Abstract: A snowmobile body having an improved seat construction for a snowmobile vehicle having a built-in backrest which is inclined at a small acute angle with respect to the vertical for providing support for the driver in the lumbar and thoracic regions when assuming a slightly reclining disposition. The seat back may be slidably adjustable relative to the frame of the vehicle and the steering wheel or handlebars use to control the front steering skis may also be adjustable to accommodate drivers of differing physical size.

Abstract: An adhesive strip-like bandage for application to skin wounds for sealing the wound without surface stitches or staples. The wound closure strips may be fabricated from a bias cut, woven, or non-woven, polymer-based material or other film, exhibiting uni-directional stretch properties which permits the strips to stretch in a controlled manner during wound healing. The strip bandages are detachably mounted to a backing member and in one configuration comprise a comb-like structure.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to spring biased trolling flaps used in conjunction with a motorized fishing boat for limiting the speed of the boat while trolling and coupled to the steering mechanism of the boat to aid in steering the boat when the boat is operating at a slow speed.

Abstract: A cryokenetic headband having a closable pocket for retaining a cold pack material is disclosed. The headband is intended to be worn during exercise or work to keep the head cool and perspiration from running into the wearers eyes.

Abstract: A catheter for maintaining the patency of a blood vessel damaged during the course of angiography or angioplasty procedures comprising a toroidal coil whose adjacent turns are tightly wound and in contact with one another over a majority of the length thereof but which are separated from one another over a predetermined longitudinal dimension near the distal end thereof. The tightly wound touching coils may be covered with a Teflon coating and when the catheter must be used to maintain patency in a coronary artery, it is advanced along the guide wire of an angiography or angioplasty catheter until the open turn portion of the bail-out catheter bridges the site of the damaged vessel. After the angiographic or angioplasty catheter and its guide wire are removed, the bail-out catheter remains in position so that blood can flow through the open turns of that catheter and beyond until such time as surgical repair can be made.

Abstract: A multi-pole pacing/sensing lead is used to measure the instantaneous impedance in the right ventricle of a patient's heart. The resulting impedance waveform is signal processed to obtain a measure of the time interval beginning with the occurrence of a paced beat or a spontaneous QRS complex (systole marker) and ending with the point where the impedance versus time signal crosses the zero axis in the positive direction following the paced or spontaneous QRS complex initiating the interval or some other predetermined point along the positive-going waveform. The resulting time interval is inversely proportional to the contractility of the heart and is found to decrease with exercise and the introduction of catecholamines. Thus, it can be used as a control parameter for a demand-type cardiac pacemaker. A means for obviating changes in pacing rate due to long-term drift in the impedance sensing circuitry is also disclosed.

Abstract: An electronic apparatus for sensing the percentage of different blood constituents in arterial blood. Light of a plurality of separate wave lengths is sequentially made to pass through a portion of the body, either by direct transmission or scattering so that the pulsatile blood flow modulates the intensity of the light. A signal processing circuit functioning in accordance with the Lambert-Beer Law is used to determine the percentage of different blood constituents from the fluctuations component of the logarithm of the light absorption. The sampling of the separate wave lengths is time-multiplexed through a common channel, thus obviating the need for a separate channel of similar electronics for each constituent to be monitored. The signal processing circuitry is also effective to compensate for noise due to ambient light or other stray sources, thus improving the overall accuracy.

Abstract: An analog-to-digital converter circuit includes a series of substantially identical stages, each receiving an incoming analog voltage. Reference terminals of the initial stage are biased to an initial reference voltage and ground, with subsequent first and second reference voltages determined in each preceding stage. A voltage divider consisting of a pair of matched resistors provides an output of one-half the reference voltage to a comparator. The comparator, having as its other input the incoming analog signal, generates a binary "one" or "zero" depending on whether the incoming signal is greater or less than the voltage divider output. The binary signal also controls switching circuitry which provides first and second reference signals to the next stage of the A/D converter. Responsive to a binary one from the converter, these reference signals are the reference voltage and one-half the reference voltage, respectively.

Abstract: A corn popper includes a vessel open at the top, and a removable top cover. A handle integral with the cover includes a pistol grip portion relatively remote from the vessel when the cover is attached. A stirring mechanism, supported for rotation about a vertical axis within the vessel when the cover is attached, rotates responsive to the squeezing of a trigger mounted slidably with respect to the pistol grip section of the handle. The means for driving the stirring mechanism include a drive gear angularly fixed on the stirring mechanism, and a pinion movable linearly into and out of driving engagement with the drive gear, and also rotatable, by virtue of an extension of the trigger.

Abstract: A gasifier for converting solid organic fuels to combustible gas includes a cylindrical body having insulated side walls and a gas outlet port near its base. Affixed to the top of the cylindrical tank is a conical-shaped fuel feed hopper and beneath it and within the interior of the tank is an inverted truncated one. Positioned beneath the throat of the inverted cone is a pyramidal-shaped grate for supporting the combusting solid fuel during the inversion process. Positioned beneath the grate are a series of baffles. Combustion air is drawn in through the upper portion of the tank near the base of the frusto-conical feed hopper by the action of a motor-driven fan coupled to the gasifier's outlet port. The down draft gas flow reduces noxious fumes and pollutants while the baffles, by increasing the fluid velocity of the gases, tends to make the unit self-cleaning. The design of the hearth cone and grate also eliminates bridging of the fuel during the gasification process.

