Patently Speaking highlights the technological achievements of Fort Wayne area residents.
Air flow path for an air impingement finger duct
•U.S. Patent No. 7,882,855
•Invented by: Mitchell C. Henke, Fort Wayne
•Assigned to Lincoln Foodservice Products LLC, Fort Wayne
With a title like this, one may guess the invention improves home air circulation – not makes a better pizza.
Indeed, air ducts in this invention are designed for air impingement ovens such as pizza ovens. Air impingement ovens are similar to convection ovens but only use hot air that circulates around food cooking it quickly.
Heated air is sent though a duct and out of evenly spaced orifices. These orifices direct the air over the food, thereby cooking it. It is, therefore, important for these types of ovens to circulate the air evenly. Creating uniform air velocity over the length of the duct does not always happen. The hot air has a tendency of gravitating to the end of the duct. This results in a less efficient oven.
This patent addresses the problem by redesigning that air duct to include a multi-tapered ramp channel at the end of the duct. This forces the air to distribute more evenly through the orifices by preventing hot air from accumulating at the end.
Registration pointer and method for registering a bone of a patient to a computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery system
•U.S. Patent No. 7,885,701
•Invented by Mark R. DiSilvestro, Columbia City; Jason T. Sherman, Leesburg; and Edward J. Caylor III, Fort Wayne
•Assigned to DePuy Products Inc., Warsaw
Over the years we have seen many patents dealing with making surgical procedures less invasive.
This is great for the patient because it allows for a smaller cut into the body to perform the surgery. The downside is that it is more difficult for the surgeon to see the exact area that is being operated on. This is because the surgical procedure is often not in the same location as the small cut made in the skin to get to that location.
What has since developed is the use of computers to assist the surgeon. Cameras and video screens are now commonplace in the operating room. Such computer assistance has become quite sophisticated. Often the surgeon operates on a bone or tissue inside the body without actually physically seeing it. Instead, the surgeon sees it only on the video screen.
To make surgery easier and more precise, a probe or registration pointer goes in first before the surgeon operates to identify and take pictures or videos of the bone. By touching the pointer to different areas of the bone, a rendering of that bone can be generated by the computer. This allows the surgeon to see exactly how the procedure will go even if physically seeing the bone is not an option.
This patent describes a new registration pointer that includes not only a sensor to register the bone’s position, but also multiple cameras and even a light source. One camera is a panoramic camera that can give an almost 360-degree view of the area of interest inside the body. A second camera takes a more precise view of the bone. This way the surgeon has an even better view.
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.
