Abstract: A seal and lock mechanism employs a cable and a mechanism for securing a free end of the cable to the seal by a wedging action within a tapered housing bore employing wedging means such as balls and the like. The wedging action is enhanced by roughening the surface of the wedging means or otherwise improving their resistance to displacement with respect to the surface of the cable.

Abstract: Locks for the transportation industry are programmable with a keypad and with handheld activators, the activators being programmable by a central system and activators via IR transmitters and receivers. Operator PIN numbers and access codes manifesting the supervisory level of authority are encoded in each lock which are programmed to open a given number of times in a given time period with or without entry of a code and include a lockout feature for disabling the lock in case of invalid code entry. Each lock has a log history containing the number of complete and incomplete opening transactions, when they occurred and the operator codes associated therewith. The locks are opened by IR transmission of the appropriate codes or by keypad entries. One or more individuals at different levels of authority may open one or more locks in a given time frame a given number of times. Each lock records its transaction history which is displayed and downloaded for system evaluation.

Abstract: Two steel pipes are each connected to a mounting flange for joining the two pipes, the flanges in one embodiment being fixed stationary to each other and in a second embodiment fixed movable relative to each other. A compressed knitted wire mesh seal is between the two flanges in a dynamic embodiment. Each flange has a spherical inner concave or outer convex surface and the seal has an inner concave and outer convex spherical surface. The seal outer convex spherical surface has a radius smaller than the mating flange concave inner surface. The origins of the two radii are offset. The seal inner concave spherical surface has a radius that is larger than the mating spherical outer convex surface of the corresponding flange. The seal contacts the two flanges in an annular set of pressure points to provide enhanced sealing action.

Abstract: A bone fixation device, e.g., a pedicle screw or hook, having a threaded head is secured to a rod by a coupler comprising a pair of elements, one having a bifurcated body with rod receiving bores and a flange with a bore for receiving the threaded head. A second element has a body between the bifurcated body portions hinged to the other element by a pivot pin. A flange with a head receiving bore extends from the second element body juxtaposed and aligned with the other element flange bore. The second element body has a rod receiving bore offset relative to the rod receiving bores of the body portions. A nut screwed to the head clamps the overlying pivoting flanges together clamping the pivoting offset rod bores to the received rod. In a second embodiment, the second element body is a hook. The hook and body portions form offset rod receiving openings pivoting about the received rod and which clamp the rod when the flanges are clamped together via the nut and head.

Abstract: A mixing element for a screw extruder comprises an element including opposing lobes and a central portion having common opposing broad surfaces; one lobe broad surface being formed into a taper. The elements may be used individually or combined in blocks, with the elements of a block oriented in various combinations. The blocks may comprise two or more elements. The tapered lobes provided reduced pressure and temperature of the process as compared to prior art mixing elements. Also, more graduated control over temperature and pressure are provided according to the value of the taper magnitude, the number of elements used in a process and the relative lobe orientations in a machine.

Abstract: Locks for the transportation industry are programmable with a keypad and with handheld activators, the activators being programmable by a central system and activators via IR transmitters and receivers. Operator PIN numbers and access codes manifesting the supervisory level of authority are encoded in each lock which are programmed to open a given number of times in a given time period with or without entry of a code and include a lockout feature for disabling the lock in case of invalid code entry. Each lock has a log history containing the number of complete and incomplete opening transactions, when they occurred and the operator codes associated therewith. The locks are opened by IR transmission of the appropriate codes or by keypad entries. One or more individuals at different levels of authority may open one or more locks in a given time frame a given number of times. Each lock records its transaction history which is displayed and downloaded for system evaluation.

Abstract: An inner vertically upright perforated conduit is concentric within an outer vertically upright conduit. The chamber between the conduits is separated by fluid impervious rings forming sub-chambers. Hot curd cooking water is injected into the various sub-chambers in controlled amounts through corresponding valves to provide cheese at 135.degree. F. at the bottom exit port of the cheese passageway formed by the inner conduit. The water and curd/cheese together form a pressure head of at least about 2 psi at the bottom of the conduits. Raw curd is fed in a continuous process to the top of the inner conduit producing finished cheese at the bottom without moving parts. A shredder at the bottom automatically shreds the cheese. The shredder includes a rotating blade with blow out apertures for ejecting shredded cheese from a fixed shredding plate. The shredded cheese is automatically cooled and salted in a single continuous process.

Abstract: A flattened tubular knitted wire mesh is passed through a bath of a slurry comprising a vermiculite binder and a high temperature lubricant powder with optional metal fibers suspended in water to form an impregnated moving slurry filled web. The slurry filled web is passed between metering bars to remove excess slurry to reduce the web to the desired thickness and then dried in an oven at a temperature in the range of about 200-400.degree. F. The web is conveyed at about 5 feet/minute and forms a continuous sheet of flexible preform with a dried filler which is wound on a take up roller driven by a motor via a controller which also operates the web drying oven. The preform is then formed into discrete preforms for article manufacture such as seals and the like by conventional die compression.

