Abstract: An environment control system permitting the occupant of a room or space in a multi-room building sharing a common air supply conduit with other rooms to control the environment in his or her room selectively and/or automatically. The system =includes a small wireless portable remote control unit readily accessible to the occupant for selecting predetermined conditions. These conditions are transmitted to a remote receiver which provides signals to a main control unit coupled to external environmental control units such as motors which operate damper valves in the room, air conditioning units supplying air to the common conduit heaters within the room and the like. Both the remote control unit and the main control unit include a programmed microcontroller. The portable control unit may be used to select the desired environmental conditions within the room while the lights are on and transmits this information to the main control unit which acts to energize and deenergize the external control units.

Abstract: A resealable hermetically sealed package for food products has the product contained between two sheets of thermoplastic material which are sealed together by a permanent heat fused seal about the product except for one edge along which the sheets are adhesively glued together by an easily peeled resealable seal. The process for manufacturing the product forms the adhesive seal prior to the permanent seals in an area remote from that in which evacuation and the final seal occurs. Thus, the final sealing and evacuation of the package is performed in the absence of adhesive so that no adhesive can be drawn into evacuation slots so as to economically produce the product.

Abstract: A flow rate limiting device (40) for a fuel dispensing nozzle (10) having an inlet (12) through which fuel is supplied to said nozzle (10) from a supply hose (14) and an outlet (20) from which fuel is discharged, as into a tank of a vehicle. The device (40) includes a flow restrictor (42) which is mounted in the fuel dispensing nozzle in its internal flow passage (16) the flow restricter (42) is automatically operated to reduce the flow rate, when the flow rate of fuel through said nozzle (10) reaches a preselected threshold rate such as the rate established by governmental regulations. After the flow rate of the fuel in the internal flow passage (16) is reduced below the preselected threshold rate, the flow restriction is attentuated such that the flow in the passage (16) can increase and approach the threshold rate.

Abstract: An automatic shut-off fuel dispensing nozzle (10) with a flow rate limiting mechanism (90). The nozzle (10) includes a valve (24) which controls the flow of fuel through a passage (16) leading from the nozzle inlet (12) to the nozzle outlet (20) which is normally connected to a spout. This valve (24) is responsive to a manually operable lever and to a vacuum operated release mechanism (26) which automatically shuts the flow of fuel through the nozzle off when the level of fuel in a tank reaches a preselected level or when the flow of fuel through the nozzle reaches a preselected threshold rate of flow.

Abstract: A fuel dispensing nozzle for gasoline fuel pumping stations and the like has an inlet through which the fuel is supplied within a range of supply inlet pressures, an outlet from which fuel is discharged and a flow passage having valving for selectively opening communication between the inlet and the outlet. At least one turbulence generating body is located in the flow passage between the inlet and the outlet and a turbulence damping or laminar flow inducing member is disposed in the flow passage upstream from the turbulence generating body member. The turbulence damping body member ensures that substantially laminar flow is directed to the turbulence generating member which thereby may predictably limit the rate of fuel flow through the nozzle to a predetermined maximum rate independent of the fuel inlet pressure within the supply range and independent of the amount of communication provided between the inlet and the outlet by the valving.

Abstract: A non-reusable syringe has inner and outer barrels including a needle connected by a hub to the inner barrel and a plunger attached to the outer barrel and received within the inner barrel. A pair of circumferentially adjacent longitudinally extending tracks in the form of teeth are on the outer surface of the inner barrel and a traveler is fixed to the inner surface of the outer barrel, the teeth being such that the traveler may ride on each track in only one direction. One of the tracks is an outgoing or charging track which permits the outer barrel and the plunger to be drawn away from the needle end of the inner barrel to charge the inner barrel with injectable fluid. The other track is an incoming or discharge track permitting the traveler to ride in the direction toward the needle to permit the outer barrel and plunger to discharge fluid through the needle.

