Abstract: Apparatus for starting an internal combustion engine, including a starter wheel for driving the engine, pressure medium activated means for causing the starter wheel to drive the engine, a pump for the pressure medium, and a common motor for driving the pump and starter wheel.

Abstract: A continuous stream of moist tobacco particles is withdrawn from a magazine by a carded belt conveyor, and successive increments of the stream are weighed prior to transport past a measuring unit which ascertains the initial moisture content of successive increments of the stream. The signals which are generated by the weighing device are used to regulate the speed of the carded conveyor so as to insure that each unit length of the stream reaching the measuring unit contains identical quantities of tobacco particles per weight. The stream is thereupon transported through a moisture increasing unit wherein the stream is traversed by ascending currents of steam and wherein one or more nozzles sprinkle metered quantities of water onto successive increments of the stream.

Abstract: An arrangement for sealingly mounting a propeller shaft in a passage of the stern region of a watercraft hull includes a supporting sleeve, a separating sleeve closely surrounding the propeller shaft and received in the supporting sleeve coaxially therewith and with the propeller shaft, dynamic seals in the interface between the propeller shaft and the separating sleeve, sliding or rolling-type bearings in the space between the supporting sleeve and the separating sleeve, and a shaft-type seals at the respective ends of the space between the supporting sleeve and the separating sleeve. The separating sleeve separates the bearings from the dynamic seals so that a lubricant which lubricates the bearings cannot escape into the waters partially surrounding the arrangement passed the dynamic seals. The shaft-type seals prevent the lubricant from escaping into the water or into the interior of the watercraft hull.

Abstract: A method of determining correction parameters for adjusting the amounts of light to which originals are to be exposed in a color copying operation in dependence on the composition deviations of the respective original from a calibrating original involves establishing, for each of a multitude of regions of the respective original, two characteristic values respectively representative of a relationship between the blue and green color values, on the one hand, and the red and green color values, on the other hand, averaging those of the established characteristic values the relationships of which are within a distribution range normally encountered in an image of an object on the original, forming an average from the average values, and ascertaining the magnitude and direction of the correction parameters from the difference between the average obtained from the particular original and a like average obtained from the calibrating original.

Abstract: A coupling for mandrels in winding machines wherein the mandrel has a square end portion receivable in a complementary cavity which is machined into a socket rotating with a shaft which drives the mandrel in a direction to collect or to pay out a web of flexible material. The socket has a hand wheel which is movable between operative and inoperative positions and the remaining part of the socket carries one or more cushions in the form of pads and/or pins which are urged against the end portion of the mandrel when the hand wheel is moved to the operative position. Additional cushions can be provided on the hand wheel. The mandrel and the socket are further provided with cooperating centering elements for the mandrel. The cushion or cushions prevent wobbling of the mandrel and reduce noise when the mandrel is driven by the shaft.

Abstract: A running tow of spread-out filamentary filter material in a filter rod making machine is sprayed with plasticizer by two ultrasonic atomizing devices which are disposed at the opposite sides of the path of the tow and each of which has a flexural resonator connected to one or more piezoelectric elements which, in turn, are connected to a source of a-c potential in order to expand and contract when the atomizing devices are in use. Each flexural resonator has an atomizing surface which extends transversely of the path for the tow, and the system which supplies plasticizer to such surfaces has pipes discharging plasticizer in the region of some or all oscillation nodes which develop when the atomizing devices are in use.

Abstract: A tobacco stream building channel wherein the bottom wall between two parallel side walls consists of groups of bars which are alternately inclined at an oblique angle in opposite directions with respect to the longitudinal direction of the channel. A suction chamber is disposed below and one stretch of an endless foraminous belt travels above the bottom wall. A distributor showers tobacco particles into the channel; such particles are attracted to the moving belt and form a growing stream which is thereupon converted into the filler of a cigarette rod. The aforementioned orientation of bars which constitute the bottom wall of the channel reduces or eliminates noise which is generated when the bars extend at right angles to the direction of movement of the belt.

Abstract: An arrangement for determining the position, especially the angular position, of a movable body comprises a plurality of tracks which are movable with the body past individual detecting locations for the respective tracks. Each of the tracks includes markings which are distributed along and among the tracks in accordance with a predetermined code. The presence of the markings at the detecting locations is detected by optical detecting signals which are transmitted to a common signal receiver via individual channels associated with the respective detecting locations. The detecting signals are transmitted through the channels chronologically and thereafter assigned to respective time or space slots of a binary coded, position-indicating output signal by means of a control signal generated at a predetermined instant relative to the sequence of detecting signals.

Abstract: Apparatus which delivers rod-shaped articles, such as cigarettes or filter rod sections, from a producing machine to a consuming machine has a switching unit whose inlet receives articles from the producing machine, one outlet of which can feed articles to a first transporting unit for admission of articles into a surge bin cooperating with a second transporting unit for delivery of articles to one side of the magazine of the consuming machine, and another outlet of which can feed articles to a third transporting unit for direct delivery of articles to another side of the magazine of the consuming machine. The third transporting unit delivers articles to the magazine when the latter is not filled to capacity, and the first transporting unit delivers articles to the surge bin when the magazine is filled to capacity.

