The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 26, 1992
Filed:
Jul. 03, 1990
Ronald G Blaisdell, Saugus, MA (US);
Harold L Hough, Beverly, MA (US);
Robert Y Pai, Hamilton, MA (US);
GTE Products Corporation, Danvers, MA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for making an aperture in a coating on an inside surface of a lamp envelope such as a miniature fluorescent lamp envelope. The apparatus includes a magnetic scraping tool disposed adjacent to the inside surface of the lamp envelope and a magnet disposed adjacent to the outside surface of the lamp envelope so as to influence the scraping tool. The magnet acts on the magnetic scraping tool to maintain a scraping portion of the scraping tool in contact with the inside surface of the lamp envelope. As the magnet is moved along the outside of the lamp envelope, the scraping tool is pulled through the inside of the lamp envelope with sufficient clamping force to scrape a desired width of coating from the inside surface of the lamp envelope. In one embodiment, a guide is provided to guide the scraping tool through the lamp envelope. In a preferred embodiment, the scraping tool and the magnet are coupled to the guide. The guide moves the magnet and the scraping tool along the lamp envelope. A scraping insert on the scraping tool is sized to remove the coating from a predetermined area of the inside surface of the lamp envelope.