Abstract: The present invention concerns a stretching apparatus that is useful to apply controlled, gradual muscular stretching, and is particularly useful for controlled stretching of the hamstring muscle.

Abstract: The folding tool has one side-plate (1a) and the other side-plate (1b). A part of the rear side of the other side-plate (1b) or an arm-like plate (2) attached as a separate body is used as an inwardly pressing member, and a projection (3) is provided at the head of the arm-like plate (2). The base end of the body (5) having at its end a rear recess (6) is foldably pivotally attached by means of a support shaft (4) to the base ends of both the one side-plate and the other side-plate. The projection (3) and the recess (6) of the body (5) are engaged with and locked to each other.

Abstract: An internal tourniquet for establishing hemostasis within a portion of a limb to facilitate surgery controls flow of a fluid into a capsule surrounding substantially all of a human joint. Blood concentration in the capsule is sensed; and pressure in the capsule is controlled to maintain a fluid pressure in the capsule within a predetermined pressure tolerance window. The concentration of blood in the capsule is maintained below a predetermined maximum concentration while the fluid pressure is within the pressure tolerance window.

Abstract: A surgical tourniquet cuff for limiting usage to improve safety, comprises: an inflatable portion having a length sufficient for encircling a patient's limb at a desired location; cuff connector means communicating pneumatically with the inflatable portion and adapted near an end for connecting to a tourniquet instrument to establish a releasable pneumatic connection; and a cuff usage register located at a predetermined distance from the end of the cuff connector means and adapted for containing a usage amount record indicative of an amount of a predetermined usage of the cuff. The cuff usage register may further contain a usage limit record indicative of a predetermined limit of the predetermined usage of the cuff. The cuff usage register may be further adapted for enabling the cuff usage record and the usage limit record to be read by a tourniquet instrument that is pneumatically connected to the inflatable portion through the cuff connector means.

Abstract: A rocking device with a seat unit such as a chair, crib or cot, or attachment mechanisms for same with a motion generator comprising a profiled track defining a closed undulating path and a track follower, to interact with the track whilst one or other is rotated, thereby creating relative displacement between the seat unit and a base unit to simulate the motion of a vehicle. The device has mechanisms to decouple the relative displacement between the seat and the base from any rotational movement of the chair. The device is particularly effective at inducing sleep and restfulness in children. The invention also includes profiled tracks, and method for producing them from recording motion experienced by passengers in moving vehicles.

Abstract: Apparatus is provided for protecting a patient's limb from tourniquet-related injury, comprising: a tourniquet cuff having a length sufficient for encircling a limb protection sleeve applied to a limb at a location having a limb circumference of not less than a predetermined minimum limb circumference and not more than a predetermined maximum limb circumference; limb protection sleeve adapted for applying to the limb at the location, wherein the sleeve has a tubular shape and a tubular circumference predetermined to be less than the predetermined minimum and wherein the sleeve is formed to allow elastic stretching of the tubular shape sufficient to increase the tubular circumference to be substantially equivalent to the limb circumference at the location when the sleeve is applied to the limb, thereby applying a pressure to the limb that is greater than a predetermined minimum pressure and less than a predetermined maximum pressure; and identification means perceptible to a user for providing an indication to

Abstract: A folding tool such as a knife has an implement such as a blade pivotally attached to the handle with a pivot shaft, allowing the implement to be rotated from a closed to an open position. The invention allows the diameter of the pivot shaft to be varied, thereby allowing the diameter of the shaft to be effectively increased in the area where the implement rotates about the shaft so that the shaft extends to and makes contact with the interior surface of the bore through the implement, without restricting the ability of the blade to freely rotate about the shaft, minimizing or eliminating any tendency of the implement to wiggle relative to the handle.

Abstract: A geographical location extraction method and tool to infer a likely geographical location from one or more search terms entered as a query by a user on a search engine or the like. The method includes receiving in a computer memory a search term entered by a user and controlling a processor for utilising processes of word analysis, to determine which parts of a search query comprise location names and provide an indicator of the extent to which a given search term or part thereof should be treated as a geographical location, and inferring from the word analysis a likely geographical location. The likely geographical location so inferred may then be stored in computer memory for further processing or display.

