Abstract: An improved method for the permanent waving of hair only in the vicinity of its root by enveloping the portion of the hair not to be treated with a flexible and impermeable protective sheet in a fluid-tight manner so as to shield it from action of the permanent wave product.

Abstract: A method of recovering an underwater pipe comprises inserting a recovery line attachment into the pipe, explosively deforming the pipe so that it is mechanically secured to the attachment, and bringing the pipe to the surface by means of a lifting line secured to the attachment. The attachment may include a body insertable into the end of the pipe and a portion having a generally conical surface so that it forms a water tight seal with the pipe when the pipe is explosively deformed into engagement with it.

Abstract: An apparatus provided for forming articles from thermoplastics sheet by free-blowing, without use of moulds, in which the sheet is pre-heated to elastic state, free-blown by establishing a differential fluid pressure between opposite faces of the sheet and maintained at optimum temperature during the period of free-blowing by heating or cooling by heat-exchange between the sheet and fluid flowing over at least one face. The apparatus comprises a tank divisible into two halves adapted to hold the sheet edgewise in between, the differential fluid pressures being established between the volumes in the two halves and fluid flow over the face of the sheet being established in one half.

Abstract: A fail-safe control circuit for supplying the electrical power for operating a safety stop member, such as an electromagnetic valve, in response to low power information, wherein any failure of a component causes the safety stop member to close.The energy taken from the alternative current supply network by the periodic charging of a capacitor is transmitted to a load by the energizing of a thyristor. The spontaneous energizing of the thyristor causes the appearance of an overcurrent disabling the device.Applications to combustion, premises, medical monitoring devices.

Abstract: A method and assembly for molding plastic optical lenses. The mold assembly comprises an annular retainer ring supporting a pair of generally disc shaped mold parts urged toward each other by a resilient force while separated by one or more gaskets, preferably including at least one soft gasket of uniform thickness between its inside and outside diameters which has the property of softening at elevated temperatures. When the cavity formed between the mold parts and bounded peripherally by the gaskets is filled with a resin formulation in the form of a liquid which then polymerizes when raised to an elevated curing temperature, shrinking and becoming hard and insoluble at room temperature, in the process the softening of the gasket permits the mold parts, under the action of the resilient force, to move towards each other to maintain contact with the formulation as it shrinks and hardens.

Abstract: Apparatus for use in performance of a game or puzzle comprises a base and a set of playpieces in the form of cubes or pieces notionally composed of cubes. The base defines a number of recesses each of which is arranged to seat playpieces such that an internal diagonal of each cube is vertical. The base recesses are so ordered with respect to each other that when each seats a playpiece, further playpieces can be seated on the pieces already seated to build up a structure. In one form of the apparatus, the playpieces are cubes carrying parts of a number of pictures on their faces so that when the cubes are correctly stacked the pictures are severally recomposed from their parts.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a fluid permeable electrical resistance heater element having a structure that promotes uniformity of flow of fluid through the element and a uniformity of heating throughout the element. The method comprises forming a fluid permeable body of unbonded carbonizable fibres. A latent solvent is applied to the fibres and the solvent is subsequently caused to dissolve at least a surface of the fibres so as to effect bonding of the fibres together. The carbonizable fibres are subsequently carbonized to produce a fluid permeable carbon body.

Abstract: The invention concerns a resilient coupling to be placed between two shafts, of the kind comprising elastomer blocks placed between armatures disposed in a ring and belonging to two sets connected respectively to said shafts, in combination with a centering core separated from the base of the armatures by elastomer joints.It consists essentially in locking the core rigidly to one of the shafts considered, instead of its being floating. This core, in the embodiment shown, is also locked rigidly to a part of the armatures, thus forming a star. The joints are provided between the core and horns sufficiently extended to suitably increase the angle .alpha. concerned with each joint. Other embodiments are provided in the description.

Abstract: Hardness testing apparatus, for use in assessing dimensions, from which a hardness value can be determined, of an indentation formed under controlled conditions in a surface of a specimen, having a photosensitive detector for sensing brightness over an image in which the indentation differs in brightness from the rest of the image. The detector produces electrical signals representative of sensed brightness. Discrimination circuitry discriminates signals representative of brightness within the indentation from signals representative of brightness outside the indentation. Correlation of discrimination results provides an assessment of indentation dimensions. Preferably oblique lighting is used to provide enhanced brightness differentation between a multifaceted indentation and other specimen surface features. The oblique light is directed so as to be specularly reflected from a facet of the indentation vertically with respect to the general specimen surface.

Abstract: A liquid metal cooled fast breeder nuclear reactor comprising a fuel assembly supported on a diagrid and submerged in a pool of liquid metal coolant within a containment vessel. The diagrid is of triple component construction comprising a short cylindrical plenum mounted on a conical undershell and loosely embraced by a fuel store carrier. The plenum merely distributes coolant through the fuel assembly the load of the assembly being carried by the undershell by means of struts which penetrate the plenum. The fuel assembly, fuel store carrier and undershell provide secondary containment for the plenum.

Abstract: A lug connecting device for a metal rim of a spectacle frame comprising a first lug formed on the rim and having a horizontal slit, a pin fixed to the first lug, a second lug on the rim and adjacent the first lug, a tie plate having an attaching portion inserted in the horizontal slit and a plate spring portion extending alongside the lugs, a bore formed in the second lug and having the pin fitted therein, and a stop provided on the second lug and engaged in an aperture formed in the plate spring portion, the plate spring portion being elastically deformable with torsion of the rim.

