Abstract: A magnetic field sensor assembly has a magnet, a semiconductor sensor and a metal leadframe encapsulated in a plastic package to form a semiconductor integrated circuit. A metal leadframe has a die attach pad on which the sensor is secured and an assembly having one or more projections for securing the magnet in close proximity to the sensor. The leadframe is made from a metal having sufficient spring tension so that the assembly having the projections will secure the magnet. The sensor is adjacent to a ferromagnetic object and will detect a change in magnetic field caused by the ferromagnetic object. Only a thin layer of the plastic package covers the sensor thus reducing the distance between the sensor and the ferromagnetic object but still maintaining an air gap between the plastic package and the ferromagnetic object sufficient to allow passage of the ferromagnetic object.

Abstract: A magnetic field sensor assembly has a magnet, a semiconductor sensor and a metal leadframe encapsulated in a plastic package to form a semiconductor integrated circuit. A metal leadframe has a die attach pad on which the sensor is secured and an assembly having one or more projections for securing the magnet in close proximity to the sensor. The leadframe is made from a metal having sufficient spring tension so that the assembly having the projections will secure the magnet. The sensor is adjacent to a ferromagnetic object and will detect a change in magnetic field caused by the ferromagnetic object. Only a thin layer of the plastic package covers the sensor thus reducing the distance between the sensor and the ferromagnetic object but still maintaining an air gap between the plastic package and the ferromagnetic object sufficient to allow passage of the ferromagnetic object.

Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a lead frame assembly having a die attach pad with a die secured by a die bonding material. A portion of the die bonding material may flow out from between the die and the die attach pad to form a squash out layer. A raised bond pad is at least partially in the squash out layer area and extends upward from said die attach pad sufficient to be above the squash out layer. A bond wire has one end secured to a ground terminal on the die and the other end to the raised bond pad. The whole structure is encapsulated in a plastic package.

Abstract: A carrier gas source is connected to the breathing system of a patient by a carrier-gas conduit. A positive displacement gas pump has an outlet connected to a distal port in the carrier-gas conduit. A pump gas-supply conduit, includes a vaporizer chamber and an ambient-referenced pressure regulator which has an output orifice connected indirectly to the positive displacement pump inlet. In one kind of anesthetic-vapor delivery apparatus, for use with high boiling anesthetic agents, the pump gas-supply conduit has an input end connected to a proximal port in the carrier-gas conduit. In another kind of anesthetic-vapor delivery apparatus, for use with lower temperature anesthetic agents there is no proximal port. In both kinds of anesthetic-vapor delivery apparatus, the ambient-referenced regulator controls the pressure at the pump inlet to a narrow range of pressures just below ambient atmospheric pressure.

Abstract: An automatic lawn mower vehicle is of a tricycle construction having a forward drive-wheel assembly including a drive wheel and a drive-wheel motor, and having a trailing sulky connected at a sulky hitch end by a vertical hinge to the forward drive-wheel assembly. Steering is accomplished by a motor mounted to the drive-wheel assembly and through a gear reduction system connected to the sulky part of the vertical hinge. A plurality of grass cutters are mounted directly to the drive-wheel assembly for cutting in a horizontal plane however the vehicle may be turning. The outermost two cutters are equidistant from the drive wheel and are centered in the vertical plane of the drive-wheel axle. The grass cutting wake produced by this machine is always equally wide on both sides of any point in the path of the drive wheel, so that the predetermined drive-wheel path, e.g.

Abstract: A dental guard fittable over a patient's upper incisors is composed of an arcuate plastic tray of about 1.5 inches in length and having in cross-section a U-shape. A compliant elastomeric adhesive plug of a hydrogel lies within and is self-adhered to the channel of the U-shaped tray so that when pressed into place over the patient's incisors, the teeth remain embedded in the plug and the dental guard remains adhered in position over the incisors but leaves the posterior teeth (molars including premolars) on either side uncovered. The use of such a dental guard protects the incisors from the levering forces exerted by the laryngoscope blade during intubation and provides the intubator an unobstructed view for easily guiding an endotracheal tube via the pharynx through the vocal cords and into the trachea.

