Abstract: A theater rigging assembly having a beam, which is attached to structural support members of a theater or other performing arts venue. The assembly further includes a winch assembly and head block that can be positioned at any point along the beam and selectively fixed in position. The winch portion includes cables for raising and lowering battens or other loads. The head block includes head sheaves, which redirect the cables to loft sheaves that are selectively attached to the beam. The head sheaves are diagonally displaced to separate the cables. The winch portion includes a motor, a gear box, a drum and a brake. The brake includes a ratchet and two brake disks. It uses at least one friction surface that contacts at least one of the brake disks to cause a pawl to engage or disengage from the ratchet.

Abstract: A light-transmission assembly includes a hermetic optical connection having a housing with a housing side wall extending between opposed first and second housing ends. The housing is configured for sealable securement within a bulkhead bore through a bulkhead separating regions of relatively low and high fluid pressure and includes an interior surface defining a housing bore that extends between and through the first and second housing ends. Sealably bonded within the housing bore is a light-transmissive, rigid optical component having opposed first and second optical-component faces and an optical-component side wall extending between the optical-component faces. The assembly further includes at least a first flexible light conduit having opposed first and second light-conduit faces through which light can enter and exit the first flexible light conduit. The first light-conduit face of the first light conduit is retained in optical alignment with the first optical-component face.

Abstract: A theater rigging assembly having a beam, which is attached to structural support members of a theater or other performing arts venue. The assembly further includes a winch assembly and head block that can be positioned at any point along the beam and selectively fixed in position. The winch portion includes cables for raising and lowering battens or other loads. The head block includes head sheaves, which redirect the cables to loft sheaves that are selectively attached to the beam. The head sheaves are diagonally displaced to separate the cables. The winch portion includes a motor, a gear box, a drum and a brake. The brake includes a ratchet and two brake disks. It uses at least one friction surface that contacts at least one of the brake disks to cause a pawl to engage or disengage from the ratchet.

Abstract: A theater rigging assembly having a beam, which is attached to structural support members of a theater or other performing arts venue. The assembly further includes a winch assembly and head block that can be positioned at any point along the beam and selectively fixed in position. The winch portion includes cables for raising and lowering battens or other loads. The head block includes head sheaves, which redirect the cables to loft sheaves that are selectively attached to the beam. The head sheaves are diagonally displaced to separate the cables. The winch portion includes a motor, a gear box, a drum and a brake. The brake includes a ratchet and two brake disks. It uses at least one friction surface that contacts at least one of the brake disks to cause a pawl to engage or disengage from the ratchet.

Abstract: A turret winder for winding web material on spindle-supported cores has a turret which is moveable into three indexing positions, one of which is a web transfer, cutting and winding station, and another of which is a winding completion station. Frames adjacent to the turret support carriages which support a secondary lay-on roll. The carriages include a primary carriage which is moveable vertically with respect to the turret and a lay-on roll carriage which is moveable horizontally with respect to the primary carriage. The lay-on roll carriage has an arm which is engaged by the turret during movement of the spindle between the above two positions so that arcuate movement of the spindle is translated to movement of the lay-on roll carriage in such a manner that the lay-on roll accurately follows the movement as the building roll moves to the winding completion station.

Abstract: Extrusion method and apparatus in which the liquid precursor of the extruded material is forced through a die formed by two surfaces moving in opposite directions relative to one another and transversely to the direction of material flow. Immediately upon exiting this dynamic die, the extracted material is removed as a sheet or film through a take-off system. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the first die is formed by members rotating on a common axis in opposite rotational directions.

Abstract: A method is provided for forming one or more electrical conductors in a multilayer structure such as a computer component during a punching operation. A conducting sheet is placed in direct contact with a sheet of a deformable dielectric material. A punch is used to form a conducting slug from the sheet and to simultaneously transfer the slug into the dielectric material. During the transfer operation, a portion of the dielectric material is displaced so as to cause a mechanical interference between the slug and dielectric material.