Abstract: In one embodiment according to the present invention, a stent is described having a generally cylindrical body formed from a single woven nitinol wire. The distal and proximal ends of the stent include a plurality of loops, some of which include marker members used for visualizing the position of the stent. In another embodiment, the previously described stent includes an inner flow diverting layer.

Abstract: An internal combustion engine includes a piston, a crankshaft having a journal, and a connecting rod. The connecting rod includes a first end coupled to the piston and a second end coupled to the journal of the crankshaft. The second end of the connecting rod includes a bearing surface configured to interface with the journal, and further includes an open portion extending through the second end from the bearing surface to the exterior of the second end.

Abstract: A woven, self-expanding stent device has one or more strands and is configured for insertion into an anatomical structure. The device includes a coupling structure secured to two different strand end portions that are substantially aligned with each other. The two different strand end portions include nickel and titanium. The coupling structure is not a strand of the device.

Abstract: An implantable graft device having treated yarn is disclosed. The device comprises a graft body forming a lumen defining a longitudinal axis and comprising proximal and distal ends. The graft body comprises a woven fabric having warp yarns aligned in a first direction and a weft yarns aligned in a second direction. At least one of the weft yarns and the warp yarns has an agent applied thereto defining treated yarns of the graft body.

Abstract: Exemplary non-woven helical stents are described that are efficient to fabricate in terms of labor and resources by being able to be manufactured by hand or machine while providing mechanical stability equivalent or close thereto of known braided or woven stents.

Abstract: A woven, self-expanding stent device has one or more strands and is configured for insertion into an anatomical structure. The device includes a coupling structure secured to two different strand end portions that are substantially aligned with each other. The two different strand end portions include nickel and titanium. The coupling structure is not a strand of the device.

Abstract: The invention provides a ring, rotatable duct, shroud, fuselage or cylindrical external wall fabricated so as to have desirable strength even if its diameter exceeds about 2.7 meters by using arbitrary metallic and non-metallic materials. Such ring and others may be readily fabricated by laminating a thin sheet band made of metal, ceramics, cermet, fiber or synthetic resin of 0.01 mm to 5 mm thick or a thin sheet band made of rubber or silicon of 0.1 mm to 50 mm thick by winding around a giant spinning wheel by at least two rounds or more so as to form a longitudinal plate portion of 2 mm or more in radial thickness when the band is made of metal, ceramics, cermet, fiber or synthetic resin and to form such portion of 4 mm or more thick when the band is made of metal, ceramics, cermet, fiber, synthetic resin, rubber or silicon.

Abstract: A method for easy holding of a trash bag in a container: It consists of at least one retainer set and a container having an open end. Each retainer set consists of at least two magnetically coupled pieces which can engage or disengage with each other, with one of the two pieces attached rigidly to an outside portion of the container. Place a portion of a trash bag inside the container with the outside portion of the trash bag folded down along the trash can wall. Engage the two magnetically coupled pieces to fold part of the trash bag around them. The folding(s) reduces the force needed to hold the trash bag in place at the coupling portion of the two retainer pieces. The apparatus can be easily operated with one hand.

Abstract: A finished laminate is provided. The laminate includes an imperforate metal layer having a metallic surface, and a metallic felt layer having a first surface attached to the metallic surface and an exposed second surface facing away from the metallic surface. Also provided is multi-layer tubing including a thermally conductive metal layer having a metallic surface, and a substantially thermally non-conductive, metallic felt layer having an outer felt layer surface attached to the metallic surface and an exposed inner felt layer surface. The metal layer and the metallic felt layer collectively form a laminate configured as a substantially cylindrical structure with the metallic felt layer positioned radially inward of the metal layer. In certain embodiments, the metal the laminate has opposite side edge portions overlapping and coupled to one another at a coupling portion, without a thermally conductive path through the coupling portion.

Abstract: A method is provided for increasing the contact area between a damper wire and a sheet metal component in a combustion cowl of a gas turbine engine. This increase in contact area reduces the wear rate on the combustor cowl. A first curl is formed in the sheet metal component. A damper wire is situated to have a common contact area with the sheet metal component within the first curl. The first curl is die-formed around the damper wire before applying a heat treat operation to the structure. A final die-form closes the sheet metal curl around the damper wire.

Abstract: A process for fabricating coils using a Damascene process uses a curved substrate having a surface extending along and about an axis made of a first material. A groove is formed in the curved surface along and around said axis, and the groove is filled with a second material that is different from the first material to form a coil of second material in said first material. Excess second material is then removed from the surface of the first material, leaving the coil of second material in the groove.

Abstract: A pressure plate subassembly for a friction clutch includes a housing connectable to an abutment arrangement for joint rotation about an axis of rotation, a pressure plate arranged in the housing so that the pressure plate is rotatable together with the housing about the axis of rotation (A) and so that the pressure plate is displaceable relative to the housing in the direction of the axis of rotation, and a force accumulator for generating a pressure force, the force accumulator being supported on the housing and on the pressure plate. The force accumulator is arranged outside the housing.

