Abstract: A disposable diaper with an absorbent pad that is both narrower and shorter than the diaper back sheet has plural folds formed in opposing end margins of the back sheet overlapping the ends of the absorbent pad to reduce the length of the folded diaper to the approximate length of the absorbent pad without shortening the waistband, thereby stiffening the ends of the folded diaper, expediting the handling and packaging thereof, and reducing the size of the packages therefor.

Abstract: Apparatus for conveying upright standing containers such as bottles includes a driven star wheel which advances the containers in spaced relationship along a curved path. Curved support and guide rails are concentric to the star wheel and are spaced apart a distance to engage the container bottom and top and to restrain the container from being discharged centrifugally from the star wheel path. Abnormal containers such as bottles broken off at their tops or necks will not be confined to the curved path of the star wheel and will be rejected by centrifugal force.

Abstract: Normally hydrophilic inorganic fillers for polymeric resins are modified to enhance their dispersibility in such resins by admixing filler particles with a block copolymer of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide under shear and at an elevated temperature so as to coat the filler particles with a portion of the block copolymer. Thermoplastic polymeric resins, such as polyethylene and polypropylene, containing thus-modified fillers can be conventionally formed into products, such as thin film bags, having improved strength properties.

Abstract: A slush freezer has a stationary baffle with a set of stationary fingers and a rotatable agitator having a shaft and a set of movable fingers which interleave and interact with the stationary fingers of the baffle. Interference between the movable and stationary fingers is prevented by a thrust bearing between the agitator and the baffle.

Abstract: Slush freezing apparatus with an upper liquid reservoir provided with a rotary agitator above the divider plate between the upper liquid reservoir and lower freezing chamber. The agitator stirs the liquid in the reservoir, thus redissolving ice which forms in the reservoir or which migrates into the reservoir from the freezing chamber. This action keeps the reservoir free of ice. A sealing ring above the divider plate has a contractible loop which interrupts the continuity of the ring and leaves a gap therein. This gap is disposed above the inlet to the dispensing spigot from the freezing chamber, thus to channel flow of liquid from the reservoir to the freezing chamber to the vicinity of the spigot inlet and flush the inlet with liquid from the reservoir and inhibit ice formation over the inlet.

Abstract: A lift chair has a lift base, a seat, and an extensible and retractable power-actuated ram connected between the lift base and seat to selectively raise and lower the seat. One or another accessory base provided with accessories such as a rocker or wheel assembly is also connected to the seat and is positioned to contact the floor before the ram is fully retracted so that the full retraction of the ram lifts the lift base off the floor and transfers the entire weight of the chair to the accessory base. When the ram is extended, the initial extension of the ram reseats the lift base on the floor and lifts the accessory base off the floor, thus transferring the weight of the chair from the accessory base back to the lift base, which supports and stabilizes the chair during the lifting thereof and until the ram is fully retracted again.

Abstract: Inspection equipment for detection of foreign matter particles in the bottom area of containers with transparent bottoms, such as glass bottles. The equipment has a driven rotor the front face of which lies in the image plane of a projection optic with the illuminated bottle bottom serving as the object plane. The rotor has a first optical element in the form of a radially extending mirror which focuses the incident radiation on a fixed position photoelectric element. The output signal of the photoelectric element feeds an evaluator which responds to a certain decrease of the incident light intensity. The rotor is provided with a second optical element which is responsive to radiation from the center of the container bottom and which signals a second photoelectric cell, which feeds a second evaluator.Both evaluators signal container reject mechanism.

Abstract: A rotary label extracting carrier picks up glue from a glue roller and applies the glue to the back of the frontal label in a label magazine. The label extracting carrier picks up the frontal label with the glue and carries the glued label to a gripper cylinder having gripper fingers which grip the leading edge of glued label and peel it off the label extracting carrier for transfer to a bottle or other object. The circular pitch of the gripper cylinder is smaller than the circular pitch of the label extracting carrier, and the label extracting carrier is rotated synchronously with the gripper cylinder in such manner that the peripheral speed of the label extracting carrier is greater than the peripheral speed of the gripper cylinder. This arrangement produces a smooth peeling action of the labels as they are transferred from the label extracting carrier to the gripper cylinder and thereby substantially eliminates crushing and tearing of the labels.

Abstract: A dock shelter for effecting a seal between the rear end of a truck van and a building to keep out wind and rain comprises a frame having sides and a roof for enclosing the building opening. Flexible, but substantially self-sustaining, foam-filled sealing panels extend toward each other from the left and right inside of a substantially rigid frame to define an opening which is somewhat smaller than the expected width of the van. A partially foam-filled curtain also extends from the top of the frame and behind the left and right side panels. The top curtain has vertically extending stays which augment effecting a seal with the top of the van. The top curtain and the side panels cooperate to maintain the seal when the top corners of the van approach the building opening. The lower ends of the side panels are deflected into sealing relationship with specially shaped flexible foam filler blocks which are located inside of and near the bottom of the frame.

