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:
Oct. 17, 2000
Filed:
May. 12, 1999
James Chung-Kei Lau, Torrance, CA (US);
TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Abstract
A bending mechanism for flexible waveguide uses a combination of an elongate arm (1), two short bracket arms (3 & 7) and a gear train (5, 11, 13 & 9) linking the bracket arms to bend a flexible waveguide (24) over a range of positions. The bend is formed to the shape of a circular arc the radius of which varies with the position. Each short bracket arm is pivotally connected (15 & 17) to a respective end of the elongate arm and to a respective one of the waveguide's two end flanges (23 & 25). Each bracket arm contains a gear that rotates with the respective bracket arm about the bracket arm's pivot; and an even number of gears interlinks those gears whereby pivotal movement of one of the flanges in a clockwise direction produces an effective relative pivotal movement of the other flange. The bending mechanism allows for as much as 180 degrees of repetitive reciprocal rotation of one flange relative to the other without imposing significant stress on the flexible waveguide, providing an ideal long lasting interface between a mechanically scanning microwave antenna and a microwave transmitter/receiver.