Abstract: Apparatus for wheel lift towing vehicles for supporting the tires of a vehicle to be lifted and towed. The apparatus includes a pair of tire support cradles having front and rear members for respectively engaging the front and rear surfaces of a tire of the vehicle to be towed. The rear member has a bar which mounts a moveable support member in the form of a foldable plate. The plate may be raised above the bar to provide a retaining surface for engaging and supporting the rear surface portion of the tire, and may be lowered to provide clearance for entry beneath the vehicle and behind the tire. The plate in its lowered position is also adapted to be positioned on the ground so as to provide a ramp over which the tire may be drawn into the cradle when, for example, the tire is flat.

Abstract: A tufting machine having a mainshaft rotatably driven by one or more A.C. motors reciprocably drives a needle bar carrying a multiplicity of needles. Two brakes are associated with the shaft, the first brake being actuated when the motors are deenergized, and the second brake is actuated after the speed of the shaft has been reduced to a predetermined speed which permits the shaft to be stopped with the needle bar and the needles at the top of the reciprocating stroke. The motors may also be gradually started so that attainment of full speed is not reached until after the expiration of a predetermined time interval. Thus, "stop marks" may be substantially eliminated.

Abstract: A hoist vehicle of the semi-trailer type has a slide frame on which a tipping frame is pivotably mounted. The slide frame is adjustably movable between forward and rearward positions relative to the bed of the vehicle to locate the load carried by the tipping frame at positions where the weight bearing on the axles of the vehicle is optimized so that greater payloads may be carried without exceeding government imposed maximum axle loadings. A chain is trained about sprockets and connected to the slide frame to accurately adjust the position of the slide frame and the center of gravity of the payload.

Abstract: Apparatus for deforming the surface of a cylindrical metal portion of a workpiece at and adjacent its end includes a rotating disk having radially extending slots. Slide members having roller deforming tools rotatably journalled at one end are positioned in a respective slot with the tool disposed radially inwardly, the tools having axes of rotation parallel to the axis of rotation of the disk. A follower member is fastened to the other end of the slide member and extends outwardly from the slot beyond the circumference of the disk. The disk is mounted within an annular shell having a tapered internal cam surface varying in diameter in the axial direction. The shell is mounted for rotation with the disk but axially moveable relative to the disk.

Abstract: Apparatus for stripping concrete forms from the undersurface of a concrete roadbed of a bridge under construction has a carriage positioned on and driven longitudinally along the upper surface of the roadbed. The carriage carries spaced apart transversely extending support beams having rack gearing which meshes with pinions carried by housings telescopically received on the support beam and having rollers for rolling on tracks on the support beams. Each support beam has two housings which may move toward and away from each other. The housings carry downwardly depending framework extending beneath the roadbed and supporting a work platform support section. The two work platform support sections associated with each carrier beam may interlock to form a continuous work platform support at each longitudinal end of the apparatus, and may separate when the housings associated with each support beam are driven away from each other to provide a clearance about the pier caps of the bridge.

Abstract: A tufting machine having laterally shifting needles has a controlled amount of yarn fed to the needles, the amount of yarn being appropriate for the insertion of a diagonal back stitch such as arises during lateral shift of the needles relative to a backing material during the tufting operation. The yarn is wrapped about a plurality of rotating feed rollers each driven at a constant speed, the rollers having a smooth surface so that the yarn slips on the rollers until the needles induce sufficient tension on the yarn to cause it to grip and be driven by the rollers. The speed of the rollers is greater than the required to accommodate the yarn requirements of the needles if no slippage occurred between the yarn and the rollers. An additive tension may be applied between the feed rollers and the needles by a leaf spring and an anvil against which the leaf spring is biased, the yarn being fed between the anvil and the spring.

Abstract: Apparatus for wheel lift towing vehicles for supporting the tires of a vehicle lifted and towed thereby includes a tire support cradle having front and rear members for respectively engaging the front and rear surface portions of a tire of a vehicle. The rear support member includes an elongated arm and a wheel support member. The arm is adjustably positioned in a receptacle carried by a support beam which also carries the front member of the cradle, and is secured in the receptacle by a locking bracket which is pivotably mounted on the top of the receptacle and adapted to pivot between an unlocked position to a locking position. In the unlocked position the bracket does not interfere with movement of the arm. The bracket includes a leg which carries a locking pin. In the locking position lateral movement of the arm is precluded and the pin is inserted into a bore in the arm to lock the arm against longitudinal and lateral movement.