Abstract: Apparatus for packing pads such as disposable diapers in shipping cartons includes one or more carriages having receptacles or bins with two open sides and an open top. The carriage moves the bins between a loading position where a stack of diapers is pushed into the bin and an unloading position where the stack is pushed horizontally through a carton packing funnel and into a carton. The diaper stack is confined against shifting during carriage movement by two vertical bin walls and two fixed panels which partially enclose the open sides of the bins as the carriage is moved between the panels to the unloading position. When the bin is in the unloading position the stack is compressed by a vertical ram having a compression plate which enters the open top of the receptacle. After the stack is compressed a pusher plate moves horizontally into one open side of the bin and out the other open side to push the compressed stack through a funnel and into a shipping carton held on the funnel.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for cutting tenons in the ends of workpieces in which the workpiece is advanced on a rectilinear path, one or more cutting tools are reciprocated on a transverse rectilinear path which intersects the ends of the workpieces and the speed of advance of the workpieces and the speed of reciprocation of the cutting tools are varied so that the cutting tools have an effective undulating cutting path with respect to the workpieces, thus forming a series of spaced tenons thereon.

Abstract: The red color of fresh red meats is preserved by adding thereto a color preservative selected from the group consisting of sodium cyanate, acetylurea, sodium-5-acetylhydantoate, urethylane sodium carboxylate and mixtures thereof. In a preferred embodiment, these color preservatives are incorporated in a resinous polymeric film which is fibrillated to provide an open-celled, microporous structure having a large internal surface area. Such films can be used as an interleaf between layers of slices of freshly cut red meat and are effective for preserving the fresh color for several hours.

Abstract: Each mold in a battery of molds consists of a female die which has a cylindrical mold cavity which is open on both ends. A coaxial end probe or plug is slidable into and out of one end of the cavity and has a duct therein through which plastic material is injected into the cavity. A coaxial center probe or plug is slidable into and out of the other end of the cavity and has a duct therein through which steam is injected into the cavity to heat the plastic therein. A coaxial crush probe or plug with a bore through which the center probe is slidable is itself slidable toward and away from the end of the cavity adjacent the center probe and closes that end of the cavity. A small vent gap is held open between the female die and the crush probe while the plastic beads are being injected into the cavity to allow air to escape from the cavity. The vent gap is closed after the cavity has been filled with plastic beads.

Abstract: A squirrel-proof post comprises a post supporting a bird platform such as a bird feeder or bird house and has an axially elongated sleeve slidable on the post. Mechanism is provided to bias the sleeve toward the top of the post, such as a counterweight inside the post which is connected to the sleeve by a line which passes over a pulley at the top of the post. The counterweight is sufficient to lift the sleeve to the top of the post. However, when a squirrel climbs up the post and onto the sleeve, the weight is insufficient to support the combined weight of the sleeve and the squirrel, whereupon the sleeve carrying the squirrel will start to slide down the post and the squirrel will jump off and return to ground level. The counterweight will now lift the sleeve back to the top of the post. If the squirrel tries again to climb the post, the process will be repeated and the squirrel will be returned to the ground. This apparatus prevents the squirrel from gaining access to the bird platform.

Abstract: A seamless one-piece metal sleeve coupling is adapted at one end to couple with an end of an electric conduit and is flared at the other end to a size larger than the entry opening in an electric junction box. The flared portion of the sleeve has a reduced end portion which is small enough to enter the box opening. An annular shoulder for engaging the exterior box margin about the opening is formed at the junction of the flared portion and reduced end portion. A plurality of outwardly bent gripper arms are formed in the reduced end portion for engaging the interior box margin about the opening. The reduced end portion is split in at least one location and has an expansion joint bridging the split.

Abstract: A protective apron has a fabric base sheet with an over-all plastic coating on which is superimposed a belly band completely across the apron from one side to the other. The belly band comprises a layer of substantially all-plastic superimposed on the plastic coating of the base sheet fabric and laminated thereto throughout the contiguous areas thereof.

Abstract: A concrete finisher of the type having driven paddles surrounded by a peripheral guard ring is made with one or more relieved guard ring sections, each preferably having a flattened outer edge, so that the finisher can be used to finish concrete surfaces adjacent to a wall or other obstruction. In some embodiments the relieved guard ring wall guide section is fixed. In other embodiments it is retractable.

Abstract: Inspection apparatus for detecting defects in the rim of bottles or containers includes a light sensing head made up of a mosaic of thirty to forty light sensors in the form of circular ring sectors supported on a platen and arranged around a central aperture. The sensing head is located above the bottles and inspects the bottles as they are conveyed through the inspection zone. A light source provides a beam through the central aperture which floods the mouth of the bottle with the light being reflected upwardly from the bottle rim to the various sensors which simultaneously sense light reflected from the entire bottle rim. The light sensor outputs are individually monitored and circuitry is provided to activate a bottle sorting device when an amplified output signal from any of the cells varies a predetermined amount from a normal signal value.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for applying adhesive attaching tapes to pads, such as diapers, in which an elongated strip of adhesive tape having an adhesive face and a non-adhesive back is folded longitudinally about a hingeline to form tape wings having their non-adhesive backs together and their adhesive faces facing away from each other. A release liner is applied to the adhesive face of one of the wings, leaving the adhesive face of the other wing exposed. Discrete folded tape segments are severed from the folded strip and are transferred from the vicinity of the severing tool to the vicinity of the pad by drawing the lined wings of the folded tape segments by vacuum against a vacuum drum. The adhesive face of the exposed wing faces outwardly of the drum. The drum is rotated to adhere the adhesive face of the exposed wing to a portion of the pad in the course of drum rotation.