Abstract: The present invention relates to the precise positioning of a body exhibiting a flat face, said latter requiring to be aligned, or in other words brought into coincidence with a mechanically indexed reference plane. The loading device in accordance with the invention comprises a levelling stage associated with a loading flap which can pivot about an axis. The stage comprises a base containing a cylindrical bore, and a lockable supporting stand equipped with a spherical-walled sleeve located in said cylindrical bore. The flap and the stage are equipped with mechanical indexing means which cooperate with those defining the reference plane.

Abstract: An improved device for use in tying feathers, hair, synthetics and other fly dressing materials onto a fish hook used in sport fishing involving a clamp base member securing a rotatable support member with an extensible, multi-positionable shaft extending therefrom and, in turn, supporting a selectively positionable jaw clamp to hold the hook in any position desired during the fly tying operation.

Abstract: In a preferred embodiment, extending upwardly from an anchoring base, a first upright rod is revolvably mounted in the base and at an upper end of the first upright rod there is swivelly mounted a lower end of a second rod having at its distal end a swivelly mounted holder structure which includes box-like vessel four walls each having mounted therethrough male-threaded screw-like clamps having swivelly-mounted gripping structures on the interior ends of the clamps extending inwardly toward one-another into space within which an object to be held and supported will be gripped by the opposing clamps and gripping structures thereof, the swivelly-mounted rod and holder being each alternately securable to a locked position and state, and released to a movable adjustable state, and the first upright rod being also alternately securable to a locked non-revolvable position and state, and releasable to a freely revolvable and thereby adjustable state, such that the object to be held and supported may be positioned as

Abstract: Disclosed is a work holder assembly for retaining jewelry articles, the work holder including a clamp assembly for clamping retention of the jewelry article, a bench mount assembly, and a gimbal-type connector coupling the clamp with the bench mount. The gimbal connector includes a ring assembly rotatably and hingedly connected with the bench mount and rotatably connected with the clamp. A filing block, interchangeable with the clamp assembly, is adapted for connection with the bench mount.

Abstract: The invention relates to a work support device in the form of a vice for rigidly supporting a work piece and enabling adjustment of the position of the workpiece to any desired angular position. The vice includes a pair of conventional vice jaws or a jig for holding the workpiece. The jaws or jig are mounted for rotational movement about a first axis when released from a locked position and also for tilting movement through 90.degree. with respect to the first axis. This movement is achieved by mounting the jaws or jig on a ball of a ball and socket arrangement wherein the socket is slotted to enable said tilting movement. The socket arrangement is mounted for rotation, when released from a locked position, in a plane normal to the plane of rotation of the jaws or jig. Thus by a combination of rotational movement of the jaws or jig and the socket arrangement as well as tilting movement of the jaws or jig the workpiece may be disposed in any angular orientation and locked in said position.

Abstract: A support elevated over a substrate base and carried by a joint head whereupon it is angularly adjustable and fixable in a plurality of desired positions. The support is a bulky parallelopipedic body combined from a pair of mirror-like configured halves hinged one upon the other by means of at least one screw bolt located proximate to one end thereof. In their interior from their lower side, these halves are provided each with one hollow recess which together complementarily form a regular spherical cavity. The joint head is a pheric corpus mating by its configuration with the spherical cavity in the bulky body, and is provided on top of, and unitary with, a leg-like rod projecting upwardly from the substrate base.

Abstract: A tool or jig for holding a workpiece is disclosed herein which includes a base having at least four arms joined at a common center and radiating outwardly at 90.degree. angles to each other. The free or cantilevered end of each arm carries a universal joint interconnected with an extension having a self-biasing closure member carried thereon. The closure member may take the form of a clip. The clip is utilized for releasably holding the workpiece and a selected one of the clips constitutes an anchor member for detachably supporting the tool on a support base. Manually operated locking devices releasably secure the clip extension in a selected attitude or orientation with respect to the base.

Abstract: A mechanism is disclosed for providing a lateral adjustment capability for anchors used to support engines or transmissions in dynamometer test stands or the like. The mechanism is comprised of an arrangement including a housing and a cylindrical slide member, adapted to be reciprocated in a laterally extending socket formed in the housing. The position of the slide is adapted to be adjusted in the socket by virtue of a threaded engagement with a capscrew carried by the housing at one end of the socket, and is locked in any adjusted position by a pair of threaded bolts, passing through the slide and socket walls and which are advanced into one of the socket walls to squeeze together the corresponding surfaces of the socket and slide member. The housing may be fastened to an anchoring device or directly mounted to a base plate or other supporting surface.

Abstract: The invention relates to a fly-tying device which enables a fisherman to adjust the position of a clamped hook in a universal manner during the tying operation, changing its position both in an up-and-down sense and in turning it to an inverted condition, both in the same movement. The device incorporates a lockable universal joint, mounting the hook-gripping means in a clamp stand.

Abstract: An air bearing piston assembly for semiconductor mask-to-wafer aligner which utilizes a plurality of air bearings to produce a very low friction and a very predictable force system for bringing a mask into contact and level with a semiconductor wafer. Two small driver pistons are employed to move a main piston. An outside air bearing between a rotation clamp ring and the main piston and an inside air bearing between a piston guide and the main piston produce an almost frictionless system. A third air bearing is established between a leveling ball and the ball table so that the wafer with the chunk can level accurately with a minimum of force against the mask.