Inventor · Kent, WA, US

John E. Mercer

274Patents
37h-index
36Co-inventors
90Inventor score

Filing activity: Nov 1, 1976 → Mar 29, 2024

Most-cited inventions

PatentTitleAreaCited byStatus
US5337002A Locator device for continuously locating a dipole magnetic field transmitter and its method of operation Physics 238 Expired
US6035951A System for tracking and/or guiding an underground boring tool Electricity 165 Expired
US4674579A Method and apparatus for installment of underground utilities Fixed Constructions 157 Expired
US5633589A Device and method for locating an inground object and a housing forming part of said device Physics 147 Expired
US6496008B1 Flux plane locating in an underground drilling system Physics 144 Expired
US6223826A Auto-extending/retracting electrically isolated conductors in a segmented drill string Fixed Constructions 139 Expired
US5155442A Position and orientation locator/monitor Physics 123 Expired
US6344904B1 Arrangement for reading from and/or writing to flexible sheet media in a curved configuration and method Electricity 116 Expired
US4806869A An above-ground arrangement for and method of locating a discrete in ground boring device Physics 115 Expired
US4881083A Homing technique for an in-ground boring device Fixed Constructions 112 Expired
US6697174B2 Arrangement for reading from and/or writing to flexible sheet media in a curved configuration and method Electricity 103 Expired
US5698981A Technique for establishing at least a portion of an underground path of a boring tool Physics 103 Expired
US4714118A Technique for steering and monitoring the orientation of a powered underground boring device Fixed Constructions 95 Expired
US6285190A Skin depth compensation in underground boring applications Physics 92 Expired
US6279668A Boring tool control using remote locator including a command generation arrangement and method Fixed Constructions 85 Expired
US5764062A Technique for establishing and recording a boring tool path using a survey reference level Physics 78 Expired
US6417666B1 Boring tool tracking system and method using magnetic locating signal and wire-in-pipe data Physics 77 Expired
US5767678A Position and orientation locator/monitor Physics 76 Expired
US6727704B2 Boring tool tracking/guiding system and method with unconstrained target location geometry Physics 76 Expired
US4435902A Articulated boom water jet cutting apparatus Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies 75 Expired
US6079506A Boring tool control using remote locator Fixed Constructions 75 Expired
US6655464B2 Auto-extending/retracting electrically isolated conductors in a segmented drill string Fixed Constructions 73 Expired
US6737867B2 Locating arrangement and method using boring tool and cable locating signals Physics 61 Expired
US6250402A Establishing positions of locating field detectors and path mappings in underground boring tool applications Physics 59 Expired
US6756783B2 Multi-frequency boring tool locating system and method Physics 58 Expired

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Inventor disambiguation is heuristic; counts are objective bibliographic measures.