Abstract: An electro-magnetic transducer interacts with a fluid in a tube and serves as either a flow sensor or as a pump. One or more electro-magnet(s) provide a magnetic flux transverse to a selected portion of the tube. The transducer has an electrically insulating sheet scrolled about an axis parallel to or coincident with that of the portion of the tube and extending from an axial streamlined body to an inner wall of the tube. One or more pair of electrodes are attached to the scroll so as to define a spiral electrical path between the two electrodes of the pair. These electrodes are connected to a voltage measurement circuit if the transducer is configured as a flow sensor or to a source of electric power if the transducer is configured as a pump. In addition, a flow commencement sensor is combined with the electro-magnetic flow sensor to provide a power-saving flow metering arrangement.

Abstract: An arcade merchandise dispensing game delivers one or more visibly displayed articles from one of a plurality of pivotally mounted trays if a player causes a moving tripper to strike a portion of the tray so as to lift it far enough that one or more of the articles falls off the tray into a delivery chute. The strikable portion of the tray may be a tab that protrudes forward from the tray towards the player, where the width of the tab influences the probability of the tray's being struck. The tripper may be moved horizontally to and fro at a constant rate beneath the lowest of a number of rows of trays, and moved upwards in response to the player closing a momentary contact switch at an instant that the player believes is most likely to result in delivery of a desired one of the articles.

Abstract: A two-dimensional array of light emitting diodes (LEDs), controlled by a flame simulation program running on a microprocessor, is used to simulate a relatively large flame, such as one might find in a garden torch. The cost and complexity of controlling the relatively large number of LEDs needed to simulate a large flame is reduced by arranging the individual LEDs into a two-dimensional array having the anodes of all the LEDs in one column (or row) connected in common to exactly one column buss, and the cathodes of all the LEDs in one row (or column) connected in common to exactly one row buss.

Abstract: A family of sliding vane rotary power devices provides an internal combustion engine, a pump, a compressor, a fluid-driven motor, an expander device, a fluid-driven pump, a compressor or a throttling device. All of these devices have a rotor assembly with a number of vanes equally spaced about the rotor dividing the rotor chamber into discrete cavities. As the rotor turns, the vanes follow the wall contour of the rotor chamber so that the cavities rotate with the rotor and expand and contract as the rotor turns. Various combinations of smooth wall contours and rotational arrangements are provided in different devices in order to cause an appropriate number of expansions and contractions of a cavity during the course of a rotation. Various devices in the family of devices differ both in the shape of the rotor chamber and in the configuration of an internal stator member about which the rotor assembly turns.

Abstract: A target-type flow meter uses a target in a flowing fluid and selectively changes the orientation of the target with respect to the direction of flow of the fluid between two or mote orientations, where the target provides a different flow impedance in each of the orientations. This change in flow impedance gives rise to a corresponding difference in drag forces exerted on the target by the flowing fluid. Those forces, or displacements associated with them, are measured to determine the rate of fluid flow. In some cases the target may be a vane attached to a shaft rotated by a motor. In others, the target may be a vane structure attached to a post in a flexible fashion so that it can be oscillated transverse to the flow direction by fixed electromagnets acting on a permanent magnet portion of the vane structure.

Abstract: A family of sliding vane rotary power devices provides an internal combustion engine, a pump, a compressor, a fluid-driven motor, an expander device, a fluid-driven pump, and a compressor or a throttling device. All of these devices have an improved method of vane actuation comprising a freely sliding element partially enclosed by a medially extended outer vane portion and partly enclosed at its ends by a mirror-image encircling cam groove formed in a circumferentially-split external housing. As the rotor turns, the sliding elements engage the encircling extended vane portion and the mirror-image cam grooves cause the vanes to reciprocate radially in respective rotor slots while the outer vane tips follow the wall contour of the rotor with a minimal clearance so that the cavities rotate with the rotor and expand and contract as the rotor turns.

