Abstract: Disclosed is a portable, hand-held vapor sampling probe for collecting vapors of compounds such as cocaine, heroin, and explosives prior to their desorption and analysis in a vapor detector. Rechargable batteries power a lamp in the front face of the probe for heating target portions of a sampling surface, a puffer assembly for directing air jets at the target, and a motor for drawing air samples through a collector coil on whose surfaces vapors are trapped. A flexible U-shaped shroud on the front face partially encloses the lamp and collector and helps to regulate air flow over the target and to protect the probe from damage. Upon contact with a surface, the shroud may activate a switch which, together with a second switch on the probe handle and a lamp pyrometer, regulates heating of the target.

Abstract: Disclosed is a walk-in inspection apparatus for active production of air samples containing vapors of explosives, drugs, or other substances carried by a person. The apparatus includes a U-shaped booth with an open end through which a person walks past walls which may contain a metal detector, then stands in front of a mesh screen facing a vertical end wall containing a vertical array of shaped funnels. Light-transmissive wall sections near the end wall help encourage entry of the person into the booth, and the light colored mesh screen draws attention of a person in the booth away from the darker funnels. In the collection of an air sample a blower outside the booth sucks a large volume of air around the person and horizontally through the funnels in the end wall and through ducts into a collection manifold for subsequent analysis.

Abstract: Disclosed is a percutaneous access device (PAD) for long-term skin penetration and use as an access port in the body of a patient. The buttonlike device includes a flat skirt for subdermal anchoring of the PAD and a neck through which a tube may extend for transmission of materials to or from the body. A two-stage porous bed covering the skirt and at least a portion of the neck promotes formation of a tight, infection-free barrier between the percutaneous access device and adjacent tissues, stabilizing the device for long-term use. The first stage of the bed retards downgrowth of epidermal cells for a time sufficient for mature collagen to form in the second stage, thereby permitting the tight dermal/biomaterial interface or barrier to form at a location near the junction of the two stages.

Abstract: Disclosed is a simple, economical ion exchange system for cleaning water, particularly rinse water from plating operations. Two or more identical cannisters with clear plastic sidewalls are connected in series and each contains resin in a central zone for removing anions or cations from water pumped from a reservoir through the cannisters. The resin material is held between permeable separator plates which also define inlet and outlet plenums accessible through openings in the sidewall near opposite ends of each cannister. The identical cannisters are stackable in one or more vertical arrays containing any suitable number of cannisters. Standard screw-type pipe fittings connect the inlet and outlet of successive cannisters to facilitate rapid disassembly of a multi-cannister ion exchange system and removal/replacement of cannisters whose resin requires regeneration.

Abstract: Disclosed is a heat pipe particularly suited for isothermal transfer of heat in high temperature, high pressure operation such as the growing of semiconductor crystals. The heat pipe has a stem communicating with its lower end, a cooler surrounding a portion of the stem, and an expansible bellows connected to the stem. The stem and the expansion chamber formed by the bellows accommodate displaced liquid working fluid to balance pressure within the heat pipe with ambient pressure outside the heat pipe. This avoids the need for complex, multi-layer structures or high strength materials in the heat pipe walls.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus for detecting hydrazine, monomethylhydrazine (MMH), and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) in a gaseous sample. The hydrazine compound detector includes a sample converter wherein vapors of an aldehyde such as acetaldehyde or a ketone such as acetone are mixed with a sample in gaseous form, and the mixture is allowed to react to form azine and hydrazone derivatives of the aldehyde or ketone. The derivatives may be transported long distances and then analyzed, as by heating in the presence of an oxidant in a pyrolyzer containing a nickel surface to produce nitric oxide (NO), followed by measurement of the NO in a NO detector such as a chemiluminescent analyzer.

