Abstract: A device is provided comprising a simple means for holding the contacts apart and insulated from each other after circuit breaking.A screen formed by an insulating plate of small thickness, is placed between two mobile contact levers and is urged by springs against flanges which are integral with the levers and which move apart when short circuit currents appear for allowing this screen to be rapidly projected between the contact inserts.This simple circuit-breaker device may be used such as it is or in association with a contactor for protecting lines which supply consumer apparatus.

Abstract: A d.c. electric motor wherein the permanent magnets are kept in place by elastic fastening means carrying out an active magnetic function. The fastening means preferably includes yoke sectors each formed by two or more superimposed sheet members having angular extensions progressively decreasing. The motor further includes an anti-inductive frame formed by at least two equally spaced apart longitudinal portions and by one or more transverse portions forming an open or closed path respectively of material that is electrically conductive but not ferromagnetic. The frame further provides a housing for a temperature sensor in a recess and an insulating tubular envelope.

Abstract: Disclosed is a surface acoustic wave interferometer, including a substrate on which are disposed a first reflector and a second reflector so as to define a multimode resonant cavity therebetween. A third reflector is positioned on the substrate so that a single mode resonant cavity is defined between the second and third reflectors. An input transducer generates surface acoustic waves in the single mode cavity, while an output transducer detects the interference between surface acoustic waves in the multimode and single mode cavities. A base is rigidly affixed to the substrate in the region of the single mode cavity so that a force applied to the substrate will alter the surface acoustic wave propagation characteristics within the multimode cavity.

Abstract: In an electric switch having a bridging contact movable into and out of engagement with a pair of fixed contacts, at least one of the terminal elements supporting the fixed contacts comprises a strip of sheet metal folded back upon itself to provide a loop shaped current path with first and second conductive sections extending generally parallel to the bridging contact on opposite sides thereof in close proximity thereto. Attractive forces electrodynamically developed between the bridging contact and the first conductive section of the one terminal element are additive to repulsive forces electrodynamically developed between the bridging contact and the second conductive section of the one terminal element for increasing contact pressure between the bridging contact and the fixed contacts under excessive current conditions.

Abstract: Multielement ultrasonic probe production process connecting a piezoelectric ceramic block incorporating an upper conductive layer and a lower layer to two printed circuits having a metallized face and a face provided with conductive strips, electrically connecting one of the conductive strips to one of the faces of the printed circuits and the other conductive strip to the other face of said circuits, cutting out said block and the upper part of said circuits so as to form equidistant piezoelectric elements and mechanically insulating them from one another, as well as the connections with respect to each element.The invention has application to medical echography.

Abstract: A bearing and power transfer assembly which includes a main bearing and auxiliary bearing for coupling a spun and despun shelf. The main bearing has a stator connected to the spun shelf, and a motor driven rotor connected to the stator of the auxiliary bearing. The rotor of the auxiliary bearing is connected to the despun shelf. Means are provided to maintain said auxiliary stator and rotor locked together until a failure of said main bearing occurs. A ground command frees the auxiliary bearing rotor and stator and a motor associated with the free rotor maintains a spinning torque on the despun shelf. Slip-ring and brush assemblies are included in each bearing assembly to provide electrical connections between spun and despun shelves.

Abstract: A withdrawal transducer structure is employed in a narrow-band surface acoustic wave device requiring many pairs of interdigital transducer fingers or in a high-frequency surface acoustic wave device in which the thickness of interdigital transducer fingers is large relative to the wavelength of the surface acoustic wave, so that the interdigital transducer fingers may not severely adversely affect the characteristics of the device. The interdigital transducer fingers in the input and output piezoelectric transducers are suitably partly omitted leaving some of them or dummy fingers are additionally provided to eliminate the adverse effect of the interdigital transducer fingers on the characteristics of the device, so that the narrow-band or high-frequency surface acoustic wave device can operate with improved performance without having any unnecessary frequency response.

