Abstract: A piston body in a housing has first and second opposite facing pistons and a component lead processing member attached to the body between the pistons and movable with the piston body. A stationary lead processing member in sliding engagement with the movable lead processing member receives the lead to be processed. A lead processing controller includes a light sensor and a light emitting device for sensing the presence of a received lead to be processed and for causing air pressure to be selectively supplied to the pistons for processing the lead.

Abstract: The color of a pixel produced on the face of a CRT is determined by the n bits of a hue/saturation digital input signal which is applied to a decoder to select one of 2.sup.n output lines of the decoder. Each output line is connected through a red, green and blue resistor triplet and through red, green and blue amplifier channels to respective red, green and blue signal inputs of the CRT. The values of the red, green and blue resistors in a selected resistor triplet determine the color of the pixel. The bits of a brightness signal are used to equally control the gain in the red, green and blue channels.

Abstract: Focus error due to drift from a specified value of the pointing angle of a focus laser light beam with respect to the reflective surface of an optical disc is self-compensated by employing two light beams derived from the same focus laser that have a substantially constant angular displacement therebetween. Any change due to drift in the specified value of the pointing angle of one light beam is accompanied by a substantially equal and opposite change due to drift in the specified value of the pointing angle of the other light beam.

Abstract: A television receiver is located on a pallet assembly via molded-in-place locating elements in the receiver base. Two elements have corresponding openings which mate with respective resilient structures on the pallet assembly to locate the receiver in two orthogonal horizontal directions about a vertical axis. A set of the elements on the receiver base abut a set of corresponding elements on the pallet assembly for positioning a plurality of spaced points on the receiver cabinet in the vertical direction in a reference horizontal plane.

Abstract: Alternate ones of the charge transfer stages in the CCD output register of a solid-state imager are loaded with charge packets descriptive of the intensities of respective image elements. The intervening charge transfer stages are loaded with charge packets descriptive of a reference level. Subsequently, the CCD output register is operated as a shift register to serially supply charge packets to an electrometer. Successive samples of the electrometer response are differentially combined to obtain an output signal with undesired components suppressed therein.

Abstract: Passage of current through a power transmission line causes infrared radiation therefrom. The construction of a high-tension (HT) line with counterwound helical conductors for current around a supporting core minimizes the surrounding magnetic field, reducing the skin resistance of the line per unit length as compared to its bulk resistance per unit length. Infrared radiation from the I.sup.2 R losses in the line is thus linearized, and the current in the line can be indirectly measured by sensing the infrared radiation from the line itself using infrared detectors.

Abstract: A solder reflow process including vaporized fluorinated organic liquid such as FC-70 is dehumidified by pressurizing the vapor chamber with dry nitrogen and blowing the dry nitrogen against the conveyor belt and article to be soldered as they pass through the inlet throat.

Abstract: A CCD imager of field transfer type having an image register statically clocked during image integration in a number of phases greater than it is dynamically clocked with during field transfer to a field storage register, when the image register and the field storage register are clocked in synchronous phase with each other.

Abstract: Frame-rate flicker attends the use of field-to-field line interlace in television cameras using CCD imagers. The use of separate dc-restoration circuits for odd-numbered and even-numbered fields suppresses frame-rate flicker attributable to black level variation from field to field.

Abstract: A CCD imager is disposed on the same semiconductor substrate as a charge storage well used to accumulate dark current charge sensed to generate a dark-current-responsive output signal. This dark-current-responsive output signal is used in suppressing dark current field shading or in controlling the cooling of the semiconductor substrate or both, by way of examples.

Abstract: A reflective-diffractive coating layer, situated at the interface between a substrate layer and an overcoat layer of the device, is divided into a set of small, slightly separated regions. This allows a direct bond of the overcoat layer to the substrate layer within the separation areas, which direct bond provides a more secure bond than that provided by a bond of the coating layer to the substrate and overcoat layers.

Abstract: A satellite communications system has a number of earth stations sharing an uplink carrier in a time division multiple access mode. One of the earth stations is designated as the master station for the carrier. The uplink transmissions from each station are synchronized by computing the time interval between the arrival at the satellite of the signal from the master station and the signal arrival from each of the other stations. The actual time intervals are compared to the optimum intervals for a properly synchronized transmission from each station. If the comparison indicates that a given earth station is not properly synchronized, that station's time of transmission is adjusted until the actual interval substantially matches the optimum interval.

Abstract: In a switching dc-to-dc converter an output current substantially free of pulsations is provided by summing a flyback current and transformed current response to the current used to build up the electromagnetic field that stores the energy for flyback.

Abstract: The charge handling capability of successive charge transfer stages in a charge transfer channel is increased beyond a certain point in the channel. This is done by increasing the number of forward clocking signal phases applied to charge transfer stages beyond this point as compared to the number of forward clocking signal phases applied to charge transfer stages before this point.

Abstract: A compact frequency reuse communications antenna includes two superimposed structures, each including Kevlar honeycomb, fabric face skins on the honeycomb, and a reflector over one of the face skins, the two structures being spaced from one another by Kevlar ribs formed of honeycomb material. The directions in which the ribbons of the honeycomb cores of the superimposed structures extend, and the directions of the elements making up the reflector of the fabric warps are chosen to minimize thermal distortions and RF losses while providing high natural frequency and low weight.

Abstract: A collating machine includes a serial array of vertically oriented stacking bins, each bin receiving a stack of sheet material to be collated. The upper edge of each stack is a reference and needs to be at a machine reference plane. The machine normally places the reference edge of the stacks of each bin in the same reference plane only when the stacks have the same length. An insert for one or more bins adjustably places the reference edge of stacks dimensioned different than the stacks in the remaining bins in the same reference plane.

Abstract: A cascade connection of first and second CCD shift registers having clocking signals with equal cycle durations, but with m phases and n phases respectively, where m is a larger positive integer than n.

Abstract: Delay for a field time is introduced between the end of the time a field of pixel samples is transferred from the A register into the B register of a field-transfer CCD imager and the beginning of the time the field of pixel samples is transferred from the B register to the C register. Such field delay is useful in differentiating response to a radiant energy image with respect to time, for example. A field of pixel samples is delayed in a first B register sufficiently long to be in time registration with a succeeding field of pixel samples in a second B register and responses to these samples are differentially combined to provide indications of transient phenomena in one field and not the other or in one field for longer time than in the other. The two B registers may be in two CCD imagers receiving images in spatial registration or may be in a CCD imager in which one A register alternately supplies samples to the two B registers.

Abstract: An electron microscope stage is manually movable in three orthogonal axial directions and two orthogonal rotational directions by corresponding motion transmission systems. Four of the transmission systems employ telescopic rods and a connecting pin having three resilient independently compressible sections. The pin transmits torques from one rod to the other about their longitudinal axes. One section is resiliently secured to an aperture in the inner rod, the other sections are resiliently secured to mating axial slots in the outer rod to permit relative axial displacement of the rods. The independent resilient compression of each section compensates for wear or differences in dimensions between mating surfaces while maintaining tight resilient torque coupling without backlash between the pin and the rods.

Abstract: A set of lead bending fingers are spaced to receive an array of transistor leads adjacent their respective bending surfaces. In the bend mode, the fingers are driven toward each other in close interdigitated relation for bending closely-spaced leads. A spiral cam drive member simultaneously drives the bending fingers in a single rotary motion of the drive member.