Abstract: A liquid-fueled thermoelectric field burner operable in two modes, a start-up mode and a steady-state mode. A rechargeable battery backed up by a manually operated generator permits cold start-up of a preheat burner followed by operation of a main burner which provides heat to thermoelectric converters which operate to provide necessary power for steady-state operation. Cold start-up is facilitated by atomizing the liquid fuel for combustion in the preheat burner, and steady-state blue flame operation is enhanced by mixing vaporized fuel and preheated air for combustion in a main burner. The thermoelectric converters are cooled by air from a cooling blower.

Abstract: A continuous carburizing furnace system is disclosed having at least two series-connected rotary furnaces. The rotary carburizing furnace, a rotary equalizing furnace, and a rotary diffusion furnace which may be included between the carburizing and equalizing furnaces, allow trays of parts to be discharged from any position at any time by suitable rotation of their hearths, thus allowing parts with different cycle times to be run simultaneously in each rotary furnace. Each donut-shaped rotary furnace includes one or more captive chain type pusher mechanisms mounted in vertical fashion within a central area or hole, and the rotary carburizing furnace is multi-zoned and includes wall-mounted fans for uniform circumferential control of the gaseous atmosphere within its annular chambers.

Abstract: An efficient, low cost, gas-fired convection oven is disclosed. The oven includes a burner, such as a ceramic induced draft/boosted burner with premixed pressurized air/fuel gas supply, which fires combustion products through an opening in a baffle directly into a convection blower. The blower assembly, protected by a shield/deflector structure, also draws gases from a cooking chamber around the burner to mix with combustion products in a blower chamber. Action of the blower directs the mixture through the blower to circulate through gaps formed by the top and bottom of the baffle and into the cooking chamber. The oven avoids complex, costly wall-type heat exchangers, has no combustion chamber, and provides efficient, uniform cooking in a unit of low manufacturing cost.

Abstract: Disclosed is a percutaneous access device (PAD) with a connector lock which facilitates replacement and removal of tubes transmitting materials to or from the body of a patient without the need for surgery and with minimal interference with an implanted PAD. The lock may include a screw ring and elastomeric seal attachable to the neck of the device through which a tube extends, and the neck has recesses in its outer surface to permit it to be tightly restrained during tightening or loosening of the lock. A flat skirt or flange provides subdermal anchoring of the buttonlike percutaneous access device, and a two-stage porous bed covering portions of the neck and skirt promotes formation of a tight dermal/biomaterial barrier near the junction of the two stages of the porous bed.

Abstract: Disclosed is a high efficiency deep fat fryer from whose fry tank fat is continuously withdrawn for heating and filtration. A pump circulates part of this fat through a helical- or serpentine-shaped finned-tube heat exchanger positioned between a gas-fired burner and the bottom of the fry tank. The remaining portion of fat is directed through a filter located in the bottom zone of the fry tank. The fryer includes a control system with sensors such as pressure switches for preventing damage to the fat at low flow rates and devices for expelling moisture trapped in the pump. The filter has an element of material such as carbon-impregnated cloth which may be quickly replaced without draining fat from the tank.

Abstract: Disclosed is a heat pipe which is protected from damage due to freezing by the addition of small amount of a liquid such as an alcohol to its working fluid. Ethanol/water mixtures having ethanol concentrations from about 1 to 7.5 percent by volume are found to produce a relatively weak crystal solid during freezing in a heat pipe so that the weak solid breaks up and expands without rupturing a wall or joint of the heat pipe. Heat transfer and operating characteristics of the heat pipe are not degraded due to the presence of specified amounts of the additive.

Abstract: Disclosed is a system for monitoring and controlling movement of a hoist along a line of treatment tanks of an electroplating apparatus. Hoist-mounted optical sensing units of the system have pickups formed of opposed lines of infrared emitting diodes and phototransistors which interact with elements of plates fixed at work stations along the tanks to provide station identification and centering information relative to the hoist. A microprocessor-based controller on the hoist processes data from the sensing units and from a rotary encoder attached to a hoist drive motor and, under direction of an off-hoist main computer, rapidly and accurately positions the hoist at selected stations in a desired operating sequence.

