Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company

Gemini Systems, L.l.c.

Medafor, Inc.

Imation Corporation

Drake, James Franklin

Ereth, Mark Harold

Skow, Lynn R.

Lynn R Skow

William M Dunbar

Arthur R Moore

James Franklin Drake

James R Gilbertson

Mark Harold Ereth

Masses of particles are structurally supported by the application of vacuum through a support surface having holes thereon that are smaller than the average diameter of the particle mass that is to be supported. The reduced pressure structurally supports particles on the support surface. The mass of particles tends is so well supported that it tends retain its shape unless additional forces are applied. The system comprises the vacuum applicator (e.g., pump), a vacuum carrying system and the support surface. When a mass of particles is supported on the support surface under vacuum, the particles can be carried to a target surface, the mass of particles pressed against the target surface, the mass conforming to the target surface, and the vacuum reduced or stopped, depositing the particle mass onto the surface in excellent shape compliance with that surface.

Method of supporting and/or applying particulate materials

A delivery system for the delivery of flowable medicinal, therapeutic or medicine materials has a strip with flowable material contained and restrained therein. A removable seal is provided, so that when the removable seal is removed, the flowable material will flow from a storage area onto a site selected for treatment. The removable seal may be provided with additional features such as absorbent coatings, or additional disinfectants coatings useful in preparing the wound surface to receive the flowable wound treatment material. A preferred composition is a system, article and method for the enhancement of clotting in wounds with extravascular blood flow, especially where the surface of the tissue has been broken.

Material delivery system

The apparatus for handling and operating on an article includes a flexible member having a working surface and at least one fluid orifice which pass through the flexible member and terminates in outlets on the working surface. The flexible member is a web made of a plurality of stacked layers. Fluid supplied to the working surface through the orifices act on articles placed in close proximity to the working surface.

Flexible system for handling articles

A magazine storage system for storing and retrieving recording strips. The system includes a magazine, having shelves for storing the strips, and a loop-shaped drive. The strips are transported between the magazine and the drive by conduits having air jets emanating from holes therein. The system provides rapid access to large amounts of stored information.

Magazine storage system for recording strips

A loop-shaped drive and drive system for retrieving and storing information on flexible recording strips. The drive has a loop-shaped conduit having a working surface on its inner periphery. A fluid, such as air, is supplied to the conduit and emerges from an array of uniformly distributed orifices in the working surface. Fluid streams from the orifices support the recording strip above the working surface and transport it around the inner periphery of the loop-shaped conduit. As the strip travels around the loop-shaped conduit, it passes in close proximity with at least one transducer, thereby allowing the transducer(s) to read/write information on the strip.

Loop-shaped pneumatic drive

A drive system for rotating a disk includes a housing having a planar element with a working surface which includes a spindle which facilitates rotational movement of the disk relative to the drive assembly. A plurality of orifices extend through planar element at an acute angle relative to the working surface and are arranged in a circular array. A conduit assembly delivers fluid to the housing. The fluid exits through the orifices outlets to provide a motive force for rotating the disk around the spindle, while also providing a pressure differential to support the medium.

Fluid drive system for a rotating medium

A hot water probe for use with a wood or other solid fuel burning appliances (stoves, furnaces, fireplaces, etc.) to provide supplemental hot water heating whereby the use of natural gas or other non-renewable fuel can be conserved. The probe may comprise a pair of elongated, coaxial tubes of a predetermined length which extend outwardly from a header block which contains an inlet chamber sealingly coupled to the inner one of said pair of coaxial tubes and an outlet chamber sealingly coupled only to the outer one of said pair of coaxial tubes. The tubular portion of the probe is fitted through a hole formed in a wall of the appliance and it extends for a predetermined distance into the firebox at a desired level relative to the flame. The header block may be bolted or otherwise affixed to the outer side wall of the appliance. A connection is then made between a water outlet of the water heating tank and the inlet chamber of the header. Likewise, a connection is made between the outlet chamber of the header and an inlet to the water heating tank. As water circulates through the central tube and back through the outer tube of the probe, it is heated by the fire in the stove, furnace or fireplace before being returned to the water heating tank. The specification also details how plural probes may be cascaded to provide an increased heating capacity.

Hot water probe

A heat exchanger construction for use in a solid fuel burning heating system. A plurality of tubular members are provided for receiving hot, smoke laden gases and directing said gases through the zone in which clean, forced air to be heated is present. The tubes are supported between two parallel, spaced apart support plates having apertures formed therethrough for receiving opposed ends of the tubes. A clean-out box is provided at one end of the heat exchanger tubes and because a predetermined spacing is maintained between the rear surface of the clean-out box and one of the two support plates, it is possible to utilize an inexpensive tack weld to hold the parts in place, rather than a 360.degree. welded seam between the tubes and the support plate through which they pass. That is, the pressure differentials resulting from the construction ensure that no smoke laden gases will enter the clean air zone, even upon occurrence of pressure reversals in the chimney flue, thereby obviating the necessity of a totally welded seal between the heat exchanger tubes and the support plate and clean-out box through which the tubes pass.

Heat exchanger construction for solid fuel burning furnace

A solid fuel burning system which may be readily combined with a conventional fluid fuel burning furnace in a forced air heating system. The solid fuel burning system comprises, in combination, a draft inducing blower which directs air for combustion into the furnace at a point proximate the burning fuel. Baffle walls are provided which separate the smoke and other products of combustion from the clean air to be heated and a novel heat exchanger comprised of a plurality of elongated tubes provide a relatively large heat transfer surface. The furnace is specifically designed to facilitate periodic cleaning of the interior walls of the heat exchanger where creosote and other products of combustion may accumulate. In addition, the system employs a novel electronic control circuit which is tied in with the room thermostat and with a thermocouple disposed within the solid fuel burning furnace. The output of the thermocouple is amplified and applied to a series of comparators whose outputs are used to perform various control functions. Specifically, the output from a first comparator indicates that a fire is present in the wood burning unit. A timer mechanism comprised of electronic circuitry becomes operational upon closure of the room thermostat contacts and if the temperature present in the solid fuel burning furnace does not exceed a predetermined threshold within a given period of time, a relay is rendered operational to switch in the fluid fuel furnace. Additional comparators and digital logic circuitry is used to control the rate of burning of the solid fuel by modulating the on/off condition of the draft inducing blower.

Growing community of inventors

North Branch, MN, United States of America

Lynn R Skow