Abstract: A teaser apparatus for fishing includes a flat, transparent, substantially horizontally oriented, plastic sheet having a leading edge, a trailing edge, a top surface and an underside. A primary spreader bar is attached to the leading edge of the sheet. A secondary, spreader bar is attached at or near the trailing edge of the sheet. If the secondary spreader bar is attached near the trailing edge, optionally a tertiary spreader bar may be attached at the trailing edge to aid in the floatation of the entire sheet. A plurality of three-dimensional, imitation fish is attached either on a top surface or to an underside of the sheet and is made of flexible rubber. The spreader bars are made of clear plastic and may be cylindrical tubes with cross sections which may be L-shaped, circular, oval-shaped or triangular. End caps with finger grips seal opposite ends of the cylindrical tubes.

Abstract: A bumper strip, adapted for insertion inside a cut-out portion made in a door of a motor vehicle, has an outer plastic skin and an inner resilient pad. Preferably, the outer plastic skin has a triangular cross section and the inner resilient pad has a rectangular cross section. Also preferably, the outer plastic skin is flexible and the inner resilient pad is made of rubber. Furthermore, the outer plastic skin has a triangular tip at its narrow end. Moreover, the outer plastic skin is flushly mounted and color matched to the door. When the door is opened and it strikes an adjacent object, such as a parked car or a garage wall, instead of causing damage thereto, the outer plastic skin flexes and the inner resilient pad compresses like a sponge so that the bumper strip absorbs the shock of the impact without damaging the adjacent object.

Abstract: A plurality of spring tubes is provided in an assembly to make a worker's practice of “pearl diving” unnecessary. A container has one tube attached in each corner and each tube has an internal coil spring secured at a bottom of an inner chamber but extended by a cable looped over a pulley at a top of the tube. A shelf or false bottom is attached to a quick link at an end of the cable in each tube. Each link is guided in a vertical slot formed in an outer chamber of each extruded plastic tube so that the shelf is spring-loaded and weight-responsive. A key advantage of the adjustable shelf is that it prevents back strain and similar muscular injuries to workers who are constantly leaning and bending over to retrieve or store articles in the container. The ability of the shelf to tilt at any or all corners allows it to float and not bind as product is loaded or removed. These tubes and the shelf can be adapted to any of the presently manufactured containers or racks.

Abstract: A combination bookmark and writing instrument case is attached to either a front cover, a back cover or a spine of a book. A case portion has a front panel and a back panel which together form a pocket therebetween for releasably holding at least one writing instrument therein. A bookmark portion has two straps spaced apart from each other. These straps are stretchable to encircle either the front cover, the back cover or the spine so as to mark simultaneously two places in the book.

Abstract: A horizontal conveying apparatus moves a pallet from an entrance port to an exit port, with either a load or an article placed on the pallet. The apparatus has fixed rails laid horizontally between the entrance port and the exit port, rails movable along the fixed rails, a plurality of load-conveying wheels/rollers disposed along the movable rails such that the wheels/rollers are rotatable with the pallet placed thereon, a drive device for reciprocally moving the movable rails, and a plurality of movement stopper pieces provided along the fixed rails, to engage with a bottom surface of the pallet and to hold the pallet as the movable rails move from the exit port back to the entrance port.

Abstract: A horizontal goods transfer apparatus includes a horizontal fixed rail extending in the back-and-forth direction and being capable of mounting thereon a plurality of items in a row in the longitudinal direction. A back-and-forth movement rail is arranged to be substantially parallel to the fixed rail and is placed to be reciprocally movable in the back-and-forth direction. A reciprocating air cylinder moves the back-and-forth movement rail for a predetermined distance. A vertical movement rail is supported by the back-and-forth movement rail to be vertically movable and capable of being located at an upper position higher than the fixed rail and a lower position lower than the fixed rail. A flexible tube is placed on the back-and-forth movement rail and under the vertical movement rail to extend along the vertical movement rail. This flexible tube is inflated/deflated upon supply/discharge of compressed air, thereby vertically moving the vertical movement rail to the upper and lower positions.

Abstract: A horizontal transfer apparatus for transferring distribution pallets includes two horizontally movable rails extending horizontally in a direction of transfer. The horizontally movable rails are adapted to mount thereon those end portions of each distribution pallet which are located perpendicular to the transfer direction, with friction reducers interposed between the rails and the end portions. A vertically movable brake rail is able to be brought into contact with the bottoms of the distribution pallets, and extending between the horizontally movable rails and parallel thereto such that the distance between the vertically movable brake rail and one of the horizontally movable rails is larger than the distance between the vertically movable brake rail and the other of the horizontally movable rails.

Abstract: An automated book storage/retrieval apparatus is used in a library or the like storing a large number of books. A designated container is removed from a rack storing a plurality of containers, each having an internal space occupied by a plurality of subcontainers, each subcontainer being capable of storing a plurality of books. The designated container is conveyed to a working station where a selected subcontainer storing a book requested to be borrowed is raised to a position higher than that of the remaining subcontainers. With this operation, the spines of the books in the raised subcontainer can be easily seen by an operator at the working station, thus facilitating a search for and the removal of the desired book from the raised subcontainer.

Abstract: A porous material such as paper made of cellulose fiber prepared by a preservation method of the present invention can retain excellent folding endurance after being subjected to accelerated aging treatment performed at a high temperature with high humidity. The method for preserving the porous material includes the steps of placing a porous material made of mainly cellulose fiber in an airtight chamber, evacuating the airtight chamber to reduce the pressure, supplying an ammonia gas into the airtight chamber to thereby neutralize an acidic substance present in the porous material, simultaneously permitting the porous material to absorb the ammonia gas, and supplying an ethylene-oxide-containing gas into the airtight chamber to thereby react with an ammonia present on the surface of and inside the porous material, thus producing an alkaline substance principally consisting of triethanolamine and allowing the alkaline substance to attach to the porous material.

