Abstract: This invention is a slotted cylindrical rotary valve assembly for an internal combustion engine, comprising of two sets of gear driven slotted cylindrical tubes in a cradle apparatus. Each set has two tubes located co-axially and rotates co-axially, and each tube is slotted to allow for improved transport of a fuel/air mixture and exhaust. In one embodiment, an intake set of tubes transport fuel/air through apertures on the tubes. The exhaust set of tubes transport exhaust through apertures (slots) on the tubes. The rotation of the tubes brings the apertures in timely alignment to allow fuel/air injection and exhaust in synchronization with the cyclical operation of the pistons in the combustion chambers. Effective sealing in one embodiment is achieved by using a modified piston with an extension wall extending longitudinally from the top of the piston to seal intake and exhaust orifices at the top of the chamber.

Abstract: The present invention is an ink-based electronic voting apparatus that generates a paper ballot for every voter. The voter marks a ballot with a probe as he/she would with a conventional ink-based system. In one embodiment, the paper ballot is situated underneath the surface of an input board electrically connected to a computer. A vote is cast when the probe is depressed onto the ballot at a designated input point. The electrical interaction between the probe and the input board generates a vote signal for recording and causes ink to be released from the probe to mark a corresponding spot on the paper ballot. As such, votes are electronically recorded for fast tabulation while paper ballots are generated for manual and/or optical scanner recounts to safeguard against computer errors and tampering. Furthermore the voting apparatus has a build-in mechanism to prevent undervoting and overvoting and thus increases valid votes.