REVIEW OF ACOUSTICAL PATENTS

Daniel W. Martin

7349 CloughPike,Cincinnati,Ohio45244

Thepurpose of these acousticalpatent rev/ewsis to prov/de enough/nformat/onfor a Journal

reader to dec/de whether to seek more informationfrom the patent itseft.Any opin/onsexpressed
here are those of reviewersas individua/sand are not lega/ opinions.Printedcop/esof
UnitedStates Patents may be orderedat $1.50 each from the Commissionerof Patents
and Trademarks,Washington,D.C. 20231

Reviewers for this issue:

CLAYTON H. ALLEN,80 SouthRoad, ChebeagueIsland,Maine 04017
GEORGE L. AUGSPURGER,Perception/ncorporated, Box39536, LosAngeles,California90039
JOHN V. BOUYOUCOS,Hydroacoustics/ncorporated,P. 0. Box 23447, Rochester,New York 14692
M.D. BURKHARD,SonicPerceptions,28 KnightStreet,Norwa/k,Connecticut06851
MARVIN CAMRAS,//T, 330 Federal Street, Chicago,Illinois60616
S. K. STEVE CHANG,Schlumberger-Doll Research,Old QuarryRoad, Ridgefield,Connecticut06877
JOHN ERDREICH,OstergaardAssociates,100 Execut/veDdve, WestOrange,New Jersey07052
SAMUEL F. LYBARGER, 101 Oakwood Road, McMurray, Pennsylvania 15317
D. LLOYD RICE, ComputalkerConsultants,10126 Reseda Boulevard,# 123,Northridge,California91324
CARLJ. ROSENBERG,Acentech/ncorporated,125 CambridgePark Drive,Cambridge,Massachusetts02140
WILLIAM THOMPSON, JR., The PennsylvaniaState University,UniversityPark, Pennsylvania16802
ERIC E. UNGAR, Bolt Beranekand Newman/ncorporated,50 MoultonStreet, Cambridge,Massachusetts02238

5,005,773 patent
suggests
arrays
displaced
vertically
fromothers inordertoimprove
thewaveletup-downdirectionality
identification.
Thisis important
be-
43.25.Vt SONIC GENERATOR causetheechoes
fromtheoceansurface
canproduce
undesirable
artifactsin
seismicimages.--SKC
,

ChristopherA. Nyberg, JamesG. Jackson,and Jan Brdicko, assign-

ors to ARC Sonics, Incorporated
9 April 1991 (Class241/30); filed 31 March 1989
Sonicgrindingapparatus,suchasfor millinggoldore,includesa grind- 4,976,149
ing chamberfilled,for example,with steelballs.The chamberis rigidly
attached at theend to a free resonantflex,r_a_l
member or bar. A slurry 43_.35_.YbULTRASONIC DISTANCE S___NSO_R_
A_NO
containingthe oreis passedthroughthe chamberwherebythe particulate MONITORING OF SURFACE PROFILE UTILIZING
sizeof the oreis reducedby a vibratorymillingprocess.
In oneversion,the ULTRASONIC DISTANCE SENSOR
chamberand bar assemblyis driven by a three-phaseelectromagnetically
actuatedforcegeneatorwhichcausesthe chamberto undergoa nutational Fumihiko Ichikawa and Toshio Ohki, assignorsto Kawasaki Steel
vibrational motion.--JVB
Corporation
11 December1990(Class73/597); filed in Japan21 October1985
4,992,990 An ultrasonicprecisiondistancesensor,which usespropagationof
ultrasonicwavesthrougha liquid-state jet impingingonthetargetsurface,
43.30.Yj METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE employs an intermediate precisely
positioned referencereflectorto provide
POSITION OF SEISMIC STREAMERS IN A continuous calibrationof soundspeedin thejet, whichspeedmaychangeas
REFLECTION SEISMIC MEASURING SYSTEM a functionof watertemperature.An arithmeticcontrolunit isemployedto
computeanddisplaythetargetposition. Applications arcdescribed in the
Jan-Age Langelandet aL, assignersto Geco A. S. steelindustryfor the continuousmonitoringof a rolledproductduring
12 February 1991 {Class367/19); filed in Norway 6 June 1988 processing.--JVB
This systemprocessesmultipleacousticpathsto pinpointthe location
of seismicstreamerswhile conductingmarineseismicacquisition.By plac-
ing multipletransceivers
in the streamers
andat severalotherlocations,a
three-dimensionalmeshof acousticpathsis usedto determinethe streamer 4,976,150
locationby trilatcration.--SKC
43.35.Yb ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCERS

4,992,991 Mitrajyoti Deka, assignorto BethlehemSteel Corporation

11 December1990(Class73/644); filed 2 June 1989
43.30.Yj MARINE SEISMIC RECEIVING SYSTEM
EMPLOYING MULTIPLE DEPTH HYDROsTREAMER The patentdescribes a noncontacting piezoelectric
transducer with
impedance matching layersto matchefficiently thetransducer to air, for
CABLE measuring froma distance thedimensions andproperties of materials. A
preferred
impedance matching structureissaidtoincludefirst-andsecond-
Dewey R. Young and Richard Duren, assignorsto Exxon Production
matching layers,thefirstbeingof intermediate characteristicimpedance,
Research Company
one-quarterwavelength in dimension at thedrivenfrequency, to createan
12 February 1991 (Class367/20); filed 28 November1989 intermediateimpedance transformation. The second layeris of stilllower
This isa multiplereceiverarraysystemfor marineseismicdataacquisi- characteristic
impedance, andmaybcalsoonequarterwavelength or some
tion.The conventional arraysareco-planarto the oceansurface;whilethis otherfractionalwavelength in length,sizedto matchtheassembly to air

3384 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 90(6), Dec. 1991 0001-4966/91/123384-02500.80 1991 AcousticalSociety of America 3384

Redistribution subject to ASA license or copyright; see http://acousticalsociety.org/content/terms. Download to IP: 69.166.47.134 On: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 07:58:20