Abstract: Material is first formed into a flat ring. Ball retaining pockets are then formed in the flat ring leaving bridge material between adjacent pockets. Bearing balls are inserted into the ball retaining pockets and bridge material between adjacent pockets is then reshaped such that the bridge material wraps partially around the balls, thereby retaining the balls and forming a rigid bridge between adjacent ball pockets. The bridge is proximate a line common to the centers of adjacent balls.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for assembling a modular brake system on a vehicle by the steps of preparing a reactive slide member having pins to facilitate reciprocal movement and a bore therein for receiving a cable strand; operatively associating a first cable conduit having a first cable strand disposed therein with the reactive slide member such that the first cable strand can slidably move through the conduit and reactive slide member; preparing a housing having inner walls which define a cavity, an opening for receiving the slide member, openings for allowing cable strands to enter or exit the cavity and channels on the inner walls for receiving the pins of the reactive slide member; affixing a second cable conduit to one of the openings of the housing for receiving a cable strand which exits the housing cavity through that opening; preparing a third cable conduit having a third cable strand slidably disposed therein; placing the reactive slide member into the housing through its respective

Abstract: A heat shield retainer and method for mounting a heat shield onto a polymeric fuel tank. The heat shield retainer comprises a nut and bolt combination and a retainer body. The retainer body has bulbous pegs located on a first side thereof for engaging within corresponding sockets located within a fuel tank to secure the retainer body to the fuel tank. The retainer body further includes a releasable channel located on a second side thereof for releasably connecting the nut and bolt thereto. One or more retainers of the present invention may be employed to mount a heat shield onto a polymeric fuel tank. After a polymeric tank has been formed, and before it has cooled, the respective pegs of each heat shield retainer are inserted into corresponding sockets located within the fuel tank. As the tank cools, the polymeric material of the tank defining the sockets contracts about the pegs. As a result, after the tank cools, the pegs are locked within the sockets, and hence to the fuel tank.

Abstract: A mechanical lock where a rod axially translatable through a lock housing is normally gripped by a clutch spring axially fixed to the housing, and a lever is actuated for unwinding the spring to release the rod. The lock housing is formed in a single piece by die cutting and stamping from flat sheet stock in a sequence which can be carried out in a single progressive die, to minimize the parts count and simplify assembly of the lock.

Abstract: The invention concerns a roll comprising two superposed webs of material one of which is formed with transverse ridges. At the ridge bases and tops are formed dents/protrusions. The other web is provided with ribs which are positioned in nesting relationship in the dents/protrusions, whereby the webs are secured to one another. The invention likewise concerns a method and a machine for manufacturing rolls of this kind.

Abstract: Herein disclosed is a method of assembling a seat slide device which comprises a lower rail, an upper rail slidably disposed on the lower rail and rotating members disposed between the lower and upper rails. The method comprises by steps: (a) temporarily assembling the lower and upper rails; (b) disposing the rotating members between a space defined between the temporarily assembled lower and upper rails; (c) pressing the temporarily assembled lower and upper rails against each other with a given pressing force; (d) making a relative longitudinal movement between the temporarily assembled lower and upper rails with the pressing force kept applied thereto; and (e) removing the pressing force when the relative longitudinal movement counts a given number.

Abstract: A ball support structure comprises a ball and a ball support movably holding the ball. The ball support is formed with a ball receiving recess defined by a semispherical portion and a cylindrical portion. A through hole aligning with the ball receiving recess and passing through the ball support is formed. The ball is disposed in the ball receiving recess of the ball support and then the ball support is axially pressed at the peripheral of the ball receiving recess so that metal of part of the ball support flows to contact with the ball thereby to provide a partially spherical portion. The ball is pushed by a rod through the through hole when the partially spherical portion is formed, so that the ball and the semispherical portion has a small gap.

Abstract: Safety belt roll-up device having a housing and a one-piece belt carrier. The housing has a base plate with two side walls extending from the base plate. At least one of the two side walls can be set at an angle and bent into a position in which both side walls are parallel. Each side wall has an opening through which a free end of the one-piece belt carrier extends. The one-piece belt carrier is in the form of a single piece including a belt shaft and a belt reel with a reel flange at each end of the belt reel. The belt reel has a diameter greater than the diameter of the opening in the side wall. The belt carrier is inserted between the side walls bent apart in V-shape. The belt carrier is held at the height of the openings and the end walls moved together to a parallel position.

Abstract: Therein is disclosed a method for assembling a uniform-speed joint having an inner rotary body and an outer rotary body which transmits a rotational force from one to the other through a plurality of small spheres in receiving holes on the disposed outer peripheral surface of said inner rotary body and including a pair of small spheres diametrically facing each other where the intersecting angle between the rotation axes of said inner rotary body and said outer rotary body is variable and the rotational speed is not changed.

Abstract: A method of making a clamp used for a supercharger in an internal combustion engine is initiated by cutting out an unworked clamp half from a plate material. The half is then formed such that it is semicircular in front elevation and the opposite ends extend outwardly. Other clamp half is made in the same manner. An unworked link is cut out from a plate material and then its plane strain is corrected. Further, the link is chamfered and hardened. The halves are arranged in circle and the worked link is inserted into one ends of the halves. Finally, these ends are curled around the link.

Abstract: A nozzle retention system is disclosed which serves to retain a jet nozzle in a drilling bit and also align the nozzle with respect to the bit cutters, said system utilizing a deformable pin and interacting channels in the nozzle and the bit nozzle bore.

Abstract: There is disclosed a manufacture of a continuous hinge. The process is as follows. A metal strip is fed intermittently by a predetermined length towards a press-machining station where the strip is simultaneously cut and bent to form a hole, flap, swaged flap and loop during the stoppage of the strip. The strip having loops is cut into predetermined length to form leaves for a hinge. A pair of leaves are assembled by inserting a pintle through the aligned loops, and the assembly is reformed by roll means.

Abstract: A wall hanging device having a ring-like member for connection to picture wire or the like and a relatively flat, elongated member having a looped end capturing the ring-like member.