Abstract: A food container for use in a microwave oven is made from an inner, food contacting, glass vessel an outer plastic vessel. Because of the external plastic layer, the container has a significantly higher thermal insulating capability than a comparable glass container. This reduces the cooling rate of cooked food and provides an extra margin of handling safety. On the other hand, the internal glass vessel will not impart a plastic flavor to food stored or cooked in the vessel, and will be immune to the blistering or discoloration that sometimes occurs with plastic vessels. In some versions of the invention, free-standing glass and plastic vessels are arranged to be interfitted for use in food storage and microwave cooking, but can be easily separated for cleaning. In other versions, the glass and plastic vessels are intimately bonded together to prohibit penetration of moisture between the two vessels.

Abstract: A rotary power device of the swinging piston type has a cylindrical rotor mounted between internal and external portions of a stator. The internal stator provides intake and exhaust channels and may hold an igniter. The external stator includes two axially adjacent cam tracks with diametrically opposed eccentricities with respect to the axis of rotation. The rotor includes two axially spaced sets of sector-shaped compartments arranged at equal angular intervals around the inner stator, where each set is axially aligned with a respective cam track. Each compartment is open at the periphery of the rotor and has an inner opening aligned with ports in the internal stator. A sector-shaped piston mounted in each compartment pivots about an axis at one vertex of the compartment. Each piston includes a roller follower for engaging the respective cam track as the rotor rotates.

Abstract: An adapter assembly mounted on a road vehicle between a driving axle and a road wheel allows a user to selective either a driving configuration, for use when the vehicle is to be driven or a free-wheeling configuration, for use when the vehicle is to be towed. Such an adapter may comprise a spindle, a hub, a spring-biased locking gear, a set of pushrods and a cam that can oscillate about the spindle. The locking gear has a splined periphery for engaging a splined internal portion of the hub and a splined axial throughhole for engaging a splined portion of the spindle. When the cam is turned in one direction the pushrods push the locking gear into the driving configuration in which the gear connects the hub to the spindle when the splined periphery engages the hub and the splined throughhole engages the spindle.

Abstract: A rotary power device of the swinging piston type comprises a cylindrical rotor mounted between internal and external portions of a stator. The internal portion of the stator provides intake and exhaust channels and may hold an igniter. The external portion of the stator includes a middle portion with an oval cam track. The rotor includes a multiplicity of sector-shaped compartments arranged at equal angular intervals around the inner stator. Each compartment is open at the periphery of the rotor and has an inner opening to the central bore in alignment with ports in the central internal stator. A sector-shaped piston is mounted in each compartment for pivotal motion about a pivot axis at one vertex of the compartment. Each piston includes a roller follower for engaging the oval-shaped cam track as the rotor rotates, which causes angular reciprocation of the pistons within the compartments while performing intake and exhaust cycles through inner openings.

Abstract: An axial piston rotary power device can be configured as a four-cycle and two-cycle internal combustion engine, a compressor, a pump, a fluid-driven motor or an expander. The device includes an external stator housing, an internal axial stator and a rotary cylindrical block attached to an end shaft that can rotate within the annular enclosure formed by the two stators. The cylindrical block contains a plurality of cylindrical cavities arranged as pairs of working cylinders. Each cylindrical cavity encloses a double-acting piston assembly comprising two piston heads connected to a middle portion having a pair of axially spaced apart roller cam followers that make roller contact with a guide cam surface protruding from the inside of the external stator housing. The action of the cam roller followers on the guide cam imparts rotation to the cylindrical block when the piston assemblies reciprocate within their respective bores.