Abstract: In a field system of a magnet type D.C. motor constructed of a cylindrical yoke and a plurality of pole pieces, each of which is made of a permanent magnet member bonded to the inner peripheral surface of the yoke, an improved field system wherein each pole piece is formed with a recess along its central part. The yoke is provided with bent portions protruding inwards of the yoke, in correspondence with each recess, and the bent portions are held in engagement with the recess through an elastic member.

Abstract: A three-phase alternator having a fan wheel (23) mounted with ball bearing (17) on the rotor shaft (18,21). The fan wheel, which is free to rotate about the rotor shaft, is coupled to it by a coupling between the V-belt pulley (22) and the fan wheel, which employs a few spaced ball bearings (24,25,26;27,28,29) and support a spring washer (32,36,39,40) which presses against outer races of the bearings and the fan wheel.

Abstract: An electro-mechanical relay, particularly for automotive use, characterized by quietness of operation in which the armature coil, spring arm and contact elements are so arranged that the mating surfaces of the contact elements lie substantially in a single plane when in open position and are closed without audible noise by relative sliding movement in said plane.

Abstract: A three-phase current alternator is particularly suited for automotive vehicles having three-phase current coils and three diode pairs for the alternator load current. The diodes of each pair are connected with one another and with one each of the three-phase current coils by conductive tracks located in, or over, a connection plate. An interference-reducing capacitor which, together with connection tabs, forms a prefabricated unit, is molded into the connection plate, the tabs positioning the capacitor in the production mold.

Abstract: A self-cascaded reluctance motor is provided with an axially laminated rotor. The motor includes a stator winding having two sets of terminals and wound such that the number of poles between one set of terminals differs from the number of poles between the other set of terminals by more than two. The rotor includes a plurality of axially disposed conductive sheets and magnetic material laminations which are interleaved within each rotor segment to form groups of magnetic material laminations which lie between two of the conductive sheets. The number of conductive laminations is equal to one half of the total number of stator winding poles or an integral submultiple thereof, while the number of groups of magnetic material laminations is equal to one half of the total number of stator pole pairs or an integral submultiple thereof. Short-circuited coils can be substituted for the conductive sheets to provide better coupling between the two stator component windings and thus more output power.

Abstract: An electromechanical device which can be used as a motor or as a generator has a housing, including bearing means to support a rotatable shaft. A pair of disc magnets are poled to have opposite polarity on the two faces of each. The magnets are mounted face to face together on the shaft to define a rotor.The device includes at least one first pole shoe in contact with one face of each magnet, and having a portion extending radially therefrom to define, in its preferred form, a pair of virtual pole chambers, of the same polarity as said one face. Also included is at least one second pole shoe in contact with the other face of each magnet and having a portion extending radially therefrom to define in its preferred form a pair of virtual pole chambers of the same polarity as the other face. A toroid stator is mounted on the housing and has windings thereon.

Abstract: A circuit breaker having a pivotal movable contact arm (6) operated between open and closed positions with a stationary contact (14c) by an overcenter drive spring (8) in response to pivotal movement of a manual operating handle (4). A latch lever (10) is provided to locate the other end of the drive spring (8) and is releasable upon overload currents to carry the point of connection (10d) of the drive spring and latch lever essentially downward in line with the line of action of the drive spring to quickly reduce its force and stored energy, thereby quickly reducing the contact pressure provided thereby and enabling constriction and/or repulsion forces to separate the contacts (6c,14c). A further amount of movement of the latch lever (10) carries the point of connection (10d) of the drive spring and latch lever across the pivot plane of the movable contact arm (6) to separate the contacts. The latch lever (10) is released by a pivotally supported latch arm (12).

Abstract: Rotary positioning apparatus for a member movable through an angle of rotation of less than 360.degree. comprising a rotor including windings thereon and a stator including a permanent magnet establishing a magnetic circuit providing magnetic flux through which the rotor is movable, the rotor and stator constituting a DC motor. The stator includes a stationary hollow shaft on which the rotor is rotatably supported by bearings. The rotor includes a neck adapted for being coupled with the member to be moved. A plurality of flexible current carrying wires extend through the hollow shaft and through slots provided in the neck to the windings for energization thereof. The hollow shaft has opposite open ends at one of which the wires enter the hollow shaft and at the other of which the wires exit from the shaft and extend through the slots to the windings such that the wires undergo twisting within the confines of the shaft as the rotor rotates with respect to the stator.

