Abstract: A multiple coin actuation mechanism has a carrier wheel with angularly spaced first and second coin recesses aligned with first and second coin slots of a front cover plate when the carrier wheel is in an initial home position at which a user initially deposits first and second coins into the first and second coin recesses through the first and second coin slots. A pivotal coin removal blocking latch and an edge notch defined adjacent to one side of the first coin recess in the carrier wheel allows initial insertion of the first coin through the first coin slot into the first coin recess while preventing removal of the second coin from the second coin recess through the first coin slot when the carrier wheel has turned sufficiently to align the second coin recess with the first coin slot.

Abstract: A coin-operated vending machine includes a magazine which stores small boxes or packages of items one on top of the next in columns or stacks arranged in a circumferential row thereof and a dispensing mechanism operable to effectively dispenses such small boxes or packages of items one at a time from a selected one of the stacks thereof. The vending machine also includes a one-way indexing mechanism operatively adapted to limit rotation movement of the magazine to only one rotational direction and a reciprocal locking mechanism capable of coacting with the dispensing mechanism to lock the magazine in a stationary position when a lowermost package is received in the dispensing mechanism from the selected one of the stacks.

Abstract: A materials handling device includes a chassis, handle shaft pivotally mounted to the chassis for maneuvering the device, two rollers rotationally mounted to the chassis, battery pack supported on the handle shaft, electric motor and gearbox fitted in one roller in-line with a rotational axis thereof, and a controller supported on the chassis and having capacitors charged by the battery pack so as to have available when needed a store of electrical power. The controller is electrically connected between the battery pack and electric motor such that the store of electrical power can be supplied to the electric motor which, via the gearbox, can transmit a high torque driving output, when needed and instantaneously, to the one roller to thereby enable the device to move across a surface and to manipulate and move a heavy load.

Abstract: A feed wheel includes a hub and a discontinuous tread removably fitted about the hub. At leading and trailing ends of the discontinuous tread are mateable non-planar female and male surfaces which interfit with one another and tend to interlock the tread ends together. The tread has locking lugs formed under leading and trailing ends and an intermediate segment of the tread which fit into holes configured and located in the hub complimentarily to the locking lugs. The holes and locking lugs are oriented relative to one another so as to enable the tread to be retained about the hub with the tread ends interlocked together during operation of the feed wheel.

Abstract: Floor covering (I) for an animal house for beef animals and dairy animals comprises an elastomeric mat (2) which can be fixed to a floor or floor slat by screws (8). Rigid strips (6) are located at the base (7) of mat (2) for securing the screws (8) which are coverable by the mat when it is fixed to the slat. Mat (2) is designed for cleanliness and enhanced protection and comfort for animals. Flap valve (3) forms an openable flap valve along one longitudinal edge of the mat (2) to seal a gap between adjacent slats of a slatted floor to reduce the emission of gases and fumes emanating from a tank beneath the floor. The flap valve (3) allows waste material to pass through the slatted floor to the tank.

Abstract: A carbonizing waste processing apparatus is operable to rotate and heat a radiant tube for carbonizing waste therein so as to generate granular char and vapors from the waste, transfer waste into an upstream end of the tube, temporarily impede movement of the waste through the tube at upstream and downstream locations therein so as to ensure that residence time of the waste in the tube is sufficient at the upstream location to carry out evaporation of moisture from the waste and at the downstream location to elevate the temperature of any solids in the waste for completion of carbonization of the waste, discharge the granular char and vapors from the tube, and flow the generated and discharged vapors through a succession of finned heat exchanger tubes so as to condense and separate the vapors into oil, water and methanol.

Abstract: A sanitized dispensing mechanism mounted to a vending machine includes a receptacle, a barrier and an actuating device. The receptacle has an interior chamber and a rear opening behind the interior chamber through which an item discharged from an exterior opening of the vending machine is received into the interior chamber. The barrier is mounted across the receptacle above a bottom opening below the interior chamber and, in response to a user moving the actuating device between first and second positions, is moved between receiving and dispensing positions. In the receiving position, the barrier receives and retains the item in the interior chamber blocking it from dropping through the bottom opening. In the dispensing position, the barrier releases the item from the interior chamber allowing it to drop through the bottom opening onto a user's hand.

Abstract: A ball bearing actuation mechanism includes a circular gauge wheel rotatably mounted in an interior chamber of a housing below an inlet passage and adjacent to outlet and overflow discharge openings of the housing and a curved retainer wall mounted to the housing in the interior chamber adjacent to a peripheral groove on the gauge wheel so as to form a channel therebetween which extends between the inlet passage and discharge outlet opening of the housing. The peripheral groove has a length preset to receive a preset number of ball bearings in single file fashion therein when the ball bearings are deposited into interior chamber via the inlet passage such that any ball bearings above the preset number deposited into the inlet passage of the housing will divert to the overflow discharge outlet of the housing.

