Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining anomalies in the frequency- or admittance-temperature characteristic of a piezoelectric crystal resonator by inserting a variable capacitance network in series with the crystal and electronically sweeping the value of the capacitance network by a control voltage applied thereto while the temperature remains constant and noting any abrupt change in the resonance frequency characteristic.

Abstract: A relatively compact, inexpensive and portable viewer for reading photogric reductions, such as microfiche film cards, includes a cylindrical translucent diffuser tube which provides for entry of sufficient light under usual ambient conditions for viewing the film; a transparent cylindrical mounting tube axially centered within the diffuser tube; and a slide tube axially and longitudinally movable, by hand operation, within the transparent mounting tube. The slide tube forms an optical path comprising a rectangular opening in its wall near one of its ends which acts as a film gate, a reflecting mirror positioned in line with the wall opening, a magnification lens and an eyepiece lens. The film is inserted in the cylindrical gap formed between the diffuser tube and the mounting tube and the slide tube is moved so that the desired portion of the film may be viewed, enlarged and read.

Abstract: A method of insuring efficient triggering of a laser flashlamp by ion plag to the outer surface of the quartz envelope of the flashlamp and an elongated thin electrically conductive strip which consists of an underlying thin layer of silver coated with a thin layer of nickel.

Abstract: An X-ray diffraction system for crystal analysis employing laser alignment o reduce errors inherent in the mechanical operation of the goniometer apparatus.

Abstract: A CCD with N bits is clocked at a frequency f, which may be either constant or variable over a wide range. Meanwhile, a charge introduced into the first bit at t = 0 reaches the nth bit, n clock periods later, namely, at t = n/f. If this charge is sensed to give an output signal and the signal is fed back to introduce a charge again into the first bit, then a periodic output is obtained with pulses spaced every n/f seconds; the output frequency is therefore, 1/n times the input clock frequency. Output frequencies f, f/2, f/3, . . . f/N can be obtained by selecting n. The system includes the following structure:1. A tapped N-bit CCD delay line.2. Initial charge injection method.3. Charge sink.4. n - selector (n = 1, 2, 3, . . . N).5. feedback to trigger subsequent charge injection.

Abstract: A film projector system including a sealed film cassette removably mounted ithin an aperture in the projector and driving means in said projector mechanically engaging coupling means extending through said cassette for driving the sealed film between hubs sealed in said cassette intermittently past a film projection location gate in said cassette and continuously past a sound detection location therein, with the projection plane of the film at said projector locations being disposed normal to the projector optical projection optical sound beams and twisted ninety degrees with respect to the plane of that portion of the film wound on said hubs so that the projector beams do not pass between the film hubs.

Abstract: A very-fine microcircuit interconnecting wire is passed through a central ifice in a capillary bonding head of a thermo-compression device which is used for pressing the balled end, or the body, of the microcircuit interconnecting wire to the metallized pads of a hybrid circuit chip. A pair of capillary tubes are moveably attached to the capillary bonding head in such a way that they can be positioned with their orifices opposing each other on opposite sides of the very fine wire just below the central orifice of the capillary bonding head. An insulating adhesive or enamel is passed through the capillary tubes to blend around the wire and form an insulating layer as the capillary bonding head is moved from one bonding point to the next.

Abstract: At least three pairs of opposing electrodes on the two major faces of a poelectric or electrostrictive transducer element having a gap which is adapted to change in response to selected control voltages applied across the three pairs of electrodes. The pairs of electrodes are electrically insulated from one another and one pair of electrodes covers substantially one half of the major faces across from the gap, while the other two pairs of electrodes are disposed on the major faces of the transducer adjacent the gap and respectively covering substantially quarter sector portions of the transducer surface. By the mechanical bonding of electrical switch contacts for example to the opposing end faces at the gap, switch actuation is provided by the application of control voltages across all three pairs of electrodes, causing the gap to diminish and thereafter shorting the pairs of electrodes or applying a reverse control voltage to widen the gap.

Abstract: A method of measuring at low frequency the electrical conductivity of a hrogeneous soil sample contained in an electrically insulating soil container or cell having at least two, or a colinear array of three or more, chemically inert probes or electrodes wherein the soil cell first is calibrated using a standard solution of known conductivity to obtain a cell constant k for each pair of probes. The cell constant for a given pair of probes is the product of the resistance measured between said pair of probes and the known conductivity of the solution. This cell constant is representative of the factor 1/a in a formula for resistance R = .rho. 1/a of a material where .rho. is the resistivity of the material between adjacent probes, 1 is the length of the material -- substantially equal to the probe spacing -- and a is the cross-sectional area of the material through which the current flows between the pair of probes under consideration.

Abstract: A system for retrieving at a given station, either on the ground or in the ir, data from a site on the earth's surface from which ground-based communication would be impracticable, either because of configuration of terrain or of the existence of intervening natural or man-made obstacles, wherein an assembly comprising a rocket module and a surface module connected together by an umbilical connector is emplaced directly or by air drop at the site and wherein the data is acquired at the site by sensors located within the surface module and recorded by a recorder located within the rocket module.

Abstract: This invention concerns a traveling wave amplifier of pillbox configuration hat can be made for battery operation. It has a high perveance cylindrical electron gun between closely spaced, parallel, flat surfaces of a pair of thin ceramic disks sealed at their perimeters to a conductive collector ring coaxial with the electron gun. One or both of the disks support a novel planar slow wave circuit. The slow wave circuit is termed a ring-bar circuit but differs from cylindrical ring-bar structures. It includes a series of concentric conductive rings. Along one diameter of the rings, to one side of the center of the rings, the first and second, third and fourth, fifth and sixth rings, etc., are conductively connected, and to the other side of the center of the rings, the second and third, fourth and fifth, sixth and seventh rings, etc., are conductively connected.

Abstract: For the purpose of maintaining verticality during erection of antenna masts nd the like, opposing guy control cables having corresponding ends secured to the top mast section are directed onto a pair of capstans which in turn are coupled to the input elements of a pair of Weston brakes, arranged in back-to-back relation on a common support, and whose output elements are coupled to the sun gears of an intervening planetary gear differential. The other ends of the two guy control cables wrapped on the capstans are wound and stored on two cable reels arranged above the capstans on the common support, under control of a reel turning means employed to reel in the guy control cables during mast lowering or retraction.

Abstract: A single element line scanner applicable to millimeter or submillimeter w beam steering which includes a semiconductor waveguide made of a high resistivity bulk single crystal intrinsic semiconductor material such as silicon. Parallel spaced radiator elements are disposed on one major or top surface of the semiconductor waveguide transverse to the direction of wave propagation along the waveguide. Parallel spaced PIN diodes are disposed on the other or bottom major surface of the semiconductor waveguide transverse to the direction of wave propagation. The PIN diodes are spaced close enough to prevent radiation from escaping outwardly from the bottom major surface and are provided with a variable forward bias to produce a conductivity sheet. The conductivity sheet on the bottom major surface is electronically modulated as a function of the bias current for a given frequency and the variation of such a conductivity sheet changes the wavelengths in the semiconductor waveguide.

Abstract: A bi-color, single-image plane character display technique wherein the chcters of two distinct colors are written by a scanned ultraviolet beam onto respective photochromic layers disposed on opposite sides of a film situated in the path of a projected light beam, which film is transparent to the light beam but opaque to the ultraviolet beam.