Abstract: A clamp for holding small workpieces, such as jewelry, is disclosed. The clamp is rotatable and tiltable about a central mounting shaft, and includes hand rests extending transversely from each side of the clamp. The hand rests allow one's hands to be supported and stabilized while performing work on the workpiece, thereby reducing fatigue while also improving stability, accuracy and steadiness. In the preferred embodiment the clamp includes an integral flux cup for facilitating soldering operations.

Abstract: A gun case for protecting a rifle from the elements while being carried in the field. In the preferred embodiment a pair of elastomeric grommet assemblies fit over the stud posts of conventional sling swivel assemblies so as to permit the rifle to be carried by the sling in a conventional manner while being fully enclosed by the gun case. The grommet assemblies form a substantially watertight seal with conventional swivel assembly stud posts. Although the rifle is at all times fully enclosed by the case, the case may at any time be quickly and easily opened to permit the rifle to be aimed and fired, all without having to detach the case from the rifle.

Abstract: A high precision controller for an alternating-current multi-phase electrical motor that is subject to a large inertial load. The controller was developed for and is particularly suitable for controlling, in a neutron chopper system, a heavy spinning rotor that must be rotated in phase-locked synchronism with a reference pulse train that is representative of an ac power supply signal having a meandering line frequency. The controller includes a shaft revolution sensor which provides a feedback pulse train representative of the actual speed of the motor. An internal digital timing signal generator provides a reference signal which is compared with the feedback signal in a computing unit to provide a motor control signal. In the preferred embodiment, the motor control signal is a weighted linear sum of a speed error voltage, a phase error voltage, and a drift error voltage, each of which is computed anew with each revolution of the motor shaft.

Abstract: A power driven wrench includes a rotatable drive rotor journalled between fixed arms of a yoke affixed to one end of a wrench handle containing a motor. Disposed between the yoke arms is a ratchet head which is driven in reciprocal angular motion by the motor. The ratchet head is engaged with the drive rotor by means of a pawl in the ratchet head and a ratchet gear on the drive rotor. A direction switching lever within the ratchet head permits the direction of rotation of the drive rotor to be manually selected. The switching lever extends from the sides of the ratchet head, such that the direction of rotation of the wrench can be easily changed even if the wrench is inadvertently backed up against an immovable object while removing a nut or bolt. The location of the switching lever enables it be actuated with the same hand holding the wrench, and also results in the wrench having a thin profile which is useful in confined spaces.

Abstract: An apparatus for unilaterally producing a substantially homogeneous magnetic field. The apparatus includes two circular electromagnet coils, a small coil and a large coil, which are coaxial with one another and which are separated by a distance equal to one-half the difference in the radius of the two coils. By appropriate selection of electrical currents, which are passed through the coil in opposite directions, a region of homogeneous magnetic field is formed. This region is centered on the common axis of the two coils, at a point on the axis which is at a distance from the small coil equal to one-half the radius of the small coil, and which is on the opposite side of the small coil from the large coil. The apparatus has particular application in the field of diagnostic medical NMR and other NMR applications.

Abstract: A method, composition of matter, and apparatus for producing substantially pure Ag-109m for use in biomedical imaging techniques. Cd-109, which decays with a half-life of 453 days to Ag-109m is loaded onto an ion exchange column consisting of particulate tin phosphate. After secular equilibrium is reached in about ten minutes, Ag-109m may be selectively eluted from the column by means of a physiologically acceptable aqueous buffered eluent solution of sodium thiosulfate, and either ascorbic acid or dextrose. The breakthrough of toxic Cd-109 is on the order of 1.times.10.sup.-7, which is sufficiently low to permit administration of the Ag-109m-containing eluate, with but a minor pH adjustment, directly to a human patient within a matter of seconds.

Abstract: An insulated window shade assembly includes a pleated, two-ply window shade and two cooperable guide rails which are adapted for attachment to the side walls of a window casing. The shade consists of two pleated plys, which in the preferred embodiment are interconnected by means of draw strings which pass through the pleats. The edges of the pleated plys are shaped so that the unfolding of the pleats as the shade is lowered results in the edges forming an air-tight seal with the guide rails when the shade is fully lowered. As the shade is raised the edges of the pleated plys partially draw away from the guide rails to as to facilitate raising and lowering of the shade.

