John Briggs Email and Phone Number

Automation Systems Engineer

Sole development engineer for a fiber optic tip shaper (FTS), a Navy STTR. The FTS is a handheld battery powered device that polishes the end of a 125µm (0.005”) fiber glass fiber to a high quality optical flat that can be used in a mechanical splice. Responsibilities included process development, concept development, component selection, mechanical design, detailing, parts procurement, assembly, debug, and qualification testing. Both alpha and beta prototypes were complete in the two year period of the project.. Solidworks was used for the design work and DORC and Norton interferometers were used for the metrology and surface finish measurement. Testing was confirmed with Penn State University.An additional project was the development of a process to create an Expanded Beam Physical Contact optical connector. The working involved bonding a small segment of MM (multimode) fiber to end of a SM (single mode) fiber to expand and collimate the light beam.

Development Engineer for image analysis systems ranging from a handheld device with integrated computer to a large automated system with stepper motor driven X-Y stages, automated document feeder, and vacuum table.Responsibilities included mechanical design (AutoCAD and Solidworks), system integration, development of calibration methods, software development in Visual Basic, C, and Assembly Language (PIC). Being a small company, responsibilities included creating product literature, giving presentations at technical conferences as part of the “soft sell” marketing, and on-site training in US, Japan, Europe, and China.

Development Engineer for the first two generations of the ZIP drive. Primary role in system integration and problem solving. Worked on the design of an inexpensive DC brushless spindle motor and reduced the cost from $7.50 to $3.80 per motor resulting in millions of dollars per year savings to the company. Also directly responsible for concept development of a 15mm high drive for laptops. Design work included voice coil motor development for a linear actuator and flex-circuit designed with flip-chip pre-amplifier. Worked extensively with SDRC Ideas 3D CAD software.HDI (head/disk interface) engineer on an effort to get Winchester nano-sliders to work on flexible media. Designed and ran Taguchi type matrix experiments to simultaneously optimize media life and magnetic head output. Worked on head/suspension design as well as characterizing the effect of manufacturing tolerances on HDI performance. Responsible for actuator arm modeling/redesign for improved performance.