Abstract: An auxiliary tag axle assembly for a work vehicle such as a ready-mix concrete truck which is positionable via actuation of a linear actuator to extend the wheel assembly from the rear end of the vehicle's frame to a ground engaging disposition and retractable to a stowed position where the wheels straddle the rear end of the frame and with the auxiliary axle elevated to a position above the level of the bottom of the frame. The need for plural actuators is obviated by utilizing a flexible cable of a predetermined length to effect desired movement of the working parts upon extension and retraction of the main linear actuator.

Abstract: Disclosed is a circuit for power combining electromagnetic energy in the millimicrowave frequency band where the electromagnetic energy is produced by two substantially identical varactor tuned microstrip oscillators where the power combining circuit has less than perfect isolation properties allowing a fraction of the output of one to be fed back to the other so that the two become locked in frequency.

Abstract: A hand-operated device for inflating the expander on a balloon-type catheter and for perfusing fluids through the catheter and out its distal end. The inflator device comprises a housing containing a relatively large diameter and volume syringe and a relatively small diameter and volume syringe and a three-way valve for selectively controlling the fluid flow from the large syringe into the small syringe, from the large syringe into the lumen of the catheter or from the small syringe into the lumen of the catheter. By incorporating the two syringes in the same housing, a large volume of fluid, such as a radiopaque contrast medium, can be injected through the catheter and out its distal end while the small diameter and volume syringe can be used to pressurize the expander with considerably less effort than if the large diameter syringe had been used.

Abstract: A room air ionization system for removing electrostatic charge from objects within the room in which one or more pairs of spaced-apart bus bars are equipped with regularly spaced, sharply pointed pins such that when the bus bars are energized with a predetermined high voltage, ions are emitted from the pointed electrodes to flood the room with approximately equal numbers of positive and negative ions. When the ions are electrically attracted to bodies exhibiting an electrostatic charge of opposite polarity, the charges are effectively neutralized. Because, in systems of this type, there is a tendency for particles of dirt to be attracted to the bus bars, spacers and surrounding ceiling and wall surfaces, frequent cleaning is usually necessary.

Abstract: A mounting pad means for use in combination with solid-state semiconductive translating devices and including a base pad with flange walls extending from said base pad, and with device mounting pad means being secured to the surface of the base pad and comprising a thin layer of silicone base rubber. The base pad an flange walls are formed of a generally rigid laminate with a core having outer metal foil layers disposed on opposite surfaces thereof, and wherein the core is composed of a thin layer of silicone base rubber.

Abstract: A portable container providing a means for the sterilization of drinking water by ultraviolet radiation. The container has a bottom housing serving as a reservoir for holding the water and a mating top housing containing the ultraviolet source. Powered by batteries the ultraviolet source provides efficient sterilization throughout the reservoir, the reservoir preferably having ultraviolet reflecting sidewalls.

Abstract: A line carrier weight for use with a downrigger fishing apparatus for carrying a fishing line down the downrigger cable to a designed fishing depth above the downrigger ball. The carrier weight comprises a generally cylindrical body having an axial bore of a predetermined diameter greater than the diameter of the downrigger cable with which the carrier weight is to be used. Formed inwardly in the opposed bases of the cylindrical body are inwardly sloping, internally directed radial grooves leading to the axial bore, the radial grooves being in alignment with one another along radii which are 180.degree. apart. A radial slit is cut through the cylindrical wall of the body and it leads to the axial bore. The width of this slit is only slightly greater than the diameter of the downrigger cable.

Abstract: A utility knife of the type having a replaceable blade held in a blade holder and used for cutting carpeting, trimming wallpaper and other related uses. The blade holder comprises a handle which can be gripped when using the tool, the handle including an internal recess for containing the blade as well as a slide member having dove-tail edges cooperating with a tapered guideway and a thumb grip on the slide member projects through an opening in the handle to allow the user to readily move the slide member. The cooperation between the dove-tail edges on the slide member and the tapered guideway causes a clamping force to be imparted to the blade, locking it in a desired preset position.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for preparing conductive bridges to electrically couple discrete electrical conductors arranged on opposed surfaces of a common substrate. The method and apparatus utilized includes subjecting the bore or opening in the substrate to the force of vacuum applied through a vacuum diffusion barrier. The substrate is exposed to the vacuum source through a plurality of spaced-apart bores of relatively small diameter, with the vacuum diffusion layer being in the form of a web of filter paper tracking and moving in synchronism with the substrate. Conventional silk screening techniques are utilized to form the conductors and bridges, with polymer thick conductive fluids being employed as the printing medium. Multiple layers of conductors may be formed, with dual-sided circuitry being applied to the substrate.