Abstract: A gate operator in a first configuration opens and closes a gate that swings about an upstanding pivotal axis. In a second configuration the gate operator opens and closes a gate that extends and retracts along a straight line. A motor-driven wheel extends from the bottom of an open-bottomed enclosure and is perpendicular to the gate in the first configuration and parallel to the gate in the second configuration. The wheel is driven by a reversible DC motor. Turning a jack screw in a first direction increases the bias on an adjustable compression spring so that the weight of the gate is transferred to the wheel and rotation of the jack screw in an opposite direction shifts weight from the wheel to the gate.

Abstract: Mailbox vandalism is deterred by depositing a noxious material on a tool or weapon used by a vandal to smash a mailbox. The noxious material may be provided in a capsule fastened to a traffic-facing side of the mailbox so that a vandal's blow directed at the mailbox succeeds in fracturing the capsule and coating the vandal's tool or weapon with a noxious material. The capsule or capsules may contain any of a variety of malodorants, colorants, irritants and adhesives. The overall container may be configured as a composite capsule in which the noxious material is held within an inner glass capsule protected from environmental and accidental damage by a surrounding, relatively easily broken, outer capsule directly fastened to the protected mailbox.

Abstract: A mechanical projector for use with an existing table bowling game allows players a choice of speeds at which a projectile is launched along a lane towards a target. This launcher may comprise a relatively soft speed-up roller rotatable about an axis transverse to the lane. Preferred versions of the projector have a ball-clearing mechanism that moves a returning ball, rolling from the target zone toward the player, off to one side of the alley so that the returning ball can bypass the projector and be returned to the player. In addition, a preferred version of the projector may be moved out of its normal operating position to allow for conventional unassisted play.

Abstract: When an array of proximity sensors is used as a keyboard, it can provide an ambiguous output if a user's finger overlaps several keys or if liquid is spilled on the keyboard. This ambiguity is reduced by an iterative method that repeatedly measures a detected signal strength associated with each key, compares all the measured signal strengths to find a maximum, determines that the key having the maximum signal strength is the unique user-selected key and then suppresses or ignores signals from all other keys as long as the signal from the selected key remains above some nominal threshold value.

Abstract: A bat trap provides for capturing a bat, club, or other tool or weapon used by a vandal to damage a mailbox adjacent a roadway. The trap may comprise an elongated support member; a plurality of spikes protruding through the support member from a back side of the support member so that a respective point of each spike extends outwardly from the support member by some selected minimum distance; a cover extending far enough from the support so as to cover all of the spikes; and an adhesive or mechanical fastener for attaching the support member to the mailbox so that the back side of the support abuts a traffic-facing side of the mailbox.

Abstract: An acoustic time-of-flight size measuring device is added to the sensing head of an insertion probe sensor which may be used for measuring the flow of fluid in a pipe. The size-measuring device defines an acoustic beam making a plurality of reflective contacts with the pipe's interior wall. A time-of-flight measurement of this path length provides an accurate measurement of the internal diameter of the pipe. The magnitude of the transit time signal can also be used as an indicator of both insertion depth and angular orientation of the probe with respect to the pipe axis. In addition, the arrangement allows one to sense acoustic path attenuation caused by factors such as the buildup of deposits.

Abstract: A crane game, of the sort popular in amusement arcades, has prizes supported on a horizontal surface arranged to move upwards as prizes are delivered to players. Prize separating posts extend through the movable horizontal surface to keep deformable prizes near the bottom of the prize bin from being jammed together. This allows the game to hold a greater prize inventory. In addition, an arrangement is provided for measuring and displaying the grabbing force being exerted by the prize grabbing mechanism in order to assure a player of the game that it is performing in a consistent manner.

Abstract: A jewelry displaying arrangement uses a knot of a necktie as a support for a stone, medallion, or other article displayed on the necktie. This arrangement relies on a foundation shaped and sized as a stylized triangle or trapezoid so that it fits into the folds of the necktie knot. The foundation may be formed from a thin sheet of material having the surface shape of a necktie knot, and may have two or more legs extending upwardly from a base portion adjacent which the ornament, or other item to be displayed, is attached to the foundation. These legs provide the foundation with a wide enough upper end so as to prohibit the foundation from falling through the knot. The ornament may be attached to the foundation by any of a number of methods so that when the ornament holder is worn the ornament protrudes or drops below the knot into a visible position.

