Abstract: A refuse collecting vehicle includes the following features: A rigid frame is provided having a handle at one end and a choice of runners, snow skid or wheel, at the other. The frame includes means for supporting a plastic bag in position to receive refuse. An unitary water-tight cover is provided for the bag which can be swung between bag covering and uncovering positions. Mechanism responsive to operation of the cover causes the bag mouth to be wide open when the cover is in uncovering position and to be closed when the cover is in covering position. The frame is open at one side to facilitate removal of a filled bag and the substitution of an empty one. Provision is made for supporting a filled and closed bag in a carrying position and affixing it to the frame for transportation.

Abstract: This invention relates to placer mining and more particularly to a novel bit adapted for use in stream beds, dependably to break up and deliver to and through a sluice box a quantity of divided, water-borne gravel, sand, clay and ore for the conventional analysis and segregation of the precious metal or metals contained therein. There have been prior proposals of a generally similar nature but the material dislodging bits employed have been so poorly designed that they have been severely limited in capacity or have quickly become clogged by gravel, clay, etc. so that the ore digging operation has had to be frequently interrupted for the elimination of obstructing material. The present invention substantially eliminates this shortcoming.

Abstract: A paddle and puck game is provided in which each player is equipped with two paddles but must defend three goals. The playing equipment comprises an open tray, which provides a playing surface and opposite goals. The playing surface is marked with a center line to divide the available ranges of activity of the opposing players to their own separate courts. Near each end of the tray the side walls are slotted, removably to receive goal strips. Each goal strip generally includesthree scoring slots of different scoring values in its lower border. Goal strips of varying difficulty may be provided to accommodate players of differing levels of ability, and to permit goals of unequal difficulty to be used simultaneously at opposite ends for handicapping purposes. The goal spaces behind the slots are partitioned off from one another so that a scoring puck will generally be appropriately trapped, for avoiding disagreement as to which goal slot it passed through.

Abstract: This invention relates to a storing and dispensing device for powdered or granular material, such as fertilizer for example, having provision for part or all of the following capabilities:1. The jarring loose of caked or adhering material within the dispenser;2. The dispensing of the material intermittently in chosen predetermined small quantities;3. The dispensing of the material continuously at a chosen rate; and4. The dispensing of the material with the dispensing end of the device pointed up or down.

Abstract: Mechanism is provided for grooving or planing wood products either lengthwise or crosswise. Such grooving may be preparatory to the interdigital end to end interfitting of work pieces, commonly referred to as finger-jointing, or to simple planing which involves the continuous, uniform smoothing of a surface from end to end throughout its entire width, or to uniform longitudinal or transverse slotting. In any of these operations the cutting blade edges become dull and require resharpening from time to time. Conventionally the outer face of the blade which confronts the work is ground away for sharpening, and this has the unfortunate consequence of shortening the blade and thereby reducing the depth of cut. In accordance with the present invention this difficulty is overcome. The blade is formed with parallel, upwardly and forwardly sloping inner and outer faces, and the blade is sharpened by evenly grinding away the forward face of the blade.

Abstract: It is common practice in factories to provide a multiplicity of electrically operated belt or chain driven mechanisms, each controlled by one of a multiplicity of switches located in a common panel. When a mechanism is out of order and requires servicing, it is usual to throw its control switch to an open-circuited condition for the protection of a repairman. All too frequently, someone closes the wrong switch, thereby setting the idled machine into unintended motion so that a serious injury to the repairman results. In accordance with the present invention a massive wedging means is provided for application to a chain or belt in such manner that essentially all motion is positively prevented.

Abstract: An eye shade is provided for vehicle drivers which separately but simultaneously shields the two eyes of the driver against the blinding glare of direct sunlight in the daytime or of approaching vehicle headlights at night, while leaving the space between and outside the shielded zones clear. The eye shade desirably consists primarily of a laterally extending series of contiguous substantially vertically disposed, electrically darkenable cells or zones such as liquid crystals, each of which cells or zones has the characteristic that it is transparent when no voltage is applied to it, but that it becomes progressively opaque with increase of applied voltage. The applied voltage is controlled by a laterally extending array of contiguous photosensitive sensor cells, each characterized by the fact that its electrical resistance increases as intensity of light exposure diminishes.

Abstract: A hydroelectric generating unit includes a generator shaft about which buckets are pivotally mounted on a common carrier for travel in a common path at equal angular intervals. The bucket carrier is fast on the shaft. Water flow control means, located above the shaft, is driven by the shaft for delivering a measured quantity of gravity impelled water to each bucket as it passes through a loading zone shortly after the bucket has passed top dead center. Each bucket is caused to discharge its load in the vicinity of bottom dead center. A succession of such units, connected for operation in timed relation to one another, is desirably provided.

Abstract: In the manufacture of model railway boxcars, simulated mounting steps which protrude downward beyond the car body have heretofore been normally composed of the same brittle material as the car body, and have been made integral with the car body, but according to the present invention they are made as parts of highly flexible and resilient, discrete units which are adapted to be fixedly associated with the car floor and body.

Abstract: This invention relates to a model railway system employing a novel uncoupling mechanism for couplers of the type which are coupled by having one coupler cam another upward so that it may then drop into the coupled relationship. Couplers of this type, equipped with suitable magnets, can be uncoupled mechanically or by magnetic repulsion or attraction. In accordance with the present invention a normally inactive uncoupling magnet, located at an uncoupling station, is rendered active, thereby to effect uncoupling by magnetic repulsion of one of the couplers. The couplers, after being thus disconnected, are displaced laterally in opposite directions by magnetic attraction and the raised coupler is then permitted to drop. The altered relationship is such that one coupler may push the other without recoupling. By this means a detached car or train section can be pushed to any desired location and left there.

Abstract: A motor driven pump, located substantially at the center of mass of a boat and its fixed contents, is provided with a series of selectively effective, aligned openings for taking in water from a selected direction and discharging it in the same direction, so that the boat can be shifted at will forward, backward, sidewise or obliquely without substantially affecting the orientation of the keel of the boat. Provision is made for the utilization of the same pump (1) for pumping out and discharging bilge water; (2) for utilizing water from the body of water in which the boat floats to fight fires; and (3) for turning the boat through simultaneous utilization of disaligned intake and discharge passages. Provision is further made for the optional use of an auxiliary boat driving motor in the stern of the boat with slide member for smoothly covering and streamlining the auxiliary motor operating space when such motor is withdrawn therefrom.

Abstract: This invention relates to a rope climber for use in climbing up or down a taut rope, which climber consists of closely similar handle and pedal units, each comprising pivotally connected members between which the rope passes and by which the rope may be alternatively clamped and released through suitable manipulation of the user. My climber units are characterized by the facts that1. the unit members can be readily disjoined and reunited and can therefore be applied anywhere along the length of a rope;2. they do not chew into and multilate the rope, nor do they simply squeeze it, but bind it by sharply kinking and pressing it; and3. they include rope guides which also serve as stops for limiting relative rocking of the members.