Patently Speaking highlights the technological achievements of Fort Wayne area residents.

Stackable thermostat

•U.S. Patent No. 7,748,640

•Invented by: Michael A. Roher, Fort Wayne; Tim Comerford, Indianapolis; William F. Van Ostrand, Indianapolis; Shannie Van Ostrand, legal representative, Indianapolis; and Jerry Dean Ryan, Indianapolis

•Assigned to: Carrier Corp., Farmington, Conn.

Air conditioning to combat Indiana’s sweltering summer is a must. And a thermostat is the critical nerve center of any air conditioning system.

As we all know, a thermostat reads the temperature of the room where it is located and determines whether the air conditioning should be turned on or off. Thermostats come in a variety of complexities, from a simple on-off to variable fan speed, multistage heating and cooling, and humidifier controls, for example.

One issue with these more advanced digital thermostats is that they often do not work well in homes using older air conditioning systems. To achieve all the additional functionalities, as many as 11 wires controlling the different functions are used. Older air conditioning systems only use two wires.

This patent describes a new digital thermostat that can work on both newer and older air conditioning systems. The digital thermostat has two separate sections – the first being an input/output or I/O module. This module connects to the air conditioner wires and communicates with the second, user interface module. This module controls the air conditioner via user input. These two modules can be connected together in a traditional thermostat arrangement, or the user interface module can be separated and positioned remotely from the I/O module. This gives the user more flexibility even with an older air conditioning system.

High speed diverter

•U.S. Patent No. 7,637,366

•Invented by: Klaus Daenzer, Fort Wayne; Eric Roll, Huntington; Gregory C. Stroud, Huntington; Breton C. Rane, Huntington; Allen R. Snodgrass, Columbia City; and Ronald Poulson, Warren

•Assigned to Shuttleworth Inc., Huntington

Despite the slumping economy, American business still needs to move forward. One way of doing this is by making its processes more efficient.

This patent is directed to conveyor lines that distribute articles, such as packages or parcels, to different locations or other conveyor lines. In certain circumstances, such as when distributing packages, they start at one location, but are then sorted and sent to many different locations. The question becomes how to move packages moving on a single conveyor line to different conveyor lines?

This patent describes a continuous loop of paddles that are positioned at the side of a conveyor belt or roller line. The paddles on the loop are attached to a chain that looks similar to a bicycle chain. The end of the loop of paddles is at the end of the conveyor line. As the conveyor belt moves, so does this chain of paddles. Bar code scanners or other sensors read information on the packages to determine where they should go. As a package passes on the conveyor, its destination is scanned and a signal sent to activate the paddle that is going to be adjacent that package at the appropriate time. A sufficient amount of activation needed to push the package to the appropriate subsequent conveyor line is then applied. Because the paddles are in a loop, there will always be a paddle adjacent the package when needed to move it to a new location.

The preceding are lay descriptions of patents obtained from the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s public records and are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing contained herein is a legal description of any claimed invention, identification of novelty, or offer of legal advice. Because issued patents are based on applications often filed years earlier, the subject matter of some patents may have been available on the market for some time prior to the issuance of the patent. Additional information on these patents is available at www.uspto.gov.