Abstract: A data communication device which includes a terminal housing having a terminal connector forming a part thereof, with a modem located in the housing so as to be physically and electrically connected to a data terminal or computer when the terminal connector is connected to the data terminal or computer. A telephone cable having a plug means at one end so as to connect to a modular telephone is connected via its other end to the housing so as to be electrically connected to the modem.

Abstract: A launching device for wheeled toy vehicles has a housing with a vehicle support surface located on the housing. An opening is located in the support surface so as to allow one of the wheels of the vehicle to be partially located within the opening. An element in the housing is movable toward and away from the opening and when moved toward the opening with the wheel of the vehicle located in the opening the element contacts the wheel to lift the wheel out of the opening so as to launch the vehicle from the housing. A release lever is connected to the element so as to lift the element toward the opening when it is desirable to release the vehicle from the housing.

Abstract: A seal for a container having a straight cylindrical neck with an opening in the neck includes an upper sealing member which fits over the top of the neck and down a portion of the cylindrical surface of the neck. The top sealing member has a tapered edge on its bottom which accepts an indentically tapered edge of an intermediate sealing member which engages it. The intermediate sealing member also has a further tapered edge which accepts a tapered edge of a bottom sealing member which mates with it. A lower locking member goes around the cylindrical neck of the bottle and is shaped such that a portion of it is spaced away from the cylindrical neck of the bottle to form a cavity in which fits the intermediate and lower sealing members. A top locking member goes over the top sealing member and both a skirt on the top sealing member and the top locking member also fit within the cavity of the lower locking member. Threads between the upper and lower locking member hold the structure together.

Abstract: A toy for displaying an illuminated pattern has a first and second panel located in a housing, each panel including an equal number of a plurality of openings aligned with the openings of the other panel. Located between the panels are light conducting members and an opaque membrane having a plurality of apertures, both the light conducting members and the apertures equal in number to and aligned with the openings in the panels. The light conducting members are fixedly retained in the housing and are positionable in a first, or closed, position, and a second, or open, position in association with the panels. Each light conducting member is capable of being moved from its first to its second position. When the light conducting members are in the closed position, the apertures, which are closed, inhibit transmission of light through the light conducting members.

Abstract: A device useful in demonstrating occlusion and the effect thereof on the temporomandibular joint can be constructed so as to use an upper member shaped so that portions of it simulate a maxilla, maxillary teeth and a fossa and so as to use a lower member shaped so that portions of it simulate a mandible, mandibular teeth and a condyle. The lower member is held with respect to the upper member through the use of a plurality of resilient members in such a manner that the condyle is within the fossa and is movable with respect to it and in such a manner that the two sets of simulated teeth are adjacent to one another. The condyle is smaller than the fossa so at to permit it to be moved generally within the fossa as the lower member is moved relative to the upper member in demonstrating occlusion between various different types of teeth.

Abstract: A toy has a body having first and second body members which are pivotally joined together so as to allow articulation of the toy body. A motor is located in the body with a set of driving wheels located on the first body member. The toy articulates between a first and a second configuration with the driving wheels contacting a support surface in the first configuration so as to drive the toy across the support surface and being lifted upwardly from the support surface in the second configuration so as to no longer drive the toy across the support surface.

Abstract: An apparatus for delivering oxygen to a patient is preferably constructed so as to include an elongted, deformable receptacle having an open side extending along its length, a flexible, "floppy" diaphragm secured at its edge so as to seal off or enclose the open side of the receptacle and a retainer for protecting and for limiting expansion of the diaphragm located along the side of the diaphragm remote from the receptacle. As the apparatus is used, oxygen is constantly delivered to the extremities of the receptacle through appropriate supply lines. On exhalation exhaled gas is forced by the pressure of the breath through a cannula--preferably a nasal cannula--into the interior of the receptacle remote from the supply lines. This cannula is used so that gas can flow. This exhaled gas is used to force the diaphragm against the retainer, opening up the interior of the receptacle in an amount such that some of the exhaled gas will be held in the receptacle.

Abstract: An electrically controlled valve using a piezoelectric strip as an actuator can be constructed so as to include a valve body having separate pressure and return chambers connected by two different load passages. These load passages are connected to service ports used to connect a load to the valve. These passages are open at their ends into the two chambers. A pressure port is used to supply a fluid under pressure to the pressure chamber while a return port is used to convey fluid from the return chamber. The actuator is mounted in such a manner that it can be actuated by an electric signal to move with respect to the openings in the chambers so as to cause an increase in the pressure in one of the load passages and a decrease in the pressure in the other. The position of the actuator can be reversed. When the valve is not in use the actuator is located so that the pressures in both of the load passages are the same.

