Other

Hewlett-packard Company

Hoya Corporation USA

Huff, Richard E.

Richard E Huff

Brian C Leslie

Farid Matta

Kristy Moore

Miklos Perlaki

Wynell Welch

A trailer coupler locking device that includes: a trailer ball body, wherein the trailer ball body is shaped as a coupling ball; a plurality of locking rods, where the plurality of locking rods define elongated members which extend from the trailer ball body; and a locking mechanism. The elongated members may be placed in either a locked position or an unlocked position. When in the unlocked position, the ball body moves freely in and out of a ball mount coupler, and when in a locked position, the ball body is locked into a ball mount coupler. The locking rods selectively extend and retract by manual operation of the locking mechanism, where the locking mechanism includes a cylinder lock that is operably connected to a rotational member and a mechanical rod actuator. The mechanical rod actuator operable connects the rotational member with each locking rod and enables each locking rod to move linearly in response to the rotary motion of the rotational member.

Locking trailer ball assembly

A vibrato assembly for stringed instruments makes slight and rapid changes in the pitch of the tone produced by a stringed instrument. The vibrato assemblies described herein use flexures to permit movement of an armature relative to a fixed base to produce variations in the tension of the strings and thereby the pitch of the tones. These flexure vibrato assemblies have the advantages of high strength, zero operational noise and rumble, and virtually zero friction and hysteresis. Additionally, flexure vibrato assemblies provide a robust path between the instrument and the strings resulting in improved tonal quality, range, and sustain. A modular flexural pivot is especially useful as the flexure of the present invention.

Vibrato assembly and acoustic coupling system for stringed instruments

An acoustic coupling plate extends from the bridge or vibrato to the neck of the instrument. It acoustically couples the strings, the neck, the instrument body, and either a bridge or a vibrato to alter the acoustic attenuation of the instrument and to reduce the amount of multipath distortion. When a different tonality is desired, this acoustic coupling plate can be divide into two plates and shaped to produce a desirable dampening versus frequency curve. One of these plates acoustically couples the instrument body to the bridge/vibrato and the second plate acoustically couples the neck to the instrument body. A vibrato assembly for stringed instruments makes slight and rapid changes in the pitch of the tone produced by stringed instrument. Previously known vibrato assemblies use knife-edge hinges or rolling ball bearings to produce these variations. The vibrato assemblies described herein use flexure bearings to produce variations in the tension of the strings and thereby the pitch of the tones. These flexure bearing vibrato assemblies have the advantages of high strength, zero operational noise and rumble, and virtually zero friction and hysteresis. Additionally, flexure bearing vibrato assemblies provide a robust path between the instrument and the strings resulting in improved tonal quality, range, and sustain.

A vibrato assembly for stringed instruments makes slight and rapid changes in the pitch of the tone produced by stringed instrument. Previously known vibrato assemblies use knife-edge hinges or rolling ball bearings to produce these variations. The vibrato assemblies described herein use flexure bearings to produce variations in the tension of the strings and thereby the pitch of the tones. These flexure bearing vibrato assemblies have the advantages of high strength, zero operational noise and rumble, and virtually zero friction and hysteresis. Additionally, flexure bearing vibrato assemblies provide a robust path between the instrument and the strings resulting in improved tonal quality, range, and sustain.

Vibrato assembly for stringed instruments

The present invention provides a membrane probe contact bump compliancy system implemented in an integrated circuit (IC) testing system to nondestructively test a wafer. This integrated circuit system includes a test controller which is capable of controlling and executing a set of test programs, a wafer dispensing system, and a probe card. Under control of the test controller, the wafer dispensing system handles and controls the wafer for the performance of said set of test program. The probe card has a performance board and a plurality of probes. In cooperation with the wafer dispensing system, the probe card positions each of the probes to engage the wafer substantially at a predefined location with a controlled amount of force. The performance board further includes a transmission line corresponding to each probe. The probes are affixed to the performance board with each probe connected to a corresponding transmission line such that each probe is in electric communication with the test controller via the performance board. The probe card further includes a probe compliancy system disposed between the performance board and the probes. The compliancy system includes at least one elastomer layer and at least one deflectable protection layer. The probe compliancy system cushions the probes in engaging the wafer and the deflectable protection layers protect the elastomeric layers.

Membrane probe contact bump compliancy system

Disclosed is a test probe [10] for testing a test device [not shown], also known as a device under test, while precisely controlling the force exerted by the test probe [10] on the test device. Included is a translation ring [18] as well as a carrier [12] formed to have at least a first side and a second side. The support means [12] is coupled to the translation ring [18]. Also included is at least one flexure pivot [14] for delivering a force to a test device; the flexure pivot [14] is coupled to the first side of the carrier. A membrane [16] is coupled to the second side of the carrier. Finally, at least one signal contact bump [24] is mounted on the membrane [16] for communicating an electric current between the test probe [10] and the test device [not shown].

Force delivery system for improved precision membrane probe

An apparatus [10] for providing an automatic lateral scrubbing motion when a test membrane [22] engages a device under test (DUT) (not shown). Included are a fixed length flexure pivot assembly [30] and a pair of variable length flexure pivot assemblies [38]. Signal traces, signal trace terminals, and contact bumps [23, 25, 60] are formed for communicating electrical signals between the apparatus [10] and the DUT. A membrane [22] is stretched and configured for carrying the signal traces, signal trace terminals, and contact bumps [23, 25 and 60]. A hexagonal translation stage [28] is formed with an upper surface [29] disposed for being coupled to at lesat one of the fixed and variable length flexure pivot assemblies [30 and 38], and formed with a lower surface [54]. Surface [54] is formed to define an aperture [51] through itself, formed for securing over itself the membrane [22] when stretched; it is disposed for being coupled to membrane [22]. Finally included is a carrier [12], formed for suspending the hexagonal translation stage [28] and fixed and variable length flexure pivot assemblies [30 and 38].

Membrane probe with automatic contact scrub action

A self-leveling membrane probe [10] is disclosed. A carrier [12] supports a translation stage [18] through radial flexure pivots [14]. A flexible membrane [22] having a first and second side is stretched over the translation stage [28] and held in high tension across its central portion compared to the tension maintained in its outer portion. The membrane's [22] center of the first side faces a device under test (DUT) (not shown) and carries contact bumps [34] that relay electric signals in and out of the DUT. The second side opposite the contact bumps [34] is occupied by a receptacle [32] including a rotation plate [30] and a conical well [32b] designed to receive a pivot pin [26] enbedded in a reference plate [24] suspended from above by the translation stage [18]. The pin [26] and well [32b] function together as a bearing and provide an automatic compensating rotation in response to an alignment mismatch between the probe [10] and a device under test. When the contact bumps [34] encounter uneven test pads, one end of the rotation plate [30] is pushed upwards away from the test wafer. Since the pivot pin [26] is held in a constant vertical position by the fixed reference plate [24], the rotation plate [30] reacts to the imbalanced force applied from below by rotating about the pointed end [26a] of the pivot pin [26] which is seated at the bottom of the conical well [32b]. The resulting angular deflection of the rotation plate [30] aligns the contact bumps [34] on the membrane [22] to the inclined plane of the input-output pads.

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Belmont, CA, United States of America

Richard E Huff