamic separation of non-ferromagnetic, free-flowing materials, in which at least one component of the material to be processed is electrically conductive, whereby such material is caused to free-fall into a region of space permeated by time and s... | 04/28/1992 |
| 5108588 | Structure of vibro separator A vibro separator, comprising a separator unit which is comprised of a screen assembly releasably mounted on a hopper at the top, which screen assembly has a screen releasably fastened therein; a vibrator unit which is comprised of a motor directly or ind... | 04/28/1992 |
| 5106490 | Mobile material screening apparatus A mobile material screening apparatus includes a sloped screen box, a housing, a fifth wheel coupling, an engine and a pair of wheels fixed to the housing. Two hydraulic rams lift the apparatus and wheels off the ground and four extendable legs support it... | 04/21/1992 |
| 5103982 | Check stager-feeder A check stager-feeder for accumulating, in a stage, a predetermined number of checks or sheets in a stack and for high-speed feeding of the stack to further equipment comprising a kicker/stop member movable by a solenoid between two angular orientations f... | 04/14/1992 |
| 5101979 | Paper sheet depositing and dispensing apparatus, abnormality recovery process of the paper sheet depositing and dispensing apparatus, and automatic cashier A paper sheet handling apparatus including a plurality of sheet accumulating portions and a sheet conveyor. A pointed separator is mounted on the conveyor for movement into a stack of paper sheets accumulated in one sheet accumulating portion to divide th... | 04/07/1992 |
| 5101983 | Device for identifying and sorting objects A device for identifying and sorting objects includes a low-friction surface for supporting parcels to be identified and sorted, each provided with a bar code on at least one side thereof, a dragging mechanism capable of conveying parcels from a staging a... | 04/07/1992 |
| 5101980 | Magnetic separator assembly for use in material separator equipment A material separator for separating non-magnetic components from magnetic components in a material is provided. The material separator has a support frame, a magnetic roller, an idler roller and a conveyor belt. The idler roller is rotatably mounted on an... | 04/07/1992 |
