Abstract: A linkage is provided for interconnecting two horizontally spaced bodies so that relative vertical movement of the two bodies occurs in a linear path. The linkage comprises a link member having universal pivotal connection to one of the bodies, for example the wheel hub of an automobile. The other end of the link is deformed into a vertical planar configuration and defines a vertically curved slot and a horizontal slot horizontally spaced from the vertically curved slot. Two horizontal pins are rigidly affixed to the other body, for example the chassis or frame of the automobile, and respectively traverse the vertically curved and horizontal slots with the result that the wheel hub can only move in a generally vertical direction relative to the frame along a linear path.

Abstract: An apparatus for setting and retrieving a bridge plug of the type which may be passed through a small diameter tubing, and may be sealed against a relatively large diameter casing by pressured fluid to inflate an elastomeric packing element carried by the bridge plug. The running tool is engagable with a valve housing by a J-slot connection and an axially shiftable, pressure balanced valve plug cooperates with the valve housing to open or close the fluid passageway therethrough extending to the inflatable elastomeric packing element. Upward movement of the running tool followed by left hand rotation effects the closing movement of the valve plug and the disengagement of the running tool. Downward movement of the running tool, while engaged with the valve housing, effects an opening of the plug valve.

Abstract: A subterranean well casing float tool has a tubular metal housing which is securable to well casing conduit. A valve is carried within the housing and comprises a frame with a valve head and seat carried relative to the frame and biased toward closed position. A compartment includes the valve head for enclosure around a bias, such as a spring, when the valve head is moved away from the valve seat. The valving components are directly secured to the housing by threads having profiled shear surfaces such that the shear area of the valving members is substantially greater than that of the housing.

Abstract: The construction and installation of a curved, laminated wooden bending rail used as a hand rail on a spiral staircase or the like is significantly facilitated utilizing a series of contoured clamp structures which circumscribe the rail and uniformly engage it, at each clamp location, around its entire periphery. Each clamp structure includes a pair of bolt-connected clamping blocks which may be drawn into circumbscribing abutment with and tightened around the rail. When the clamp structure is fully tightened, the surfaces of cutout portions in the two clamping blocks each closely conform to and uniformly engage a lateral half of the rail periphery and laterally clamp the rail laminae together with a clamping force which is very evenly distributed along the nonplanar opposite lateral side surfaces of the clamped rail section, thereby essentially eliminating marring and deformation of the rail caused by clamping force concentrations on circumferentially spaced portions thereof.

Abstract: A vibratory, time variant, pseudorandom sonar system includes a computer controlled pseudorandom digital sweep frequency source, a digital/analog converter for changing the digital output of the source to an analog output and a power amplifier for amplifying the analog output to drive a vibrator or other suitable transducer for injecting corresponding sound waves into a body of water for target detection. A memory is provided for storing the source's digitized output.A target reflects the sound waves for detection by 3 arbitrary non-colinear hydrophones which outputs a plurality of analog signals corresponding to the reflected sound waves to a plurality of channels. Each channel includes a preamplifier and an analog/digital converter for digitizing the analog electrical signals for storage in the memory. A computer controlled timer determines the time lapse between the injection of the source signal and detection of the reflected source signal by each hydrophone of the hydrophone array, for storage in memory.

Abstract: In an inducted draft, fuel-fired furnace a flow restriction in the external exhaust flue is detected, and the furnace burners responsively deactivated, by a thermal sensing switch mounted in a spaced relationship with a small flow opening formed in a sensor housing externally secured to the inducer fan outlet section over a wall opening therein. During normal burner combustion product discharge flow through the exhaust flue, a small vane within the inducer fan outlet section creates a venturi therein which draws ambient air within the furnace housing across the temperature sensing switch and into the fan outlet section through the sensor housing opening. The temperature of this ambient air is below the switch set point so that continued burner operation is permitted.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for injection of fluid within a subterranean well for treatment of a production zone within a subterranean well by first initiating flow of treatment fluid into one of uppermost and lowermost portions of the zone and by subsequent continuation of flow of treatment fluid into the other of the uppermost and lowermost portion of the zone. A conduit is assembled which carries a zone isolator, and fluid communicating means having first and second communicating members. The conduit is run into the well until the isolator is set above the zone and the first communicating member is in proximity to the uppermost end of the zone and the second communicating member is in proximity to the lowermost end of the production zone. A first injection flow path is formed for the fluid which extends from the top of the well through the interior of the communicating means and out only the exterior of the second communicating member and into the lowermost end of the zone.

