Abstract: A feeding station system for organizing and preventing bowls and the like from being turned over or moved about as a person or an animal eats. The system includes a mat having an upper surface with planar fastening areas, where each planar fastening area is fitted with a hook or loop planar fastener. The system includes a vessel having a floor with a lower surface appropriately fitted with a layer of hook or loop fasteners which will fasten to complementary hook or loop fasteners on the mat. In the system a reversible bond between the mat and the vessel is attained when the vessel's layer of hook or loop fasteners is pressed against the mat's hook or loop planar fasteners, causing complementary fasteners to form a reversible bond. The reversible bond can be broken by peeling the vessel away from the mat.

Abstract: The invention is an electronic game that can have an unlimited number of players and length of play, where in one variation the game includes an electronic scratch card that stipulates either an amount of g-money or a partial electronic image piece that is a member of a set of pieces. A complete set of pieces can be assembled into a unitary electronic image. A player, on joining the game, is issued a set of electronic scratch cards that are an incomplete set of pieces and an amount of g-money. Each player has an individual electronic game board that provides a visualization of the scratch cards and the actions of the player. The players race to assemble the pieces into the unitary image by compiling the issued pieces and acquiring the missing image pieces. The missing pieces are acquired by trading or buying them from the other players. The winner of the game assembles the unitary image.

Abstract: An embodiment is an articulating straight-edge apparatus having an asymmetrical hub with a lobe having a flat edge. The hub has a bearing hole, an axle, a circular side with recesses which provide stopping at pre-set angles. There is a secant slotted channel through the lobe. The floor of the channel has depressions that provide stopping for translational shift. A connecting block is covered with a back and front plate. The block has an angle positioning SLD. The SLD impinges recesses as the hub is rotated. Additionally, there is a translational shift mechanism which includes a sliding rail in the channel. The rail has a SLD aligned to impinge a depression as the rail moves through the channel, therein stopping at a depression. Attached to the siding rail is a straight-edge element. The straight-edge serves as a carpenter's square, and can be adjusted angularly and translationally with manual force.

Abstract: The invention is a system for locating and preventing the loss of personal items within a geographic zone. The system components are a personal portable homing center device a having a radio frequency receiver and a transducer that is actuated by a change in a signal strength; and several zone devices, for instance an active RFID tag attached to the personal item. The homing center device has an algorithm to measure the strength of the signal generated by the tag. The transducer is an audible and/or a silent alarm. The homing center device has three operating modes: Off, Homing-in, and Homing-out. In the Homing-in mode the alarm is actuated when a zone device's signal is detected. In the Homing-out operating mode the alarm is actuated when a zone device's signal falls to a threshold strength, indicating that the item is no longer close to the homing center device.

Abstract: A light on a self-supporting collapsible arm having a plurality of frictionally restrained articulating joints, where the frictional joint has a male half joint with a first plate and an annular shaft with an inner wider diameter. In the surface of the first plate is a first O-ring seated in a first groove. A matching female half joint has a second plate and coaxial to the bearing in the surface of the second plate is a second O-ring seated in a second groove. The opposing side of the second plate of the female half joint has a third O-ring in a third groove. The third O-ring tensions a snap pin that couples the male and female half joints. The snap pin has a head with a compressible ridge which expands when the snap pin is pushed in far enough to engage the inner wider diameter of shaft.

Abstract: The invention is a pre-conformed cover consisting of panels of a relatively strong flexible material assembled in a conformation that can protectively stretchedly cover and lockedly secure one or more hair clippers on a hair clipper rack. A locking means that has at least one first grommet positioned in an edge panel of the pre-conformed cover, and at least one strap terminated with a second grommet, where the at least one strap is attached to an opposing edge panel of the pre-conformed cover, such that by extending the strap, a lock can pass through the first and second grommet. Exemplary of a strong flexible material is rip-stop nylon, heavy-duty cloth, reinforced scrim plastic film, and ballistic cloth. The pre-conformed cover can be further comprised of pre-extended elastic strips or bands sewn in the edges panels.

Abstract: The invention is an illuminable tank that includes a partially translucent plastic tank and an illumination apparatus. The illuminable tank enables a user to determine the level of liquid in the tank, to make the tank more visible at night, and to light the area surrounding the tank's mouth and a spout. The illumination apparatus has a magnetic reed switch and an electrical circuit with a plurality of light emitting devices that are directed toward the interior of the tank, therein backlighting the tank and illuminating a visible level line at an interface of a surface of the liquid in the tank and the space above the surface. There can also be external lights which provide a cone of light for the spout. The illumination apparatus is explosion proof, and the illuminable plastic tank can be used to store, carry and dispense all commercial retail fuels.

Abstract: A convenient, portable, “all-in-one” kit that contains all of the feeding accessories that a child would require for a meal, and also provides a sanitary environment for eating the meal. The kit is comprised of members including a container member, which is a cup; and closing member, which is a lid with a controlled-flow drinking spout. The cup fitted with the lid is commonly known as a sippy cup. The lidded cup serves as an enclosure for the other members of the kit. The kit also includes a utensil member, such as a spoon or fork or both. The entire kit is inexpensive and therefore disposable after a single usage. A unique feature about the kit is the inclusion of a protective member that is a specialized sheet that can be adhesively fastened to a table or highchair and, as such, provides a sanitary zone for eating the meal.

Abstract: An improved and concealed wall mounted soap storage device having a housing with an opening on one side, and a center rotating door closure member with a vertical wall that serves as a door, and a projecting soap tray that can rotate into the housing. The closure member is pivotally connected to the housing. The opening has stops that are raised dimples on the housing which restrain, but do not prevent rotation. The vertical wall is held in the open or closed position by the stops. When the vertical wall is pressed the vertical wall engages the restraining stops with sufficient force that the vertical wall moves past the stops and swing through the opening. As the vertical wall moves past the stops there is a snap. The soap tray can rotate into or out of the housing, whatever the case may be.

