Abstract: An aerosol spray dispenser of flowable pharmaceutical product is provided with a flotation stabilizing arrangement such that it will float in water in a stabilized erect position even when empty of product; a scale is associated with the dispenser so that the depth at which it floats can be read by comparing the position of the surface of the water in which it floats with graduations on the scale. The stabilizing action may be obtained by placing the dispenser in a floatable bottom-weighted vial, with the scale located in the exterior of the vial, and the combination of vial and dispenser then floated in water. In other embodiments the vial need not be used, in which case the dispenser itself may be bottom-weighted to assure its stabilized erect flotation and the scale placed on the exterior of the dispenser; or, a cap may be provided for the dispenser which is positioned on the dispenser while both are floated in the water, the cap being top-weighted so that the assembly floats stably upside-down.

Abstract: A pH-measuring system using a Barnacle electrode (e.g. Ni--NiO.sub.2) in an electrolyte to abstract hydrogen from a metal electrode in the same electrolyte, and produces data as to the time t.sub.max required for the current density at the exposed surface of the metal electrode to reach its maximum value j.sub.max after an external circuit between the two electrodes is closed. From t.sub.max and j.sub.max the pH in the bulk of the electrolytes is determined, for display or for control purposes.

Abstract: A composite antenna system for an article surveillance system, in which a plurality of differently-phased loop antennas are supplied with different currents to provide desired positioning of peaks and nulls in the near-field strength, and to produce near-zero far-field strength, as desired. In one preferred form, a smaller loop is placed near the floor and a larger loop placed above it, with the lower loop supplied with a correspondingly higher-intensity of current to provide an enhanced near-field strength near the floor, while still maintaining far-field cancellation.

Abstract: A system which enables transmission of a standard composite stereo sound signal, made up of baseband, subcarrier band and pilot signals, from a first location to a second location while requiring only a relatively low bit rate for the transmission link. The standard composite stereo signal is synchronously sampled at a first location at rate F.sub.s twice the subcarrier frequency F.sub.c (four times the pilot frequency F.sub.p), and the sampled signal transmitted over the link along with appropriate synchronizing signals. At the second location, a signal processor separates the received signal into a first signal related to one stereo channel signal (e.g. R) and a second signal representative of the other stereo channel (e.g. L), determines the proper scale for the pilot signal, and regenerates the original standard composite stereo sound signal by combining the L-related and R-related signals with the pilot scale signals in appropriate proportions and with appropriate filtering.

Abstract: In an electronic article surveillance system, a low-power supply is used to power the system during ordinary search-and-detect operation, and the increased power needed to transmit high-power signals for deactivating the tag circuit is produced by charging up a rechargable storage device, such as a capacitor or rechargable battery, in the intervals between deactivations and using the charged-up storage device to provide the high supply power needed during deactivation, to generate the deactivation transmission.

Abstract: The inner end of a spray hole in a fuel injection nozzle for an internal injection engine is electrochemically machined by providing a negative electrode inside a chamber in said body, while applying an electrolyte under pressure to the exterior of the nozzle body, so as to cause the electrolyte to flow through the spray hole inwardly of said body. The electrolyte is preferably an aqueous solution of NaCl.

Abstract: A filter removes certain noise-induced artifacts from a two-dimensional image of a bore-hole wall, this image being formed by signals from a two-dimensional array of staggered electrodes pulled along the bore-hole wall. The noise artifacts are due to a type of noise which varies as a function of depth of the array, but which is substantially the same at all electrodes at any given time. The artifacts appear in the image in the form of a "footprint" of the electrode array, as an unintended result of a depth-adjustment process in which the original frames of samples of the signals at the electrodes of the staggered array, all taken essentially at the same time, are later resampled to produce frames of samples each corresponding to the same depth in said bore-hole. The filter makes use of the fact that the configuration of the artifact in the image is known, and that the true signal values do not change much between azimuthally adjacent electrodes.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for obtaining fine detail of spontaneous potential (SP) along a bore-hole wall in the earth, in connection with exploration for petrochemical deposits. A laterally-extending array of SP-sensing electrodes is mounted on an insulating pad, each slightly below the pad surface, and the pad is moved along and against the bore-hole wall while the SP's at the electronics are sampled and sent to up-hole electrodes for processing. The processed electrode samples are used to form a two-dimensional visually-observable image of the segment of the bore-hole wall swept over by the electrodes on the pad.

Abstract: A system for transferring medical diagnostic information from the diagonostic site to remote physicians' stations picks off an internal analog video signal from imaging diagonstic equipment (such as a CAT scanner or MRI equipment), converts it to an analog video signal of different, preferably standard, format, stores it, and when desired transmits the reformatted image information to the physician's terminal. Preferably the storage and transmission is in binary digitized form. At the physician's station, the received signal is stored, decoded and applied in appropriate analog video form to an associated CRT display for reproduction of the diagnostic images. The equipments at both the control site of the diagnostic station and at the remote terminals may constitute PC's (personal computers) plus an additional video monitor.

