Carnegie Mellon University

Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Stelkast Incorporated

Thomas A Mutschler

Lee E Weiss

Arthur C Sanderson

Scott A Jones

John Charles Purcupile

Mark Zaremsky

Joel D Kneisley

Angela L Lenden

Gary Ferguson

Donald W Fulmer

Ronald Lasser

Mark P Wieszczyk

The present invention provides a system for inserting and removing an implant comprising an implant and a tool. The implant has a protrusion, preferably triangular, extending from its proximal end. A tool designed for engaging the protrusion has a shaft, a sleeve and an actuation assembly. A cavity for receiving and lockingly engaging the protrusion on the implant is formed in the distal end of the shaft. The sleeve has a flattened surface in its interior configured to confront a complementary flattened surface on the shaft to constrain the shaft and the sleeve against rotation relative to each other. The actuation assembly moves the sleeve back and forth along the shaft to position the shaft into an extended position wherein the cavity is exposed or into a retracted position wherein the cavity, and the protrusion when it is seated in the cavity, are captured in the sleeve. A spring is provided in the actuation assembly for biasing the sleeve distally toward an open end of the shaft to move the shaft and the cavity in a normally retracted position within the sleeve.

System for coupling an implant to a tool for inserting and removing the

A light weight servo controlled robot gripper is disclosed. A plastic body houses one or more threaded drive shafts which are powered by a direct current motor. Attached to the shafts are finger mounting blocks which support removable fingers and which can be driven both closer to and further away from a fixed point by the motor. Integral with at least one mounting block is a force transducer which monitors the load exerted on the finger through a pivot and lever action of a mounting bracket provided adjacent to the load cell. Since the transducer is in the block rather than the fingertip, fingers are readily interchangable without reinstrumentation. A limit switch, located above one of the finger mounting blocks, is used to determine coarse finger position, and an optical shaft encoder provides precise position information allowing the gripper to be utilized for a variety of position as well as force servoing tasks.

Servo robot gripper

A multi-lead component manipulator for the assembly of circuit boards has optical and tactile feedback systems and includes at least two and preferably three symmetric assemblies radially disposed about a component gripper assembly. Each symmetric assembly has a movable lead guide means for engaging a component lead and aligning the same for circuit board insertion. The guide means are adapted for independent arcuate and radial motion reflective of the optical feedback system and the gripper assembly is capable of axial movement for the acquisition and insertion of components. The tactile feedback system controls component insertion. The manipulator in an alternative embodiment has fixed guide means disposed above the movable guide means. The fixed guide means orient the component leads for acquisition by the movable guide means.

Multi-lead component manipulator

A roof pin-or-bolt setting machine which applies sonic energy to drive bolts which may be of non-circular section or helical into the roof of a coal mine. The energy is supplied by a bar which is set into sonic vibration in its bending mode so that there is a standing wave along the bar having nodes and anti-nodes. The bolt is supported vertically at an anti-node position of the bar and is driven into the roof as the bar is vibrated. Continuous vertical force is applied to the bar to maintain the bolt in engagement with the roof under pressure.

Mine roof supporting

Growing community of inventors

Pittsburgh, PA, United States of America

Thomas A Mutschler