Abstract: Lower and upper covers permanently secured together form a vial enclosing chamber in a cap assembly which encloses the top of a bone cement mixing apparatus mixing chamber having prepackaged premeasured bone cement powder. The vial contains a monomer bone cement liquid and may be glass. The vial has two valve seats in corresponding ports on opposing vial side walls sealed by a releaseably secured preferably glass valve member threaded to a nozzle attached to the cap assembly. The vial ports are aligned with a mixing chamber liquid inlet port to permit the cement liquid to flow into the mixing chamber from the opened valves. The vial may be supplied enclosed in a separate package and includes valves on a valve stem attached to the package for opening and sealing the vial. In the alternative, the vial is frangible glass and may be opened by fracturing it and retaining the fragments in the vial receiving chamber to release the liquid to the mixing chamber.

Abstract: An automobile exhaust gas ceramic catalytic element support device mounts the element in a metal housing and cushions the element from radial shock loads. The device is compressed knitted wire mesh and includes crimped corrugations formed into a cylinder. The cylinder end has a conduit containing a knitted compacted wire mesh rope formed by drawing knitted wire mesh through a die until the formed rope is compacted into a gas seal. The device at the rope end has a radially inwardly extending lip for engaging an end face of the element. The rope may include non-metallic fibers to enhance sealing action of the rope. The device is axially retained by an annular channel in the converter housing with the rope substantially gas sealing the interface region between the ceramic element and the housing.

Abstract: A lower steel plate casing has a housing attached to a back plate secured to a door and defines an enclosed chamber defining a channel portion through which a portion of an operating handle of a swing door keeper bar passes. An upper steel plate casing has a housing and is pivoted to the back plate. The upper casing housing defines a further enclosed chamber having a further channel portion through which a portion of the handle passes in cooperation with the lower casing channel portion in a housing locking position. A bolt seal has a head fixed to a shank and a lock body releaseably attached to the shank for locking the two housings together. The shank is laterally protected by the enclosed chambers and axially protected by the head at one shank end and the lock body at the other shank end and by various housing plates having apertures in which the head, lock body and the bolt shank are received.

Abstract: A padlock type security seal and method of making same include a U-shaped shackle, a pair of reversely bent end portions, and a transparent body having a pair of chambers for receiving the bent end portions. The chambers each have a locking groove therein for receiving the bent end portions. The seal elements are formed from two molded thermoplastic pieces, an insert and a body. The relative dimensions of the chambers, the shackle, and the locking grooves are chosen to prevent picking.The insert has a channel in which a liquid filled vial is inserted. The vial contains a colored liquid. When the shackle is attempted to be removed from the body portion, the shackle end portions penetrate the insert and the vial causing the liquid to seep into the various chambers, the seepage being visible through the body.

Abstract: Butyrylcholinesterase is produced in a purity of at least 90% by subjecting plasma fraction IV-4 alone or in admixture with fraction IV-1 to both anion exchange chromatography and affinity chromatography.

Abstract: A novel fibular intramedullary rod obviates the need to use bone plates to treat fibular fractures. The rod comprises a solid or cannulated elongated member which is insertable upwardly into the fibular medullary canal. The proximal portion of the rod is smaller in diameter than the tapered distal portion which may be obliquely truncated. The rod is slightly curved or bowed and provided with screw receiving transverse holes.

Abstract: There is provided an improved coated composite article and an improved process for making the article. A cloth-like flexible preform is brazed to a metallic substrate to make the article. The article is then subjected to a uniform high pressure and temperature for sufficient time to remove porosity in the coating. The result is a fully dense coating, which is metallurgically bonded to the substrate without any porosity, which has improved physical properties, and which is capable of being polished to a surface finish of at least 4 RMS.

Abstract: To extract a liquid from a workable mass of material a first force is applied to the material in a first direction. A second opposed force is applied to the material within or slightly downstream of a liquid-extraction location. These opposed forces tend to compact the material to extract the liquid. The extracted liquid moves out of the liquid-extraction location along a path which extends generally transverse to the direction of the first and second forces. Third forces are applied to the material along the path in a direction generally opposite to that taken by the exiting liquid to prevent the material from traversing the path but to permit the liquid to exit. The first, second and third forces form a pinch point on the material within or slightly downstream of the liquid-extraction location to substantially obviate liquid flow countercurrent to the direction of the first force.

Abstract: An improved flaring tool includes the usual plurality of expandable die blocks retained by a U-shaped frame. A clamping screw is treaded through a clamp block which is rotatably mounted between the legs of the frame at its open end. The screw is movable toward and away from the die blocks to clamp or unclamp tubing between adjacent die blocks. A conical flaring tip is movable against the end of a clamped tubing for flaring same. The clamp block's axis of rotation is perpendicular to the direction of movement of the die blocks and the screw. The improvement comprises a facility which locks the clamp block against rotation when the screw is aligned with the die block and their direction of movement. The locking facility prevents unintentional rotation of the clamp block as the screw is rotated to clamp or unclamp the tubing, but may be manually overcome to intentionally rotate the clamp block.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for supporting a hose storage reel and mounting it to a vehicular platform to allow a high degree of rotational and lateral positioning alignment of hose dispensal to and retrieval from a selected dispatch point. .Iadd.