Abstract: A tufting machine for forming loop pile and cut pile selectively in the same row of stitching has a controllably actuated latch carried by a reciprocating bar member for selectively coupling to and driving a needle carrier to a first position into cooperation with a loop seizing member beneath the backing material. The bar member and needle carrier have cooperating abutment members which engage when the latch is not actuated, and the abutment members act to drive the needle carrier not as far downwardly as when the latch is actuated, so that the needle is not driven downwardly as far as the first level and cooperates with the loop seizing member at the higher level. When the needle is driven to the lower level a loop of yarn from the needle is seized and retained by the loop seizing member and is subsequently cut, while at the higher level the loop is seized and then shed to form loop pile.

Abstract: Wheel lift towing apparatus has tire support cradles including front and rear support members for respectively engaging the front and rear surface portions of the vehicle tire. The front support member includes a fixed ramp for engaging a lower front surface portion of the tire and a moveable ramp in the form of a pivotable plate disposed above the fixed ramp to provide an extension thereof for engaging an additional front surface portion of the tire above the surface engaged by the fixed ramp. The pivotable plate may be rotated downwardly to a stow or inoperative position, and in such position permits the cradle to enter beneath the front of a low ground clearance vehicle to be towed. Once under the front of the vehicle and adjacent the front tire it may be rotated to the operative position and a support member pivotably journalled to the opposite surface of the plate may be positioned against stop members to hold the plate at an upstanding inclination in the operative position.

Abstract: A spool for fishing reels for permitting full use of the fishing line wound thereon and eliminates the increased drag and resistance normally resulting when casting after the amount of line on the reel is reduced to low levels. The spool has an inner flange and an outer flange separated by a hub upon which fishing line may be wound, the outer flange being formed from two plate members one of which is substantially larger than the other and removably attached thereto when the amount of line on the reel is more than a predetermined amount. The smaller plate member is permanently attached to the hub of the spool and the inner surface of the smaller plate forms a continuous with the removable plate member when the latter is attached thereto. The fixed plate member and the removable plate member have interlocking cooperating surfaces and a single reel lock may selectively attach the spool to a reel mounting shaft in either configuration.

Abstract: A closure and container for specimens or the like have interlockable detents which connect together when the closure is forcibly disposed in closing relationship with the container. The upper portion of the container has a dome portion and the closure member has a cooperating dome portion, the detents being formed in the respective dome portions. The detents have surfaces which permit a sealing connection but prevent the release of the closure from the container. The closure member has a neck including a frangible section which must be broken in order to gain entry into the container once closed by the closure member. The closure member also has a cap above the frangible section having screw threads about the exterior periphery which threadedly connect to internal threads within the neck of the closure member adjacent the frangible section so that the container may be reclosed for further use.

Abstract: A flow rate limiting device (24) for a dispensing nozzle (10) having an inlet (12) through which fuel is supplied to the nozzle (10) from a supply hose, an outlet (18) from which fuel is discharged, and an internal flow passage (14) along which fuel flows from the inlet (12) to the outlet (18). The flow rate limiting device (24) comprises turbulence generating means (26) mounted in the nozzle (10) within the internal flow passage (14) for generating a turbulence in the fuel flow, whereby such turbulence decelerates the flow of fuel through the passage (14).

Abstract: Shoe insoles having convex protuberances extending from the base of the insoles for providing a rhythmic pressure or massaging action on the soles of the feet during walking. The base is a resilient or spongy material while the protuberances are somewhat more firm so that at the wearer of the insoles walks the protuberances sink into the base on the downstep and extend proudly from the base on the lifting portion of the walking gait. The protuberances have geometric forms and are disposed on the base so as to massage certain zones of the soles of the wearer's feet to simulate an acu-pressure massage and walking barefoot on uneven or rough terrain.