Abstract: A regulated flow-restrictor device particularly useful as a drip irrigation emitter includes an elastomeric element constructed and supported such that it is non-uniformly deformable along its length in response to an increase in fluid pressure to effect a sequential closing of clearances in the flow-reducing passageway.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for processing images received on an image sensor of rectangular configuration bounded by four outer edges and including a plurality of pixel elements arranged in a rectangular matrix includes the following operations: A. locating an initial rectangular-matrix region consisting of pixel elements determined to be free of an artifact; B. sequentially testing each pixel element along two contiguous outer edges of the image sensor, starting from the initial rectangular-matrix region, to determine whether the pixel value of the tested pixel element is sufficiently large to indicate the probability of an artifact, and for each such pixel element found to have such a pixel value, replacing its pixel value with another having a relation to the pixel value of its closest neighbours found to be free of an artifact, thereby cleaning the respective pixel element; and C. cleaning in a similar manner each of the remaining pixel elements.

Abstract: An aerator for attachment to a water tap includes a labyrinth device having a plurality of labyrinth passageways leading from its inlet face to its outlet face for reducing the pressure of the water before fed to a water-air mixing chamber.

Abstract: A surgical implement for use in suturing an annular part of a first organ to a second organ around an opening in the second organ includes a holder including a handle graspable by a user, and a stem insertable into the annular part of the first organ; and an inflatable balloon carried by the stem dimensioned such that in the deflated condition of the balloon the balloon and stem are insertable into the annular part of the first organ, and in the inflated condition of the balloon the balloon firmly engages the inner surface of the annular part of the first organ to hold it during suturing thereof to the first organ. One embodiment is described for use in coronary bypass surgery, and a second embodiment is described for use in valve replacement surgery.

Abstract: An air filter body includes a plurality of discs of electrically insulating material arranged in a stack and having ribbed contacting faces defining small filtering passageways between the contacting faces of adjacent discs. Each disc has an electrode layer insulated by the respective disc from the electrodes of the adjacent discs. Each electrode is electrically connected to an electrical terminal at an edge of the respective discs. Electrical conductors connect the electrical terminals of alternating discs to one side of a voltage source, and the electrical terminals of the remaining alternating discs to the other side of the voltage source.

Abstract: A fluid flow control device particularly useful as a pressure regulator in a water supply system for poultry or other animals, includes a valve member movable towards and away from a valve opening in the housing to control the flow therethrough; a first diaphragm exposed to the outlet pressure producing a force tending to move the valve member towards the valve opening; a spring producing a force tending to move the valve member away from the valve opening; and a second diaphragm having an effective surface area exposed to the inlet pressure which is substantially the same as the effective surface area of the movable valve member exposed to the inlet pressure so as to substantially balance the forces produced by the inlet pressure on the valve member.

Abstract: A fluid flow control valve, comprising: a housing having an inlet connectable to a source of pressurized fluid, an outlet connected to the inlet via a connecting passageway, and a valve opening in the connecting passageway; a valve member movable to an open position and to a closed position with respect to the valve opening; and an actuator for actuating the valve member to its open and closed positions; the actuator including a control chamber which is expansible by receiving a quantity of fluid from the housing inlet and which is contracted by discharging the quantity of fluid from the housing via the housing outlet, whereby repeated operations of the valve repeatedly flush the control chamber with fresh fluid from the source of pressurized fluid.

Abstract: A fluid pulsator includes a housing containing a fluid reservoir, an inlet port, an outlet port, and a valve assembly biassed to an open position by a predetermined biassing force, the valve assembly includes a surface exposed to the inlet pressure to close the valve assembly when subjected to an inlet pressure greater than the biassing force. An inlet control passageway into the reservoir is dimensioned to produce a flow rate smaller than that in an outlet control passageway from the reservoir.

Abstract: A tapping fitting for application to a pipe in order to tap a fluid conducted therethrough to an ancillary device includes a housing having a rotatable blade assembly threadedly received within the housing main section and including a cylindrical cutting blade at its inner end such that rotation of the blade assembly cuts a cylindrical slug from the pipe when attached thereto. The device further includes a hollow stem having an inner end secured to the rotatable blade assembly and an outer end for receiving a key to rotate the hollow stem and the blade assembly from an initial retracted position to a projected position and then to a final retracted position. A seal between the outer surface of the hollow stem and the housing main section seals the interior of the pipe from the external side of the housing both during and after the cutting of the cylindrical slug from the pipe.

Abstract: A rotary sprinkler includes a rotor rotatably mounted with respect to a nozzle to be impinged and to be rotated by the water jet from the nozzle, and a sleeve circumscribing the nozzle and formed with an open end through which the water jet is discharged laterally of the nozzle. The rotor is displaceable axially of the nozzle. A spring normally urges a closure-surface of the rotor against the open end of the sleeve to close it against the entry of foreign matter, but is deformable by the water jet to displace the closure surface of the rotor axially away from the sleeve.

