Abstract: A high resolution sheet metal scanner employs machine vision to check a sheet metal part or the like for accuracy of punched or drilled holes or other structure. A high-resolution line-scanning camera mounted to an X-Y table, located in an environmentally sealed lower assembly. The sheet metal part is placed upon a transparent support plate. The line-scan camera is precision focused on the top surface of the glass support plate. An elongated linear illuminator is situated above the glass plate. The illuminator extends in the X direction and moves in the Y direction. The camera is transported in the X and Y directions on a carriage of the X-Y table. A computer control may be used for controlling the camera and the X-Y table. The drive for the camera and for the illuminator are mechanically independent.

Abstract: A smoke detection and monitoring arrangement detects surreptitious smoking in various zones in a building, e.g., rest rooms and break rooms, and also detects tampering. Each detection unit has an intake grille leading to a duct which contains an air flow detector, a smoke detector and an optical intrusion or tampering detector. Air flow may be induced by an internal fan, or may result from an optional connection to ventilation ductwork. Air flow, smoke, and tamper signals are fed from each unit to a central control panel, which may include visible indicators and an audible alarm.

Abstract: An elevated-beam cow stall assembly employs angle brackets each installed on a respective vertical post. Support stanchions formed of a vertical rail, with upper and receiver members affixed at upper and lower ends of the rail, are attached to the back plates of the angle brackets, and the back plates also support the horizontal support beam. Tubular stall dividers each have an upper and a lower horizontal rail, the ends of which are mounted into the receivers of the stanchions. Additional stanchions may be affixed, i.e., with U-bolts, at intermediate locations along the horizontal beam, and these stanchions also support associated stall dividers. Neck rails may be attached to the upper rails of the dividers, and brisket rails or brisket pipes may be supported on the lower rails of the dividers. This construction permits an unobstructed space below the horizontal beam to give the cow some freedom of movement for lying down and rising.

Abstract: A system for capturing an image includes a CMOS imaging system, an image focusing device, and an image control processing system coupled to the CMOS imaging system. The CMOS imaging system has at least one CMOS imager with at least one series of pixels. The image focusing device directs the image on to at least a portion of the at least one series of pixels. The CMOS imager may have two or more series of pixels at least adjacent each other where each of the series of pixels is offset from another one of the series of the pixels by a reciprocal of the total number of series of pixels in the CMOS imager.

Abstract: Customer calls for maintenance and repair for customer equipment are handled automatically in a computerized network. A central dispatch office receives customer trouble calls. A number of available technicians, in the same geographic location as the customer, can accept the assignment to clear the customer equipment problem. Each of the technicians has a hand-held wireless computing device that communicates wirelessly over the Internet with the main server computer at the central dispatch office. The main server computer automatically creates a service call for each customer problem and these service calls are communicated wirelessly over the Internet to the technician's hand-held device. Various screens on the hand-held device allow the technician enter job completion data, and order parts and equipment, and carry out customer contact maintenance functions. The main server computer invoices and bills the customer for the completed work.

Abstract: A neonatal cap is adapted to secure CPAP breathing air tubes to the infant's head. A fabric cap covers the infant's forehead, the top and back of the infant's head, and left and right temples and ears. Left and right lower flaps extend downward from temple portions of the cap below the infant's jaw, and a releasable chin strap passes below the infant's jaw to secure the ends of the left and right lower flaps to one another. Left and right hook-and-loop temple straps are used for securing the air tubes, and each includes a hook fabric portion affixed onto a respective temple portion of the cap and an associated loop fabric strip secured at one end to the cap at the respective temple portion. The rear of the cap is free of seams, for comfort.

Abstract: An external stabilizer or guide cage for plastic film extrusion has an upper frame comprised of a ring and structure for rotatably supporting the ring. A lower frame is suspended from the ring of the upper frame, and is positioned such that the lower frame surrounds the extruded tube. The lower frame can employ one or several banks of guide arms that keep the tube aligned axially as the tube is drawn upwards. The arms on the lower frame define an iris aperture, or a stack of iris apertures. The arms include channels for coolant flow. Heat transfers from the film to the guide arm. The upper frame includes a drive for rotating the ring and the lower frame of the guide cage over a predetermined arc, e.g., 60 degrees, to compensate for gauge variations in the film.

Abstract: A safety device for firefighters to mark a viable exit for a building includes an audible sounder and a number of laser diodes in a housing with lenses that create panes or sheets of light. The housing of the device can have prongs that allow the device to pierce drywall to mount it near a door or window, as well as an adhesive or cement for mounting on other vertical surfaces. The housing is also has a tapered wedge shape and can wedge a door in an open position. There can be e.g. four laser diodes oriented at various angles.

Abstract: A pull-down shelf for storage of articles has a lower shelf portion that contains a wind-up mechanism, which can be spring powered or motorized, an overhead mounting plate that attaches to ceiling joists or the like, and at least a pair of cables that are wound onto arbors of the wind-up mechanism for suspending the shelf portion from the overhead mounting plate. Scissors-action stabilizers hold the shelf from tipping or swinging. The user pulls the shelf down, and this unwinds the cables and charges the springs. A releasable ratchet wheel keeps the mechanism from turning in the rewind direction. The user can pull or actuate a release handle or button to release the shelf and let the spring rewind the cables to pull the shelf back to its overhead position.