Abstract: A trowel suitable for spreading underlayment onto a floor and for later spreading an adhesive layer over the hardened underlayment. It makes use of a rail on one side of which the handle is mounted and on the other side of which the blade is mounted. The blade is of a spring metal, and the rail is in the form of a U-shaped channel member secured to the central portion of the blade. The rail is wider than the handle, and covers about 87% of the length and about 60% of the width of the blade, to stiffen the blade while leaving its edges somewhat flexible. The rail is also provided with flange on each side of the channel portion, and the flanges each contain openings for receiving spring clips bent up from the blade, so that the blade can be easily mounted to and demounted from the rail. Punched-up detents on the blade cooperate with bent-down ends of the channel to hold the blade in position on the rail while permitting its easy release for cleaning or replacement.

Abstract: A printer stand comprises a support base for holding a rear-ejection printer and a paper catcher mounted to the rear of said printer and extending rearwardly and upwardly therefrom. The catcher comprises a flat backer panel having bent-up side flanges and having a bent-up lower ledge for supporting the lower edge of a packet of sheets of paper resting against the backer panel. The catcher is mounted to the base for easy removal by providing a forwardly and downwardly extending slot at the rear of each side wall of the support base, into and out of which the panel can readily be slid; the side flanges are preferably spaced apart by only slightly more than the distance between the outer sides of the side walls, and the ledge is preferably at about right angles to the packer panel. The system provides stable support of the packet of sheets, is easily assembled and disassembled, and is inexpensively made from a single metal sheet by bending up the side flanges and the ledge.

Abstract: Food pieces, such as cubed apples, the exposed pulp of which tends to discolor upon exposure to air, are treated with an acidic aqueous solution which is effective in maintaining the natural color of the exposed pulp and which comprises citric acid, calcium chloride, and sodium chloride, with the treatment of such apples being preferably practiced by means of novel apparatus which uses a screw conveyor which receives the pieces of food at its inlet end and moves them from its inlet end to its outlet end automatically while the treating solution is continuously injected into the conveyor to coat the food pieces. Injection of the treating solution is controlled in response to control signals derived from a gamma ray weigh scale which weighs the food pieces continuously as they pass through the conveyor, so that the amount of treating solution injected is maintained in predetermined proportion to the rate at which the food pieces pass through the conveyor.

Abstract: A dished foil lid is secured to a container having a flange at its top by placing the lid over the open top of the container with the periphery of the foil on the flange and the dished portion of the lid extending downwardly into the container, and by applying a heating tool to the exterior of the foil adjacent the inner edge of the top of the container. The heating tool preferably has a tapered tip portion so that when it is urged into the depression formed by the dished portion of the lid, the side surfaces of the tip bear against the part of the foil adjacent to the inner edge of the top of the container. The time, temperature and pressure of application of the tip are such as to cause the adjacent inner edge of the container to soften and, upon subsequent removal of the tool, a narrow seal is formed between lid and container at the inner edge of the top of the container. The resultant seal is not only uniform and hermetic, but is easily parted when one later peels off the lid.

Abstract: First and a second rotating members are driven in syntony with each other but at variable advance angles with respect to each other. A sensor (32) provides a position signal indicative of a predetermined rotational position of the first rotating member. A toothed wheel (40) is fixed to the second rotating member and a sensor (44) adjacent to the wheel provides a pulse indicative of each occurrence of tooth (42)/sensor (44) juxtaposition. The speed of the rotating members is determined by the pulse frequency or the time interval between the pulses. The advance angle is determined by measuring the time interval between the position signal and a particular pulse, such as the one immediately after the position signal, and multiplying the result by the determined speed.

Abstract: A system for switching signals travelling between a first set of multicontact ports and a second set of multicontact ports, in which the signals at the contacts of each of the first ports are sampled by a parallel-to-serial multiplexer to form a corresponding single serial multiplexed signal. Each such serial multiplexed signal is applied to a matrix switch of the type having a switching device at each cross-point, and each of the output signals from the matrix switch is supplied to a serial-to-parallel demultiplexer. Each such demultiplexer supplies its reconstructed separate parallel signals to its associated port in the second set of ports. By controlling the conduction status of the switching devices in the matrix, the desired connection of each of the first set of ports to the desired one of the second set of ports is accomplished, with many fewer switching devices than would otherwise be required.

Abstract: A stand for supporting a packet of fanned computer printout sheets which enables easy leafing forwardly and backwardly through the packet. A rear backer plate is provided with a forwardly and upwardly extending bottom ledge designed to hold the packet in a positionally-stable upright position, and a lower substantially horizontal plate with associated ledge supports those sheets which are turned down in the packet. The rear backing plate and the lower substantially horizontal backer plate are preferably hinged to each other to permit folding-up of the entire support into a compact configuration, and the ledge for the horizontal plate is preferably hinged so it can be swung upwardly and inwardly of the horizontal plate for use with packets of sheets of lesser height. An integral horizontal rear flange limits the rearward tilt of the rear backer plate to the desired angle.