Abstract: A quarter-foldable rebounder includes a frame of circular configuration, a circular mat, springs and legs. The frame is formed by four one-piece molded quarter-frame arcuate segments having integral pairs of half-fold and quarter-fold hinges and a rod embedded in each of the quarter-frame segments which anchors outer hooked ends of the mat springs extending into recesses and passages in the quarter-frame segments. The rebounder also includes connectors anchoring inner hooked ends of the mat springs to the outer periphery of the mat. Each of the legs is mounted at one end to one of a pair of spaced wells formed in the underside of the quarter-frame segments for undergoing movement between locked and unlocked and erect and folded positions and is received at the other end in the other of the pair of wells when the leg is at the folded position.

Abstract: A dual station coin-operated vending machine includes a housing, a globe on the housing with a central vertical partition dividing a reservoir of the globe into separate compartments, a pair of coin-operated dispensing mechanisms each disposed in the housing below one globe compartment, a pair of discharge chutes disposed in the housing below and each associated with one dispensing mechanism, and a dual hopper disposed in the housing below the globe and above the dispensing mechanisms. The dual hopper has a downwardly concave shaped top surface leading to spaced apart openings therein, each overlying and aligned with a dispensing wheel of one dispensing mechanism, and a raised ridge formed on the top surface and aligned below the globe partition so as to isolate the dual hopper openings from one another to receive items only from separate globe compartments.

Abstract: A livestock weighing and sorting apparatus includes a frame, a weighing station supported by the frame and defining inlet and outlet openings and a passageway extending therebetween for permitting an animal to go through the weighing station and be weighed while therein, dual inlet gates mounted to the frame side-by-side one another adjacent to the inlet opening and movable toward and away from each other between opened and closed positions, a first actuator mechanism actuatable to move the dual inlet gates between the opened and closed positions, an outlet sort gate mounted to the frame adjacent to the outlet opening and movable between a centered closed position and either a first opened position or a second opened position, and a second actuator mechanism actuatable to move the outlet sort gate between the centered closed position and either the first or second opened positions.

Abstract: A hand-held ball hitting training device includes a resilient semi-flexible rod bendable upon impact by a bat, a handle component attached on one opposite end of the rod, a ball simulation component attached on the other opposite end of the rod, a hand grip-defining sleeve disposed about the handle component and captured between outer and inner annular collars formed thereon, a securement element fitted over the rod and adjacent to the inner collar of the handle component and having a longitudinal split in a side thereof, and an anchor strap having a first loop portion fitted about the handle component adjacent to the inner collar and seated in an annular recess in the handle component and under the securement element and a second loop portion attached to the first loop portion and extending outwardly therefrom through the split in the securement element.

Abstract: A shredder includes a cutting unit frame and a cutting shaft rotatably supported in the cutting unit frame and carrying a multiplicity of cutting disks, rotatable with the cutting shaft for shredding an item in cooperation with a further tool. The cutting unit frame has two opposing side parts extending parallel to the cutting shaft and two fronting parts extending transversely to the side parts and the cutting shaft. Each fronting part has upper and lower fronting part elements attached to one another and extending between and separately attached to the side parts and internally capturing one of two bearings therebetween such that the bearings rotatably mount the cutting shaft in the cutting unit frame and are removable with the cutting shaft upon removal of only the upper fronting part elements from the cutting unit frame without bringing the cutting unit frame out of adjustment.

Abstract: A pad plunger assembly, for use in gas well tubing, includes an elongated mandrel having opposite ends and a longitudinal axis extending between the opposite ends, a pair of opposite end members each attached to one of the opposite ends of the mandrel, and a seal-forming pad subassembly disposed about the mandrel and between the opposite end members thereon. The pad subassembly has an outer exterior surface of an annular concave configuration formed by opposite end portions of the outer exterior surface being disposed farther radially outwardly from the longitudinal axis of the mandrel than an intermediate portion of the outer exterior surface is disposed radially outwardly from the longitudinal axis of the mandrel such that a frictional seal which generates reduced friction is provided on the interior wall surface of the gas well tubing.

Abstract: A surface abrader apparatus includes a casing, a motor mounted on the casing, one or more working tools, and an operating mechanism mounted to the casing and supporting the working tools outside of the casing. The operating mechanism is drivingly coupled to the motor for causing an impacting movement of the working tools against a workpiece in response to selected operation by the motor. The operating mechanism includes one or more elongated shafts reciprocally mounted in the casing parallel to one another and having same one ends extending from the casing, a drive shaft rotatably mounted in the casing between and parallel to the shafts and rotatably driven by the motor, and coil springs and cam elements for causing lifting and releasing of the shafts and the working tools, such as impact abrading heads, mounted on the same one ends of the shafts to produce impact movements of the tools.

Abstract: An adjustable base unit includes a pair of upper and lower frameworks, a connection sleeve attached to the lower framework and having opposite end portions for extending into and providing flow communication through the unit and between an upper fill tube and a lower blower pipe of a silo filling apparatus, and elements for adjustably interconnecting and spacing apart the upper and lower frameworks with respect to one another. When the unit is interposed between the fill tube and blower pipe and the upper and lower frameworks are respectively detachably attached to the fill tube, connection sleeve and blower pipe, the upper framework can be angularly tilted by adjusting selected ones of the interconnecting elements in any one of several different orientations relative to the lower framework so as to correspondingly angularly adjust the mounting disposition of the fill tube on the blower pipe and thereby the position of the fill tube within the silo.