Abstract: The light extraction efficiency of a Light Emitting Diode (LED) is improved by providing pits etched into a top, emitting, surface of the LED. The presence of the pits reduces the mean distance to a sidewall in active regions, and creates regions of higher transmission at which a semi-transparent contact is not present. The walls of the pits are preferably coated with a passivating layer, such as silicon dioxide, to reduce surface leakage currents and to improve the operational stability of the device at the expense of a reduction in optical extraction efficiency commonly obtained with encapsulants having a higher index of refraction.

Abstract: An easily and installed support for a flexible covering, such as a bird-excluding net or a thermal blanket, may be made from lightweight and readily available plastic pipe components. The support is configured as a wheel and a vertical center pole that can hold the wheel in a horizontal position above the tree, similar to an umbrella. Netting or other flexible covering is attached to the wheel before it is lifted on the center pole and carried to a tree that is to be covered.

Abstract: A family of sliding vane rotary power devices provides two and four-phase internal combustion engines, as well as serving as pumps and compressors. All of these devices have an improved donut shaped rotor assembly having an integrated axial pump portion, an end shaft, a plurality of radial-directed passages and an equal plurality of sliding vanes in respective slots that are medially guided by cam followers moving in a pair of cam grooves The devices include an axial pump portion that acts as a supercharger for the four-phase internal combustion engine, a scavenger for the two-phase internal combustion engine, and as an axial pressure inducer when operating as a pump or compressor.

Abstract: An energy exchanger device can be used for exchanging pressure energy from one fluid to another, or may act as a hydraulic compressor or fluid driven pump. A preferred device uses a jet nozzle to rotate a cylindrical rotor block having a number of axially oriented conduits within it. As the rotor turns, one end of each of the conduits is alternately connected, through a first set of ports, to either an inlet for a high pressure fluid, or an outlet for the high pressure fluid from which the energy has been extracted. Correspondingly, the other end of each of the conduits is alternately connected to either an inlet for a low pressure fluid or an outlet for the fluid to which the energy has been transferred. A freely sliding element, such as a ball, may be placed in each of the conduits to isolate the two fluids from each other.

Abstract: Several fastening arrangements can hold a group of slats of a vertical blind in a fairly tightly juxtaposed arrangement that minimizes rattling caused by wind or ventilation air currents. The combination of a clip, that can be clipped around a selected one of the slats, and a flexible, string-like tie allows a user to gather other slats of the group next to the selected one and to tie the gathered slats together. In other cases, at least some of the slats of a blind are modified by the introduction of lateral notches that cooperate with string-like ties to bind a group of slats together.

Abstract: Ultrasonic transducers for use in time-of-flight flow measurement are made by clamping a conformal material between a face of a piezoelectric element and a housing so as to efficiently acoustically couple the piezoelectric element to a flowing fluid wetting the housing. Both in-line and probe sensing heads are described, where the in-line sensor heads make use of side-looking transducers. Acoustic isolation arrangements are used to ensure that the transducer transmits and receives acoustic energy in a single, well-defined direction. Various pre-loading arrangements, such as metal springs that can be set by driving a wedge between the spring and the housing, are used to controllably force the piezoelectric element toward the housing.

Abstract: A moving target flow sensor has at least one vane mounted on a shaft and rotated or oscillated in a flowing fluid. Changes in the drag forces are measured to determine the flow rate of the fluid, and, in some cases, to determine the direction of fluid flow. In some arrangements a compliant coupling is connected in a shaft between a drive transducer and a moving vane so that the instantaneous shaft speed can vary. In another arrangement, several vanes are driven by transducers that are controlled to provide a selected average rate of rotation or oscillation. In all cases, because only a change in either angular setting or angular speed of the shaft is detected, the flow sensor is able to operate over a relatively wide operating range and its long term drift is relatively low.

Abstract: Fluid flow rate can be measured by determining the torque on a shaft used to oscillate or rotate a vane in the fluid. An intermediate gear, which links a drive gear to a gear on the vane shaft, is mounted in a yoke so that the shaft torque tends to move the intermediate gear out of position. An actuator controlled by a feedback control system is used to maintain the intermediate gear in nominal alignment. The forces required for this null-balancing operation are representative of the torque, and thus of the fluid flow rate.