Abstract: A master-slave manipulator which penetrates an enclosure wall through an opening fitted with a mounting plate has a slave arm and master arm pivoted respectively to each end of a pivotally mounted central cylindrical body and constituted by one or more articulated cylindrical segments in end-to-end relation. A tool or tong unit is fitted at the slave end while a control handle and balance weight are fitted at the master end. The segments of the master arm are in an inverted homothetic relationship with those of the slave arm with respect to the point of intersection of the axis of the central body with the pivotal mounting axis and are in a ratio equal to -k while the weights of the homothetic segments are in a ratio of 1/k.

Abstract: A board separator apparatus for separating boards from groups of boards is described. The separator apparatus includes an input conveyor for feeding the groups of boards in a vertical position longitudinally into a transfer box, which is pivoted to transfer the boards onto an elevator member in the separation means. The elevator member lowers each group of boards into a separation position where they are held by a pressure plate against separator arms. The separator arms are moved outward into three different separator positions, thereby selectively causing three boards in a group to be moved one at a time off of the elevator into a separated condition. The separated boards slide down a ramp from the elevator member onto an output conveyor which transports the boards laterally away from the separator in a horizontal position. The boards are fed onto the output conveyor with the wane side of the boards facing up when such boards are cants cut from the side of a round log.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for receiving brick standing on their ends with their length dimension oriented uprightly, accumulating the brick in a cradle oriented in a horizontal plane, reorienting the cradle with its load of brick, ejecting the brick from the cradle as a stack unit to a transfer station, and transferring the reoriented stack of brick on to a pallet or other receiver therefor.

Abstract: A self acting lock which automatically locks down the dump body of a truck and automatically releases when the body is to be raised. Two pairs of lever arms which are pivoted together cooperate with a single acting hydraulic cylinder to provide a hoist for raising and lowering the dump body. The upper arms are pivoted to the body and the lower arms are pivoted to a pair of links which are in turn pivotally mounted to the truck frame. Each link carries a hook which engages with a keeper rod carried on the upper pair of arms to lock down the body. A leg extending from the upper arms pivots the links in a direction to engage the hooks with the keeper rod in response to lowering of the dump body to the load carrying position. The linkage is arranged such that initial extension of the cylinder pivots the links in a direction to release the hooks from the rod before continued extension of the cylinder raises the dump body in the usual manner.

Abstract: A simplified loading mechanism for placing small boats onto a framework including front and rear roller means, the framework being attached to the upper surface of a vehicle, is described. The rear roller acts as a winch mechanism and line storage for a pair of parallel running lines extending forwardly about the lower surface of the front roller and then running rearwardly over the top of the front roller and top of the rear roller to a straddle or bail for attachment to the gunwales of a small boat. The front and rear straddle lines are attached at spaced-apart locations upon the gunwales of the boat at a location whereby the run of the rearward straddle line will engage the rear roller when the boat is tilted upwardly with the transom thereof resting on the ground behind the vehicle and the bow of the boat pointed upwardly.

Abstract: A method of loading and unloading a vessel with heavy objects whereby an object is vertically lifted, for instance from a vehicle drivable on a quay, by means of a crab, gantry or the like which together with said object is moved horizontally along girders from the lifting position to a position above the hold of the vessel. Said girders are arranged on the quay, extending in a cantilever manner out beyond the edge of the quay substantially up to the adjacent edge of the hold. From said cantilever girders the crab together with the object is moved over to and along horizontal extensions of said girders. These extensions, which are entirely supported by the vessel, bridge the hold. When the crab with the object has reached a suitable position on said extension and above the hold, the object is lowered into the hold. Also described is an equipment intended for carrying out said method into effect.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a method and apparatus for considerably reducing the risks of collision between cargo and ship during transfer of the cargo at sea. For this purpose, there is created in a short interval of time a sufficient space between cargo 7 and the ship by lowering of the upper part of a support 16 at the moment T.sub.2 when cable 5 lifts the cargo from the support. The invention also applies to transfer of cargo from a wharf.

Abstract: In a method of loading the hold of a suction dredger vessel, in which a sension of sand and water is pumped into the hold during loading which is carried out in a first stage and a subsequent second stage for avoiding that a siphon effect is not possible and that the last quantity of water cannot be replaced by a sand-water mixture, the effluent means are kept, after the suspension level in the hold has reached the external water level, under the action of a suction pump for lowering the suspension level to below the external water level.

Abstract: In a loading apparatus, sacks are moved from a supply source along a conveyor to a device which arranges the sacks into a layer. From this device, the layer of sacks is moved over a double conveyor belt structure to a member which loads the layer directly onto a loading surface or onto a previously deposited layer of sacks on the loading surface. To provide continuous operation of the apparatus even when a loading surface is being replaced, the different parts of the apparatus can operate at variable speeds. The double conveyor belt structure which normally moves continuously supplying layers to the loading member, switches to a step-wise movement and stores a number of layers of sacks until the loading surface is replaced and ready to be loaded.

Abstract: A pair of self-propelled vehicles joined by an intermediate bridge having a rigid lifting arm hinged at one end to the intermediate bridge and having a device for gripping and lifting the pipes carried by the free end of the rigid arm such that the rigid lifting arm may be controlled to engage a pipe and lift it over the trench and lower the pipe into the desired position.

