Abstract: A binocular kaleidoscope having a generally V-shaped housing with an opening at the base of the V and the two arms of the V-shaped housing being hollow tubes diverging from the opening. The longitudinal axes of both arms pass through the opening. A moveable image is adjacent to the opening at the base of the V, the image being directly viewable through the opening when looking along the length of each of the arms of the housing, so that when both eyes of a person using the kaleidoscope are brought close to the free ends of the hollow arms of the housing, the moveable image is viewed directly and simultaneously by both eyes. The image is both front and back lit. Each of the housing arms may have triangular cross-sections and mirrored interiors. Each arm is provided with a telescoping extension so that the lengths of the arms, and hence the spacing between the free ends of the arms, is adjustable to conform to the spacing between the eyes of the user.

Abstract: The invention relates to an automatically-closing connector. The connector has a closing piston which is rigid and non-deformable; a compression chamber is constituted around the closing piston and is defined upstream by the end wall of the housing and downstream by a peripheral sealing gasket carried by the piston; the outlet of the connector is situated downstream from this gasket and the closing piston has an internal passage with an inlet that opens out into the compression chamber and an outlet that communicates with the outlet of the connector. The connector is applicable to injection devices in the medical field.

Abstract: A device for dosing at least a particular constituent in a product sample has a receptacle and a cover assembled to form a closed container having a vertical axis. The receptacle and cover bear coaxial cylindrical walls defining concentric annular chambers inside the container, the walls separating chambers each having an opening, the cover and the container being rotatable relative to each other about the vertical axis, said openings being placed in a predetermined manner so that by relative displacement of the walls, the openings are positioned in a straight line or offset to communicate, or isolate said successive chambers. A method for using such a device and an apparatus for implementing said method are disclosed.

Abstract: A device for installing a catheter tube in a vein by the Seldinger method, once the device has been inserted, has a tubular cylindrical sheath, with a slot running its entire length, mounted on a dilator tube. A cylindrical main portion of the sheath terminates at a distal end edge which flares forwardly and is adjacent a shoulder of the dilator tube for enabling the dilator tube to be withdrawn through the sheath.

Abstract: A water softener for reducing water hardness, suitable for use in a household washing machine, in particular a dishwasher, has a container within which ionic exchange resins are housed, which reduce the degree of hardness of water contacting them, and apparatus for regenerating the softening efficiency of the resins. Mounted in the container are a sensor for checking a physical characteristic of the resins and, in response thereto, detecting the degree of exhaustion of said resins.

Abstract: A powder case comprises a lower case for receiving powder, with a first connector, and an upper case including a second connector to be coupled with the first connector, and a downwardly extending a cylindrical housing with a ledge for engaging a flange of a slider of a brush, and an array of apertures at its bottom. As the end of the brush is inserted into the housing the flange of the slider 23 engages the ledge so that the brush fur is exposed to the powder through the apertures. The connectors may include complementary threads or cleats which engage to secure to upper and lower cases.

Abstract: A dispensing device of detergents and/or additives for washing machines is described, of the type having at least a space for containing a liquid, such as a rinse aid, the body of the device including at least a first part and a second part, the parts being made integral with each other by welding, wherein a portion of the body is intended to be inserted through an opening of a wall, a surface of the wall facing on a washing tank while the opposite surface of the wall faces on a space which has to be sealed from the tank. According to the invention, a seal is provided, in order to prevent leakage of the liquid from the welding into the space.

Abstract: A support rod for enabling a hung curtain to be smoothly drawn has two telescopically connected curtain rod segments and a trolley with at least one roller. In one set of embodiments, an outward facing channel is formed in the wall of the rod for receiving a roller while another rod engaging device can slidably contact the wall of the rod. In another embodiment, a trolley has a roller with wheels which ride on the in-turned edges of the rod which border a downward facing slot though which a curtain hanger projects. Snagging of the trolley is prevented by having the edges of the rod segments horizontally coplanar in one embodiment, and through the use of dual diameter wheels in another embodiment.

