Abstract: An installation assembly for use in installing radio equipment in a vehicle has a front panel with a pair of front panel sections which are joined together along a breakaway seam. A pair of tabs are used to interconnect the panel sections together at their opposite ends to make for a rigid firm joinder therebetween. The assembly can be used in its original form for a first equipment installation. For a second equipment installation, the panel sections are separated from each other and only one section utilized, this end result being achieved by first breaking off the tabs and then separating the sections from each other along the breakaway seam.

Abstract: A cartridge for storing pencil leads and dispensing such leads into the lead storage chamber of a pencil has an assembly slidably mounted therein which has a dispensing spout on one end thereof. Pencil leads are contained within the cartridge and prevented from being released therefrom by a gate member formed on the slidable assembly. When the slidable assembly is actuated to effect slidable motion thereof relative to the main body of the cartridge, the gate member is driven out of the path between the leads and the dispensing spout, permitting the leads to be dispensed into the chamber of the pencil.

Abstract: A device for measuring the ability of a human operator to stabilize an inherently unstable system so as to maintain an output signal on a display terminal within a preset limit. The difficulty is automatically increased at a relatively fast rate until the human operator approaches the limits of his ability to maintain the output signal within the limits. The difficulty is then increased at a relatively slow rate until the human operator is no longer able to maintain the output of the testing device within preselected limits. The device is mechanized using a general purpose microprocessor and utilizes binary shifts rather than multiplication or division operations in order to achieve real time operation at a sufficiently fast rate in order to test the limits of human ability.

Abstract: A wedge device particularly suitable for use in mounting a swimming pool light in a niche formed in a wall of the pool has a wedge member and a drive member for use in driving the wedge member between the side of the light and the wall of the niche. The drive member is pivotally mounted on the wedge member for limited slidable freedom of motion laterally as well as rotatable motion by means of a pair of trunnions which extend therefrom and fit into cylindrical sleeve bearings formed in the wedge member. A screw member threadably engages the drive member and is inserted through an aperture in the mounting ring for the light. When the screw is tightened against the mounting ring, it draws the wedge member against a side of the light and the wall of niche thereby wedging the light in place. The drive member can be rotated ninety degrees on its trunnions to change the size of the wedge provided by the wedge member thus enabling its use under different installation requirements.

Abstract: A plurality of pinch rollers are employed to drive sheets of paper containing material to be scanned past an optical scanner to generate an optical image of the material which is converted into electrical signals. Each pinch roller includes a drive roller which is driven by a synchronized drive mechanism and an idler roller. The support shafts for the idler rollers are supported in elongated bearings which provide limited freedom of motion for the idler rollers in a direction substantially normal to their axes of rotation. A pressure plate has spring fingers which resiliently urge the idler rollers towards the drive rollers to resiliently pinch the paper sheets being driven. In the event that the paper should become jammed and needs to be removed or repositioned, a roller release lever can be actuated to drive the pressure plate so as to permit the idler rollers to move freely in their elongated support bearings.

Abstract: An electrolytic process and apparatus for the production of copper cathodes from acid solutions of copper sulphate by a direct electro-deposition of said metal on lead bipolar electrodes arranged "in series" into electrolyzers consisting of lead electrodes (3) juxtaposed to special frames (1) adapted to define together with said electrode electrolytic cells, absolutely separated from each other and adapted to prevent any formation of shunt currents. The alternating succession of the frames (1) and electrodes (3) is carried by a support structure and is then compressed at the ends thereof by means of two heads and is hermetically sealed by means of packing means interposed between a frame and the adjacent ones. The process can be also applied to other metals other than the copper.

Abstract: An impulse detection circuit for use in triggering circuits such as those used for detecting drum beats within background noise and then triggering music synthesizers in response to the drum beat. Differentiators and peak-rectifiers and filters are used to detect impulse like inputs over a wide dynamic range in a noisy background. The input signal is rectified and differentiated and then inputted into a peak-rectifier and filter having a fast charging and a slow discharging time constant. The output of this peak-rectifier and filter is differentiated and inputted into a pair-rectifier and filters operating in parallel, which filters have rapid charging and slow discharging time constants. The time constants of one of the two filters are approximately twice those of the other. The outputs of the two peak-rectifier and filters are compared in a comparator.

Abstract: An assembly for mounting lights across the top portion of a vehicle has a pair of brackets attached to the vehicle between which a mounting bar is supported. One or more lights are supported on the bar, such lights normally being held in a raised or upright position. The bar is supported on the brackets for limited pivotal adjustment relative thereto, there being a locking bolt which operates in conjunction with a locking plate for locking the mounting bar in either the raised position or a lowered position which is typically ninety degrees relative to the raised position. To facilitate rotation to the lowered position, a cutout is provided in each of the brackets into which a stop member formed on each of the brackets extends, the stop members abutting against projections formed in the cutouts to arrest travel of the bar when it has traveled to the lowered position. Thus, the lights can easily be brought to a lowered position such as may be required to permit the vehicle to pass into a garage.

Abstract: A vehicle is adapted to lift up and transport a plurality of full trash bins for transportation to another site for unloading and to transport and deposit empty clean bins to replace those removed. The vehicle is equipped with a plurality of fork lift systems which may be located along the side and the front thereof. Each of these fork lift systems has a pair of lift arms which are hydraulically raised and lowered and which are utilized to raise a trash bin off the ground so that it is held on the vehicle for transportation and to lower and deposit a replacement bin. A mechanical latching device is provided to assure that the bin will be held in the raised position, this latching device being released by a mechanical handle when the bin is to be removed from the vehicle.

Abstract: A roller guide system which includes at least a pair of rollers for feeding strips of material between predetermined maximum and minimum thicknesses therebetween is rotatably driven by means of a gear train. The rollers are rotatably mounted on upper and lower housing frames respectively for rotation about first and second parallel axes. The upper frame is slidably mounted on the lower frame for vertical movement relative thereto. Each of the rollers has a spur gear attached thereto for rotation along with its associated roller about said first and second axes, respectively, these gears being interconnected by intercoupling gearing. The center of the gear attached to the roller mounted on the upper frame is at the same level as the center of the gear which drives this gear when feeding strips of an intermediate thickness between said maximum and minimum thicknesses.