Beginning at NYU in Jan 2013 within the context of a Patents Translation course delivered online, this blog seeks to uncover the patents that rock our daily lives....
The Rain Bird® insertion tool minimizes hand fatigue when connecting drip lines with coupling, elbow, or three-way T fittings. The fitting is secured on the tool. Then, one or the other side of the tool handle is used to flare out the drip line, temporarily widening the opening, so that it is easier to insert the fitting.
The Rain Bird® insertion tool is a patented design. The US design patent, USD678016S1, titled Insertion tool was awarded to Raymond P. Feith. The patent was granted on March 19th, 2013, and assigned to the Rain Bird Corporation.
Below, the patent Figure 1 depicts a perspective view of the Rain Bird® insertion tool. An image of the marketed tool is also included, together with a screen captured sequence of how the tool works: 1. Placing a connection fitting, 2. Widening the drip line with one side or the other side of the tool and, 3. Inserting the fitting into the drip line.
Do you have an OXO® salad
spinner to dry lettuce or other sorts of leafy vegetables that you have just
washed? An OXO® salad spinner
equipped with a plunger that you use to actuate the spinning, so that the
rotational force of the basket will separate the water from the leafy
vegetables to dry them. Do you use the small button on one side of the plunger
to stop the salad spinner from spinning?
This small button, on one side of the plunger, is an OXO® patented brake mechanism designed to
interrupt the spinning, so that you can remove the contents of the salad spinner
without having to wait until the spinning stops, or otherwise having to open the
spinner to manually to stop the inside basket from spinning.
The OXO® salad spinner
brake mechanism is recited in a family of 10 patents that includesthe US patent US8539693 (B2), titled Brake mechanism for a device for drying
foods and other items, and the PCT patent WO2012134694 (A1) with the same title.
The invention recited comprises a button, actuating a brake caliper mechanism, accommodated
inside the spinner’s cover, cooperating with the lid of the salad basket, inside the spinner. When the button is pressed on the cover of the spinner, the brake’s two calipers (designated 'pinching arms') clamp down on the spinning annular ridge of the lid of the salad basket. Since the
lid is engaged with the rotating basket, actuation of the calipers that clamp
onto the lid, also effectively stops the basket from spinning.
The abstract of the OXO®
salad spinner brake invention is included below, together with the patent
drawings Figures 1 and 6.
Figure 1 shows a salad spinner 20B of the prior art, where the inventive brake mechanism 300 is accommodated inside the cover 24A of the salad spinner 20B. Figure 6 shows a detailed cross-sectional view of the button-actuated brake mechanism 400, depressedin braking position, with the clamping arm assembly (calipers) 440, clamped down on the outer edges 496 and 498 of the spinning ridge 494 of the salad basket lid 28B.
An OXO® manufacturer’s video
of the salad spinner in action is also included above.
A brake assembly for reducing the rotational
velocity the spinning basket of a food spinning device applies a frictional
force to an annular ridge on the lid of the spinning basket. A brake button
movably disposed in a cover of the spinning device includes flexible pinching
arms having cam surfaces. The cam surfaces of the flexible pinching arms extend
through a guide aperture, thereby causing the pinching arms to flex toward each
other when the brake button is depressed and to apply the frictional engagement
to the annular ridge. [Abstract US8539693 (B2)]
Are there any OXO®
utensils in your kitchen? The OXO® tools with their easy-grip rubber handles
were borne of the pain of arthritis, even if their use is also more comfortable
for people without special needs. According to Wilson (2018), the
first OXO® hit product, launched in
1990, a vegetable swivel peeler with easy-grip handle, entered the MOMA
permanent design collection in 2004. Almost 30 years later, this invention is still
gathering accolades, in particular, the Fast Company 2018 Timeless Design, Innovation by Design, Award.