Abstract: A beam electronically steers, in real time, a multielement sensor array at radio frequencies. A sensor array is configured in one embodiment with orthogonal loops and orthogonal dipole elements. Each loop and dipole combination generates a polarized output signal which is routed, via a connection matrix, to an equal number of signal splitters. The resulting modal patterns are then routed to networks having quad hybrids and digitally user-controllable vector modulators. The signals outputted from the quad hybrids and the vector modulators of each of the networks are inputted to separate combiners. The signals outputted from the separate combiners of the networks are then recombined in combiners. The signals outputted from these combiners define the azimuth around the Z-axis, the elevation around the Y-axis, and the elevation around the X-axis, respectively.

Abstract: A system delivers a number of safe doses from a pressurized and metered medication canister via a dispenser to a patient. The improvement includes a counter device for accurately determining the number of safe doses delivered from the medication canister. Also, a warning device alerts the patient either visually, audibly, mechanically or in a combination thereof about an impending and then a final exhaustion of the number of safe doses delivered from the medication canister. The improved system takes advantage of the patient-actuated movement of the medication canister in the dispenser body to activate either an electronic or a mechanical counter device. Alternatively, the improved system may be patient-activated independently from, but in conjunction with, the dispensing of medication from the canister.

Abstract: A rotatable slotted cylinder (RSC), partially embedded within the contours of a tail surface, such as an aircraft tail airfoil, serves as a force-producing element in a closed-loop active control system for buffet alleviation. A longitudinal axis of the RSC runs spanwise to the airfoil at or near the three-quarter chord location. In a so-called "home" position, the RSC projects as two small spanwise humps out of opposite sides of the tail surface. By active feedback control using a buffet response signal measured by an accelerometer, the RSC rotates up to .+-.45.degree. maximum deflection from the home position, thus allowing free stream air to flow through the airfoil, thereby creating lift forces for the active alleviation of the buffet response on the tail surface. An alternate embodiment of the invention places the RSC and a drive motor assembly outside of and adjacent to the tail surface near the airfoil quarter chord station.

Abstract: The disclosure herein describes a light fixture for mounting to a ceiling, wall or the like which comprises a pot having a peripheral edge abutting the area adjacent a hole made in the ceiling or wall. A hook and a bolt extending through appropriate openings in the inner wall and the side wall of the pot cooperate to secure the pot to the ceiling. Rotating the bolt causes the hook to move into an abutting engagement with the rear surface of the ceiling, the latter thus being contacted, on the outside, by the peripheral edge of the pot and, on the inside, by that portion of the hook engaging the rear surface of the ceiling.

Abstract: Higher harmonic control (hereinafter HHC) of helicopter rotor blade vibrations is provided by an actively controlled, rotatable, slotted cylinder which is mounted at an outboard section of each blade. Continuous rotation of each cylinder about its longitudinal axis produces a periodic aerodynamic force on the blade at a frequency of twice the rotational frequency of the cylinder. The amplitude of force is controlled by the size of a slot opening in the cylinder while the rotational speed of the cylinder is synchronized to run at a multiple of the speed of a rotor blade drive shaft. The amplitude and phase of the HHC force is regulated, either manually or by active feedback control, to minimize any vibratory load transmitted to the airframe through the rotor blade drive shaft. A significant advantage offered by this concept relative to other HHC methods, such as high-frequency blade pitch motions actuated either by the swash plate or by moveable tabs at the blade trailing edge, is its low power requirement.

Abstract: An apparatus for removing shingles and nails from a roof has a hollow handle portion and a replaceable blade portion attached to the handle portion. The blade portion has a front edge, a plurality of first teeth tapered downwardly away from the front edge for removing shingles and nails from the roof on a forward stroke, a rear edge, and a plurality of second teeth turned upwardly away from the rear edge for removing nails from the roof on a backward stroke. The blade portion also has a flat central plate extending between the front edge and the rear edge, a landing section slightly elevated above the flat central plate, and a step for connecting the flat central plate to the slightly elevated landing section. A plurality of slots is cut into an underside of the landing section and extended rearwardly from the front edge for relieving stress on nails pulled by the first teeth from the roof. A mound is positioned near to the rear edge and has a shoulder for receiving a bead of encircling melted metal.

Abstract: An automatic transducer selection system for fluid pressure measurement functions by using two or more transducers wtih different .Iadd.measurement .Iaddend.ranges .[.of accuracy.]. and also by incorporating comparator circuitry which automatically selects the transducer reading nearer to full scale. An electronic signal or output from the comparator is preferably nested such that a continuous voltage is generated in accordance with the fluid pressure being measured, this making the system appear to function as a single transducer with a wide .Iadd.measurement .Iaddend.range of .Iadd.high .Iaddend.accuracy.

Abstract: A superagile tactical fighter aircraft and a method of flying it are disclosed. The superagile aircraft is characterized by articulatable air inlets, articulatable exhaust nozzles, highly deflectable canard surfaces, and control thruster jets located around the nose of the fuselage, on the top and bottom surfaces of the propulsion system near the exhaust nozzles, and on both sides of at least one vertical tail. The method of operating the superagile aircraft comprises the step of articulating the air inlets and exhaust nozzles, deflecting the canard surfaces, and vectoring the thruster jets so that supernormal flight is attained. Supernormal flight may be defined as flight at which the superagile aircraft operates at an angle of attack much greater than the angle of attack which produces maximum lift. In supernormal flight, the superagile aircraft is capable of almost vertical ascents, sharp turns, and very steep descents without losing control.