Abstract: A dust collection system for portable sanding or grinding equipment employs a cyclone separator mounted directly on the tool or machine, with a dust outlet duct at the narrow lower end of the cyclone, and a cartridge air filter mounted on the top of the cyclone. The filter returns the air flow from the machine to the ambient air in the vicinity of the tool. The dust is concentrated in the cyclone, and a small volume air flow then moves the dust through an elongated flexible hose or duct to a remote dust collection station. An air pump at the remote dust collection station provides sufficient air flow to draw the small volume of air plus entrained dust from the tool-mounted cyclonic separator. A cyclonic separator at the remote station separates this dust from the air flow and deposits it in a collection tank or drum.

Abstract: A cup holder and convenience tray assembly for a motor vehicle employs one or more support brackets that mount onto vertical columns at the front of the passenger compartment. The brackets have a clamp member with an vertical aperture of oval cross section which has a major axis oriented in the fore-and-aft direction. Each bracket also has a vertical socket positioned on the clamp member aligned along the major axis of the bracket aperture. The cup holder or similar accessory has a vertical pin that fits removably into the socket of the support bracket. Rubber petals help secure the beverage container and suppress rattling, and an embossed rubber member in the base breaks capillary seals. The convenience tray has a flat support shelf and a pin or pair of pins extend downward from a rear portion of the flat support shelf, each pin fitting into the socket of a respective support bracket. The accessories may also take the form of a vase, a cellular phone stand, or a picture frame.

Abstract: An interchangeable table top arrangement has a frame and backer board that can fit over a pre-existing table top or can be attached to a pedestal and used as a main table top. The frame and backer board define a recess, and an interchangeable insert fits into this recess. A hook-and-eye material (i.e., Velcro®) or other suitable releasable attachment system hold the insert in place within the frame. Finger holes in the backer board facilitate separating the attachment system to change out the insert. The inserts may have designs imprinted on them, e.g., advertising, holiday theme material, or game boards.

Abstract: An hand-held optical symbol scanner assembly employs black-light diodes to illuminate luminescent or phosphorescent bar code symbols that are invisibly printed or formed the surface of an article. The scanner has an array of far blue or UV LEDs or laser diodes on its distal face, and a nosepiece or shroud mounted on the distal face of the scanner device. There can be a transparent plate at the distal end of the nosepiece, mounted at an angle to the optic axis, and a filter (yellow or orange) in advance of the imager device within the scanner.

Abstract: A video bus for an array of pixel amplifiers is designed for a minimum quiescent current draw. The pixel amplifiers (or column amplifiers) are designed with high impedance pull-ups and low impedance pull-downs to conserve over-all power dissipation. The video bus is provided with a high-impedance P-FET to reset the bus to drain voltage VDD for a very short time between the time one pixel (or column) is selected the time the next is selected, so that the video bus only has to be discharged through the low impedance N-FET. The bus does not have to be current-sourced by the P-FET.

Abstract: A paint mask dispensed onto a surface to be protected by finger application, or may be housed in and dispensed from a receptacle with a sponge or similarly porous and flexible tip. The paint mask permits immediate and convenient use by application to the surface of glass or other base to be protected from inadvertent paint, especially window frames and mullions, while prohibiting paint to affix itself to window glass. The painter may spread the mask onto the surface by means of the pad on one's finger, or may conveniently grip the paint mask applicator and drag the tool end of the dispenser onto targeted areas of the surface to be protected. The mask forms a skin onto which paint, varnish, or other coating material may have adhered or contacted and which resides upon a lubricated layer such that it may be slid, wiped, rinsed or peeled away. The need for razor blades or other hard or sharp instruments is avoided.

Abstract: An arrow rest for an archery bow has multiple low-friction rollers that are disposed on respective sides of the arrow shaft. A mounting slide is adjustably attached onto the riser of the bow; a block portion is formed on a proximal end of the mounting slide; and a rest portion is adjustably mounted on the block portion. A dovetail slide arrangement permits left-to-right center shot adjustment of the rest portion in respect to the bow riser. First and second guide rollers are positioned on upper and lower arms disposed in a transverse support plane. The first and second guide rollers are displaceable over a limited axial distance within the support plane but only in a direction perpendicular to a radius from the arrow shaft, and are not displaceable in a direction radial to the axis of the arrow shaft. A third guide roller is incorporated into a burger button mechanism, with spring action to hold the associated third guide roller in contact with the arrow shaft.

Abstract: A compound archery bow has a riser with upper and lower power or spring limbs, and a synchronizing pulley system for ensuring equal flexing of the limbs. There are bowstring cam members rotationally supported at the outboard ends of the power limbs. An inboard power cam is mounted on a pylon on the riser, and an outer power cam is coaxially mounted with the bowstring cam member. Cam cables extend over the inboard and outboard power cams. The bowstring cam members are configured so as to increase in effective radius as the bow returns from a full draw position to brace height. The power cams can be configured as a quad cam system.

Abstract: A medication dispensing cart has a pull-out drawer, and a conveyor that transports a number of removable medication bins within the cart, one at a time, to the position of the drawer. An on-board processor controls operation of the bin conveyor mechanism whose pathway can be a serpentine (folded) loop. The drawer slide engages the bin located at the drawer position, and the bin can be pulled forward from said conveyor and pushed back onto the conveyor. The bins can be lifted out when the drawer is opened. A 2-D bar code symbol or other machine-readable code, positioned on the bin, contains data identifying the contents of the bin and the associated patient. A reader device reads the coded symbol and transfers data for that bin to an on-board processor. The processor keeps track of the bins on the conveyor, as well as their contents. Pusher arms on the drawer assist in pushing the bin out when the drawer is opened and in returning the bin onto its carrier when the drawer is closed.