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:
Apr. 06, 1999
Filed:
Feb. 19, 1997
Anthony Qingzhong Tang, Ellicott City, MD (US);
William J Siegel, N. Bethesda, MD (US);
Elmer Raleigh Hodil, Jr, Timonium, MD (US);
Louis Abbagnaro, Silver Spring, MD (US);
Pace, Incorporated, Laurel, MD (US);
Abstract
A soldering/desoldering apparatus has a handpiece with a handgrip portion from which a hot air tube extends, a vacuum pickup tube which extends through the handgrip portion and hot air tube, one end of which has a suction cup mounted thereon and an opposite end of which is connected to a flexible vacuum line. Furthermore, an adjustment knob for axially shifting the vacuum pickup tube is provided on the handgrip portion and the vacuum pickup tube is resiliently displaceably supported relative to a displacement mechanism formed by a slide rod fixed to an inner wall of the handgrip portion and a rack member slidably disposed on the slide rod and geared to the adjustment knob. The pickup tube is fixed to a slide bracket which is slidably disposed on the slide rod between the ends of the rack member and between a pair of coil springs which act to position the slide bracket in a neutral position between the ends of the rack member. Additionally, nozzles having a fixed vacuum pickup extension can be used. According to another advantageous feature, a vacuum on/off switch and a hot air on/off switch are provided on the handgrip portion, and the vacuum on/off switch has a time delay function built for preventing termination of the vacuum supply unless the switch is depressed for longer than a predetermined time period.