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. 15, 2003
Filed:
Dec. 18, 2001
Patrick Sean McNichols, Hortonville, WI (US);
Thomas David Ehlert, Neenah, WI (US);
Timothy James Blenke, Neenah, WI (US);
Tauhid Husain, New Milford, CT (US);
Barton Andrew Laughlin, Hortonville, WI (US);
Paul Gordon Klemp, Hortonville, WI (US);
John Ford Condron, Neenah, WI (US);
Harold Norbert Heller, Menasha, WI (US);
Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc., Neenah, WI (US);
Abstract
An ultrasonic processing method and apparatus ( ) can include a rotatable, ultrasonic horn member ( ) that is operatively joined to an isolation member ( ) which has high rigidity. A rotatable anvil member ( ) can be cooperatively positioned to provide a selected horn-anvil gap ( ), and an automated drive ( ) can be connected to an actuator ( ), or other transfer device, to automatically adjust the horn-anvil gap ( ). An electronic processor ( ) can be configured to monitor an intermittent gap force detected from an output provided by a force sensor ( ), and can provide a drive signal to the automated drive ( ) to thereby adjust the horn-anvil gap ( ) to operatively maintain a target, gap force value.