Abstract: In a safety valve having an axially shiftable actuating sleeve operable to move a valve head from a closed to an open position, the actuating movement of the actuating sleeve is normally produced by a small diameter piston mounted on an axially extending spindle secured to the valve housing and cooperating with a primary cylinder which is secured to the actuating sleeve by a shiftable latch. A secondary spindle and cooperating cylinder are provided which are supplied with fluid pressure by an entirely separate line. The secondary cylinder, when moved downwardly by fluid pressure, engages the latch to effect a disconnection of the primary cylinder from the actuating sleeve and concurrently effects the connection of the secondary cylinder to the actuating sleeve. The second cylinder may thus release the primary cylinder from the actuating sleeve in any position of the primary cylinder, including the position corresponding to the fully open position of the valve head.

Abstract: A commerical, dual tier pizza cooking oven is formed from substantially similar but relatively inverted lower and upper modules. The lower module has a housing, with a cooking chamber therein, which is floor supported in an elevated position by suitable depending support legs and has a downwardly projecting fan and heating section used to create a recirculating flow of air, heated to a suitable food cooking temperature, through the housing. The upper module housing is stacked on top of the lower module housing, and its fan and heating section projects upwardly therefrom and also operates to create a recirculating flow of heated air through its cooking chamber. Perforated metal food support plates are horizontally disposed in each of the two cooking chambers for support the pizzas to be cooked.

Abstract: An inflatable well tool and method of use is provided. The tool has a central body and an annular inflatable packing element. A fluid passageway transmits pressured fluid for inflation purposes. One end of the packing element is secured relative to the tubular body while the other end is selectively secured relative to such body. The inflatable means is positioned such that a pre-determined amount of axial tension must be produced in the inflatable element prior to releasing one end of the element for axial movement relative to the tubular body to provide a more uniform radial inflation of the inflatable element. The device may be repeatably utilized without retrieval to the top of the well and the inflatable element is biased to permit second inflation by resisting axial movement of the inflatable element relative to the tubular body such that second and subsequent settings of the tool in the well result in uniform inflation of the inflatable element.

Abstract: The continuously formed wrapping material tube traversing a horizontal wrapping machine, and containing articles to be wrapped therein, is sequentially passed between a first pair of opposed, counter-rotating heat sealing bar sets, and then between a second pair of opposed, counter-rotating combination heat sealing and cutting bar sets, to heat seal and cut spaced apart longitudinal sections of the tube, each positioned between an adjacent pair of articles, to form individual, article-containing packages. As each of these longitudinal tube sections passes through the first bar set, corrugated outer ends of two bars therein mesh to compress and heat seal the tube section along a corrugated heat seal area whose ridges and valleys extend transversely to the tube length.

Abstract: A packer assembly is provided for use in a subterranean well and settable only by longitudinal manipulation of a tubular workstring. The assembly has an outer housing and a seal assembly with anchoring slips carried by the housing in retracted position and movable to expanded position along the wall of a casing or the like. A longitudinally extending central mandrel telescopes within the housing. Orienting and setting pins are provided for initial receipt within orienting and setting slots with the setting pins being moved to the orienting slot to permit setting of the packer. The seal assembly and anchoring slips are maintained in retracted position and are responsive to a variation in internal diameter between a first and second tubular conduit to thereafter permit the manipulating device to move the seal assembly and the anchoring slips to expanded position within only the second tubular conduit which has a diameter less than that of the first tubular conduit.

Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for completion of a horizontal section of a subterranean well. The apparatus comprises a first packer assembly which is settable in the well by longitudinal manipulation of a tubular workstring. A second packer is carried into the well on the workstring and is settable by application of hydraulic pressure through the workstring. A perforating gun is carried into the well on and in communication with the workstring, together with a gun retractor for telescopically retracting the perforating gun. A valve is also provided for selective communication between the exterior and the interior of the apparatus and is manipulatable to the open position to effect, for example, a fluid flow path from the production zone to the top of the well for transmission of production fluids in the well.

Abstract: An apparatus is provided for securement onto one end of a continuous length of remedial tubing introducable into a subterranean well and concentrically insertable through production tubing previously positioned within said well, said remedial tubing having a pre-determined tensile strength. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises inner and outer cylindrical housing members having an opening for receipt of the remedial tubing. A first element on one of the housings has a first tapered surface decreasing in internal diameter from a first end away from the opening to a second end toward the opening.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for analyzing ECG signal data for diagnostic purposes by performing an incrementally moving, short window FFT analysis to produce a set of spectral templates representative of the spectral frequency content of the ECG at each window position. The spectral templates may be displayed as a representation of a three dimensional surface or mathematically analyzed. The changes in the shape of the templates or surface with time represent a change in the spectrum, which are shown to be an indication of abnormalities in the heart.

Abstract: A series of bags are fabricated using a continuous, high-speed bag-forming process in which an elongated section of flattened film tubing is longitudinally conveyed toward a receiving station in which the formed bags are suitably packaged. As the flattened tube is moved toward the receiving station, elongated plastic film tie elements are sequentially formed and welded along relatively large area end portions thereof to at least two layers of a side edge portion of the flattened tube at longitudinally spaced locations thereon adjacent the upper end locations of the individual bags, the resulting free end portions of the tie elements overlying the flattened tube.

Abstract: An electrical clamp suitable for use with automotive jumper cables, which consists of a handle with a spring loaded conducting member extending therethrough, the conducting member preferably having two contact surfaces on the end extending from the handle. One end of the handle is open for allowing the entry of an electrical cable for attachment to the conducting member, and the other end of the handle constitutes a bearing surface facing the contact surfaces of the conducting member. One of the contact surfaces is specially adapted to be used with side-mounted battery terminals, and the other contact surface is adapted to be used with top-mounted battery terminals.

Abstract: An information liquid crystal display device includes rows of liquid crystal elements for forming alpha-numeric characters. A single, lightweight, flexible, light transparent, plastic sheet supports the liquid crystal elements in an arrangement enabling roll up of the support for transport to a display window, for example, for attachment. No contrast-forming foil is included as a second support. The plastic support has contact formed on an edge thereof for connecting the liquid crystal elements to a microprocessor having a keyboard for inputting information for display for selected liquid crystal elements.

Abstract: A bicycle gear shift mechanism (8) to be actuated by an electric motor (m) has a carrier for an actuator member (S) comprising a tensioning arm (29) of a derailleur or a shift plunger of a hub gear transmission. According to the invention, the carrier comprises a cursor (27) slidably displaceable on at least two spaced parallel guides (26) mounted at stationary positions with respect to a housing (18). According to a further aspect, a control circuit for the bicycle gear shift mechanism to be actuated by a DC motor comprises a first and a second power control circuit (70,71) controlled by first and second flip-flop circuits (60, 61) the set inputs of which are connected to switches (68, 69) for shifting to higher or lower gear ratios, and the reset inputs of which are adapted to by activated via a switch (65) which is responsive to the gear-engaged state of the gear shift mechanism.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for replacing a defective downhole well safety valve of the full bore type by a wireline valve sealably insertable in the bore of the housing for the defective valve by wireline and operating the wireline inserted safety valve by fluid pressure supplied through an existing control fluid passage provided in the original safety valve housing. An internally projecting integral protuberance is provided in the bore of the original safety valve housing and a connecting fluid conduit is provided between the interior of the protuberance and the existing control fluid passage. A cutting tool is mounted on an axially shiftable sleeve disposed immediately above the protuberance. The axially shiftable sleeve is manipulated by an auxiliary tool temporarily inserted in the bore of the original valve housing and causing the cutting tool to remove the protuberance and thus establish fluid communication for the control fluid with the internal bore of the original safety valve housing.