Abstract: A central venous pressure catheter has a long flexible tube containing at least three channels or lumens. Toward the tip or distal end of the catheter are three ports in the wall of the tube each providing access to one of the lumens, respectively. An inflatable balloon, formed about the tube is located between a distal and a proximal of the ports and a balloon-inflating port lies within the balloon. The balloon is spaced away from the distal port by about 8 centimeters so that when the balloon is located in an upper region of the superior cava vein of an upright-positioned patient undergoing surgery of the head or neck, the balloon may be inflated just enough to raise the blood pressure at the site of the surgery to about equal that of the ambient atmosphere. There is thus no bleeding from cut veins and neither is there any tendency for cut veins to aspirate leading to an air induced embolism.

Abstract: A vaporizer has a main conduit supplied at an inlet end by a carrier gas of oxygen and nitrous oxide having a constant flow rate. The outlet end of the conduit is connected to the breathing system of a patient. A series circuit with an input end connected to a proximal port in the conduit includes a check valve, a chamber in which anesthetic vapor is maintained in saturation and a positive displacement pump driven by an electrical motor for pumping the vapor-saturated gas at a rate that is only a function of an electrical signal applied to the motor. The output of the pump is connected to a distal port of the conduit. More than one such chamber may be provided, each containing a different liquid anesthetic, and any one being connected into the circuit by means of a selector valve.

Abstract: An electrostatic display device of electrically variable reflectivity has a fixed electrode with an insulated face and a conductive resilient sheet. One portion of the sheet is held against the insulated face so that when a voltage is applied between the fixed and the variable electrodes, the free end of the variable electrode is drawn to the insulated fixed electrode. An ancillary extension of the variable electrode is sandwiched and compressed between an elastomeric pad and a metal terminal to provide reliable electrical contact to the delicate variable electrode. The terminal is preferably one of an elongated and acutely curved contacting surface such as the surface of a small wire contacting the variable electrode at right angles to the direction of flexure when activated by appliction of voltage. Alternatively the terminal may consist of a plurality of elongated and convexly curved contacting surfaces, i.e. a corduroy-like metal surface.

Abstract: A cooling frame includes a holding member in which a standard pie plate and/or a cake cooling plate may be nested. A top handle portion is adapted to be clamped to a clothes line. A hinge with hinge pin orthogonal to the clothes line connects the handle portion with the holding member portion of the frame so that the hot baked goods is suspended horizontally, and being hot and subject to plastic flow does not run. A netting or other barrier to birds and insects may be included for pulling down over the baked goods.

Abstract: A pulmonary ventilator system has a bellows assembly and a source of driving gas connected by a series branch including an electrically-controlled switching valve and a motor-controlled flow-rate-controlling valve. A controller including a microprocessor senses the position of the flow-rate-controlling valve via a mechanical to electrical transducer and has outputs connected to and controlling the switching valve and the motor. It has programmed in its memory the maximum flow rate capacity of the flow-rate-controlling valve and the maximum capacity of the bellows. The microprocessor is capable of receiving from an operator his target values for minute volume, breathing rate and expiration time to inspiration time ratio.

Abstract: A pulmonary ventilator-bellows-assembly kit includes a base to which a large (adult) cylindrical housing and a small (pediatric) housing, either one of which are mountable and sealable to the same peripheral base portion. Also included are a large bellows mountable directly to the base and a small bellows that is mountable to the base via an adaptor. The cylindrical housings to base mounting means use a bayonet type lock and an O-ring seal so that mounting is simply and easily accomplished by inserting a housing and twisting it over the base. The small-bellows adaptor also seals to the base using an O-ring and the small housing automatically locks it into place. The adaptor is adapted to be stored on the base when the large bellows and large housing are mounted and in use.

