Other

Onto Innovation Inc.

Thompson Bagel Machine Mfg. Corporation

Thompson Bagel Machine Manufacturing Corp.

Nanometrics Inc.

Daniel T Thompson

Ye Feng

Pedro Vagos

Yan Zhang

Amit Shachaf

John F Lesoine

Alessandra Coradeschi

Thomas A Rowland

An improvement is provided for routine law enforcement stops by making it safer for police officers and pedestrians. Implementation of smart technology into the industry wide standard use of physical interactions between police officers and pedestrians, a streamed lined method and process will yield optimal results as a safer method and system in executing such a tactic. Utilizing technology i.e. algorithms and databases, servers, and cloud-based infrastructures with application processing interfaces (api's) communicating in this ecosystem, creating a synergy while transferring specific data; will replace the current process of a routine traffic stop.

System and method for increasing safety during law enforcement stops

The light from an optical metrology device is focused into a measurement spot on a sample using a focusing system. The focusing system uses an image of the light reflected from the measurement spot to determine a best focal position at a desired position of the sample. The focusing system selects a characteristic of reflected light, such as polarization state or wavelengths, to use for focusing. The characteristic of the reflected light that is selected for use in determining focal position is affected different by different portions of the sample. For example, light reflected from a top surface of a sample may have a different characteristic than light reflected by an underlying layer. The selected characteristic of the reflected light is used by the focusing system to focus the measurement spot at the top surface or an underlying layer of the sample.

Focus system for oblique optical metrology device

An improvement is provided for routine traffic stops by making it safer for police officers and drivers. Implementation of smart technology into the industry wide standard use of physical interactions between police officers and drivers, a streamed lined method and process will yield optimal results as a safer method and system in executing such a tactic. Utilizing technology i.e. algorithms and databases, servers, and cloud-based infrastructures with application processing interfaces (api's) communicating in this ecosystem, creating a synergy while transferring specific data; will replace the current process of a routine traffic stop.

System and method for increasing safety during traffic stops

Optical metrology is used to calibrate the plane-of-incidence (POI) azimuth error by determining and correcting an azimuth angle offset. The azimuth angle offset may be determined by measuring at least a partial Mueller matrix from a calibration grating on a sample held on a stage for a plurality of POI azimuth angles. An axis of symmetry is determined for a curve describing a value of a Mueller matrix element with respect to POI azimuth angle, for each desired wavelength and each desired Mueller matrix element. The axis of symmetry may then be used to determine the azimuth angle offset, e.g., by determining a mean, median or average of all, or a filtered subset, of the axes of symmetry. If desired, an axis of symmetry may be determined for data sets other than Mueller matrix elements, such as Fourier coefficients of measured signals.

Correction of angular error of plane-of-incidence azimuth of optical metrology device

A pre-paid purchasing system comprises a pre-paid purchasing card and a plurality of single use access codes on the card. Each access code is usable to authorize one payment of an amount which is subtracted from the pre-paid amount of the card. After use, an access code becomes null and void. Moreover, a method for managing purchases of goods and services from the Internet, mail-order catalogs, any merchant, etc. is proposed.

Pre-paid purchasing card and method

A toroid forming machine has a plurality of individual laterally flexible dough forming members mounted upon a conveyor chain to revolve about spaced sprockets, the forming members being drawn through a stationary sleeve formed by opposing one-half sleeve members from a substantially flat initial configuration to a substantially closed cylindrical configuration at an exit end of the sleeve. A stationary mandrel is provided centrally of the sleeve to allow molding of dough strips between the forming members and mandrel into toroid configuration suitable for making bagels. End portions of the mandrel and sleeve are removable and have an expanding configuration to allow for varying the size of toroids exiting the sleeve. The forming members and the associated conveyor chain are easily removed for replacement by different size members as are the mandrel and sleeve members. A drive sprocket of the conveyor means is mounted on a swing carriage to release the conveyor for replacement or cleaning, a mandrel is removably mounted to the machine frame and the sleeve members are mounted on movable support members for ease of cleaning or replacement.

Articulated belt like toroid forming machine

A dough shaping, dividing and reshaping machine has a feed conveyor for conveying a batch of dough to preshaping means including laterally spaced side rollers and vertically spaced top and bottom rollers and other rollers for advancing the batch to a dough divider means for receiving the dough batch in a preshaped configuration, shaping it to two generally rectangular cross section strips of dough and advancing the strips to a cut-off location, dough cut-off knives at the cut-off location for dividing the two strips alternately into parts of determinable size, separating such parts in sequence from the strips and delivering them individually to a dough forming means for receiving the individual dough parts and forming them into toroids or alternatively into dough balls of various sizes; roller means are provided for sensing the buildup of the dough batch between the top and bottom roller and the dough divider means; and an electric drive is provided for varying the advancement of the dough batch by the advancing roller in response to the amount of buildup of dough sensed by said sensor roller.

