Abstract: A support for a glass blank, e.g. a telescope mirror blank, while a surface of the blank is being ground. The support comprises a blocking body and a plurality of spaced, flexible tubes extending in a parallel pattern over the blocking body surface. At least some of the tubes are filled with an organic material that is cured to form a rigid polymer support. A second set of tubes under air pressure from an air manifold may provide an initial support for the blank while the first set of tubes is being filled and cured.

Abstract: A grinding wheel coolant distributor system is set forth utilizing a frusto-conical receptacle attached to a grinding wheel body which receives coolant from a fixed single point inlet and delivers the coolant along radially-outwardly and diverging inner sidewalls to a plurality of passages extending through the grinding wheel body to a distributor plate, which in turn, through centrifugal force distributes the coolant in a uniform thin film flow to the active abrasive face of the grinding wheel.

Abstract: Disclosed is a novel mounting structure for a rotatable heat exchanger, sometimes known as a heat recovery wheel. The mounting structure includes a hub portion on at least one side of the wheel and axially aligned therewith with at least three radially movable shoes situated within the bore of the wheel and coupled to the hub portion. A torsion bar is connected to the hub which applies equal radial forces to each of the shoes whereby the shoes are biased against the wheel at the periphery of the bore and equally displaced from the axis of the wheel. The aforementioned arrangement provides a mounting which is self centering and yet which permits differential radial expansion of a metal hub with respect to a ceramic wheel.

Abstract: Disclosed is a mounting device for a ceramic heat recovery wheel having a central bore therein. A metal hub is situated in the bore having a plurality of radially movable shoes for fastening the hub to the wheel. The radially movable shoes each have a radially directed stem with a contact portion abutting the ceramic wheel. The contact portion has a substantially greater cross-sectional area than the stem and in the preferred embodiment is a double cantilevered beam extending from the stem. The cantilevered beams are permitted to bow or flex when subjected to extreme temperatures, thereby permitting radial displacement of the shoe without subjection of the ceramic disk to extreme tensile forces which might cause its breakage.