Abstract: Disclosed is a reed valve which uses a simple electromechanical actuator to apply a force that overcomes pressure force and opens the valve. The valve is closed by pressure and the elastic restoring force of the reed. Two of the disclosed valves in a back-to-back connection accommodate bi-directional flow. The disclosed valve is especially suited for application as a pulsed expansion valve for refrigerators and heat pumps.

Abstract: An apparatus for transporting and for conveying fabrics, individual articles and other material, in particular for feeding web-shaped material into a machine which processes it, for example a paper web into a printing machine, with at least one conveyor element formed for engagement with the material, a guide rail, in and/or along which the conveyor element(s) can move, and a drive device comprising the conveyor element in order to convey the material into and/or through the machine via the conveyor element, wherein the drive device is formed by an electric linear motor whose secondary part or rotor device comprises and/or bears the conveyor element(s) and whose primary part or stator device is mounted in a stationary manner on the guide rail, and the guide rail is formed from a non-magnetic and non-conducting or electrically insulating material, preferably a plastics material, and comprises therein one or more electrical conductor strands to which the stator device is coupled and/or connected so as to be ene

Abstract: A microminiature Stirling cycle engine or cooler is formed utilizing semiconductor, planar processing techniques. Such a Stirling cycle thermomechanical transducer has silicon end plates and an intermediate regenerator. The end plates are formed with diaphragms and backspaces, one end plate forming the expansion end and the opposite end plate forming the compression end, with the regenerator bonded in between. A control circuit apparatus is linked to the diaphragms for controlling the amplitude, phase and frequency of their deflections. The control circuit apparatus is adapted to operate the transducer above 500 Hz and the passages and the workspace, including those within the regenerator, expansion space and compression space, are sufficiently narrow to provide a characteristic Wolmersley number, which is characteristic of the irreversibilities generated by the oscillating flow of the working fluid in the workspace, below substantially 5 at the operating frequency above 500 Hz.

Abstract: A stepped golf club shaft with cylindrical segments joined by conical bands. The shaft is a composite with longitudinal and helical reinforcing fibers. The majority of the longitudinal fibers are located within the inner half of the shaft sidewall thickness, and the helical fibers are located within the outer half. A cutting tool is inserted into the bore of the hollow shaft and severs some of the longitudinal fibers to reduce the shaft stiffness, and therefore the natural frequency of oscillation, of the shaft.

Abstract: A candle and method of making the candle. The candle includes a core surrounded by a combustible material and a fill composition. The combustible material surrounds the lower part of the core up to a selected level. A wick extends downwardly from the top of the core. The lower end of the wick extends no further than substantially the selected level. In this way, the risk of the combustible material catching fire is reduced.

Abstract: An improved rotary valve having a gas bearing which prevents contact between the rotating piston and the cylindrical housing. The same working gas which the rotary valve controls is accumulated in an accumulation chamber. Fluid flow passageways, having a fixed flow resistance along their length, connect the accumulator chamber with a plurality of cavities formed on the cylinder wall of the housing. Pressurized gas is thereby pumped into the clearance gap between the piston wall and the cylinder wall, increasing in pressure where the piston wall comes closer to the cylinder wall, and decreasing in pressure where the clearance gap increases. The net effect is a centering force applied to the piston whenever it varies from an equilibrium position.

Abstract: A metal wood golf club head having a substantial portion of the mass of the club positioned near the front, striking face of the club head. A high density material, such as tungsten, is inlaid in the face section of the club head. The remaining, rear bulbous section is made of a lightweight, high strength material such as titanium.

Abstract: A centering apparatus for a free piston Stirling engine including a pressure regulator valve which connects a passageway between the work space and the back space when both (a) the average pressure in the back space exceeds the average pressure in the work space as a result of the piston deflecting a spring, and simultaneously (b) the instantaneous pressure in the back space exceeds the instantaneous pressure in the work space. A diaphragm spans across an actuator housing cavity, dividing the cavity into an upper chamber and a lower chamber. A connector valve is linked to the diaphragm for opening and closing the valve upon displacement of the diaphragm. When the average back space pressure exceeds the average work space pressure, the diaphragm is displaced to open the valve, connecting the work space and the back space in fluid communication. A check valve permits the flow of gas in only one direction: from the back space to the work space.

Abstract: A filter medium, a tackified binder composition and a method for providing a uniformly distributed tackifier on the glass fibers of an unwoven fiberglass web for improving filtration capacity and efficiency. An emulsified tackifier, such as polybutene, is mixed with a conventional binder composition and applied to the fibers before they are expanded into the web. The binder is cured in the conventional manner and the tackifier migrates to the surface on each fiber to enhance particle adsorption.

Abstract: An anti-flash wick support for candles having a candle floor. A candle floor includes the bottom surface of a container and the lowest extremity of a freestanding candle. A wick sustainer having a central bore is adhered to the candle floor by an adhesive plug which plugs the bore near the base of the upright column of the wick sustainer. The wick extends downwardly into the bore and the adhesive plug prevents fuel from being drawn upwardly by the wick through the bore to a flame. The flame goes out once the fuel, such as molten wax descends below the top end of the wick sustainer. In an alternative embodiment, a pedestal extends upwardly from, and attaches to, the container floor. A wick sustainer rests upon the fuel impervious top surface of the pedestal.

