E.i. Dupont De Nemours and Company

Other

Coatings Foreign IP Co. LLC

Roger Albert Karmes

Allan Blase Joseph Rodrigues

Arun Prakash

John Paul Gallagher

Judith Elaine Obetz

Allan Blase Rodrigues

William B Schenk

The present invention is directed to an apparatus and a method that characterizes the hiding of coating compositions, such as automotive OEM and refinishes paints. The method is directed to sequentially storing in a computing device hiding data obtained by measuring the color difference (&#x394;RGB) in reflections of light and dark portions of target areas of a monotonic coating resulting from a coating composition applied over hiding test panel and by measuring coating thicknesses of the monotonic coating that correspond to the target areas, classifying the type of the hiding data, selecting fitting equations applicable to the classified hiding data, fitting the selected equation to match the classified hiding data and locating a hiding thickness on the monotonic coating that corresponds to the threshold value of the color difference at that location to determine the hiding thickness of the coating composition.

Method for characterizing hiding of coating compositions and apparatus used therefor

The method of present invention and the device used therein is directed for characterizing unknown metallic flakes present in an existing coating on a substrate such that a matching metallic paint composition can be formulated and applied over the substrate to produce a metallic coating having characteristics, such as flop, that match the existing coating. The method includes directing a beam of light at a preset intensity towards a target portion of a target coating; directing a reflection of the portion to a photosensitive surface to capture a target image of the target portion; measuring characteristics of the unknown metallic flakes in the target image at said preset intensity; correlating the characteristics of the unknown metallic flakes in the target image to stored characteristics of known metallic flakes at that preset intensity to identify one or more the known metal flakes that match the characteristics of the unknown metallic flakes; and displaying the identified one or more known metal flakes that match the characteristics of the unknown metallic flakes. Once the characteristics are known, a formulator can then formulate a metallic paint that can be applied over the surface of a substrate, such as a repaired autobody, to produce a metallic coating that matches the remainder of the autobody.

Method of characterization of surface coating containing metallic flakes and device used therein

An improved apparatus for righting an upset catamaran is disclosed. Apparatus are provided to apply and maintain a compressive force in the mast while extending the out-of-water permanent shroud so that a sailor standing on the in-water pontoon and pulling on a righting line fastened to the out-of-water pontoon can easily rotate the out-of-water pontoon over the vertical where gravity will add to the righting moment. The compressive force on the mast permits the shroud extension and resultant mast pivoting without risk of dismasting. Apparatus to limit the mast pivoting to a selected angle are also taught.

Catamaran righting apparatus

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North East, MD, United States of America

Roger Albert Karmes