Abstract: A thermocouple made of the silicon carbide and carbon. A carbon rod extends within a silicon carbide tube. The tube is closed at one end, and one end of the rod is fixed in a blind hole in the tube end to define the hot junction of the thermocouple, the hot junction thereby being located within the tube. An electrical insulator sealing ring closes off the opposite end of the tube. The tube is made by sintering a preform, the rod being within the tube, with one end in the blind hole, during sintering, so that the hole wall shrinks around the rod end.

Abstract: An automatic unit for hot molding, e.g., forging or stamping, and subsequent trimming of metal parts. A molding press and a trimming press are served by two robot pairs. One robot of one pair delivers hot ingots to the molding press, the other pair of robots moves the part being molded step-by-step through successive stampings, and the other robot of the first pair delivers the fully molded part to the trimming press. The robots of the second pair move in mirror-image relation. The ends of the robot arms of the second pair are accommodated by depressions in the molds during the various stamping operations.

Abstract: A mounting for a tank receptacle in a lattice-shaped, stackable, cage-like supporting framework surrounding the receptacle. The receptacle is supported in the framework at three points in the case of a supporting framework which is not torsionally rigid relative to the receptacle. Where the receptacle is supported at four points in the framework, two support points are defined by hinges connected to each other through equalizing connecting rods. A strap connects the receptacle to the framework at each support point, a lever being located between each hinge and its respective strap. Spring-loaded buffers limit the movement of the levers.

Abstract: A seed flow detector for use with a seed tube, comprised of a pin for extending radially into the seed tube, the end of the pin being orthogonally fixed to one face of a piezoelectric crystal transducer. Flexible resilient material is disposed against the other face of the transducer so as to damp mechanical vibrations below a predetermined frequency. Substantially no build-up of seeds or blockage of the seed tube results, mechanical vibration is substantially damped, while signals resulting from the impact of seeds against the pin are reliably generated.

Abstract: An annular sleeve surrounds a turbine rotor and is fixed with respect to the turbine casing, the sleeve being elastically deformable in a radial direction. A wear ring is carried by the sleeve, the wear ring being composed of segments arranged end-to-end circumferentially. The adjacent ends of the segments are spaced apart when the turbine is cold or idling. The thermal expansions of the turbine rotor and of the sleeve and ring are so related that in one operating temperature range of the turbine the spaces between the adjacent ends of the ring segments close and the segment ends engage each other, and in a higher operating temperature range of the turbine the sleeve expands. Air leaving the compressor is directed against the sleeve and the stationary part carrying the sleeve. The wear ring and portion carrying the sleeve may be insulated. The sleeve may be mounted on a combustion chamber surrounding the turbine.

Abstract: An annular sleeve surrounds a turbine rotor and is fixed to a stationary part, the sleeve being elastically deformable in a radial direction. A wear ring is carried by the sleeve, the wear ring being composed of segments arranged end-to-end circumferentially. The adjacent ends of the segments are spaced apart at all operating conditions of the turbine. The thermal expansions of the turbine rotor and of the sleeve and ring are so related that under operating conditions of the turbine, when the engine of which it forms a part is running, the sleeve thermally expands radially. The rate of thermal expansion of the stationary part is directly related to the rate of thermal expansion of the turbine rotor. Air leaving the compressor is directed against the sleeve and the stationary part carrying the sleeve. The wear ring and portion carrying the sleeve may be insulated. The sleeve may be mounted on a combustion chamber surrounding the turbine.

Abstract: Thin metal plate is cleaned and electrolytically pickled in an acid solution. A zinc layer is electrodeposited on one face of the plate, after which a chrome-chromic oxide coating is deposited on both faces of the plate from a sulphuric acid solution containing compounds of trivalent and hexavalent chrome. The plate is then subjected to a drying-oxidating treatment in air. The plate may be steel having a thickness between 0.1 and 2 mm. The plate may be surface treated by phosphating, and then painted. The chrome-chromic oxide coating may have a thickness between 0.05 and 5 .mu.m, and the zinc coating a thickness between 1 and 30 .mu.m.

Abstract: A stepper motor having a stator and a rotor, the rotor having a shaft formed with an axial bore. A pair of bearings carried by the stator rotatably support the shaft. A stud is fixed within the bore and has an enlarged head extending radially beyond the external contour of the shaft into axial alignment with at least part of one of the bearings. Engagement between the stud head and the bearing limits axial movement of the rotor with respect to the bearing.