Abstract: A rotary sprinkler has a step-down transmission between a turbine wheel drive and the sprinkler nozzle, which transmission includes a fixed ring gear having internal teeth coaxial with the drive rotary axis; a planet gear having external teeth engageable with, but fewer in number than, the internal teeth of the ring gear; and an eccentric pin secured to the rotary drive at its rotary axis and having a central axis laterally of the drive rotary axis. The eccentric pin is received within an opening centrally of the planet gear to cause the planet gear to planetate around the fixed ring gear and to rotate around the drive rotary axis at a step-down velocity determined by the difference in the number of teeth between the ring gear and the planet gear.

Abstract: A surgical implement particularly useful for implanting a prosthetic valve in an excised annulus includes a manually grippable handle, and a suture retainer carried by the handle and having an outer face carrying a coiled spring whose coils define an annular array of slits each having opposed yielding surfaces for receiving and releasably retaining sutures between selected coils. Optimum spacing of the sutures according to the shape of the excised annulus is attained by providing reference ribs between selected coils of the spring, and also by making the outer annular face of the suture retainer of substantially the same shape as that of the excised annulus. Embodiments are also described including an illuminating device for artificially illuminating the working area. Also described is a method of implanting a prosthetic valve in a quick and efficient manner using such an implement.

Abstract: A rotary sprinkler and method of distributing water by providing two discharge nozzles on a rotor for discharging water outwardly of the sprinkler along axes extending preselected adjustable distances laterally of the rotary axis to provide moments tending to rotate the sprinkler in opposite directions, to enable the rotational speed and rotational direction of the rotor to be adjusted.

Abstract: A drip irrigation emitter includes a tube having a plurality of flow control units bonded to its inner face providing a flow control passageway between the interior of the tube and each of a plurality of discharge openings formed through the wall of the tube. Each flow control unit includes a body member bonded to the inner face of the tube, a cover also bonded to the inner face of the tube, and a deformable elastomeric membrane between the body member and cover and defining a pressure-compensated flow control passageway through the flow control unit.

Abstract: A flow control device particularly useful as a drip irrigation emitter includes a housing having a housing including a plurality of inlet openings defining a plurality of filtering inlet passageways to communicate with a pressurized fluid, an outlet opening, and a connecting passageway connecting the inlet openings to the outlet opening, and a pressure-deformable elastomeric membrane having a edge overlying the inlet openings and deformable to change the effective cross-sectional areas thereof in a dynamic manner in response to the pressure of the pressurized fluid.

Abstract: An AC/DC power supply includes an input sensing circuit for sensing whether the input connector is connected to an AC voltage source or to a relatively lower amplitude DC voltage source. When connected to the AC voltage source, a control circuit connects an input rectifier to the input circuit and also connects two primary windings of a power transformer in boosting relation to the output circuit. When the input connector is connected to the DC voltage source, the control circuit bypasses the input rectifier with respect to the input circuit, and connects only one of the primary windings to the output circuit while bypassing the other primary winding.

Abstract: A control device includes a liquid reservoir and a buoyant body movable to either an upper control position or to a lower control position in response to the level of the liquid in the reservoir. The outer surface of the buoyant body includes a cavity circumscribed by a rim engageable with a surface of the reservoir in the lower control position of the buoyant body to define a chamber isolated from the reservoir. A passageway normally connects the chamber to a source of low pressure but is connectible to a source of higher pressure, such that during the filling of the reservoir with the liquid, a low pressure in the chamber normally holds the buoyant body in the lower control position until the chamber is connected by the passageway to the higher pressure to permit the buoyant body to move by buoyancy to the higher control position.

Abstract: A drinking water dispenser for animals for use in suspension-type water supply systems includes a pin received within a vertical bore in a housing and having a lower portion projecting downwardly through the bore, and an upper portion formed with an enlarged head, and overlying weight engageable with an upper portion of the pin, the enlarged head of the pin having a surface engageable with a surface of the housing around the bore. One or both of the latter surfaces are rounded such that the two surfaces define between them a valve which may be opened either by raising the pin or by tilting the pin. In addition, the weight is spaced from the upper portion of the enlarged head of the pin so as to be separated therefrom by a gap when the pin is not tilted or raised.

Abstract: A protective grille assembly mountable over a window opening in a wall, includes a grill panel having a plurality of parallel, spaced, vertical bars fixed to a plurality of parallel, spaced, horizontal bars. The grille panel is of larger dimensions than the window opening such that the ends of the bars along at least one side project past the respective side of the window opening when the grille panel is mounted thereto. A plurality of fastening brackets mount the grille panel to the wall to cover the opening. Each bracket includes a loop section for slidably enclosing an end of a bar at the projecting side of the grille panel, and a fastening section for fastening the bracket to the wall after the loop section, while enclosing an end of a bar, has been slid along the respective bar to a location where the fastening section can be fastened to a mounting surface of the wall.

Abstract: A regulated flow restrictor device particularly useful as a drip irrigation emitter includes a housing having a a flow-restrictor passageway formed with baffles defining clearances with the passageway walls, which clearances, by the displacement of a deformable elastomeric membrane, regulate the fluid flow through the passageway in response to variations in the pressure of the fluid. The clearances are of increasing height from one end of the passageway towards the other end such that the clearances are sequentially closed with increasing pressure at the housing inlet to maintain a substantially uniform flow through the housing outlet despite variations in the inlet pressure.