Abstract: Robot control with programmed positioning modified by a sensor sensing position error, force or the like. To maintain flexibility, the sensor axis need not coincide with any of several degrees of freedom of the robot. To employ sensor generated signals to modify programmed positioning where sensor and robot degrees of freedom are different, a normalized correction is computed relating a sensor output to each axis of freedom. Merely multiplying sensor output with the appropriate normalized correction provides a quantity in the proper coordinates for correction or position modification, as desired. Further, the robot includes apparatus to change direction of motion under certain circumstances, i.e., a collision with an obstruction. This allows the robot to move around obstructions whose location and extent were unknown at the time of movement programming.

Abstract: Suspension members flexibly connected to a carriage and to an overhead support above the racking platform of an oil well mast or derrick support the carriage, which is provided with a floor to support a derrick man therein. The lower end of the suspension means can be swung back and forth parallel to the side of the mast or derrick and also at right angles to it to thereby move the carriage in the same directions, the carriage being provided with a lateral seat for receiving the upper end portion of a pipe and moving it with the carriage into another position.

Abstract: A low-profile front end loader vehicle has the bucket located as close to the front wheels as is possible without sacrificing strength and maneuverability. The lift arms are shortened and reshaped in the midportion to lower the low position of the lift arms. An irregularly shaped reinforced tubular crossbrace is provided and has end plates which coact not only with external plates on each arm for attachment of the lift cylinders to said arms, but also coact with brackets carried by said crossbrace to support the tilt arms thereon. The respective plates strengthen the lift arms and the reinforced crossbrace has internal stiffness that resists torsion and bending to provide an improved compact lift structure.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for pneumatically loading an array of nuclear fuel rods into suitable storage containers and also for removing them therefrom. Within the method and apparatus, a vacuum is developed to hold the fuel rods in place upon a transfer unit, the vacuum condition being selectively terminated in order to release the fuel rods for unloading. Preferably, air pressure is employed to more rapidly eliminate the vacuum condition and facilitate release of fuel rods. The vacuum condition is maintained by outside air flow restricting passages if one or more fuel rods are missing from the array to be transferred.

Abstract: A fluid power system having a source of pressurized fluid serving a plurality of separately controllable double-acting fluid motors. A network of selectively operable control valves and hydraulic lines serving the motors is provided, selective ones of the lines being operatively jointly connected to one another and to the control valves in such a way as to reduce the number of hydraulic lines serving the motors to less than the normal number while retaining the separate controllability of the motors. Several different embodiments of the invention are disclosed.

Abstract: An anchor member for unitizing a plurality of containers arranged in laterally adjacent and superimposed relationship, the anchor member including a flat body having a single wall portion extending therefrom transversely of one face of the flat body and adapted to be positioned in the space between laterally adjacent containers, and pins or teeth extending from both faces of the body for grippingly engaging the walls of adjacent and superimposed containers.

Abstract: After curing, cementitious blocks carried on a pallet are moved by a conveyor to a transfer apparatus which removes the blocks from the pallet and transfers them to another conveyor for delivery to a cubing mechanism. The transfer apparatus is provided with a block lift turn-over mechanism and a block push-off mechanism with those mechanisms selectively operable to provide two distinctive operational modes as necessitated by the types of blocks being transferred and the desired block attitude.

Abstract: A segmented controller arm configured and dimensioned to form a miniature kinematic replica of a remotely related slave arm. The arm includes a plurality of joints for affording segments of the arm simultaneous angular displacement about a plurality of pairs of intersecting axes, a plurality of position sensing devices for providing electrical signals indicative of angular displacement imparted to corresponding segments of the controller shaft about the axes, and a control signal circuit for generating control signals to be transmitted to the slave arm. The arm is characterized by a plurality of yokes, each being supported for angular displacement about a pair of orthogonally related axes and counterbalanced against gravitation by a cantilevered mass affixed thereto whereby the controller arm may be released without introducing unwanted motion in the slave arm resulting from gravitation of segments of the master arm.

Abstract: The interface between a vessel loading crane and a container handling yard has been discovered to be the ideal location for the maintenance of a work bank of containers in conveyance along a one-way, reversible conveyance path. The conveyance path communicates to a vessel loading crane at one end of the path and apparatus for distributing and classifying the containers in the yard at the other end, this apparatus being preferably a carrier vehicle of the type that straddles the load it carries. Accordingly, a conveyor comprising an overlying support and an underlying shuttle car is disclosed. A shuttle car commutes reversibly along a shuttle car railway under containers supported on the overlying support. The shuttle car is operable to selectively raise containers above the support and move containers on the support reversibly and serially between work stations at either end of the conveyor.

Abstract: A container cargo handling system for loading and unloading ships includes an improved transport vehicle having cable-operated collecting means for lowering and raising container cargo in the ship's hold from the main deck and a cargo vessel having vertical storage compartments with hatchways on the main deck covered by pontoon covers which form a roadway for the transport vehicle, and a bow entrance for direct passage of the transport vehicle onto the main deck for loading and unloading the vessel.