Abstract: Bearing fretting conditions are eliminated in washing machines by providing a drive system in which the bearings are not loaded during the spin mode. The drive system includes an input shaft and first and second hubs rotatively mounted about the input shaft. The second hub is movable along the input shaft between a first position adjacent to the first hub and a second position displaced from the first hub. The drive system spins the washing machine's basket when the second hub is in its first position and oscillates the agitator when the second hub is in its second position. A brake disk is mounted to the second hub for movement therewith, and a brake surface is fixedly mounted to the washing machine adjacent to the brake disk so that the brake disk contacts the brake surface when the second hub is in its second position. Separation of the two hubs is accomplished by ball bearings which are unloaded when the second hub is in its first position.

Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for calibrating a densitometer based sensor for measuring the linear density of the shot particles passing through a shot peening system to ensure that mass flow rate readings and shot velocity readings calculated therefrom are accurate. The apparatus comprises a probe having a plurality of randomly distributed particles configured to have a linear density substantially equal to the linear density of shot which the sensor should experience during operation of the shot peening system at desired parameters.

Abstract: A washing machine with an improved mode shifter comprises a basket for holding an article to be washed, a basket collar coupled to the basket, an agitator disposed within the basket, an agitator collar coupled to the agitator, a brake for reducing a rotational velocity of the basket, a brake collar coupled to the brake, a first spring disposed around the basket collar and the agitator collar, and a second spring disposed around the first spring, the basket collar, and the brake collar. The mode shifter provides a mechanically simple, inexpensive, and reliable mechanism for shifting from the agitation mode to the spin mode to the brake mode in a wash cycle.

Abstract: An electrode assembly for electrical discharge machining (EDM) a slot in a wall includes a plurality of laterally abutting individual electrodes having a collective perimeter configuration complementary with the slot. The electrodes define a collective height equal to the sum of their individual heights which may be substantially greater than the individual widths thereof for machining a correspondingly high aspect ratio slot in the wall.

Abstract: An almen strip has a plurality of corrugations on one surface while the opposite surface is smooth and flat. This strip measures directly peening intensity on chamfers.

Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for calibrating a densitometer based sensor for measuring the linear density of the shot particles passing through a shot peening system to ensure that mass flow rate readings and shot velocity readings calculated therefrom are accurate. The apparatus comprises a probe having a plurality of randomly distributed particles configured to have a linear density substantially equal to the linear density of shot which the sensor should experience during operation of the shot peening system at desired parameters.