They Invented What? (No. 82)
U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,911: Less lethal weapon attachable to lethal weapon.
JW Note: To quote Miracle Max from The Princess Bride, “It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead.”
What is claimed is:
1. A less lethal weapon including a barrel with a rearward portion and a forward portion for propelling a plurality of projectiles seriatim out the barrel including a receiver comprising
a) a frame;
b) means for propelling projectiles out of the barrel including the receiver which means is mounted on the frame;
c) a magazine mounted spaced from and parallel to the barrel in turn comprising
i) a magazine tube containing a plurality of projectiles;
ii) an exit port communicating with the tube;
iii) a piston slidable in the magazine tube urging the projectiles toward such exit port; and
iv) gas pressure means for translating…
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They Invented What? (No. 81)
U.S. Pat. No. 7,108,178: Method of stopping a stolen car without a high-speed chase, utilizing a bar code.
What is claimed is:
1. A stopping method of a stolen car, without high speed chasing, comprised of three steps of: 1) scanning the barcode of a suspicious car, which is implanted between the inner- and outer-layer glasses of a rear safety glass, 2) comparing the read in bar code with the stolen car list in the police computer net, 3) activating the trigger by transferring the bar code and the secret code of the stolen car to the trigger installed in the stolen car to shut down the engine by cutting off the electricity supplied to it.
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They Invented What? (No. 80)
U.S. Pat. No. 7,016,828: Text-to-scene conversion.
Abstract:
The invention relates to a method of converting a set of words into a three-dimensional scene description, which may then be rendered into three-dimensional images. The invention may generate arbitrary scenes in response to a substantially unlimited range of input words. Scenes may be generated by combining objects, poses, facial expressions, environments, etc., so that they represent the input set of words. Poses may have generic elements so that referenced objects may be replaced by those mentioned in the input set of words. Likewise, a character may be dressed according to its role in the set of words. Various constraints for object positioning may be declared.
Claims:
What is claimed is:
1. A method of generating a scene description from a set of words, comprising:
performing a linguistic analysis on the set of words to generate a structure representative…
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They Invented What? (No. 79)
JW Note: Wishing all a Prosperous and Happy New Year 2019!
U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,850: Clock for keeping time at a rate other than human time.
JW Note: Wishing you a Prosperous and Happy New Year 2008!
What is claimed is:
1. A clock for keeping animal time, wherein animal time is defined as human time multiplied by a ratio given by the average lifespan of a human divided by the average lifespan of a type of animal whereby an animal second is equal to one human second divided by said ratio, one animal minute is equal to one human minute divided by said ratio, one animal hour is equal to one human hour divided by said ratio, and one animal day is equal to one human day divided by said ratio, said clock comprising:
a housing;
means for generating a reference frequency;
first means responsive to said generating means for producing pulses at a rate…
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They Invented What? (No. 78)
JW Note: Wishing a Happy Holidays to all! See you in 2019!
U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,741: Santa Claus Detector.
JW Note: Wishing a Happy Holidays to all! See you in 2008!
What is claimed is:
1. A children’s novelty device for detecting when an entity enters a dwelling comprising:
a decorative Christmas stocking having a top portion, a heel portion and a toe portion, said toe portion including an enclosure therein;
an electrical control circuit;
a light source operatively coupled to said control circuit;
a power source operatively coupled to said control circuit for providing power to said light source, said power source being disposed in said toe portion enclosure;
switch means operatively coupled to said control circuit for controlling the power provided by said power source to said light source; and
a flexible pull cord, said pull cord being connected to said switch means for actuating said switch means when a force is exerted…
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They Invented What? (No. 77)
U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,065: Walking hand puppet.
