Abstract: Foaming and lateral water leakage during the filling of a container with a foam-prone water/chemical mixture is minimized by using, at the inlet of the venturi nozzle which draws the chemical into the water, a water authority-approved resilient-sleeve air gap which furnishes air-free water to the venturi while providing a siphon-breaking air gap if water is not flowing into the venturi.

Abstract: A billboard is equipped with a droppings tray that catches droppings from birds nesting in the gridwork of support members that carries the display panels of the billboard. The tray is so inclined and shaped that rain or the like cleans the tray and flushes the droppings into a drainpipe.

Abstract: A golf putter is provided having improved performance and custom adjustability. The putter has an adjustable-lie raised hosel which can be adjusted for a particular golfer, yet which may be semi-permanently fixed in position so that no adjustment can be readily made or worked loose during a round of golf play. To this end, the hosel has two members which are pivotally joined at a joint which includes a shaped sleeve mounted onto a projection attached to one hosel member and received in a shaped bore connected to the other hosel member. Rotation of the sleeve with respect to the projection and the bore results in an adjustment of the lie angle. Also, the putter has a sole sensor shaped to permit rocking on the ground in a lie-varying direction. Further, the putter includes a multiple replaceable and striking face plates for providing various lofts. Various weights are provided which attach to a rear of the selected face plate.

Abstract: Pain associated with unicompartmental osteoarthritis is relieved, and external varus or valgus movement about the knee is counteracted, by a soft brace in which a single cable pulled downwardly around the front of the femoral area adjacent the knee in one directon, and downwardly around the front of the tibial area adjacent the knee in the opposite direction, exerts a lateral force on the thigh and calf in one direction, and against the knee in the opposite direction.

Abstract: An automatic moisture sensing and watering system detects a moisture level within the soil. The automatic moisture sensing and watering system may be implemented in combination with a conventional automatic watering system to accurately control a moisture content of a plot of soil. Since a plant draws water directly from the soil, the automatic moisture sensing and watering system is adapted for controlling the moisture content of the soil itself, by measuring the moisture content within the soil. The watering period of an automatic watering system may be changed, based upon a detected moisture content within a plot of soil. Alternatively, an amount of water to be applied at a next watering period may be changed, based upon a detected moisture content within the plot of soil.

Abstract: Fat cells in a living patient are noninvasively destroyed without separating the skin from the body by applying to the fat layer high intensity focused ultrasound simultaneously in a multiplicity of discrete focal zones produced by a single transducer array. A novel phasing apparatus for producing a widely variable set of focal zone patterns for lipolytic therapy and other purposes is disclosed.

Abstract: An automatic speed control system continually adjusts the speed of an implanted cardiac assist blood pump to an optimum level for the varying physiological needs of the patient. It does this by periodically iteratively incrementing the speed setpoint of the pump. When the system detects the imminence of a ventricular collapse at diastole, it decrements the speed setpoint by a predetermined safety margin. An alarm condition is provided if the setpoint decrease results in an insufficient blood flow rate through the pump. The flow rate and imminence of ventricular collapse are computed in real time as functions of only the pump's motor current and speed setpoint.

Abstract: A model-free adaptive controller is disclosed, which uses a dynamic artificial neural network with a learning algorithm to control any single-variable or multivariable open-loop stable, controllable, and consistently direct-acting or reverse-acting industrial process without requiring any manual tuning, quantitative knowledge of the process, or process identifiers. The need for process knowledge is avoided by substituting 1 for the actual sensitivity function .differential.y(t)/.differential.u(t) of the process.

Abstract: A softshell blood reservoir for heart-lung machines is symmetrical about a central vertical axis and is divided into two chambers: a small main chamber accessed by the blood inlet and outlet connectors, and a larger storage chamber accessed from the main chamber through a selectably closable passage. This arrangement greatly reduces the priming volume of the reservoir without substantially affecting its total capacity, and enhances the mixing of venous and cardiotomy blood.

Abstract: Waterless temperature control of blood in a blood oxygenator is achieved by providing a non-disposable heater/cooler with a temperature-controlled surface that can be intimately mated with a heat-conducting surface of a disposable blood heat exchanger associated with the oxygenator. Blood flows in a shallow path past the heat-conducting surface so that substantially all of the blood will assume the temperature of the heat-conducting surface as it flows past that surface.

Abstract: A safety circuit for washing machines prevents an accidental simultaneous feed of bleach and sour due to a malfunction of the machine's controller, by interposing a normally open contact and a normally closed contact of a relay, respectively, in the sour pump power line and the bleach pump power line. The coil of the relay is powered by the controller's power output for the pump in whose power circuit the normally open contact is located.

Abstract: A wear surface for helicopter shoes is constructed by forming a railed enclosure on a curved base plate, placing a mosaic of smooth-surfaced tungsten carbide blocks on the base plate within the enclosure, brazing the blocks to the plate and rails, and grinding the rails to form a smooth, edgeless transition between the wear surface and the plate surface.

Abstract: Physiological changes in a patient's circulatory system can be detected in real time during open heart surgery by injecting a known amount of a marker substance into the patient's blood prior to surgery, and during surgery continuously concurrently monitoring variations both of the quantity of circulatory fluid in the heart-lung machine's reservoir and of the marker substance concentration in the fluid being pumped through the heart-lung machine. The patient's blood volume can also be continuously computed from the data thus gathered.

Abstract: Coiled medical plastic tubing is set in the coil shape by exposing it to a radio-frequency field while it is subjected to slight radially inward pressure. The amount of pressure and the power of the RF field are so adjusted as to cause the rungs of the coil to lightly stick together without deforming or weakening the coil itself.

Abstract: Blood volume in a soft-shell venous reservoir is measured for real-time display by ultrasonically measuring the distance between the walls of the reservoir bag at representative points and determining the volume of the bag by an interpolation based on the known shape of the reservoir bag as it expands and contracts.

Abstract: A softshell reservoir has threaded fittings, one on each side of a central axis. Venous and cardiotomy blood are mixed in a mixer which screwthreadedly engages either of these fittings so the reservoir can be positioned on the right or the left of the perfusionist without crossed lines, and with a minimum of priming volume. A threaded outlet fitting may be provided on the central axis to cooperate with threaded outlet tubing to facilitate packaging and sterilizing, as well as setup and disposal.

Abstract: A convertible safety torchiere uses a glass-enclosed vertical halogen bulb with a Type A screwthreaded base. The base is screwed into a socket positioned in a frustoconical cup which extends downwardly from the bowl, and a transparent protective dome is mounted on the cup so as to surround the bulb in spaced relationship thereto. A protective funnel spaced from the cup and socket surrounds the cup and socket under the bowl. The Type A socket allows substitution of a standard incandescent bulb for the halogen bulb if desired.

Abstract: A softshell blood reservoir incorporates an integral flexible cardiotomy section in which a filter/defoamer unit is supported in a semirigid cage. The reservoir also incorporates a storage section and a mixing section. The three sections can selectively communicate with each other. Cardiotomy blood is supplied to the cardiotomy section, and venous blood is supplied to the mixing section. The storage section holds varying amounts of cardiotomy blood to maintain a constant mixed blood output from the mixing section. Only the filter/defoamer unit and the mixing section need be primed.

Abstract: Energy and water consumption of a commercial icemaker are greatly reduced by capturing the excess water running off the freezer plates and mixing it with new water to provide a pre-chilled water supply to the freezer plates. The resulting decrease in water demand makes practical the filtration of the new water by reverse osmosis to keep the recirculating water free of pathogens, and to reduce maintenance of the freezer plates by largely eliminating dissolved mineral contaminants from the new water.