US 7048214

Search Results for US Patent 7,048,214 (US7048214B2)

CAFC / Litigation docket check

I searched for CAFC 2026 dockets referencing "7048214." No CAFC appeal or litigation docket involving this patent was found. The only hit was an unrelated coincidence — docket entry number [7048214] in Frank Perri v. Medline Industries, Inc., Seventh Circuit case 19-3356 — which is a document number, not a patent citation. There is no indication of active CAFC proceedings for US7048214 as of the current date.

Bibliographic summary (verified against Google Patents, Justia, and Espacenet)

• Patent number: US7048214B2
• Title: Gyratory crusher with hydrostatic bearings
• Application: US10/225,778 (filed August 23, 2002); priority date August 23, 2002; also filed as CA2417892A1 (Jan. 30, 2003)
• Issue date: May 23, 2006
• Pre-grant publication: US20040035967A1 (Feb. 26, 2004)
• Inventors: Louis Wein Johnson; Bruce Gordon Johnson
• Original assignee: "Individual" (inventors); per recorded assignments, rights passed to Johnson, Anne I., Ms. (Feb. 10, 2010) → Durable Crushers, Inc. → NAWA Engineers and Consultants (P) Ltd. (Google Patents lists NAWA as current assignee; Google notes the list may be inaccurate)
• Status: Expired – Fee Related; anticipated expiration August 23, 2022 (20 years from filing)
• Classifications: IPC B02C2/00, B02C2/005, B02C2/02, B02C2/04; US Class 241/216

Abstract (condensed)

A gyratory cone-type rock crusher with a main frame structured to be strong yet lighter and cheaper to manufacture. A tapered spindle bolted to the frame is drilled with oil holes, hollow for heating/cooling fluid, and supports an adjustable thrust bearing. A conical eccentric journals on the spindle; the eccentric's outer taper is offset and canted relative to its inner taper, and each taper has concentric cylindrical extensions. A gyrating conical member (cone head) journals on the eccentric and carries a wear mantle clamped by hydraulic means. A double-reduction gear train drives the eccentric. Flow dividers supply hydrostatic lubrication to the conical and thrust bearings. A detachable top frame (bowl assembly) is held by pivoting hooks and hydraulic cylinders backed by gas accumulators, which yield for uncrushable ("tramp") objects and tilt outward for rapid servicing. Threaded adjustment of the bowl sets product size; a wear liner is held by slidable wedges.

Independent claims — plain-language overview

The patent has 37 claims; the independent claims are claims 1, 24, and 37 (the other claims depend from these; e.g., claim 19 depends on claim 1, claims 31–36 depend on claim 24).

Claim 1 (crusher with hydrostatic conical bearing system): The core crusher claim — a gyratory cone-type crusher combining the bolted, tapered spindle; the conical eccentric member journaled on the spindle (inner conical surface concentric with the machine axis, outer conical surface offset/canted); the gyrating cone head journaled on the eccentric's outer taper; a spherical thrust bearing supporting the cone head; hydrostatic lubrication (pressurized oil delivered to flutes/galleries); and the double-reduction gear drive. The dependent claims add details such as the hydraulic-motor anti-spin device (claim 19), the piston/cap-screw mantle clamp, lubrication distribution, counterbalancing, etc.

Claim 24 (crusher with top-frame/bowl restraint and adjustment system): Covers the crusher including the detachable bowl assembly seated on the main frame with the tramp-metal relief/rapid-release system — hook-like members coupled to tilting hydraulic cylinders connected by linkage to anchor means, pressurized by gas-over-oil accumulators — plus the power adjustment ring mechanism. Dependent claims 31–36 elaborate the pawl-and-lug powered adjusters (two units 180° apart), the sliding-tube/header hydraulic plumbing, the concave/convex hook pads, and the option of tilting only the hooks while the cylinders stay fixed.

Claim 37 (main frame construction): An independent claim to the crusher frame itself: a circular wall with top and bottom flanges, 90° cross beams contoured for approximately uniform strength, one full-length beam with the other beams in two sections welded to it, end capping plates distributing weld stress at the wall, and a thick circular center member welded to the beams to support the gyrating and stationary components.

Uncertainty notes

• I could not retrieve the verbatim full text of claims 1, 24, and 37 from the available sources (search snippets and the Justia claims page confirm the numbering and dependency structure, and partial text of claims 19, 31–37). The plain-language descriptions above are inferred from the claim dependencies, the published abstract, and the specification — not quoted claim text.
• The assignee chain (Anne I. Johnson → Durable Crushers, Inc. → NAWA) comes from Google Patents assignment records, which carry a disclaimer that the listed assignee data may be inaccurate.
• No evidence of litigation, reexamination, or CAFC proceedings for US7048214 was found in the searches performed; I cannot rule out proceedings not indexed in those searches.