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:
Sep. 28, 1999
Filed:
Sep. 05, 1997
Ronald N Caferro, Spokane, WA (US);
Other;
Abstract
A process is described for forming a lighting louver that includes a plurality of louver members. The process includes the steps of providing a sheet of thermoformable material and heating the sheet to a pliable state. A further step includes providing a forming mandrel having a series of mandrel partitions arranged with spaces between the partitions. The heated sheet is positioned over the forming mandrel, and is forced against the forming mandrel to form the heated sheet over the mandrel partitions and thereby produce a formed louver blank including formed louver segments that conform to the mandrel partitions and webbing segments that span the spaces between the partitions on the forming mandrel. In one preferred form the webbing segments are removed. In another preferred form, transparent webbing segments are formed that do not require removal and will transmit light. The webbing segments in the first form are removed from the louver blank to form light transmissive openings through the louver blank.