What is claimed is:
1. A hand puppet in the figure of a land or sea animal, bird, insect or the like with body carrying appendages comprising:
a. a body having a cavity formed therein,
b. manually movable appendages connected with the body, said appendages having finger-receiving cavities formed therein in communication with the body cavity,
c. means defining a hand receiving opening in said body in communication with said body cavity,
d. an open-ended hand-receiving glove having a finger portion an a palm portion, said glove finger portion being formed to provide the appearance of hand fingers therein, said glove being attached to said body with said palm portion covering the opening defined in said body and said finger portion being remote from said appendages, and
e. means defining an opening through said palm portion from…
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Custom 3-D Prosthetics is Vision for College Freshman’s Nonprofit
Custom 3-D Prosthetics is Vision for College Freshman’s Nonprofit
CEDARVILLE, OHIO – Connor Hart, a Cedarville freshman mechanical engineering major from Loveland, Ohio, founded The Hands of Hope Foundation, in August 2018. The Hands of Hope Foundation is a nonprofit that empowers children with a limb difference by providing them with free 3D-printed prosthetics.
“Prosthetics do not solve the problem of missing a hand, but they do help to empower children to have a more confident view of themselves ,” said Hart.
Hands of Hope started in September 2015 when Hart and three classmates at Milford High School in Milford, Ohio, volunteered to create a 3D-printed prosthetic for Hope McGill, a 7-year-old girl from the community missing her left arm from the elbow down.
“Hope was adopted from China. She had been taught from an early age to hide her arm, making her self-conscious about it. Because of the prosthetic, Hope became more confident in her little arm,” noted Catherine McGill, Hope’s older sister and a Cedarville sophomore professional writing and information design major.
Hands of Hope became a club at Milford High School and made prosthetics for three other children. However, in the spring of 2018, Milford High School decided to drop Hands of Hope as an extracurricular due to a lack of interest from the student body. Not wanting to see the organization dissolved, Hart transformed Hands of Hope into an official nonprofit and invited Catherine McGill to serve as the Foundation’s media director.
Hart and Catherine McGill created The Hands of Hope Foundation’s chapter on Cedarville University’s campus. This was made possible by Cedarville’s school of engineering and computer science.
“Connor went the extra mile by sending me an email over the summer just prior to coming to campus for his freshman fall semester,” said Robert Chasnov, dean of the school of engineering and computer science and senior professor of engineering. “He needed a space for the 3D printers he uses to manufacture the hands his team would be designing. Since we had a project lab that was being used primarily to store mobile test equipment, I set him up in that space and gave his student team card-key access to that project lab.”
Hart’s team is currently working on raising funds and building a training program for Cedarville students to learn how to create custom prosthetics. Even though 3D-printing custom prosthetics is common in the biomedical community, there is no official training. Hart and McGill hope their pilot training will become an official program that can be replicated by others.
“What I love most about working for Hands of Hope is knowing I am positively impacting the lives of both our clients and volunteers,” expressed Hart. “Knowing I provided joy to someone else with no strings attached is what keeps me smiling and driven toward giving others the same opportunities I have been given.”
Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 4,193 undergraduate, graduate and online students in more than 150 areas of study. Founded in 1887, Cedarville is recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, strong graduation and retention rates, accredited professional and health science offerings and leading student satisfaction ratings. For more information about the University, visit http://www.cedarville.edu.
They Invented What? (No. 76)
U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,114: Vehicle wheel.
JW Note: The spoked wheel . . . application filed in 1995. Many thanks again to Michael Barclay for the submissions.
What is claimed is:
1. A spoked wheel comprising:
- an annular rim having an inner diameter;
- a central hub;
- a plurality of spokes running between the rim and hub, with each spoke having width to thickness ratio of at least 2:1, wherein said spokes have spoke portions including inside spoke portions in fixed relationship to the hub and outside spoke portions in fixed relationship to the rim, and wherein said spokes extend radially outwardly between the hub and rim;
- an encircling member affixed to at least one of the inside and outside spoke portions and included with at least one of the annular rim and the central hub, said encircling member defining a hollow annulus;
- a fastener for affixing said spokes…
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