Abstract: A self-starting rotary converter for connection to a single-phase a.c. power source and for supplying polyphase current to a polyphase electrical load. A generally annular polyphase stator has a predetermined number of poles and at least three stator windings symmetrically oriented physically and electrically. An induction rotor positioned within the stator rotates about a central axis thereof when the stator is energized by single-phase a.c. power. One of the stator windings has at least one electrical tap positioned intermediate its ends, and a second stator winding has one of its ends connected to the tap to effect electrically nonsymmetrical operation of the stator. This maintains the currents supplied to the phases of the polyphase load at its maximum rating substantially balanced.

Abstract: Expansible chamber apparatus for use either as an internal combustion engine or as a pump comprising a stationary housing, a cylinder block rotatable within the housing about a central axis, a shaft secured to and rotatable with a cylinder block with the longitudinal center line of the shaft constituting the above-mentioned axis. A stationary gear is carried by the housing and surrounds the shaft. The cylinder block has a plurality of cylinders therein with the longitudinal axes of these cylinders being tangent to a circle surrounding the axis. A piston for each cylinder is reciprocable within its respective cylinder and a connecting rod and an eccentric gear are provided so as to connect each piston to the stationary gear for effecting rotation of the cylinder block and the shaft relative to the housing and for effecting reciprocation of the pistons. Inlets and outlets are provided in the housing for the inlet and outlet of fluid to the cylinders as the cylinder block rotates and as the pistons reciprocate.

Abstract: A mastic composition formed of a substantially homogeneous imporous mixture of a predetermined volume of low-density expanded closed-cell synthetic resin beads and a slurry prepared from calcined gypsum and water wherein the interstitial volume of the expanded beads is not substantially less than the volume of slurry. The substantially homogeneous mixture is self-adhering as a thick layer on an inverted smooth surface and yet separable therefrom as an integral layer, the mastic composition setting to a hard, strong, dimensionally stable, heat- and sound-retardant material. Methods of mixing mastic compositions, and composite structural panels utilizing mastic compositions as well as the methods and apparatus for forming such panels are also disclosed.

Abstract: A cover of flexible sheet material and a flexible resilient rib adapted to extend in arched configuration over a boat from adjacent one gunwale of the boat to the other for supporting the cover arched over the boat. The rib is secured to the cover with the cover extending down beyond the ends of the rib and then down on the sides of the boat for securement over the boat. The rib may be bent into various arched configurations depending on the beam of the boat, and then held in any of the arched configurations.

Abstract: A ball valve having a valve body, a main flow passage therethrough, a lateral bore extending generally perpendicularly through the passage, and a unitary ball valve member received in the lateral bore. The ball valve member has a spherical ball portion with an aperture therethrough and a pair of circular sealing heads, one on each side of the ball portion. Each of the sealing heads carries a seal which is slidably and sealingly engageable with the walls of the lateral bore. The sealing heads are of substantially equal diameter so that pressure forces acting on the ball valve member which tend to move the latter axially within the bore are balanced. A seal body is insertable into a main flow passage of the valve body from one end thereof for sealingly engaging the ball portion after the ball valve member has been installed in the lateral bore.

Abstract: Apparatus for supplying electrical power to d.c. loads such as lights, pumps and the like in a recreational vehicle. A converter is connected to an a.c. power source external to the vehicle to convert a.c. power therefrom to d.c. power and to supply the d.c. power produced to the loads. The converter has a maximum d.c. current output rating. A chargeable battery supplies d.c. power to the loads when an external a.c. power source is unavailable. A battery charging circuit is supplied with d.c. power by the converter for charging the battery so it has sufficient stored energy to supply d.c. power to the loads. The converter supplies power to the battery charging circuit concurrently with the supply of d.c. power to the loads. The power demand on the converter both by the d.c. loads and the battery charging circuit is sensed and the supply of power to the battery charging circuit is interrupted when the demand reaches a predetermined level whereby charging of the battery is thereupon interrupted and all the d.c.

Abstract: A valve comprising a valve body having a bore and a plunger axially movable in the bore between an open and a closed position. The bore has a fixed valve seat therein and is in communication with an inlet port and outlet port on opposite sides of the bore seat. The plunger has a seat cooperable with the bore seat to make a leak-tight, face-to-face seal when the plunger is in its closed position. The plunger also carries a pressure-actuated "seatless" seal which seals against the walls of the bore and the plunger when the plunger is in its closed position and is subjected to system pressure.

Abstract: A method of and apparatus for feeding randomly received items and for placing these items on apparatus, such as a flight conveyor or a packaging machine, which cycles continuously at a steady rate, with the flight conveyor being operated at a cycling rate slightly faster than the average rate at which the items are randomly received, with the placement of an item on the flight conveyor being in timed relation to a portion or window of each cycle of the flight conveyor, and with placement of an item on the flight conveyor being intermittently deferred so as to bring the rate at which the items are randomly received and the operating rate of the flight conveyor into phase with one another.

Abstract: A validator for a card bearing a code readable by moving the card forward past a reader, particularly for use in a vendor to control vending, in which the card is transported forward from an entry position past the reader to an escrow position. If read as valid, the card is maintained in the escrow position pending the user's decision to have the card collected or to obtain return of his card. If the card is read as invalid, it is immediately fed back to the user. The card transport is such as to prevent a valid card from being pulled back out of the validator as by a string or tape attached to the card, and the validator is so constructed that it is easily opened for servicing, including removal of a card which may become jammed in the validator.