Abstract: A heating system for an HF oscillator.The system comprises a reentrant cavity (10) controlling an UHF oscillator and sized to generate an UHF electric field with a frequency F much higher than the resonance frequency F.sub.Q of the piezoelectric crystal (50) of the HF oscillator which itself is located in the space between the central core (14) and the bottom (12) of the cavity and in such a manner that the two electrodes (34,35) of the oscillator are respectively located substantially in the planes of the free end of the central core (14) and of the inside of the bottom (12) of the cavity (10). The electrodes (34,35) are located in bores (16,15) in the conducting parts of the cavity in such a manner that the peripheral part of each electrode is surrounded at close proximity but without making contact with the wall of the corresponding bore (16,15). The electrodes (34,35) are connected to an HF oscillator by insulated leads (24,25).

Abstract: A manually actuatable direction controller includes a planar base supporting a number of magnetic reed switches, one of each direction in which control is to be exercised. The reed switches are arrayed about the plane of the base in a symmetrical pattern, with each one positioned in the direction over which it exercises control. A number of permanent magnets are arrayed in one-to-one relationship with the reed switches, with the magnets lying in a plane spaced from and parallel to the switch plane. A sheet of magnetically conductive material is supported for movement in the base between the plane of the switches and the plane of the magnets. An elongated handle has one end connected to the center of the sheet and projects normally from the base. The magnetic field imposed by each permanent magnet on its associated reed switch maintains that switch in a first state.

Abstract: A molded case circuit breaker having a movable contact arm (12) pivotally supported on a operating handle (4) and driven into and out of engagement with a stationary contact (6) by an overcenter toggle spring (28) stretched between the movable contact arm (12a) and a latch lever (14) which is releasable to carry the line of action of the spring (28) overcenter of the movable contact arm (12) to cause automatic separation of the contacts (6,10) in response to operation of a bimetal thermal overload sensing unit (18) and which has a separate magnetic overload current sensing unit (38,40) disposed on the stationary contact support (8) and isolated from the thermal overload current sensing unit (18), the magnetic sensing unit (8) operating to release an insulating wedge member (44) for movement between the circuit breaker contacts (6,10) to separate the contacts independently of the latch trip operating mechanism.

Abstract: An electric motor comprising a rotor rotating around an axis and a stator. The rotor and the stator each comprise a set of dipolar pieces regularly distributed around their respective periphery, one of these sets being inside a circle centered on the axis, the other set being outside of the same circle. Each of these sets has a different number of dipolar pieces. The motor further comprises a controlling system associated with one of the sets, preferably the stator, to furnish current coils wound on the dipolar pieces of this set so as to selectively magnetize these pieces and thus form a rotating magnetic field. In accordance with the invention, each dipolar piece has a longitudinal axis extending perpendicular to a given radius of a circle lying in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the rotor.

Abstract: An improved low cost relay which comprises a one-piece spool/base, a one-piece core/terminal and a one-piece yoke/armature (yokarm). A coil wound on the spool has one of its leads led to a wire which passes through the hollow stem of the spool for contact with the core upon its insertion into the stem. The stem also retains the yokarm in position with respect to the core and spool. A contact area on the yokarm moves against a contact area on a press-fit terminal mounted in the base with excellent wiping action. The other coil lead is led to a second wire mounted in the spool, and which is captured by a lanced split in a further terminal, which is also a press-fit in the base. A suppressor diode is received in the base and has one of its leads captured by the further terminal when inserted into the base, and its other lead received and captured between the yokarm and the base when the core/terminal is inserted. A backstop for the yokarm is provided by a cover for the device which is mounted on the base.