Abstract: A dispenser including a dispensing mechanism (8) having a plunger (14) slidable relative to a barrel (15). The quantity of product dispensed is varied according to inward travel of the plunger (14) and this is adjusted by rotation of a screw (19) altering the position of a collar (18). The screw is accessible from externally of the dispenser but only when the dispenser is removed from a wall. The dispenser cannot be removed from the wall except by inserting a tool through an access opening (32) in a mounting and locking arrangement whereby to release a latch (30).

Abstract: A device for locking together two stacked objects, each having a plate with an opening, the plates being in superposed relation and the openings being in registry. The device includes a housing, the top wall of which is the plate of the lower object. A bolt, movable vertically and rotatably within the housing, having a head piece shaped to pass through the plate openings when the bolt is in a first angular orientation but not when the bolt is in a second angular orientation. A structural unit, movable vertically with the bolt and rotatable with respect to it, has a supporting shoulder which does not engage a support surface in the housing when the unit is in a first angular orientation but does engage the surface when the bolt is in a second angular orientation.

Abstract: Alternators/generators of axially disposed air gap conformity in which a unique combination of rotors and stators results in machines of high efficiency, simplified modular assembly and extension. Such machines can, moreover, be readily constructed to produce from a single alternator unit multiple voltages and frequencies and from a single generator unit direct current in multiple voltages.

Abstract: Apparatus for obtaining samples of liquids such as raw sewage from a flow line (1) comprises a tube (2) opening into a container (4) and a tube (7) connecting between a pressure medium supply (9) and the container (4). A reservoir (8) connects with the tube (7) and can be vented. By means of the controlled operation of valves the pressure medium is used to clear the tube (2) before opening of a valve (5) a controlled volume of the pressure medium is passed to the reservoir (8) to withdraw a liquid sample into the container (4), excess sample above the level of the tube (2a) is transferred back to the flow line (1), and the tube (2) is again cleared. The valves (5, 6) do not therefore have any contact with any liquid from the line (1) during their operation.

Abstract: The present invention concerns a trephine for making at least one circular incision on the cornea of an eye. The trephine comprises an external support forming a casing and having a base portion for applying it to the eye, an internal blade carrier which is movable in the support, and a drive mechanism for driving the blade carrier with respect to the support. The blade carrier is driven by the drive mechanism which causes it to screw into and out of the support and the blade is cylindrical, the cutting blade portion being formed by its lower circular edge.

Abstract: An electrical switching device having an actuator reciprocable between two extreme positions, the switch being open and closed, respectively, when the actuator is in its two extreme positions. An electrical operator, such as a solenoid having a movable armature, responds to successive momentary energizations by moving the actuator first to one extreme position and then the other. The actuator is mechanically held in each extreme position by a spring-biased element which also serves to transmit movement of the actuator to the switch contacts. The actuator may have a cam surface shaped to cause opening and closing of the switch contacts, the cam surface also cooperating with the spring-biased element for urging the actuator toward each of its extreme positions. The switching device may be used for interrupting electric power to a customer of a utility by being located between a watt-hour meter and the customer's load, or in other similar applications.

Abstract: A rotor includes an annular hub for accommodating a motor shaft, a tubular permanent magnet around the hub and radially spaced from it, and an annular support between the hub and magnet, the support being bonded to the hub and magnet. The support, a single piece of thin sheet metal, has inner and outer tubular walls, joined at corresponding ends by a disc-shaped bridge.

Abstract: A printing medium comprises a thermoplastic resin and a rheology-controlling diluent, the medium having a melting point of between 40.degree. and 80.degree. C., and being non-tacky at room temperature. The diluent is preferably selected from liquid resins, high molecular weight esters, fatty alcohols and saturated fatty acids. The medium is used in a method of decorating an article comprising forming an image of the decoration in a flowable ink composition on a heated support, picking up the image from the support on a silicone transfer member at a lower temperature to form a flexible film on the transfer member in a semi-fluid condition, and applying the film to an article to be decorated within a period of time during which the composition remains semi-fluid whereby the composition solidifies immediately on contact with the surface of the article to form a non-tacky coating thereon.