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:
Jun. 25, 1996
Filed:
Mar. 21, 1995
Jacob H Martin, Wellesley, MA (US);
William P Kelley, Beverly, MA (US);
Other;
Abstract
An improved gas pressure gauge is disclosed that extends the linear range of pressure dependent damping to higher pressures by placing a stationary member in very close proximity to the vibrating member. This range of linear dependent damping is also extended to lower pressures by making the vibrating member large in area relative to its small distance from a fixed planar member, which can also serve as its supporting member, by making it vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the fixed planar member, and by making the springs that support the vibrating member from a high Q and conductive material, such as boron doped single crystal silicon. These features for extending the range to higher and lower pressures can be built separately into two independent vibrating elements that can be used individually or in tandem, or they can be built into a single vibrating element that can be made to vibrate in two modes, one parallel and one perpendicular to a fixed member. The preferred method of measuring gas pressure with these gauges is to determine the drive voltage necessary to drive the mechanical oscillator to a fixed amplitude against the pressure dependent damping of the gas that is being measured.