Abstract: A jig is disclosed having a beam and a pair of L-shaped guide blocks mounted thereon, one block being rigidly secured thereto while the other block can be moved along the beam and then tightened thereon at any adjusted spacing from the fixed block. Each guide block has substantially parallel opposite side surfaces, and top and edge reference surfaces extended therebetween and disposed normal to one another to meet across an interior corner. In use, the top and edge reference surfaces of the jig are adapted to be butted flush against the top and edge surfaces of each respective board. The fixed guide block has a single drill guide opening and the slidable guide block has two parallel drill guide openings, each guide opening being formed through and normal to the guide block edge surface in a direction parallel to the side surfaces and to the top reference surface and being spaced from the top reference surface a single identical distance "t".

Abstract: The disclosed chuck has a cylindrical body and a mounting hub secured thereto for concentrically connecting the body to the powered spindle of a lightweight woodturning lathe. The body has a faceplate opposite the mounting hub, and radial grooves are formed in the body from the faceplate. Adjustment screws fit in the grooves, being rotatably held therein by spaced bearings, and chuck jaws are supported on the rotatable adjustment screws and project forwardly from the faceplate. Rotation of each adjustment screw thus moves the chuck jaw thereon radially of the faceplate and within the grooves to provide keyed gripping of a workpiece to be shaped by the lathe. The workpiece can be of virtually any cross section as each jaw can be independently adjusted. The chuck body is approximately 10 inches in diameter and 1 inch in thickness and is formed of wood to be light in weight, only approximately 3 pounds.

Abstract: This invention teaches an encapsulated fuel unit for a nuclear reactor, such as for an enriched uranium fuel plate of thin cross section of the order of 1/64 or 1/8 of an inch and otherwise of rectangular shape 1-2 inches wide and 2-4 inches long. The case is formed from (a) two similar channel-shaped half sections extended lengthwise of the elongated plate and having side edges butted and welded together to define an open ended tube-like structure and from (b) porous end caps welded across the open ends of the tube-like structure. The half sections are preferably of stainless steel between 0.002 and 0.01 of an inch thick, and are beam welded together over and within machined and hardened tool steel chill blocks. The porous end caps preferably are of T-316-L stainless steel having pores of approximately 3-10 microns size.

Abstract: An ultimate shutdown system is provided for termination of neutronic activity in a nuclear reactor. The shutdown system includes bead chains comprising spherical containers suspended on a flexible cable. The containers are comprised of mating hemispherical shells which provide a ruggedized enclosure for reactor poison material. The bead chains, normally suspended above the reactor core on storage spools, are released for downward travel upon command from an external reactor monitor. The chains are capable of horizontal movement, so as to flow around obstructions in the reactor during their downward motion.

Abstract: A radioactive material storage system for use in the laboratory having a flat base plate with a groove in one surface thereof and a hollow pedestal extending perpendicularly away from the other surface thereof, a sealing gasket in the groove, a cover having a filter therein and an outwardly extending flange which fits over the plate, the groove and the gasket, and a clamp for maintaining the cover and the plate sealed together, whereby the plate and the cover and the clamp cooperate to provide a storage area for radioactive material readily accessible for use or inventory. Wall mounts are provided to prevent accidental formation of critical masses during storage.

Abstract: A device is provided for transporting, in a stepwise manner, tape between a feed reel and takeup reel. An indexer moves across the normal path of the tape displacing it while the tape on the takeup reel side of the indexer is braked. After displacement, the takeup reel takes up the displaced tape while the tape on the feed reel side of the indexer is braked, providing stepwise tape transport in precise intervals determined by the amount of displacement caused by the indexer.

Abstract: A thermocouple lead or other small diameter wire, cable or tube is passed through a thin material such as sheet metal and sealed thereinto by drawing complementary longitudinally angled, laterally rounded grooves terminating at their base ends in a common plane in both sides of the thin material with shearing occuring at the deep end faces thereof to form a rounded opening in the thin material substantially perpendicular to the plane of the thin material, passing a thermocouple lead or similar object through the opening so formed and sealing the opening with a sealant which simultaneously bonds the lead to the thin material.

Abstract: Three cylindrical rollers are rotatably mounted equidistant from the center of a hollow tool head on radii spaced 120.degree. apart. Each roller has a thin flange; the three flanges lie in a single plane to form an internal circumferential rib in a rotating tubular workpiece. The tool head has two complementary parts with two rollers in one part of the head and one roller in the other part; the two parts are joined by a hinge. A second hinge, located so the rollers are between the two hinges, connects one of the parts to a tool bar mounted in a lathe tool holder. The axes of rotation of both hinges and all three rollers are parallel. A hole exposing equal portions of the three roller flanges is located in the center of the tool head. The two hinges permit the tool head to be opened and rotated slightly downward, taking the roller flanges out of the path of the workpiece which is supported on both ends and rotated by the lathe.

Abstract: Improved thermal insulation for a nuclear reactor deck comprising many helical coil springs disposed in generally parallel, side-by-side laterally overlapping or interfitted relationship to one another so as to define a three-dimensional composite having both metal and voids between the metal, and enclosure means for holding the composite to the underside of the deck.