Abstract: An eating utensil, such as a fork, spoon or dinner knife, for use in correctional institutions. The utensil is formed of a polymeric plastics material and includes a handle which is constructed so as to prevent the utensil from being formed into a sharpened weapon by grinding or other alteration. In the preferred embodiment the handle includes a shallow recess on the bottom side, and a plurality of diagonal slots on the top side, which effectively prevent any portion of the handle from being fashioned into a sharpened instrument of sufficient length to constitute a dangerous weapon.

Abstract: An adjustable X-ray collimation system for a diamond-anvil high-pressure cell of the type including a cooperable piston and cylinder and a pair of opposing diamonds located between the head of the piston and the head of the cylinder. The X-ray collimation system includes a tubular insert which contains an X-ray collimator. The insert is engageable in the bore of the piston. The collimator is mounted within the insert by means of an elastomeric O-ring at the end closest the opposed diamonds, and by means of a set of adjustable set screws at the opposite end. By adjustment of the set screws the collimator can be pivoted about the O-ring and brought into alignment with the opposed diamonds and the sample contained therein. In the preferred embodiment there is further provided a set of plugs which are insertable in the bore of the collimator. The plugs have bores of different diameters.

Abstract: A thermoacoustic magnetohydrodynamic electrical generator includes an intrinsically irreversible thermoacoustic heat engine coupled to a magnetohydrodynamic electrical generator. The heat engine includes an electrically conductive liquid metal as the working fluid and includes two heat exchange and thermoacoustic structure assemblies which drive the liquid in a push-pull arrangement to cause the liquid metal to oscillate at a resonant acoustic frequency on the order of 1,000 Hz. The engine is positioned in the field of a magnet and is oriented such that the liquid metal oscillates in a direction orthogonal to the field of the magnet, whereby an alternating electrical potential is generated in the liquid metal. Low-loss, low-inductance electrical conductors electrically connected to opposite sides of the liquid metal conduct an output signal to a transformer adapted to convert the low-voltage, high-current output signal to a more usable higher voltage, lower current signal.

Abstract: An improved nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) apparatus for use in topical magnetic resonance (TMR) spectroscopy and other remote sensing NMR applications includes a semitoroidal radio-frequency (rf) coil. The semitoroidal rf coil produces an effective alternating magnetic field at a distance from the poles of the coil, so as to enable NMR measurements to be taken from selected regions inside an object, particularly including human and other living subjects. The semitoroidal rf coil is relatively insensitive to magnetic interference from metallic objects located behind the coil, thereby rendering the coil particularly suited for use in both conventional and superconducting NMR magnets. The semitoroidal NMR coil can be constructed so that it emits little or no excess rf electric field associated with the rf magnetic field, thus avoiding adverse effects due to dielectric heating of the sample or to any other interaction of the electric field with the sample.

Abstract: An anti-pitch system for a motorcycle having a rear swing arm suspension and a front suspension of the type including a control arm which is hinged to the chassis and which extends forwardly therefrom. The anti-pitch system includes a torsion rod which links the rear swing arm to the forward control arm. The torsion rod resists unequal angular displacements of the control arm and the swing arm relative to the chassis, thereby resisting pitching motions such as normally occur during hard braking of the front wheel or during hard acceleration. The torsion rod does not however affect substantially equal displacements of the front and rear suspensions, that is, substantially vertical motions of the motorcycle chassis, such as occur in response to varying weight loads on the motorcycle or in response to dips or rises in a road. The system is particularly adapted to a motorcycle having a one-sided front suspension system.

Abstract: A remotely readable fiber optic compass. A sheet polarizer is affixed to a magnet rotatably mounted in a compass body, such that the polarizer rotates with the magnet. The optical axis of the sheet polarizer is preferably aligned with the north-south axis of the magnet. A single excitation light beam is divided into four identical beams, two of which are passed through the sheet polarizer and through two fixed polarizing sheets which have their optical axes at right angles to one another. The angle of the compass magnet with respect to a fixed axis of the compass body can be determined by measuring the ratio of the intensities of the two light beams. The remaining ambiguity as to which of the four possible quadrants the magnet is pointing to is resolved by the second pair of light beams, which are passed through the sheet polarizer at positions which are transected by two semicircular opaque strips formed on the sheet polarizer.

