Abstract: A safety needle and cap combination is disclosed which significantly reduces the chances of a needlestick injury when recapping the needle. The cap is pivotally attached to the needle hub, and has a longitudinal slit to accomodate the needle. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the cap cannot be pivoted open until the needle cap is slid out along a guide to a detent position. Closure can be done with one hand, well away from the needle point, by pressure against a convenient surface.

Abstract: This device is an automatic faucet with three temperature settings activated by a pressure switch which is mounted on or near the floor by the user's foot. The invention includes a device which will, after a period of time, automatically turn the water off after the switch has been depressed. In the preferred embodiment, the user upon approaching the sink, could, by viewing indicator lights, readily discern whether a hot, cold or warm temperature setting has been selected.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for on-site removal, efficient cleaning, and expeditious restoration to service of the diffuser lenses, i.e. diffusers, lenses, and reflectors, used in fluorescent lighting fixtures. The apparatus employs dual immersion chambers, deep troughs, filled with a liquid medium suited to ultrasonic transducer agitation. It comprises a rectangular cabinet, having longitudinal slots in the top that provide external access to the troughs. The narrower trough, with appropriate liquid contents, serves as the initial scrubbing or washing chamber, while the wider trough, with differing liquid contents, serves as a rinsing and article-recoating trough. An ultrasonic transducer is horizontally disposed within a niche in one of the walls of the wash trough. Diffuser lenses are cleaned by detaching them from their fixtures, placing them one at a time into the washing trough, where they are cleaned by ultrasonic liquid agitation, and then into the rinsing trough.

Abstract: A kit and method have been developed which can be used to simultaneously detect antibodies to two HTLV or HIV antigens. The kit includes a solid carrier material, such as a microtest plate, having immobilized thereon a mixture of first and second viral antigens. The antigens are from any of HTLV-I, HTLV-II, HIV-I and HIV-II provided, however, that HTLV-II antigen is mixed only with HTLV-I antigen. The kit also comprises labeled-antibodies which are reactive with both the first and second antibodies in a test sample. A biological sample, such as a blood sample, is assayed by contacting it with the immobilized antigens to form reaction products between the immobilized antigens and the antibodies in the sample, followed by contact with the labeled antibodies to form labeled reaction products which can be detected in a suitable manner. The kit and method are useful for rapid screening of biological fluids.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for measuring the degree or rate of mixing in a turbulent liquid system. The method involves inserting into the liquid system a probe capable of responding to variations in a chemical or physical parameter which can vary in the system, e.g. pressure, velocity, acceleration, pH value, conductivity or temperature. A signal from the probe indicating the parameter is processed by transforming it to a readable electronic output and this output is then compared with a calibrated range so as to enable the mixing process to be monitored or optimized.

Abstract: It is proposed to increase the utility of intracellular fluorescence and absorbance measurements for control of fermentation and cell culture by correcting on-line for background fluorescence of the media, also to be able to measure the fluorescence or absorbance of the fluid media in the presence of suspended cells or particles. The measurements could be extended to measure the optical properties of other fluids which contain suspended particles. This invention uses the characteristics of the evanescent wave at the surface of an optic waveguide. The wave penetrates into the less dense medium only to about the depth of about 1/2 wavelength. The thickness of media swept by the evanescent wave is much less than the size of a cell, thereby essentially separating the fluorescence or absorbance of the media from that of the cells.