Abstract: A folding, extensible holder primarily intended for use in holding file folders of various different lengths but which is capable of being used in holding other objects can be constructed so as to utilize a sectionalized base in which the sections are connected by a tongue and groove structure and opposed ends held by the base. The base construction permits the length of the base to be adjusted to correspond to various standardized lengths of folders and other objects capable of being held with the holder. Detents are provided for releasably securing the sections in various positions corresponding to such lengths. Preferably, the sections of the base may be disengaged and the ends of the folder may be folded relative to the sections upon which they are located into flat, easily shipped configurations.

Abstract: Many different so-called "wall systems" as are often used in offices and other locations employ perforate, vertically extending, spaced, parallel standards in supporting one or more objects through the use of hooks extending through perforations in the standards. Any such system can be improved by utilizing sloping surfaces on an object held by the standards and a wedging member associated with each sloped surface. When an object with such a surface is in place on a standard so that the hooks employed extend through openings in the standard the wedging member associated with the surface is moved so as to be wedged between the sloped surface with which it is associated and the standard so as to move the object generally outwardly from the standard in order to pull the hooks firmly in contact with the interior of the standard. This results in the object being held firmly relative to the standard employed.

Abstract: A fire retardant material is formed by intimately associating the unexpanded form of perlite in association with a permeable mass of silica glass, said association is formed by permeating said perlite into said mass of glass. Preferedly the composition comprises particles of unexpanded perlite less than 100 mesh and preferably no larger than 200 mesh and the permeable glass comprises a glass fiber mat. The fire retardant material can be formed as a unified body capable of being applied onto other structural components or alternately, it can be intimately bonded to the surface of structural components as a veneer layer. Upon exposure to combustion temperatures the perlite expands from its unexpanded form to its expanded form at or near the deformation point of the glass mat followed by reaction of the perlite and the glass to form a flame-impenetrable ceramic.

Abstract: A particularly satisfactory derailer type bicycle can be constructed using front and rear derailer mechanisms in connection with the pedals and the rear wheel of the bicycle, respectively, and a control cable which operates these two mechanisms in synchronism with one another. This control cable is used so as to rotate a cam of the front derailer mechanism in order to cause shifting of the bicycle chain between the gears in this mechanism. Similarly the cable is used to concurrently rotate a cam of the rear mechanism so as to cause shifting of the bicycle chain between the gears of this mechanism. The cam as the rear derailer mechanism formed to facilitate the shifting action achieved by causing the chain of the bicycle to be moved slightly past and then back into a position corresponding to a gear of the rear mechanism.

Abstract: A valve which is primarily useful in avoiding liquid being held or trapped around the exterior of a closure member used to close off the flow from an inlet to an outlet cavity through an opening after having been positioned so as to permit such flow can be constructed so that the terminal surface on the closure member appears as a continuation of the internal surface of the outlet cavity around the opening when the closure member is in this closed position. Preferrably, the outlet cavity is a cylindrical bore and the terminal surface of the closure member is a cylindrical surface having the same diameter as the bore. When the outlet cavity and the terminal surface are so shaped, a guide structure is used to control the movement of the valve closure member so that it can only be located in a closed position in which the cylindrical surface appears as a part of the cylindrical bore.

Abstract: A summersaulting toy has a housing with a motor located in the housing. A first and second shaft are located parallel to one another transverse to the longitudinal axis of the toy with the ends of the first and second shafts projecting beyond the right and left sides of the housing. A foot pedestal is attached to right and left sides of both the right and left shafts respectively. In response to rotation of the shafts by the motor, the housing rotates about the shafts such that the housing is rotated first by the foot pedestals on the first shaft as the housing summersaults up and over the first shaft, and then by the pedestals on the second shaft as the housing summersaults up and over the second shaft. This process repeats itself in a cyclic manner as the toy does summersaults across a support surface.

Abstract: A toy having two modes of locomotion includes a body having a fly wheel rotatably mounted thereon. A further wheel is also rotatably mounted on the body. A plurality of appendage members each having ends are also mounted to the body about one of their ends. The appendage members are movable on the body between a retracted and extended position. When in the retracted position, the body is supported on a support surface by the fly wheel and the other wheel and can be moved across a support surface by energizing the fly wheel. When the appendage members are in the extended position, they contact the support surface such that the body is then supported by the appendage members. The fly wheel is connected to the appendage members via a gear train and appropriate crank disks and crank followers. Motion of the fly wheel can be transferred via the gear train, the crank disks and the crank followers to the appendage members so as to move the appendage members with respect to the body.

Abstract: A toy has a base having an opening therein which is capable of receiving one of a plurality of game modules. The modules are attached to the base by sliding the modules into the opening in the base. The modules each contain a game, with the game of each being different from the others. Each of the modules include at least one or more objects located therein which are moved in playing the particular game associated with the particular module. The base has first and second activation buttons which are connected via linking members to object strikers which are located in the modules. A single player playing against himself, or two players, can compete by controlling their appropriate buttons to activate the strikers under their control to attempt to move the objects within the game modules.