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. 16, 2012
Filed:
Mar. 17, 2009
Applicants:
Charles Gordon Smith, Cambridge, GB;
Richard L. Knipe, McKinney, TX (US);
Inventors:
Charles Gordon Smith, Cambridge, GB;
Richard L. Knipe, McKinney, TX (US);
Assignee:
Cavendish Kinetics, Ltd., London, GB;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01H 47/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
Embodiments disclosed herein generally solve a stiction problem in switching devices by using a series of pulses of force which take the switch from being strongly adhered to a landing electrode to the point where it is only weakly adhered. Once in the low adhesion state, the switch can then be pulled away from contact with a lower force provided by either the spring constant of the switch and/or the electrostatic forces resulting from low voltages applied to nearby electrodes.