Adrian Lawrence Pyke, 6034 Lynn Village Way, Reading, MA 01867

8205558, Jun 26, 2012

Jul 9, 2008

12/217912

George W. Horn - Brissago, CH
Adrian L. Pyke - Reading MA, US
William T. Lebo - Quincy MA, US

Middlesex General Industries, Inc. - Woburn MA

B61B 3/00
B65G 1/00

104 91, 1983471

Means and methods for optimizing the utilization of monorail-based vehicles carrying a work-in-progress in a clean manufacturing environment. The method includes increasing the number of pick up and drop off points on a primary or secondary monorail transportation network, to amplify the number and frequency of pick up and drop off events per vehicle per circumnavigation of the network or loop. By increasing the number of pick up and drop off events, the empty run or idle time of the corresponding vehicle will decrease, improving utilization and throughput.

2006015, Jul 13, 2006

Jul 2, 2004

10/562755

Adrian Pyke - Reading MA, US
William Lebo - Quincy MA, US

A61K 51/00

198780000, 438800000, 414940000

A conveyor system and method that reduces extraneous forces in a manufacturing process is disclosed. The system and method of the invention are particularly directed to handling and processing sensitive materials such as, for example, in clean room manufacturing facilities. These facilities are used in the fields of semiconductor fabrication, hard disk drive manufacturing, biotechnology, biomedical engineering and pharmaceutical engineering. A conveyor system according to the invention includes a carrier and a drive assembly for providing relative movement thereto. A rib or groove extends along the bottom of the carrier parallel to the direction of travel. The rib and groove structures are also intended to reduce mechanical contact between the carrier and the drive assembly, including its components. A reduction of such contact limits the extent of contamination caused by particulate formation.

6047812, Apr 11, 2000

Sep 5, 1997

8/924294

George W. Horn - Concord MA
Warren J. Clement - Hollis NH
Adrian L. Pyke - Reading MA
Christopher M. Anthony - Natick MA

Middlesex General Industries, Inc. - Woburn MA

B65G 4729

19878106

An asynchronous conveyor system with controlled smooth stopping and starting. The conveyer system defines a path with sections (Z1. . . Z6) independently driven. The conveyed items (2A,. . . 2D) may be independently accumulated on one or more path sections of the conveyor system. External sensors (8, 8A, 14, 14A) are distributed along different path sections of the conveyors system and are used to control the location and the flow of items in either direction. An idler wheel with a sensed rest position is also disclosed as an item sensing mechanism. The drive system for the conveyor system may be stepper motors, DC, AC, hysteresis motors or other such motors. In each case the motors are controlled to provide smooth transportation of the items. In another embodiment, servomotors are used and an internal sensed characteristic of the servo motor provides and indication of an item being on the conveyor path section associated with the servo. The operation then is similar to the use of an actual sensor.