Abstract: A device for excavating material from around the periphery of a pole embedded in the ground. A frame is provided with a plurality of pole-engaging rollers adapted for placement against the pole periphery. An endless chain having one portion looped about the pole and another portion looped about sprockets carried by the frame secures the device to the pole. The sprockets are rotatably positioned on the frame at a slight inclination to a true horizontal plane and engage the chain for transporting the frame along the chain and in a descending helical path along the pole. A chain tension sprocket is provided and is movable toward and away from the pole axis to adjust the chain tension. An auger is carried by the frame and is adapted to cut an annular opening in the ground around the pole. Drive means are provided to urge the frame, and thereby the auger, around the pole and in a downward direction.

Abstract: In a plate heat exchanger of large dimensions the frame members, such as the head and follower, become very heavy and bulky so manufacture and handling becomes matters of difficulty. In accordance with the present invention a head (4) or follower (12) of a plate heat exchanger frame is made-up from separate slabs (5, 6, 7 or 13, 14, 15 respectively). A range of heat exchangers may then have common standard upper and lower slabs and either no intermediate slab or a selected one or more of a range of intermediate slabs.

Abstract: A brazing alloy composition for joining chromium containing base metal alloys containing, by weight, palladium about 39%-60%, nickel about 20%-47.5%, and at least one element selected from the group consisting of silver 0-35%, tin 0-32%, indium 0-32% and gallium 0-11%; and optionally containing one or more elements selected from the group consisting of gold 0-10%, germanium 0-4.4%, silicon 0-2.9% and about 0.025% of a known deoxidizer such as lithium. The alloy exhibits good wetting and flowing characteristics and has excellent strength and corrosion resistance at elevated temperatures. The brazing alloy is particularly useful for joining chromium containing baese metal alloys of the type which are used in the porcelain-fused-to-metal technic in dental prosthetics.

Abstract: In a batch method for the heat treatment of particular solid material, especially food materials, the vessel in which the heat treatment takes place is essentially a jacketed pressure vessel (1) in which the material is tumbled while being heated, and in order to obtain an increase in throughput the solids and cooking liquor are removed to a second vessel (2) after cooling. In the second tumbling vessel there is a reversible strainer (12) which is used in the position illustrated to separate the liquor from the solids and then inverted after withdrawal of the liquor so that they may be blended with a different liquor, such as a sauce, introduced via a line (14).

Abstract: A diaphragm pump having a reciprocating piston, a rotatable cam canted and engaging the piston, and a diaphragm secured to a plunger stem by a screw rotatable relative to the stem. The plunger stem extends into a bore in the piston, the piston bore and plunger stem having a matching configuration preventing rotation of the plunger stem relative to the piston when the diaphragm securing screw is loosened. The piston end engaging the cam is formed as a spherical section positioning the line of engagement with the cam closely adjacent the axial center of the piston, to reduce side thrust.

Abstract: An electrochemical cell incorporating cathode materials comprising at least one metal oxide, at least one metal, or mixture of metals or metal oxides incorporated in the matrix of a host metal oxide. The cathode materials of this invention are constructed by the chemical addition, reaction, or otherwise intimate contact of various metal oxides and/or metal elements during thermal treatment in mixed states. The materials thereby produced contain metals and oxides of the groups IB, IIB, IIIB, IVB, VB, VIB, VIIB, and VIII, which includes the noble metals and/or their oxide compounds.The incorporation of the metal oxides, metals or mixtures thereof substantially increases the discharge capacity and the overall performance of the cathode materials.

Abstract: Ultrasonic pest control apparatus comprising an elongated housing having opposite ends, a sound generator carried by the housing adjacent one end thereof and including at least one transducer for providing output sound waves when driven by an electrical signal, the sound waves being directed outwardly from the end of the housing and having a frequency normally inaudible to humans and intolerable by pests such as rodents and the like, and an electrical connector element at the other end of the housing adapted to be inserted manually into a standard electrical outlet receptacle commonly found in buildings and the like. The connector can be of the prong type or of the threaded type commonly found on the base of electric lamps. The transducer preferably is driven in a manner such that the generated sound waves are a composite output in the form of a random pattern of harmonies.

Abstract: A method for sealing a rim-like opening in a glass container is described. The surface of the opening is treated with tin and/or titanium oxide precursors and with or without one or more of the groups consisting of fluorides, sulfur oxides and sulfur oxide precursors and then overcoated with a chromium III organic metallic complex. A membrane comprising a thermoplastic film is pressed onto the coated opening surface and heated to cause glass-plastic adhesion, forming a closure. The coating steps may be applied to glass containers immediately after forming and annealing as appropriate, or may be applied to glass containers taken from storage.

