Abstract: A heat exchanger is disclosed including an annular lower manifold to which a cold-water intake through which cold water comes is connected; an annular upper manifold to which a hot-water exit through which hot water is discharged is connected; a plurality of coil-shaped heat exchange tubes connected between the lower and upper manifolds; an inner liner for embracing the plurality of coil-shaped heat exchange tubes on the inner surface thereof; and an outer liner for embracing the plurality of coil-shaped heat exchange tubes on the outer surface thereof, the inner and outer liners forming a path of burned gas.

Abstract: A burner for a burning apparatus is disclosed including: a mixing liner support formed with an intake hole; a mixing liner for mixing supplied gas and first air; a matrix inserted into the inner upper portion of the mixing liner and having numerous flame holes in a gauze form; a mixing plate installed above the intake hole of the mixing liner support and spaced apart upward from the mixing liner support; a nozzle plate having a plurality of injection hole disposed at predetermined intervals on the same circumference; a gas chamber formed with a gas intake in the lower portion; and a gas valve for opening/closing the gas intake of the gas chamber.

Abstract: A gas quick water heater is disclosed which includes a heat exchanger having an annular lower manifold with a cold-water intake, an annular upper manifold with a hot-water exit, a plurality of coil-shaped heat exchanging tubes connected between the manifolds, and a baffle plate installed in the center of the heat exchanging tubes and for delaying the flow of heated air; an inner liner for closely embracing the inner surface of the heat exchanging tubes of the heat exchanger; an outer liner designed higher than the inner liner in height and for closely embracing the outer surface of the heat exchanging tubes; a lower plate for closing a lower portion between the inner and outer liners and having an air intake at the center; a swirl plate having a plurality of air intakes at the periphery and a gas hole at the center portion; a combustion barrel having a plurality of air intakes on the overall surface; an insulation member in which the top surface is closed and the lower surface is opened to form an annular air

Abstract: A novel bearing-seal for the upper journal of a rotary self-cleaning strainer allows an existing strainer whose upper journal has become too loose to be reconstructed without the necessity of replacing the suction pipe, even though the suction pipe has been grooved by a set of circumferentially spaced wheels previously used for the upper journal. The bearing-seal can also be used in a new strainer instead of such a set of wheels. Where sealing is also required, the inventive bearing-seal has a sealing disc for replacing a previously used curved lip seal. The inventive upper bearing-seal significantly reduces rotational friction, enabling the strainer to be operated with significantly increased power efficiency, offering the potential for effective usage with lower pressure suction pumps.

Abstract: Improved support and adjustment of the frame on the boot are obtained by providing mounting brackets that extend transversely outwardly and beyond the underlying side walls between which the roller wheels are mounted and that contain transverse mounting slots whose transverse extents are at least as great as the spacing distance between the underlying side walls. Improved parallelism of the axles is obtained by providing diametrically opposed lobes in a mounting hole in one of the side walls at each wheel mount and by providing the corresponding axle head with a complementary shape fitting to that portion of the mounting hole containing the lobes. A tool for installing and removing the wheels from the frame is also disclosed.

Abstract: A hot-water thermoregulating valve is disclosed including a hot-water supply cap; a cold-water supply cap; a main body located between the hot-water supply cap and cold-water supply cap; first and second disks formed with a circular hole on the center, respectively; first and second stems for opening/closing the first and second disks and formed with a smaller-diameter portion inserted into the slide cavity of the first and second protrusions, a taper portion inserted into the hole of the first and second disks, and a larger-diameter portion having a reception hollow; first and second pistons contained in the main body, one end being coupled to the reception hollow of the first and second stems, the other end coming into contact with the damper, and having first and second springs; and a step motor, thereby automatically controlling the temperature of hot water.

Abstract: A radiator and condenser bridge the front of an engine bay of an automotive vehicle. An electric motor powered ducted fan is disposed directly behind and in enclosing relation to the radiator and condenser to draw air through the radiator and condenser and convey the hot effluent to a location outside the engine bay. While the bay is intended to be ventilated by ram air, any hot spots that may occur in or adjacent the bay, due to an insufficiency or complete lack of ram air, may be ventilated by providing an ejector in association with the ducted fan system. Effluent from the ducted fan is conveyed through the ejector, which by means of venturi effect, creates a relatively low pressure zone. A relatively higher pressure zone at a hot spot is connected by means of a ventilating conduit to the relatively lower pressure zone of the ejector. A ventilating flow is induced through the ventilating conduit and entrained with the effluent for ensuing discharge to a location outside the bay.

Abstract: A mouthguard that has an integral tethering strap is packaged by forming a loop at the distal end of the strap and then folding the strap back over the front of the U-shaped mouthguard body so as to nest the loop within the U-shaped body. The mouthguard is then ensealed in a transparent plastic clamshell enclosure. The enclosure is assembled to a paperboard carrier which contains cut-outs that are symmetrical about a line of folding for a flap portion of the carrier. When the flap is folded back onto the carrier, the margin of the clamshell is trapped. A second flap opposite the first one is also folded back onto the same side of the carrier as the first flap. The opposing faces of this second flap and the carrier contain a warranty card and a warranty certificate.