Abstract: An electronic musical instrument wherein depression of a key entails the discharge of a primary capacitor which is connected to the inverting input of an operational amplifier whose output is connected with a second capacitor serving to supply envelope control voltage signals to an analog switch which connects a tone signal generator with a tone processing unit. The extent to which the primary capacitor discharges depends on the speed of movement of the key from non-depressed to depressed position, and the intensity of residual voltage of the partially discharged primary capacitor determines the intensity of the envelope control voltage signal. The speed at which the second capacitor discharges can be regulated to produce sustain or banjo effects. The second capacitor is in series with a resistor in a feedback conduit connecting the output and the input of the operational amplifier.

Abstract: An automatic towel dispenser has a housing containing a washing and a drying chamber for an endless towel passable therethrough and has a cleaned section available for use extending outside the housing between a delivery slot and an inlet slot, respectively, formed in the housing, the endless towel being movable from the inlet slot to the washing chamber and from the drying chamber to the delivery slot, the housing also containing a first supply chamber for variably stacking a plurality of soiled towel sections of the endless towel therein and a second supply chamber for variably stacking a plurality of cleaned towel sections of the endless towel therein, the sections of the towel being depositable from above into the respective supply chamber therefor and being withdrawable from below an overlying loop thereof. The dispenser is improved with a shaft separated from the respective supply chamber and traversible by the towel sections withdrawable from the respective supply chamber.

Abstract: A motion picture camera has a rotary shutter driven by a DC motor which is supplied from a battery. The camera also has an arrangement for making light markings for identification purposes on the film in the camera. This arrangement includes a light-emitting diode and a capacitor which is charged by the battery and discharges across the diode. The electrical circuitry is such that the capacitor is connected to the battery only when the motor is disconnected therefrom; inversely, when the motor is to be connected to the battery in order to operate the shutter (and also to advance the film), the capacitor is first disconnected from the battery before the motor is connected to it and then discharges across the diode. The circuit also suppresses afterglowing of the diode.

Abstract: A reinforced flexible x-ray film cassette includes two cassette parts which are connected at one side by a hinge and which are cylindrically curved as considered in a plane normal to the hinge. Two circumferentially extending ribs are provided on one of the cassette parts and a single circumferentially extending rib is provided on the other cassette part, the single rib being received between the two ribs in the closed position of the cassette to form a light barrier therewith and being in force-transmitting engagement therewith to reinforce the cassette against bending or twisting. The cassette part which constitutes the bottom includes a foil of ferromagnetic material floatingly supported on an elastic peripheral strip and an intensifying shield supported on this foil. The cassette part which constitutes the top includes a magnetic plate supported on elongated projections of the cassette wall and supporting another intensifying shield.

Abstract: A storage silo includes a support structure and a disassemblable container mounted on the support structure with its longitudinal axis extending vertically. The container includes a plurality of neighboring sections which conically diverge in the downward direction and have upper and lower end portions which overlap one another in assembled condition of the container. The sections fit into one another in disassembled condition to form a transportation package; a discharge hopper of downwardly converging conical configuration is also accommodated, in inverted condition, in the transportation package, as is a protective railing which, in the assembled condition, is mounted on the top of the container. The lower end portions of the upper sections may fittingly surround, or may be fittingly received within, the upper end portions of the respective downwardly adjacent sections in the assembled condition, and these cooperating end portions are connected to one another by screws, bolts, or similar connectors.

Abstract: The proper individually given positions of dioptric portions on eyeglasses are determined by illuminating the eyes of an examinee by light rays emanating from a source situated at a close-range point to form light-reflection images of the source on the eyes, and by marking the course of each straight line connecting the light source with the respective image, at a distance from the respective eye corresponding to that of the respective eyeglass. The images are observed in a mirror which is planar and circular and surrounds the light source. The marking is achieved by adhering adhesive rings to respective transparent plates which are disposed between the light source and the respective eyes of the examinee at a distance from the latter which corresponds to that of the respective eyeglass. The dioptric portions are then formed on the respective eyeglasses in accordance with the markings on the transparent plates, and the eyeglasses are then mounted in a frame.

Abstract: A card which a customer receives at the time of driving the vehicle into a parking lot and which bears encoded information denoting the date and time of entry is processed when the customer desires to remove the vehicle. At such time, the card is inserted into a housing to be automatically advanced in a first direction past a reader which decodes the information and supplies signals to a computer which actuates a perforating device serving to apply legible information to at least one portion of the card. The card is thereupon moved in the opposite direction into the range of a severing device which separates the one portion from the remaining portion of the card. The one portion is removed by the customer to serve as a customer receipt, and the remaining portion is transported away from the severing device and into a safe to serve as an operator's receipt. The legible information normally includes the cost of parking.

Abstract: The condition of a photographic copying and associated developing machine for prints of color photographic negatives is evaluated by exposing a calibrating sample onto a first portion and by making a test exposure with preselected exposure data onto a second portion of photographic paper in the copying machine. The two portions of photographic paper are then developed in the developing machine, and the thus obtained developed prints are monitored in the copying machine by comparing their densities in various colors with preselected reference densities. The results of comparison are indicative whether the machines operate satisfactorily, whether the copying machine requires one or more adjustments, or whether the developing machine is in need of at least one adjustment. The adjustment or adjustments can be effected automatically or upon examination of the results of comparison by an attendant.