Abstract: An axial piston rotary power device has a housing enclosing a cylindrical chamber. An axially undulating guide cam is medially fixed to the inner annular wall of the chamber. A central cylindrical stator protrudes axially through the chamber from one end of the housing. The stator has lateral intake and discharge ports communicating with axial channels for conveying working fluid to and from the chamber. A rotary cylindrical block has a plurality of closed-ended cylindrical bores parallel to and spaced apart at equal angular intervals around a central bore. The block rotatably encloses the central cylindrical stator. Each closed-ended cylindrical bore has, at each end, a radially inward opening through the central bore and axially aligned with lateral ports in the central stator. A plurality of double-acting pistons are slidably received in the bores. Each piston has a medial stub shaft protruding through a slot parallel to the axis.

Abstract: An anchoring arrangement is provided for anchoring a dock leg to a bottom of a body of water. A base plate has a lumber or timber receiver on its top surface and has three or more anchor legs that are attached to the base plate and that extend downwardly. At least one of the anchor legs preferably has a fluke pivotally attached to it so that when the anchor leg is pushed downwardly into a bottom of a body of water the fluke pivots into contact with the anchor leg. A subsequent attempt to pull the anchor leg upward causes the fluke to pivot into an extended position in which it provides additional resistance to the upward motion of the anchoring leg. Most small docks have legs made of conventional lumber or timbers large enough to provide a buoyant force adequate to support thsi metal anchoring apparatus.

Abstract: A significant problem in the flow probe art is that of accurately positioning a flow-sensing portion of the probe at a selected location within a pipe. Several arrangements are provided for determining the insertion depth of flow sensing probes, for measuring diameters of the pipes in which they are inserted, and for detecting the depth of those pipes. These generally involve adding to the flow probe a depth measurement device for generating an energetic beam that is reflected from the pipe or from an insertion fitting. One such sensor uses a phased array of piezoelectric element to serve both in a pulse-echo distance measurement device and in a time-of-flight flow measurement device.

Abstract: The combination of a rip fence and a workpiece pusher are provided for a table saw or shaper. A preferred workpiece pusher moves along a track having a central portion aligned with the feed direction and having two end portions skewed with respect to the feed direction so that the workpiece pusher retracts into the rip fence at both limits of its travel. This allows a sawyer to retract the workpiece pusher on the infeed side of a table saw and begin a ripping operation in which he or she manually pushes the workpiece into the saw blade until the trailing end of the workpiece is close enough to the saw blade that the workpiece pusher can be moved out of the fence to engage the trailing end of the stock. The pusher can then be used to push the workpiece the rest of the way past the blade. This apparatus also allows a woodworker to operate a table-mounted cutting tool without using a workpiece pusher of the invention that is installed on that table.

Abstract: Combustible vapors from flammable materials spilled near a gas water heater can enter the water heater's combustion chamber and cause a serious fire or explosion. This problem can be avoided by ensuring that all combustion air is supplied from at least some selected distance (preferably eighteen inches or more) above a floor on which the water heater is placed. One version of the invention provides a flanged tube that can be installed so that an upper, inlet, end of the tube is above the selected height and so that the lower, outlet, end of the tube is sealed over a pilot flame access doorway. Various materials, such as an aerosol sealant foam or a flexible tape, are used to seal all other air inlets to the water heater.

Abstract: A time-of-flight flow sensor, of the type in which a measured phase difference between upstream and downstream acoustic propagations is representative of fluid flow rates, is operated at two distinct frequencies. Operation at a relatively low propagation frequency yields a first phase difference signal that is unambiguously representative of the rate of flow but that has a larger than desired measurement error. Operation at the higher frequency provides a lower measurement error, but may be ambiguous because of the modular nature of phase detectors. The low frequency phase difference signal can be used by a signal processor to determine a compensation term that can be combined with the higher frequency phase difference signal to remove the phase detector ambiguity, if one is present.

Abstract: Magnetic flow meters having a streamlined body within a flow tube provide an extended voltage path through a flowing fluid at the expense of flow passage restriction. The voltage path may extend along a circumference of an annular flow region. The use of an extended voltage sensing path increases useful signal levels, which allows for lower cost construction and lower power operation.