Beyond the essential necessity of restoring user comfort and
capacity, the OXO® Good Grips product line was inspired by the rubber and fins
on bike handlebars as a solution for adapting to any hand-held tool or utensil
with a core shank. Add to this winning
design solution, the OXO® brand name that can be read forward, backward or
upside down, not to mention what it also connotes when you are signing off
messages to your close friends and family, and little else should surprise you.
The OXO® grip invention was first recited in the US utility patent US4974286, titled Universal
handle for hand-held implement, granted on December 4, 1990. The patent was
subsequently amended and corrected, in the reissue patent USRE34194E, granted on March 16, 1993. The patent discloses an invention in the domain of human factors
and ergonomic engineering, in response to the specific needs of individuals who
cannot firmly grasp handles, whether the handles are for kettles, ladles,
potato peelers, bottle openers, spatulas, pot brushes, cheese knives, garden
tools, hammers, screwdrivers or any other tool or utensil. Thus, the invention
offers a solution termed universal
since it is designed to make all handheld implements and tools graspable by
individuals who otherwise cannot grip conventional handles.
In particular, the patent recites a stocky handle with an elliptical
crosssection, made of elastomeric material with good insulation and cushioning
properties. The stocky handle further comprises a hollow internal cavity designed
to “socket” the utensil’s core shank. The elastomeric material further comprises
strategically-positioned depressable concave areas with which users can engage
with forefinger and thumb, in view of strengthening their grip (see figure 7). The concave depressable
areas are filled with an array of evenly spaced flexible fins. The elastomeric
material of the handle is made out of, for example, neoprene or synthetic rubber. The wide contours of the handle generally conform to the palm of a hand forming a fist, especially if the user is unable to form a tight fist, due to arthritis or other disability.
The abstract of this invention is included
below, together with Figures 2 and 7, extracted from the patent, and an image of the marketed OXO® dish or pot brush.
Figure 2 depicts an embodiment of the
universal handle 10 implemented on a
pot brush. The pot brush comprises bristle clusters 11 anchored in a base with an extension arm 13. The extension arm 13 is connected to the head 14 of a core shank 15, socketed inside the
universal handle 10. The upper end
of the universal handle 10 further comprises opposing concave
areas 18A and 18B, each with an anchored array of evenly spaced fins 19 that are very flexible. At the lower
end of the universal handle 10, an opening 17 makes it possible to
suspend the pot brush.
Figure
7 depicts the universal handle 10 nested in the palm of a user’s hand 20, whose fingers 21, 22 and 23 appear clenched around the handle. The user’s forefinger 24 and thumb 25 are respectively engaged with the concave areas 18A and 18B, eachcomprising evenly spaced fins
19, at the upper end of the
universal handle. The opening at the lower end of the handle 10, designed suspend the tool, is also visible.
A universal handle for household and other
hand-held implements, the handle being adapted to ergonomically render the
implement to which it is applied useable by individuals who have difficulty in
firmly grasping a conventional handle. The universal handle, which is
fabricated of elastomeric material having good thermal insulation and cushioning
properties, includes an internal cavity to socket the core shank of the
implement. The handle has an elliptical cross-section, the opposing sides of the
handle adjacent its upper end each having a concave depression, in each of
which an array of spaced, flexible fins is anchored to define a depressible
grip site. When the fingers of a user's hand are clenched about the handle, the
internal region of the resultant fist conforms to the form of the handle to
provide a good grip thereon, the thumb and forefinger pressing into the grip sites
to enhance the user's grip on the handle. [Abstract USRE34194E]
Just in case you want tosearch for a patent...or offer your viewers the possibility of searching for patents, Free Patents Online (FPO) offers a Widget Patent Search Box that you can insert into your websites or blogs! Just paste in the html code and pronto your search box will post!
Your searches will be connected to the FPO search engine which crawls into the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office), the EPO (European Patent Office), the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), the JPO (Japan Patent Office), and German Patent Office databases.
Try it! Type in US2010283600 to the FPO search field below, and the FPO search engine will retrieve a patent titled Tracker tag low power apparatus for preventing loss of cell phone and other high-value items which discloses tracking tag technology.
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