Abstract: Disclosed is a ring and hook game played by swinging a metal ring attached to a flexible line towards a pair of hooks projecting from a box mounted on a wall. When the ring successfully engages the hooks the ring closes an electrical circuit, activating a light and buzzer connected in parallel within the box. Attachment of the flexible line to a ceiling permits automatic return of the ring after a missed attempt, and the location of the box and the point of attachment of the line, together with appropriate selection of line length, prevent the ring from striking the front wall of the box. The degree of difficulty of the game may easily be varied by rotation of one or both hooks.

Abstract: A gas-fired cooking range having a powered combustion air and gas input; proportional turndown burner control irrespective of the number of burners being used or the degree of turndown of any burner; light-weight jet impingement/radiation members being provided on each burner for efficient heat transfer to utensils and a simplified ignitor/sensor system for all burners operable by any individual burner control.

Abstract: Disclosed is a gas-fired cooktop for a range which provides high thermal efficiency and low emissions of air pollutants, particularly low levels of NO.sub.x. The cooktop includes a perforated tile burner which radiates infrared energy upward at a high flux rate to rapidly quench burner gas temperatures and inhibit the formation of NO.sub.x. A perforated glass-ceramic jet plate positioned between the burner and a cooking vessel transmits most of the radiant infrared energy from the burner to the vessel and also forms jets of combustion products which are directed against the bottom of the vessel for convective heating. Thermal efficiencies of up to about 70 percent and NO.sub.x emissions as low as about 15 parts per million are achieved by the cooktop.

Abstract: A compact steam cooking unit includes a compartment for holding fresh or frozen food to be cooked by steam and an associated gas-fired generator of steam which are combined in a fully self-contained appliance which requires only conventional utility connections and can be mounted on a counter-top. The steam generator includes a powered burner firing into one or more fire tubes which are submerged in water which is maintained at a desired level in a water chamber. Steam derived from heating of the water passes from the water chamber through ports into the cooking compartment where it contacts the food to be cooked.

Abstract: An improved laser-based method of depositing a metal on an electrically insulated metallic substrate is disclosed. Selected areas of the insulated plate such as an anodized aluminum plate are irradiated with laser energy to fracture the anodized layer and expose underlying aluminum. The plate is immersed in a solution containing copper ions and negatively biased so that a thin layer of copper is electrolytically deposited in the selected areas to form copper features. The method is particularly suited to the rapid production of high quality, durable photographic printing plates with long shelf life.

Abstract: A thermal energy storage system is disclosed for heating a liquid and establishing and maintaining thermal stratification of the liquid in a storage tank. The tank, which may store hot water for domestic use, contains a vertical header assembly which functions to greatly reduce the momentum of incoming heated water and to transport the water up or down in the tank to a distribution level containing water of temperature equal to that of the incoming water. Positioned outside the tank is a heat pipe heat exchanger for heating storage liquid withdrawn from the tank. A solar-heated working fluid is circulated through one chamber of the heat exchanger to vaporize a heat pipe fluid. The heat pipe fluid in turn heats storage liquid pumped through a separate chamber of the heat exchanger from a lower part of the storage tank, after which the heated storage liquid is returned to the tank and distributed by means of the vertical header assembly.

Abstract: A broiler for cooking food products has an upper heating unit located in a spaced relationship from the food and a lower heating unit in a close heat transfer relationship with the food. The upper unit is preferably a U-shaped radiant fire tube with a gas-fired power burner mounted at one end as a heat source. Hot flue products exiting the radiant tube are directed to the lower heating unit which is preferably a heat pipe assembly with evaporator and condenser zones for a working fluid. In one form the condenser zone includes a generally flat wall portion with a cooking surface defining a set of upwardly facing grooves. In another form the condenser zone is a series of generally parallel pipes that extend under the food in a horizontal, mutually spaced relationship. A movable rack supports the food and moves it into and out of a cooking relationship with the condenser zone of the heat pipe assembly.