Glam girl Heddy Lamar may have used her good looks to good effect on the silver screen, but she put her smarts to better use as an inventor. During World War II, she co-patented a frequency-switching system for torpedo guidance that was considered years ahead of its time.
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AbstractThe invention is an adjustable wire brush tool for cleaning either the inside or the outside end of a copper pipe or fitting in preparation for soldering the parts together. The tool includes a hollow cylindrical section with a first wire brush on the interior surface of the section. Attached at one end of the cylindrical section is a slightly smaller cylindrical section sized to hold a second cylindrical twisted steel brush having a hexagonal shaft that extends from the smaller section, opposite the larger cylindrical section. The twisted steel brush and attached shaft can be moved to extend the twisted brush beyond the open end of the larger cylindrical section, for insertion into a fitting to clean the fitting interior surface by attaching a power drill to the shaft and rotating the twisted steel brush attached thereto. To clean the outside of a pipe, the twist brush is retracted into the smaller section and secured to that section with an engaging means. The pipe is inserted into the larger section, and the drill is activated to rotate the shaft and attached larger section to clean the pipe outer surface. The tool overcomes the need for separate tools to perform each task and requires but one drill to perform either task as needed. The tool is sized to handle a particular diameter of pipe and fitting, with sizes ranging from one quarter inch to several inches.Other References
| InventorApplicationNo. 10132112 filed on 04/23/2002US Classes:15/104.04, Outside15/88, Wire, rod, and tube cleaners15/104.05InsideField of Search15/88, Wire, rod, and tube cleaners15/104.03, Pipe, tube, or conduit cleaner15/104.04, Outside15/104.05, Inside15/106BrushExaminersPrimary: Chin, Randall E.Attorney, Agent or FirmUS Patent References2303824, 4301567, Rotary terminal cleanerIssued on: 11/24/1981 Inventor: Tucker4372003, Industrial pipe thread cleaner Issued on: 02/08/1983 Inventor: Toelke4433448, Power pipe thread cleaner Issued on: 02/28/1984 Inventor: True4530127, Thread cleaning device Issued on: 07/23/1985 Inventor: Roberts4575892, Device for cleaning electrical connectors Issued on: 03/18/1986 Inventor: Ross4600444, Pipe end area cleaning system Issued on: 07/15/1986 Inventor: Miner4862549, Pipe preparation device for soldering or brazing Issued on: 09/05/1989 Inventor: Criswell , et al.5157802, Pipe thread cleaning apparatus Issued on: 10/27/1992 Inventor: Guidry, et al.5307534, Portable rotary copper pipe cleaner Issued on: 05/03/1994 Inventor: Miller5493748, Tube cleaning device Issued on: 02/27/1996 Inventor: Santo6065173, Cleaning device for copper tubing and copper fittings Issued on: 05/23/2000 Inventor: White6106370Pipe cleaning and burnishing tool and method Issued on: 08/22/2000 Inventor: Carter International ClassesB08B 902A46B 1302 |