Abstract: A vendor for hot and cold beverages having a hot water tank for supplying hot water for hot beverages (e.g., coffee, tea, soup, chocolate), an electrical heater for heating water in the tank, a carbonator for supplying carbonated water for cold carbonated beverages, a water pump for pumping water to the carbonator or for cold non-carbonated beverages, a refrigeration system including a compressor providing refrigeration for cooling the water for vending cold beverages, and a system for reducing the current drawn by the heater when there is a demand for heating water in the tank and the compressor or the pump is in operation, so as to maintain the current drawn by the vendor below a maximum current rating.

Abstract: A system adapted for the application of a moisture-proof barrier to a substrate. The system comprises a liquid rubber precursor formulation and an isocyanate formulation which are adapted for mixing to provide a reactive mixture for application to the substrate. The liquid rubber precursor includes a hydroxyl terminated butadiene polymer, a polyether triol, an organo-mercury catalyst, carbon black, a low oil absorbency silica, a suspending agent for the silica, a molecular sieve dessicant, a limited proportion of an organic solvent, and lecithin in an amount sufficient to provide a formulation viscosity of not greater than about 20,000 cps at 27.degree. C. The second formulation contains a urethane prepolymer derived from a polypropylene glycol ether polyol and toluene diisocyanate, containing between about 13 and about 17% by weight free isocyanate groups.

Abstract: 3-Acetamido-5-(4,4-bishydroxymethyl-2-oxazolinyl)-2,4,6-triiodobenzoic acid, 3-acetamido-5-(4-methyl-4-hydroxymethyl-2-oxazolinyl)-2,4,6-triiodob enzoic acid, analogous compounds and salts and esters thereof are useful as X-ray contrast agents. The corresponding acyl halides are useful as intermediates.

Abstract: An air deflector for deflecting airborne particles, such as dust, rain, insects, road spray and the like, clear of the windshield of a vehicle comprising a member of channel-shaped in cross section having a substantially planar web and side portions. The member is adapted to be mounted in inverted position on the hood of the vehicle with the side flanges engaging the hood and extending generally longitudinally thereof with the front and rear edges of the web extending transversely of the hood and with the rear edge being spaced above the hood so that the web constitutes a ram angling upwardly from front to rear whereby as the vehicle is driven forwardly airborne particles are deflected by the web up over the windshield.

Abstract: An alarm switch is mounted by means of a support for actuation by relative movement between the support and a member such as a door or window. Switches are carried by the support and an operating arm for the switches extends from the support and is adapted to be pulled a limited distance relative to the support for actuating the switches to complete an alarm circuit. Interengageable gripping members on the arm and the member pull the arm the limited distance relative to the support to actuate the switches when there is relative movement between the member and the support, and automatically disengage to free the member from the arm when the relative movement is greater than the limited distance. The gripping members are selectively disengageable to permit relative movement between the support and the member without actuating the alarm switch.

Abstract: An apparatus and a method of cleaning and polishing capsules in which the capsules are blown against one side of an electrically charged screen to clean dust therefrom by their impacting on the screen. Air is drawn through the screen from the other side of the screen to draw off the dust through the screen. The capsules drop down from the screen and are delivered to a rotating inclined drum having a lining of napped fabric wherein the capsules are tumbled for residual cleaning and polishing.

Abstract: Methods of extruding tubular plastic netting from extrusion orifices in concentric, counterrotatable inner and outer dies in which the plastic filaments extruded therefrom have substantially the same downward relative velocity so as to form netting intersections with substantially no relative shear movement between intersecting filaments.

Abstract: A subsoil plow having a plurality of forwardly facing C-shaped plow teeth arranged on a rigid frame in a generally V-shaped array. Each plow tooth has an upper portion, a curved shank portion, and a bottom tip and is mounted on the frame by a so-called pivot bolt located directly above the tip of the tooth and by a shear bolt spaced from the pivot bolt, the shear bolt being adapted to fail in shear upon application of a predetermined load to the plow tooth, such as may be occasioned upon the tooth striking an underground object as the plow is pulled through the field, so as to release the tooth and to permit it to swing upwardly and rearwardly about the pivot bolt without the tip of the tooth digging deeper into the ground.Also disclosed is a hitch which enables the plow to readily be coupled to a tractor equipped either with a category 2 or 3N or a category 3 three point hitch with or without an automatic coupler.

Abstract: Metal hydroxides such as Fe(OH).sub.2, Fe(OH).sub.3 and Sn(OH).sub.2 are prepared in the form of spherical particles of uniform and controlled size suitable for tagging with a radioactive element such as technetium-99m. Aqueous suspensions of such tagged particles are useful in scintigraphy as lung scanning agents.

Abstract: A high protein fat-occluded food composition useful as a binder, and a food or breakfast bar product prepared therefrom. The binder composition comprises edible solid particles including a protein source coated with an edible fat. The presence of the fat as a coating on the edible particles masks flavors arising from the protein. The binder composition contains at least about 15% by weight protein, between about 33% and about 85% by weight fat and up to about 52% by weight carbohydrate. The food bar product comprises cereal particles bound together with the binder composition of the invention.

Abstract: Apparatus for filling an open-mouth container with fluent material, such as powdered, granular or liquid material, and for removing dust or vapor from within the container during filling, the apparatus comprising a delivery head adapted to be substantially centered with respect to the container above the container for delivery of the fluent material and for removal of dust and vapor from within the container during filling, a closure carried by the delivery head expandable from a collapsed position in which it is drawn up around the delivery head and an expanded position in which it sealingly engages the inside of the container adjacent the mouth of the container to close off the mouth of the container thereby to prevent escape of dust or vapor during filling, and an actuator carried by the delivery means for expanding and collapsing said closure.Also disclosed is a method of de-aerating powdered material filling a container.