Abstract: An illuminate-able beverage-ware device includes a bottle-supporting component with a base and a bottle-gripping sidewall that cooperatively define an upwardly opening space for receiving a bottle or other beverage container. An actuator arrangement actuates a battery-powered light source that transmits lights upwardly toward the false bottom, outwardly through the sidewall, and downwardly toward the base, while inwardly extending protrusions on a circularly shaped sidewall of one embodiment hold the device on the bottle when the bottle is lifted (e.g., to a drinking position). The false bottom, sidewall, and base are all at least partially transparent to light so that light is transmitted upwardly through the false bottom toward the bottle (e.g., to illuminate a beverage within the bottle), outwardly through the sidewall, and downwardly through the base (e.g.

Abstract: An extendible conveyor apparatus includes a first end, a second end, and an adjustable-length bed of rollers extending in between them. A sliding frame (or extension) mounted moveably on a support structure supports a fixed number of the rollers, while a moveable string of rollers connected to a second end of the frame feeds additional rollers into and out of position between the second end of the conveyor apparatus and the frame according to frame movement between retracted and extended positions of the frame. In one embodiment, the bed of rollers includes at least some motor-driven rollers (MDRs) and the string of rollers withdraws to a position below the bed using an extend/retract drive mechanism having a drive chain disposed in a loop, the frame being connected to an upper side of the loop for frame-moving purposes and the string of rollers being connected to a lower side of the loop for string withdrawal purposes.

Abstract: A valve assembly for insertion in a pipe containing fluid under pressure includes a valve body adapted to be assembled over the pipe and a valve-stopping mechanism that mounts on the valve body. The hollow valve body interior and an access opening in the valve body are sufficiently large to receive a hole saw element no smaller than the outside diameter of the pipe as installers advance the hole saw element radially through the access opening to form a gap in the pipe. The valve-stopping mechanism includes a gate with a cross sectional area greater than the pipe that mates with the valve body interior so that the gate can be advanced radially through the gap in the pipe into direct fluid-tight contact of the valve body in order to thereby stop the flow of fluid through the pipe.

Abstract: A canting ballast twin foil (CBTF) sailing yacht constructed according to the invention includes a sailing hull, a laterally moveable ballast suspended beneath the hull that provides a counter heeling force when the yacht is underway, and fore and aft foils that provide improved leeway control and ballast. Components are included for at least partially retracting into the hull at least one of the ballast-supporting strut, the fore foil, and the aft foil.

Abstract: A watercraft with at least one onboard propulsion engine includes at least two hulls and a wing-like deck structure spanning the two hulls (a floating wing). Port and starboard skirts combine with the deck structure to form port and starboard planing channels. The deck structure includes an upwardly facing surface that slopes downwardly toward an aft end of the deck structure in order to provide aerodynamic lift. Preferably, a speed-responsive exhaust proportioning system vents exhaust at vertical steps in planing surfaces on the hulls to reduce drag, increase lift, and reduce thermal signature. One embodiment includes hinged laterally extending deck extensions that an operator can raise to reduce vessel breadth during docking, upwardly extending barriers on the deck extensions that reduce the escape of wind laterally, and hinged flap structures disposed rearwardly that enable an operator to adjust vessel trim.

Abstract: A cutting apparatus includes first and second subassemblies. The first subassembly has a first handle and a blade connected to the first handle, the blade including a proximal end portion attached to the handle, a distal end portion, and a cutting edge intermediate the proximal and distal end portions. The second subassembly has a second handle and an anvil with a knife-opposing surface. The first and second subassemblies are adapted to be manually assembled pivotally together to form a blade-and-anvil cutters and to be manually unsnapped to enable independent use of the first subassembly as a knife. The action of a user squeezing the first and second handles toward each other causes the knife-opposing surface of the anvil and the cutting edge of the blade to move toward each other in order to cut an object positioned intermediate the knife-opposing surface and the cutting edge.