Abstract: A pipe joint for joining pipes having a low surface energy and resistance to solvents. The components are an extrudable adhesive; a first pipe having a socket with an inside diameter, where the socket has a mouth, a self-centering bottom, and a cylindrical wall with an inlet, an outlet, and an inner annular channel; a second pipe having an insertion section with an end and an outer annular channel, where the second pipe has an outside diameter that is less than the inside diameter of the socket, the difference in diameters defining a gap and an interlocking keyway; and a flanged annular ring. The annular ring has an inside diameter that enables it to be slid over the second pipe and a thickness that is comparable to the gap. When the adhesive cures it forms a mechanical key. The adhesive is preferably an alkyl borane adhesive.

Abstract: The invention is an apparatus that is an extendable articulated flashlight. The apparatus have an electric power source; a housing for the electric power source, where the housing has a base; a light generating device; and an adjustable extendable collapsible arm connected to the housing and to the light generating device. The housing can additionally have a compartment for tools and a handle. In the invention, the collapsible arm and light generating device have a combined weight that is less than a total weight of the housing and an electric power source if the electric power source is contained in the housing. The housing acts a ballast that stabilizes the light generating device, so that the adjustable extendable collapsible arm can be fully extended in any direction, and the light will retain its position.

Abstract: An outdoor storage compartment with a housing having exterior rectangular side walls, an interior semicircular side wall, with an open-side, a center swinging door with an integral tray, and a magnetic closure. The door has a center elongate bearing, to hingedly rotate on an axial pin that is vertically spanning the open-side of the housing. The magnets in the magnetic closure are not in contact. When opened, the integral tray is conveyed from the protective interior of the housing to the exterior of the housing. As the door is opened it sweeps the interior semicircular side wall. The door has one radial length section that is slightly shorter than the second radial length section, where the radial length is the length of door measured from the elongate bearing to an end of the door. The shorter section and the integral tray can sweep through the interior of the housing, while the longer section is restrained.

Abstract: The invention is an outdoor storage compartment. The major components are a housing having an interior with an open-side, a center swinging door with an integral tray, and a magnetic closure. The door can nominally be opened by pressing a designated push point near an end of the door, therein causing the door, which has a center elongate bearing, to hingedly rotate on an axial pin that is vertically spanning the open-side of the housing. The door can smoothly and easily be opened with the pressure of only one finger. The magnets in the magnetic closure are not in contact. When opened, the integral tray is conveyed from the protective interior of the housing to an easily visible position on the exterior of the housing. As the door is fully opened it sweeps through a rotational arc of about 180 degrees, so that an interior face of the door pivots to the exterior of the housing.

Abstract: The invention is a quick adjusting choke winch, wherein in contrast to a winch where the strap is threaded from an end of the choke strap, the choke strap is side-threaded along a longitudinal edge. The invention is appropriately sized so that multiple width straps can be accommodated. The quick adjusting choke winch is comprised of: a base plate having a bearing; an open-ended split-center shaft; at least two pack rollers for controlling the tangential angle of strap being wound; a means for guiding the choke strap within the winch; a ratchet plate; a releasable main pawl; a releasable safety pawl; a means for turning the open-ended split-center shaft; a cover plate; and at least one fastening element for attaching the cover plate. The ratchet plate is co-axially affixed to the open-ended split-center shaft, so that when the ratchet turns the open-ended split-center shaft turns through the same rotation.

Abstract: A swivelable beach chair having excellent corrosion resistance, where the chair has a PVC tubing frame, which supports a flexible fabric covering that forms the seat and the back; has a PVC tubing underpinning that supports the seat; has a planar bearing that has a pair of self aligning plastic disks; and has a base, which is a PVC tubing ring assembly having spoke like components that radiate from the bottom disk of the planar bearing. The beach chair also, optionally, has arm rests with a recline feature for adjusting the angle of the back. The hinge connecting the back to the seat is also comprised of PVC tubing.

Abstract: An apparatus for precisely measuring the direction and grade of tilt, and the rate of change of tilt. The apparatus consists of a lighted fiber optic cable that is fitted with a flotation collar on one end, and the other end is vertically tethered to the bottom of a liquid filled chamber. The light projecting from the cable is sensed by a photodetector and assigned spatial coordinates. The fiber optic cable is sensitive to changes in orientation, and when the apparatus is tilted, or subject to an acceleration, then the cable deflects to correct for the tilt, and the photodetector picks up the new spatial coordinates of the projecting light. The new spatial coordinates reflect the direction and magnitude of tilt.

Abstract: A walking cane having a multifunctional handle, where the handle, which outwardly appears to be a conventional handle, is comprised of articulating elements which can be rotated outwardly, therein transforming the handle into a tripod like structure. The cane then becomes self-standing when inverted. Magnets are used to hold the articulating elements in position in the unified form, and the proximity of these magnets may have some therapeutic value.

Abstract: The invention is an improved ammunition for use in muzzle-loader guns, where the invention is a muzzle-loader projectile that is substantially conventional in overall appearance to prior art, black powder projectiles, but differs significantly in that it has a plastic center that extends to the tip of the projectile, therein producing a lighter, streamlined projectile that has a higher muzzle velocity, and a truer, flatter trajectory than conventional solid lead projectiles; and, where said invention, on impact, mushrooms extensively, efficiently transferring all of its kinetic energy to the target.