Abstract: A lithium-iodine cell comprising a casing of electrically conducting material, an anode including a lithium element within the casing, an electrical conductor operatively connected to the lithium element and extending out from the casing, and a cathode comprising iodine-containing material in operative contact with both the casing and the lithium element. The anode electrical conductor is completely sealed from the rest of the cell, and the casing serves as the cathode current collector. The anode operative surface is provided with a coating of an organic electron donor material. The anode conductor is enclosed within the combination of an insulator element within the casing, an isolator element between the insulator and the conductor, and a ferrule having one end within the insulator and the other end extending from the casing.

Abstract: An electronic acceleration/deceleration warning system for a vehicle includes an electro mechanical transducer, for example an arrangement of pendulum, light source and photocells, for converting acceleration or deceleration of the vehicle into an electrical quantity, changing in proportion with the rate of deceleration, an oscillator having a variable frequency output, a circuit connected to the transducer and oscillator for varying the frequency of the oscillator output signal in proportion to the vehicle deceleration, and a pair of warning lamps horizontally displaced on the rear end of the vehicle and connected to the oscillator in a manner such that the lamps flash alternately and at a rate determined by the vehicle deceleration. The warning lamps can also serve as turn indicators for the vehicle. A manually-operated switch has two selectable states corresponding to the two turn directions for the vehicle.

Abstract: A pyroelectric detector comprising a body of pyroelectric material having a front surface for receiving radiation, a rear surface, a relatively thin coating of radiation absorbing and transmitting and electrically conducting material applied to the entire front surface, and a pair of relatively thicker areas of radiation reflecting and electrically conducting material applied to the rear surface in spaced-apart relation. Two heat sensitive charge generators are defined in the two regions of the pyroelectric body between the coating on the front surface and the two areas on the rear surface, and output electrical leads are attached to the two areas on the rear surface. When radiation is absorbed by either of the heat sensitive charge generators, an electrical current flows in a circuit connected to the output leads thereby providing an indication of the radiation.

Abstract: A device for vaporizing a fluid desired to be introduced into the air by forcibly moving air over the surfaces of an absorptive material which has been impregnated with the fluid desired to be distributed. The device comprises a housing adapted to be attached to a wall or other surface and utilizes a liquid material contained within a hollow container which is so positioned within the housing that the liquid flows into a cup-like member within which a layer of the absorptive material is disposed. The cup-like member includes at least one opening over which air is caused to pass and thereby evaporate the liquid from the absorptive material. A battery powered fan is so positioned as to cause the air to flow past the opening in the cup member and thereby evaporate some of the vaporizable fluid. The entire assembly is contained within a housing which has an air inlet and an air plus vapor outlet, and includes means for properly positioning the several elements in the proper relationship.

Abstract: A method and apparatus using radiation techniques for measuring coating thicknesses on continuously moving strip material as it travels along a predetermined path and without altering that path. A shuttle carrying a measuring probe having a radioactive isotope source and a detection device is provided in the path of the strip for reciprocation along a preselected segment of the path. The shuttle and the probe are releasably engaged with the strip and carried thereby for synchronous movement therewith in the direction of travel of the strip during a measurement cycle, and are disengaged from the strip when no measurement is being made, the movement of the shuttle then being controlled by an independent drive mechanism.

Abstract: A heat exchanger having an outer shell with an elongated, semi-circular fluid duct plate mounted in the shell. A tube bundle slidable between the duct plate and the shell is fixed at one end relative to the shell. The fluid inlet and outlet configuration, and transverse fluid flow pattern, are typical of those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,532,160. The exterior of the tube bundle is partially covered with a shrouding to contain the fluid flow within the tube bundle by allowing the fluid to exit only through the outlet side. Sealing mechanisms running longitudinally between the shrouding and the upper duct plate, and between the shrouding and the shell, provide a seal which restricts the fluid flow to a transverse flow through the tube bundle. A seal between the supported end of the tube bundle and the shrouding confines the fluid flow in the bundle and allows for relative expansion of the shrouding and the bundle.

Abstract: Apparatus for sensing the electrical conductivity of field including a pair of electrodes and a capacitive type conductivity sensing circuit which in response to the electrodes being exposed to fluid of predetermined minimum conductivity under conditions involving a predetermined minimum rate of change of conductivity applies a gating voltage to the control terminal of a semiconductor device switching it into conduction to define a current flow path through a load. The load can be an ignition capacitor for an electro explosive device which, in turn, can be employed in a release mechanism for uncoupling a parachute canopy from its load upon landing in water. A semiconductor switch defines a discharge path for the ignition capacitor through the electro explosive device.

Abstract: An expansion joint seal for use in roadways, bridges and the like adapted for use with a pair of elongated, parallel spaced-apart edge members defining a gap therebetween and each of the edge members having a generally C-shaped cavity opening towards said gap. The seal includes mounting beads on each of its longitudinal edges for reception within the aforesaid edge member cavities and a double walled, resilient web construction spanning the aforesaid gap and being attached to the mounting beads. The double walls of the web are disposed in an upper and lower relative relationship to one another and are connected to the mounting beads at correspondingly upper and lower portions thereon. The upper and lower web walls fold downwardly upon movement of the edge members towards one another and corresponding reduction in width of the gap.