Compact dough dividing and forming machine

A dough receiving, shaping, dividing and forming machine for making dough bodies of predetermined size and configuration from an initially unshaped batch of dough in a continuous manner in a single machine frame has an infeed conveyor for receiving a batch of unshaped dough and conveying it to a preshaping location, a pair of laterally spaced dough batch side roller shaping rollers at said preshaping side bath into a uniform width, a pair of verticaly shaped top and bottom roller preshaping and dough advancing rollers for preshaping said batch into a uniform height and advancing said batch from between said side shaping means to a divider location, dough divider means at the divider location for receiving the dough batch in a preshaped configuration, shaping it to two generally rectangular cross section strips of dough and advancing the strips to a cut-off location, dough cut-off knives at the cut-off location for dividing the two strips alternately into parts of determinable size, separating such parts in sequence from the strips and delivering them individually to a forming location, a dough forming means at the forming location for receiving the individual dough parts and forming them into toroids or alternatively into dough balls of various sizes; roller means are provided for sensing the buildup of the dough batch between the top and bottom roller and the dough divider means; and an electric drive is provided for varying the advancement of the dough batch by the advancing roller in response to the amount of buildup of dough sensed by said sensor roller.

Compact dough divider and forming machine

An apparatus produces a continuous plurality of generally rectangular dough elements of a controllable weight from a continuous and irregular mass of dough. The invention includes separate forming, dividing, and cutting portions. The forming portion includes multiple rollers disposed both normal to as well as parallel and traverse to the path of movement of the dough which form the irregularly-shaped dough mass to have a uniform width, depth, and consistency. The dividing portion includes a horizontally-disposed, multichannel dividing drum and a plurality of compression rollers which divide the dough from the forming portion into multiple strips of uniform cross section. The cutting portion includes a multiblade assembly having the shape of and being occludable with the channels of the multichannel drum. The blades are driven at constant speed in a planetary fashion whereby the only motions of the blades relative to the strips of dough passing through multichannel drum are inward and outward. The strips of dough are thus divided into a plurality of generally rectangular dough elements with a minimum of dough working or punishment. The weight of the dough elements is determined by the rotational speed of the dividing drum. Cooperating with the forming and dividing portions is a sensing mechanism which senses the amount of dough between the forming and dividing portions. The sensing mechanism controls the rotational speed of the horizontal rollers in the forming portion to maintain a predetermined amount of dough adjacent the compression rollers to assure uniform compression of the dough.

Dough forming, dividing and cutting apparatus

Dough-dividing and forming apparatus particularly adapted for forming toroid-shaped articles such as bagels, or the like, is disclosed. A first rotary plate member containing a plurality of cylindrical openings receives a cylindical ribbon of dough into the openings and shears the dough into disc-shaped dough lumps. The dough lumps are subsequently flattened in the center to form a web and pierced to form a generally annular shape. During the piercing operation, the dough lumps are transferred to a second rotary plate member carrying a plurality of tapered, cylindrical forming cups. As the second plate member is indexed between rotary positions, a plurality of cylindrical mandrels are repeatedly thrust into and out of the forming cups to roll the dough lumps internally along the length of the forming cups whereby the desired shape is formed.

Dough-dividing and toroid-forming apparatus

Indexing apparatus is disclosed whereby a constantly rotating drive shaft can intermittently drive apparatus driven thereby. An arm carried by the drive shaft pivotally carries a second arm which has means for engaging a cammed surface whereby the pivoted arm is moved radially toward and away from the drive shaft. The rotated output member is mounted for rotation about the longitudinal axis of the drive shaft and includes a projection adapted to be engaged selectively by an engaging member on the pivoted arm as the pivoted arm is rotated in response to the positioning of the camming surface. In the preferred embodiment, the projection is an extended member and the engaging member is initially brought into contact close adjacent the drive shaft and moved radially outward in a decreasing amount whereby the rotated member is smoothly accelerated. Correspondingly, upon disengagement, the engaging member is moved radially outward in an increasing amount to smoothly decelerate the rotated member.

Indexing apparatus

An apparatus for converting an unformed quantity of dough into a plurality of uniformly sized and shaped dough bodies has dough divider means for converting an unformed quantity of dough into at least one uniform ribbon of dough, moving the ribbon of dough through an outlet and severing the ribbon of dough into a plurality of uniformly sized pieces at an outlet of the dough divider; and dough forming means communicating with the dough divider means for engaging the ribbon of dough at the outlet of the dough divider means and drawing portions of the ribbon of dough away from the outlet in an initial drawing operation prior to severing the portion of dough from the ribbon of dough.

Method and apparatus for sizing and forming dough bodies

A dough proofing apparatus is for use in association with a dough forming apparatus having a dough piece receiving means which receives preformed dough pieces from a dough dividing machine and directs them toward a toroid forming apparatus wherein the proofing apparatus includes dough conveyance means for receiving and conveying dough pieces in a proofing mode of travel through a closed loop path of travel of the conveyor belt between generally adjacent dough entry and dough exit locations on the toroid forming apparatus. The conveyance belt is passed over vertically spaced pulleys with dough pieces retained thereon by adjacent dough support means on the conveyance belt which cooperate to form open-ended cage-like dough retaining receptacles for dough pieces as they travel on the conveyance means over and about the vertically spaced pulleys. In an alternative embodiment thereof, the conveyance means has its vertically spaced pulleys mounted on axes at various angles to one another in order to provide a change in axis of rotation for the conveyance belt of 180.degree. as it goes about the closed loop path of travel to reverse the inner and outer sides of the conveyance belt once per complete revolution. Alternative forms of dough receptacles are also disclosed.

Growing community of inventors

Pacific Palisades, CA, United States of America

Daniel T Thompson