Abstract: An adjustable flex alpine ski is disclosed. The ski includes tensile members embedded below the neutral plane in the center, shovel and tail sections of the ski. The tensile members are each fixed at one end and are independently adjustable by means of tension adjustment mechanisms located at the free ends of the members. The tension adjustment mechanisms are controlled by means of flexible shafts which terminate at hex nuts opening flushly onto the sidewalls of the ski, so as to be unobtrusive and aerodynamic, yet readily accessible in the field.

Abstract: An apparatus for preservation of a leather glove. A hollow perforated hand-shaped form, sized to fit snugly within a glove, contains a dehydrating agent which draws moisture out of the glove. The form and glove are insertable in a protective case. The case includes a porous inner lining which is impregnated with a leather emollient. The combined action of the dehydrating agent and the emollient-impregnated lining is to remove moisture, thereby preventing the formation of mold or mildew, and at the same time infuse the emollient into the glove to maintain its suppleness and flexibility.

Abstract: A regulated induction heater for heating a stream of flowing fluid to a predetermined desired temperature. The heater includes a radiofrequency induction coil which surrounds a glass tube through which the fluid flows. A heating element consisting of a bundle of approximately 200 stainless steel capillary tubes located within the glass tube couples the output of the induction coil to the fluid. The temperature of the fluid downstream from the heating element is sensed with a platinum resistance thermometer, the output of which is applied to an adjustable proportional and integral feedback control circuit which regulates the power applied to the induction coil. The heater regulates the fluid temperature to within 0.005.degree. C. at a flow rate of 50 cm.sup.3 /second with a response time of less than 0.1 second, and can accommodate changes in heat load up to 1500 watts.

Abstract: Hydrophobic cellular material is coated with a thin hydrophilic polymer skin which stretches tightly over the outer surface of the foam but which does not fill the cells of the foam, thus resulting in a polymer-coated foam structure having a smoothness which was not possible in the prior art. In particular, when the hydrophobic cellular material is a specially chosen hydrophobic polymer foam and is formed into arbitrarily chosen shapes prior to the coating with hydrophilic polymer, inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets of arbitrary shapes can be produced by subsequently coating the shapes with metal or with any other suitable material. New articles of manufacture are produced, including improved ICF targets, improved integrated circuits, and improved solar reflectors and solar collectors.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for conducting coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectroscopy in shock-compressed materials are disclosed. The apparatus includes a sample vessel having an optically transparent wall and an opposing optically reflective wall. Two coherent laser beams, a pump beam and a broadband Stokes beam, are directed through the window and focused on a portion of the sample. In the preferred embodiment, a projectile is fired from a high-pressure gas gun to impact the outside of the reflective wall, generating a planar shock wave which travels through the sample toward the window. The pump and Stokes beams result in the emission from the shock-compressed sample of a coherent anti-Stokes beam, which is emitted toward the approaching reflective wall of the vessel and reflected back through the window. The anti-Stokes beam is folded into a spectrometer for frequency analysis.

Abstract: An electrically conductive block copolymer of polyisoprene and polyacetyl and a method of making the same are disclosed. The polymer is prepared by first polymerizing isoprene with n-butyllithium in a toluene solution to form an active isoprenyllithium polymer. The active polymer is reacted with an equimolar amount of titanium butoxide and subsequently exposed to gaseous acetylene. A block copolymer of polyisoprene and polyacetylene is formed. The copolymer is soluble in common solvents and may be doped with I.sub.2 to give it an electrical conductivity in the metallic regime.

Abstract: A method for determining molecular vibrational frequencies in shock-compressed transparent materials. A single laser beam pulse is directed into a sample material while the material is shock-compressed from a direction opposite that of the incident laser beam. A Stokes beam produced by stimulated Raman scattering is emitted back along the path of the incident laser beam, that is, in the opposite direction to that of the incident laser beam. The Stokes beam is separated from the incident beam and its frequency measured. The difference in frequency between the Stokes beam and the incident beam is representative of the characteristic frequency of the Raman active mode of the sample. Both the incident beam and the Stokes beam pass perpendicularly through the shock front advancing through the sample, thereby minimizing adverse effects of refraction.