Abstract: A static mixer device for mixing separate fluid streams entering the device in order to achieve a more uniform, or homogeneous, characteristic, such as temperature for example, in the resulting fluid mixture stream exiting the device. An exemplary embodiment of device comprises a series of parallel rectangular walls arranged in side-by-side, spaced apart relationship to form a series of rectangular spaces. The perimeters of these spaces are selectively closed to define respective first and second inlets and an outlet. The inlets sub-divide the respective entering fluid streams into sheet-like streams that are interleaved as they exit the device at the outlet. This interleaving of one stream with the other promotes increased homogeneity of the mixture stream in a shorter distance downstream of the confluence of the entrance streams.

Abstract: The evaporative emission control system for an internal combustion engine purges the vapor collection canister to the intake manifold through a purge regulator controlled by the engine ECU. The purge regulator comprises a diaphragm valve and an electronic vacuum regulator. The purge regulator functions to allow a purge flow rate correlated with a control signal from the engine ECU and manifold vacuum, to maintain the purge flow rate substantially constant in response to certain changes in the magnitude of manifold vacuum, and to re-adjust the purge flow rate in correlation with changes in the control signal from the engine ECU. The diaphragm valve comprises a tapered valve element that progressively reduces the flow restriction as the valve element is increasingly opened.

Abstract: A battery-operated fluid level monitor has a novel circuit and sensor for providing signals, both audible and visible, for indicating low fluid level, low battery voltage, and proper fluid level. The monitor is useful as a device that can inform when a Christmas tree needs water. The monitor can also be economically fabricated, and this is important for mass production applications, such as a Christmas tree monitor.

Abstract: A filter is disposed internally of the fuel injector between the inlet and the internal valve so that particulate material having an internal origin may also be prevented from reaching the injector's valve. The filter is an electroformed screen that is supported within the fuel injector's nozzle end and is sandwiched against an internal shoulder of the fuel injector.

Abstract: The fuel injector nozzle injects fuel into the runner in a direction that may be either parallel or non-parallel to the co-axis of the fuel injector and its mounting socket, and the nozzle orifice from which the fuel is injected is disposed beyond an antechamber of the mounting socket so as to lie within the runner, hence injecting the fuel from the orifice at a location that does not lie within the antechamber of the mounting socket.

Abstract: Magnetic force is increased for faster opening by providing two axial gaps, namely a radially inner gap and a radially outer gap, between the stator and the armature. When the fuel injector opens, impact of the armature with the stator occurs at the inner gap. The maximum radial extent of the armature is less than the radial dimension of the stator housing cavity containing the solenoid coil. The outer gap is defined between the margin of a magnetic pole washer that surrounds a central through-hole in the pole washer and a circular flange of the armature. The inner gap is defined between a ring-shaped upper end face of the armature and a ring-shaped lower end face of a tubular central magnetic pole that extends coaxially through the stator housing to the vicinity of the through-hole in the magnetic pole washer.

Abstract: A cantilever beam has a proof mass arranged at its distal end so as to cause the beam to resiliently deform into an S-shape when the accelerometer is subjected to acceleration intended to be detected. Strain gauge elements are placed at the two knees of the S-shape.

Abstract: The valve has a one-piece guide and valve seat member and a one-piece valve member that is guided by a bushing lining the guide of the guide and seat member. The valve is operated by a duty-cycle modulated waveform, and when the valve is operated in the closing direction, a gap is introduced into the waveform. The valve head and valve seat are configured to cause sonic flow through the valve when the valve is open and the pressure differential across it exceeds a certain minimum.

Abstract: A fuel pressure regulator valve for a fuel rail requires only a single conduit between the tank-mounted fuel pump and the fuel rail, thereby eliminating the need for a separate, and additional, return conduit for returning excess fuel to the tank. It does this by a spring-biased check valve in the inlet to the fuel chamber of the regulator. The check is biased to prevent flow from the pump into the fuel chamber of the regulator, but when the pressure in the rail drops below a certain level, a post on the diaphragm that separates the fuel chamber of the regulator from a control chamber of the regulator, unseats a spherical valve element in the check valve to allow pumped fuel to enter the fuel chamber of the regulator and pass into the fuel rail to the fuel injectors. When the pressure has built up beyond a certain pressure, the sphere again closes.

Abstract: The tank/canister volume's integrity against unacceptable leakage measured by a diagnostic test performed by an on-board diagnostic system which includes an electrically operated air pump and tank-mounted analog pressure transducer. At the beginning of a test, the engine management computer closes the canister purge solenoid valve and operates the pump to begin pressurization of the tank/canister volume. The pumped air is introduced via the canister's atmospheric vent port at a regulated pressure. Failure to build tank pressure to a predetermined pressure within a predetermined time indicates a gross leak. If no gross leak exists, the pressure will build, and the time required to build to a given pressure from the start pressure provides a measurement of any leakage that may be present. The fuel fill level in the tank affects this time, and it is taken into account in the measurement.

Abstract: A method of making a mouthguard by fabricating a relatively more rigid main body of a material, such as ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer for example, and directly molding onto the troughs of the main body a liner which is of a relatively less rigid material, such as ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer for example, that bonds directly to the material of the main body to form a mouthguard in which the trough liner is tooth-impressionable after having been so bonded. The mouthguard has a tri-laminar occlusal wall composed of the lower durometer liner sandwiching the higher durometer main body material, and the mouthguard exhibits surprising impact-absorbing characteristics that are helpful in protecting certain cranio-facial bone structure in response to certain impacts.

Abstract: An intra-oral appliance that is associated with a pair of dental arches having a trough for receiving an upper dental arch. A second layer in a covering relation to the first layer opposite the trough, the second layer being relatively harder than the first layer. A third layer in covering relation to the second layer opposite the first layer. The third layer is relatively harder that the second layer.