Abstract: A device for reducing water hardness suitable for the use in a household washing machine, in particular a dishwasher, comprising a container within which ionic exchange resins are housed, which provide to reduce the hardness degree of the water lapping them and means for regenerating the softening efficiency of said resins, wherein at least a portion of said resins are contained in a delimited space, a wall of said space comprises a movable or elastic element, means are provided for detecting the movement of said movable or elastic element.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an electric light bulb having a longitudinal axis, a filament disposed at least approximately on said axis, and a glass having an outer peripheral face around the filament that is at least approximately circularly cylindrical about the axis. This outer peripheral face is secured directly to a mirror which it carries, the reflecting surface of the mirror being longitudinal and placed in contact with said outer peripheral face and having a cross-section which is selected and placed relative to the axis in such a manner as to concentrate the light emitted by the filament into a beam of predetermined orientation and flare angle. The invention is particularly applicable to making strip lights.

Abstract: The winner of a race is determined by pointing the viewing axis of a camera having separate charge coupled devices sensitive to visible electromagnetic radiation and invisible electromagnetic radiation in a direction transverse to a vertical plane intersecting the finish line. A beam-splitter directs visible light to the visible CCDs for forming a visible image and invisible light to the invisible light CCD for providing range information. Superimposed images of contestants as they cross the finish line provide a real time display of their body portions “breaking through” a display background to make the winner readily apparent.

Abstract: A cutting mill has a cutting rotor and a rotatable sizing means, arranged together with the cutting rotor in a common housing.

Abstract: The present invention pertains to a device for changing the direction of travel of a watercraft with a drive with a gondola-like underwater housing 2 having a contour favorable in terms of flow outside the hull 1 of the watercraft, past which water flows and which is connected to the hull 1 of the watercraft by a shaft 3, one end of which is associated with the underwater housing and the other end of which is associated with the hull 1 of the watercraft. A drive shaft 7, which carries at least one propeller 6 outside the underwater housing, is led out of at least one end of the gondola-like underwater housing 2. The change in the direction of travel of the watercraft 1 is brought about by the shaft 3 being mounted at its upper end pivotably on the watercraft 1 and by a pivoting motor 24 (toothed ring 20, motor pinion 21) acting on the shaft.

Abstract: Apparatus for the measurement of physical quantities, of the type using an optical transducer to transform the variations of a physical quantity or perturbation in a variation of the state of polarization of a polarized light beam, in which: the transducer is inserted in an optical circuit, provided with polarizing beam-splitters for splitting the light beam in components having different state of polarization and to launch them along a first optical path and a second optical path, being different to each other, which are recombined in further polarizing beam-splitters arranged at the output of the optical circuit; at the output of the optical circuit a reflector element is provided that reflects the light beam back into the optical circuit with a different state of polarization.

Abstract: A sharpener (1) for a medical instrument has a housing (2) with an opening (3) for receiving the fingers of a hand and a sharpening element (6), having an abrasive surface (1), bisecting another opening (9) and defining two apertures (9a/9b) for respectively receiving the prongs of an instrument having edges which can be sharpened by simultaneously drawing them across the sharpening element.

Abstract: A process and device for fluidized-bed jet milling, in which solid particles to be milled, which are suspended in a flowing fluid, are disintegrated into particles of a smaller size by using at least one fluid jet induced to enter the fluidized bed with high energy to bring about an exchange of energy between the particles of the fluidized bed. The interaction between particles and the fluid jet entering the fluidized bed with high energy is influenced, especially in the area of entry of the jet, by a centrifugal force, which acts on the particles in the fluidized bed, in the vicinity of the site of entry of the fluid jet.

Abstract: A method for the study of elastic wave phenomena in the ground, where the detection of said phenomena is carried out with the use of at least a geophone comprising at least a couple of transducers (20, 21; 37, 38), each transducer (20, 21; 37, 38) being apt to detect horizontally polarized shear waves, represented by SH signals, and compression waves, represented by P signals.

Abstract: A puzzle game wherein scrambled puzzle pieces are printed on a top layer of pressure-sensitive material which is die cut to create the shapes of the pieces. In a two-layer version of the puzzle, the pressure-sensitive material is laminated to a bottom layer formed from a silicone-coated liner. The bottom surface of the bottom layer is printed with instructions, e.g., a grid having rectangles with numbers which tell where to place the correspondingly numbered scrambled pressure-sensitive puzzle pieces. When the pressure-sensitive pieces are applied to the liner, rearranged as per the grid or other instructions, a picture and/or message is revealed. An intermediate layer may be hidden between the top and bottom layers for serving as a coupon, ticket or other device which be relinquished without parting with the completed puzzle.