Abstract: A method of providing location based information to a mobile terminal within a communications network comprising the steps of interrogating a component of the communications network to determine the location of a mobile terminal within the communications network; repeating the above process a number of times over a period of time; generating, from the repeated determinations of the location of the mobile terminal within the communications network, a location profile for the mobile terminal; storing the location profile; and providing location based information to the mobile terminal in response to the location of the mobile terminal determined by the stored location profile.

Abstract: A climbing cam having opposed asymmetrically sized cam members to eliminate the interference that limits the expansion range of climbing aids of the cam type. An optional cam member provides an opposing force to assist in maintaining the placement of the cam in the rock.

Abstract: A support for a vibrating component of an optical assembly that is adjacent to a frame includes an elastomeric rod having one end that is attachable to the component. A rigid sleeve is fastened to the frame and movable relative to the frame. The sleeve has a bore that opens to an inner end of the sleeve and is sized to receive the free end of the rod therein.

Abstract: A low-cost disposable tourniquet cuff having improved safety includes a cuff with opposing ends and an inflatable bladder having a first bladder side and a second bladder side. The bladder has a length dimension that is greater than the circumference of a limb of a patient at a desired limb location for applying the cuff, but less than the distance between first and second cuff ends. A port is provided for inflating the bladder, and a fastener is attached to the second bladder side and adapted to allow the surgical user to releasably secure the fastener to the first bladder side only if the cuff overlaps upon itself by at least a predetermined minimum cuff overlap length at the desired limb location.

Abstract: A occlusion detector for a dual-port surgical tourniquet system comprises: a tourniquet cuff for encircling a patient's limb and including an inflatable portion that communicates pneumatically with a first cuff port and that communicates pneumatically with a second cuff port independently of the first cuff port; a tourniquet instrument that is releasably connectable to the first and second cuff ports to establish first and second pneumatic passageways between the tourniquet cuff and the tourniquet instrument, wherein the tourniquet instrument includes pressure sensing means communicating with the first pneumatic passageway for producing an indication of the pressure in the cuff over a time period suitably long for the performance of a surgical procedure, pressure regulation means communicating with the second pneumatic passageway for regulating the pressure in the cuff near a reference pressure level, and an occlusion detector for introducing a pneumatic pressure pulse into the first pneumatic passageway duri

Abstract: A low-cost contour cuff for surgical tourniquet systems comprises: a sheath containing an inflatable bladder, the sheath having an arcuate shape, an outer surface and a centerline equidistant between first and second side edges; a securing strap non-releasably attached to the outer surface and formed of substantially inextensible material having a shape that is predetermined and substantially flat, wherein the strap includes a bending portion near a first strap end and a fastening portion near a second strap end, and wherein the bending portion is adapted to allow twisting of the bending portion out of the substantially flat shape to facilitate positioning of the fastening portion into any of a plurality of positions in the substantially flat shape; and fastening means for releasably attaching the fastening portion of the securing strap to the outer surface whenever the sheath is curved into a position for surrounding a limb.

Abstract: A method of determining a geographical location from IP address information comprising: interrogating a database of IP address information mapped to domain name information by submitting a given IP address; the database returning a domain name in response to the given IP address; deriving one or more likely web site addresses from the domain name; and scanning the or each derived web site address for geographical address information to determine likely geographical address information.

Abstract: A folding knife incorporates an opening assist mechanism that functions to drive the blade from the closed to the open position. A pair of torsion springs held axially on the blade axis pin and within a pair of bushings are stationary relative to the knife handle. One leg of each spring is fixed to a bushing. The opposite leg of the spring rides in a pocket formed in the surface on the blade axially around the opening through which the blade axis pin is inserted. As the blade rotates from the closed position toward the open position, the legs of the springs rotate through and cooperate with structures formed on the bushings to transfer the spring pressure instantly to the blade to drive the blade open.

Abstract: The sample holder includes support having a thickness and an aperture through the thickness of the support. A tilt mechanism is connected to the support for controlled tilting of the support, and the aperture through the support is configured to have a diameter that increases in a direction through the thickness of the support. This arrangement enables a light beam to pass through the same given area of the sample, irrespective of whether the sample is held perpendicular to the beam or held at a tilted position relative to the beam. In one embodiment, the holder includes an efficient magnetic clamp mechanism for securing the sample to the holder. The holder compactly integrates with tilting mechanisms a sample rotation mechanism.