Abstract: An improved power amplifier having complimentary power transistors connected in push-pull arrangement, and having a bias voltage source coupled to the transistors for generating a transverse idling current flowing through the complimentary pair of transistors. A regulating, feedback control circuit has a set point input and inputs connected to precision resistors connected to detect the current through the power transistors and the output current. Analog arithmetic computing circuits continuously compute the instantaneous difference between the detected transverse idling current through the power transistors and the set point input for the idling current. The output of the controller circuit is connected to the bias voltage sources to vary the bias voltage in proportion to the instantaneous difference between the detected transverse idling current and the set value of idling current to maintain a constant, transverse idling current.

Abstract: The invention presents a vanadium tetracyanoethylene solvent complex for electromagnetic field shielding, and a method for blocking low frequency and magnetic fields using these vanadium tetracyanoethylene compositions. The compositions of the invention can be produced at ambient temperature and are light weight, low density and flexible. The materials of the present invention are useful as magnetic shields to block low frequency fields and static fields, and for use in cores in transformers and motors.

Abstract: A test station for measuring the effectiveness of cathodic protection including a cylindrical plastic reference tube extending downwardly through the soil to near the protected structure, such as a pipe. Two plastic coupon tubes extend within the chamber of the reference tube attaching to opposite sides of its interior sidewalls. First and second circular cylindrical rod-shaped coupons attach to, and sealingly engage, the bottom ends of the coupon tubes. Insulated conductors extend from attachment to each coupon upwardly through the coupon tubes. A first coupon is electrically connected to the pipe, and the second coupon is used to measure a free-corrosion (native) potential.

Abstract: Metric values derived from levels of indenture are used by producers to address statistically critical errors effecting producibility. The invention provides a machine implemented diagnostic method for determining the severity of an initial failure, predicts the severity of side effects of the failure and its correction, and gauges the overall effect the failure has on producibility.

Abstract: A nestable filter having a central panel with a frame attached around the peripheral edges of the central panel. The central panel has elongated corrugations which extend longitudinally from one side to the opposite side. The frame is made up of frame members which have a generally V-shaped cross-section, the inner leg of which attaches to the edges of the corrugated central panel. Corrugated voids are formed on the inner wall of at least two of the frame members, aligned with the channels formed by the corrugations, permitting the filter to nest within a similarly constructed filter.

Abstract: The invention relates to a hydro-mechanical gearbox with a hydraulic pump, a hydraulic motor and a set of planetary gears, whereby the pressure line of the hydraulic pump is conducted back, via the inserted hydraulic motor, to the suction line of the hydraulic pump, thereby forming a circuit, and whereby either the sun wheel or the planet-carrier of the set of planetary gears is coupled in a rotationally fixed manner to the driven shaft of the gearbox, and the other one of these two elements of the planetary gear is coupled in the same manner to the output shaft of the gearbox, and the hollow wheel is coupled to a rotational unit of the hydraulic pump, preferably to its casing, while the other rotational unit of the hydraulic pump is coupled to the frame or to the output shaft of the gearbox; according to the invention one rotational unit of the hydraulic motor, preferably its rotor, is coupled in a rotationally fixed manner to the driven shaft of the gearbox, and the other unit of the hydraulic motor, prefer

Abstract: A filter having a nestable frame including a first leg, a second leg extending obtusely from the first leg, and a third leg extending from the second leg and forming a channel between the second and third legs. A brace having similar first, second and third legs is mounted to the frame, with the second and third legs of the brace preferably extending into the channel of the frame. A chamber is formed by the second and third legs of the frame and the second and third legs of the brace. The chamber is preferably filled with material which rigidities the box beam structure formed by the walls surrounding the chamber. A filter medium material attaches to the frame, by adhesion and/or by clamping engagement between the first legs of the frame and brace.

Abstract: This invention relates to source-coupled logic (SCL) which is a functional derivative of emitter-coupled logic (ECL). ECL is widely recognized as having the characteristics of high speed (low propagation delay) and low power supply noise generation. The SCL of the prior art succeeds at maintaining and improving the low noise characteristics of this architecture but does not fulfill the promise of high speed that one would expect from a current-mode logic. In addition, it uses a differential form of logic that is not as flexible and easy-to-use as a reference controlled or "single-ended" logic. The SCL disclosed here has the desired high speed properties and maintains the ease of use that is a property of reference controlled ECL. In addition, the reference controlled SCL of this invention provides new capabilities that make it even more flexible than ECL in generating logical switching functions.

Abstract: A compact, motorized hoist including a U-shaped member, the open end of which is rigidly fastened to a first leg of an L-shaped member. The support panel leg of the L-shaped member extends across the open side of the U-shaped member. An electric motor is rigidly fastened to the support panel leg of the L-shaped member and is drivingly linked to a worm gear shaft extending through a gap between the support panel leg of the L-shaped member and the open side of the U-shaped member. The worm gear shaft is journalled to the L-shaped member. The worm gear drives a first gear having an axle mounted perpendicular to the first leg of the L-shaped member, and the closed end of the U-shaped member. A cable is wound around a reel rigidly mounted to the axle. The L-shaped member is removably fastened to the U-shaped member, and one leg of the U-shaped member is removably fastened to a pier member.

Abstract: A shade canopy structure has several substantially parallel, but laterally spaced rafter members, each rafter member having longitudinally extending tracks on its laterally opposite sides. The rafters define a plurality of laterally spaced openings. A plurality of cross beams extend laterally between adjacent rafter members and have their ends engaged in the track for sliding along the track. This forms a plurality of laterally spaced tiers of cross beams for each of the laterally spaced openings. A plurality of flexible, laterally spaced opaque sheets, each are extendible along one of the laterally spaced openings and each is attached to a tier of cross beams at spaced locations along the sheet so that each sheet may be independently drawn to an extended position and releasably latched in an extended position, or manually withdrawn to a retracted position.