Issue



Inventor's Corner


08/01/2003







Critical environment pad

A cleaning/polishing pad that has an outer surface (A) with raised rows of nubs (B) and having interspersed troughs (C). The troughs, which may contain polishing/cleaning chemicals, are divided into first and second groups of substantially parallel troughs. The groups of troughs are arranged at an angle to one another, forming a hatch pattern. The pad can be formed to make roller brushes, circular brushes or manual wipes. For the circular brushes, the nubs are arranged adjacent to each other, forming laterally alternating concentric circles. Micropores are interspersed within the pad having a gradient of pores, with smaller pores towards the first surface and larger pores towards the second. There are no sharp edges or corners in/on the pad.

Patent number: 6,578,227 B2
Date granted: June 17, 2003
Inventor: Harald A. Bailey, Berkshire Corp. (Great Barrington, Mass.)

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Filter-valve assembly

The filter and valve canister, shown below, contains a filter (A) that has an outer cylindrical casing (B) with a top (C), a bottom (D) and a connecting tube (E). A seal (F) may either be an adhesive or screw-fit, while the filter cartridge is cradled with supporting arms (G). The supporting arms may also contain indicia (H) to indicate the required type of filtration media. The valve, shown above, (I) has an upper plate (J), a receptacle disk and a lower plate (K). The upper plate is connected to the receptacle disk through a shaft (K) and is held in place with a nut, which permits pressure between the upper plate and disk. Together, the assembly provides an easy shut-off valve that allows a quick filter replacement within fluid purifications systems without spillage.

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Patent number: 6,579,455 B1
Date granted: June 17, 2003
Inventors: Tom Muzik, John W. Vickers and John Cannistra; PTI Advanced Filtration (Oxnard, Calif.)

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Garment managing system

The invention is a system that provides garments with inherent identification data. A measuring part of the system calculates the garment's cleanliness and outputs the information to a database that identifies contaminants. Newly acquired data is compared to previous measurements, and a signal processor then calculates the difference between the two pieces of information, thereby judging the cleanliness of the garment. A clean garment managing system then sorts bunnysuits, booties and head covers.

Patent number: 6,577,750 B1
Date granted: June 10, 2003
Inventors: Yunki Ohta and Michio Kuniya; Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokyo).

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