Abstract: A central venous pressure catheter has a long flexible tube containing at least three channels or lumens. At a tip end of the catheter a balloon surrounds the tube and is inflatable via one of the channels. A distal port and a proximal port in the wall of the tube are located on either side of the balloon, respectively, and are connected to the other two channels, respectively. The tip end of the catheter may be inserted via a jugular vein into a patient's superior cava vein near the heart. The balloon is inflated to partially obstruct the flow of blood and to increase the blood pressure at a site of surgery at the head or neck of a patient in the upright position to avoid air embolism as well as to prevent bleeding there. The differential pressure, e.g. in cm H.sub.2 O, between the two ports is made equal to the vertical distance between the distal port and the site of surgery by adjusting the size of the balloon.

Abstract: A converter has a pressure to voltage transducer connected to an amplifier. A laminar gas flow element (L.F.E.) may be connected to the transducer and the converter output voltage is a measure of the gas flow rate through the L.F.E. The converter gain may be switched from one value when one kind of anesthetic gas is being monitored to another gain values when a second gas is used. The ratio of the one gain values to the second is made equal to the ratio of viscosities of the second gas to that of the first so that recalibration is not necessary when the kind of gas in use is changed. Further, the absolute values of the stepped gains with fixed ratio are adjusted vernierly to produce a predetermined output voltage for each L.F.E. with a known rate of gas flowing, which absolute gain value in each case may be recorded as a characterization of each particular L.F.E. After such characterizations are made, no further calibrations of L.F.E. or converters are needed and any L.F.E.

Abstract: A swimming pool filter system is comprised of a pump, a filter and a water conduit means for hydraulically connecting the pump and filter in a hydraulic loop with a swimming pool. The filter is a Hayward regenerable filter wherein the diatomaceous earth coating may be periodically shaken off the filter membrane to mix with the dirt and recoat the membrane several times between cleanings to extend the time between filter cleanings. A pressure sensitive switch, mounted at the filter inlet port, closes when the inlet pressure exceeds a predetermined magnitude to energize an alarm each time regeneration is needed or after five regenerations when cleaning will be required.

Abstract: An electrostatic device has a fixed electrode and a flexible-sheet-variable electrode mounted adjacent thereto and insulated therefrom. Fixedly spaced from a portion of the variable electrode is a third electrode to provide a fixed capacity therebetween. A voltage applied between the fixed and third electrode activates the device, and direct ohmic contact to the delicate variable electrode is not necessary.

Abstract: A unitary-data-terminal-service outlet is mounted in a wall for providing a data terminal with both electrical power and a link with a central processing computer. An electrical receptacle is housed in a standard outlet box which is mountable to a wall stud. A face plate mounts to the receptacle and extends flush against the wall beyond the box. A hole is provided in the extended portion of the coverplate and a corresponding hole is provided in the adjacent wall board to mount a coaxial-feedthrough-coupler. A coax cable carrying signals to and from the computer is connected from the inner wall to the coupler and a coax cable to the data terminal connects to the outside end of the coupler. In an office building in which it is anticipated to utilize many data terminals, one such data-terminal-service outlet is provided in the wall at each site at which a data terminal is expected to be employed.

Abstract: A method for making a rolling electrode for use in an electrostatically controllable device includes depositing a metal film on only one surface of a tentered plastic sheet, heating to a temperature substantially above the softening temperature of the plastic and cooling to shrink the plastic and to cause the plastic sheet to form a tight roll.

Abstract: An elapsed time indicator includes an electrolytic timing cell in series connection with a resistor, which series circuit may be connected to a D.C. voltage. The cell is comprised of an aluminum can containing a liquid electrolyte with an aluminum anode immersed therein. During operation an aluminum oxide film is grown on the surfaces of the anode, the film thickness and resistance increasing with time. The voltage dropped across the cell of any instant is employed as an indication of the accumulated elapsed time during which the D.C. voltage has been connected to the circuit.

Abstract: A ground slope indicating instrument is described that comprises a pointed shaft that may be pushed point first into the ground, and at least one slope indicating rod being attached to the shaft. A spirit bubble level indicator is mounted at the top of the shaft to assist in placing the shaft in a verticle position. The rod or rods may be attached to the shaft by pressing them into holes provided in the shaft therefor. Alternatively rod receiving holes are provided in the periphery of a hub that is rotatably mounted in a verticle plane to the verticle shaft.