Abstract: A method of screening a material for potential carcinogenic or mutagenic activity. A mutant stain of eucaryotic or prokaryotic test organism is provided which is capable of reverting to a normal form in the presence of a carcinogen or mutagen. A growth media is provided in which the test organism is capable of growth in one only of its mutant forms. For example, the test organism may be a bacteria which in its mutant form is incapable of substantial growth in the absence of an essential nutrient and, in its natural form, is capable of rapid growth in the absence of that nutrient. The test organism and growth media are combined with oxygen and a material to be screened. Oxygen consumption is then detected to determine if the mutant strain has reverted to its normal form. Reversion is indicated if a change in oxygen consumption occurs when the material being screened is present.

Abstract: In an apparatus for mixing in given proportions two media, such as gases or liquids, the pressure of each said media is reduced to a working pressure by a respective regulator. The media from the regulators pass through a mixing means to a common mixing chamber through two gaps each of which is individual to a respective medium. The relationship between the length of the two gaps can be adjusted by means operative to control the proportions of the media in said mixture and the regulators are arranged to be controlled in a manner such that the pressures of the media before the gaps are held mutually equal.

Abstract: A device for supporting and guiding a master sheet in relation to an item of artwork comprises a carrier in the form of a rectangular frame having means for locating a master sheet on the frame, an intermediate guide which cooperates with the carrier to restrain the carrier to reciprocate in its own plane relatively to the intermediate guide solely in a first direction, which is parallel to two sides of the carrier, and means for supporting the intermediate guide upon a drawing board while restraining the intermediate guide to reciprocate parallel to the plane of the carrier relatively to the drawing board solely in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.

Abstract: A digital electronic ignition system employing two triggers for generating first and second voltage signals in response to engine revolutions. A first counter counts the number of second signal pulses during a predetermined interval of time from a given point in relation to the engine crank-shaft position. A memory which is operative from the first counter, includes a program or the desired advance of retard of the ignition timing, and operates a second counter to count said second signal pulses up to the number stored in the memory in order to initiate engine ignition at the optimum crank-shaft position.

Abstract: Mountings for detachably connecting juxtaposed edges of at least two wall panels that radiate from the mounting are described wherein a jaw member is formed with two jaw surfaces that engage faces of the panels on one side of the panels close to the edges. The two jaw surfaces are spaced apart and an intermediate part either formed in one piece with the jaw member or fixed thereto, is located between the jaw surfaces and between the edges of the panels. The panels are maintained in contact with the jaw surfaces by two further such surfaces on a jaw device engaging faces on the opposite side of the panels. This jaw device is formed with a recess that fits onto the intermediate part and determines the extent of separation of the opposed jaw surfaces. At least one screw fixes the jaw device to the intermediate part. The location of the jaw surfaces determines the angle at which the panels are set relatively to one another.

Abstract: Conventional heads for screwing bottle closures on to bottles generally are applied to the closure cap, while rotating at full speed which causes tipping of and damage to the closure cap. The invention seeks to overcome this disadvantage by a sleeve portion at the bottom of the fitting head first being applied without any torque to the closure cap, the sleeve portion being force-lockingly engaged with the rotating head only when the head is moved further downwardly through the clutch-engagement distance. When a maximum torque, which can be adjusted by means of a stressing spring, has been reached, the clutch begins to slip and the sleeve portion stops. The sleeve portion is of low mass so that after disengagement of the clutch, no additional torque due to inertia is applied to the closure cap.

Abstract: A container having an external screw thread is closed by a synthetic plastics stopper comprising an internally threaded cap with a seal part protruding from the cap top, this seal part having an outwardly protruding seal section which in use is bent back outwardly by the inner wall of the container neck. The screw thread on the container neck, the screw thread on the cap and the seal section are such in relation to one another that in applying the stopper the seal section contacts the container neck and is bent back thereby before the external screw thread on the container and the internal thread on the cap come into engagement with one another. The seal section preferably consists of permanently deformable material so that on unscrewing the stopper, the seal between the stopper and the container opening is broken before the threads come out of engagement.

Abstract: A sensor and method are disclosed for measuring electrokinetic effects across a double layer formed at the boundary between a solid wall and an ionic liquid flowing through a channel. In one embodiment, a passive electrode is located in a cavity forming a tee section with the channel through an orifice of approximately the same size as the channel. A passive second electrode in electrical communication with one side of the double layer is placed on the other side of a porous plug which is located in a second cavity directly opposite the orifice and which is flush with the channel walls. The double layer being investigated is formed on the flush portion of the porous plug. Thus both electrodes are out of the flowing liquid. An electrokinetic potential, labeled the K-effect potential, was measured by the two electrodes.

Abstract: In a molten steel droplet scatter regulation cylinder for use in a vacuum steel casting system, for the object of prevention of growth of molten steel droplets into a solid steel block at the lower end portion of the cylinder to subsequently drop into the molten steel, deteriorating its internal properties, the cylinder has at least its lower end portion made of a material which has a small wetting property against the molten steel, e.g. carbides such as graphite, silicon carbide, etc. or refractory materials containing carbon, carbides, etc.