Abstract: A crimping apparatus has, at each crimp location, a pair of opposing crimping jaws, which, when driven closed, crimp a pin located between the jaws. The jaws are driven open and closed by a sliding drive member having two grooves therein, one on each side of the centerline joining the center of the closed jaws and the center of the drive member. The grooves are at an angle with respect to the line joining the center of the closed jaws and the center of the drive member. The jaws are each provided with a projection which is engaged in the associated groove in the drive member, whereby when the drive member is reciprocated toward and away from the jaws, the camming action of the grooves and projections on the jaws causes the jaws to close and open, respectively. The camming angles are equal, thus causing the jaws to move to their closed and open positions in equal increments of motion.

Abstract: An improved centrifuge assembly comprising a channeled rotor assembly and a fluid container disposed in the channel, whereby the centrifugal separation effects in the fluid container are determined by the geometry of the channel in the rotor. This arrangement is particularly useful for two-stage blood platelet separation. The fluid container is preferably formed from semirigid plastic material and is considered a disposable item to be discarded after a single use. The rotary assembly preferably includes a removable filler piece or center piece formed from a single piece of material, such as rigid plastic, as by machining or molding, and having therein an open-topped channel having dimensions appropriate to receive the semirigid container, which is suitably curved and placed in the channel. Fluid connections are provided from each end of the container and an intermediate point to an axially located multichannel rotating seal. The connections lie in a plurality of radial slots in the filler piece.

Abstract: A character recognition system including a timing subsystem, comprising a base oscillator or clock, and timing circuits driven by the base clock to provide a plurality of timing pulses for timing the operation of the entire system. The timing circuits are governed in part by delay circuits which are in turn controlled by the amplitude and location of peak signals derived from scanning earlier pulses.

Abstract: A centrifuge structure for automatically separating a plurality of aliquot samples of blood plasma for testing from an initial sample of whole blood. A centrifuge bowl is provided with a bottom surface sloping upwardly and outwardly and joined to a vertical circular outer wall. A plurality of radially extending vertical septa or partitions divide the outer portion of the bowl into a plurality of radially extending chambers. Each of these chambers is provided with an exit port in the bottom surface. Whole blood placed in the bowl is forced radially outward by the centrifugal action of the bowl when rotated, and separates into different fractions. The selected fractions are moved to the vicinity of the exit ports by selectively changing the rotational velocity of the centrifuge and are then valved to other containers by opening valves connected to the exit ports.

Abstract: A closed two phase liquid-vapor heat transfer device is provided which is independent of orientation and requires no wick. A micro helix containment vessel contains liquid to form a coolant vapor phase. Heat input at the evaporator section results in evaporation of the liquid at the liquid-vapor interface. The vapor flows through the bellow and condenses on the opposite end where heat is rejected and liquid is replenished to the evaporator section by flow through capillary passages of helical form in the corrugations of the bellows.

Abstract: A device for optical character reading comprising an optical reading unit, a video detector, a segmenting unit, a video buffer, a recognition unit and a controlling micro computer. The computer controls the setting of the threshold value in the video detector, and calculates by means of profile data received from the segmenting unit coordinates for a starting point for recognizing a character in the recognition unit. A comparator in the recognition unit compares bit by bit mask bits from a read only storage with corresponding data bits from the video buffer and stores the result into a status register. A recognized character is transferred from the read only storage to a character register, the computer is interrupted and a character is transferred from the recognition unit to the computer.The video detector comprises selectively connectable and computer controlled attenuation resistors for setting up a threshold signal curve simulating the form for the video signal curve.

Abstract: A flux extender or guide for a magnetic read head having a magnetoresistive read element. The element is mounted on a substrate, contained, for example, in a hand-held wand structure. The element is spaced from the contact portion of the wand, to permit a small amount of wear of the head to take place, before the read element comes into contact with the record media. In order to increase the spacing between the magnetoresistive element and the contact portion of the wand, the flux guide or extender is utilized. The flux guide or extender is a wedge-shaped piece of magnetizable material.At the end of the flux guide closest to the read element, the guide is approximately as wide as the element and tapers down to approximately three quarters of its top width at the lower end of the guide. The guide is of uniform thickness and thicker than the read element. The cross-sectional area is selected to be from two to three times the cross-sectional area of the read element.

Abstract: A pressure monitoring system especially suitable for use with extra-corporeal circulation systems such as dialyzers, blood cell separators, oxygenators and the like, in which the internal system pressure must be monitored at one or more locations in the blood circuit, and appropriate warnings provided of pressure increases or decreases within defined limits. An initial pressure measuring cycle is provided and must be completed successfully before the main operating cycle of the overall system can begin. A pressure transducer provides signals to a digital closed-loop system which provides a suitable compensation during the initial or primary cycle and then holds that compensation value during the machine running cycle. Excursions of pressure beyond upper and lower limits of the stored reference or compensation value, in either direction, will cause the running cycle to terminate automatically.

Abstract: Errors occurring during the printing of characters in an impact printer using transfer ribbon are detected by scanning the ribbon optically after the printing operation using a slit scanner and analyzing the resulting signals to determine the value of the printed character. This value is compared with the value of the character which was to be printed. If a discrepancy exists, a printing error has occurred.

Abstract: A data communication bus structure where all module-to-module control information is grouped into two sets of lines, defined as sub-buses, wherein signal contents of the sub-buses change only at well-defined times, under the control of two other lines which themselves simply govern the transfer of control information relative to the communication. The bus structure is symmetrical with one type of each line driven by each of the two modules involved in the communication. Arbitrary standard error detecting/correcting encodings may be used on the bus to overcome possible bus failures with no change to the basic bus communications protocol.An independent bus monitor observes all communications over the bus, observes when an improper signaling exchange takes place, and isolates the module most responsible for the fault.

Abstract: Document feeding apparatus for feeding original documents of varying length to the copying station of a copier machine. If the document is less than or equal to a predetermined length, the document is moved to the copying station, a corresponding copy is made, and the original document is then transported to an exit stacker. If the original document exceeds the predetermined length, which length is slightly less than the length of a copy document, then the feed moves the original document to and through the copy station in increments slightly shorter than the length of the copy document, until the entire length of the original document has been copied. A particular use of the invention is in connection with the copying of adding machine tapes.

Abstract: A document processing device for performing separate operations on at least two different kinds of documents, such as bills and associated vouchers, or orders for payment such as checks, provided with transport means for moving documents of a first kind, the bills, in a continuous movement along at least a reading station, and with transport means for moving documents of a second kind, the checks, stepwise along at least an encoding station.

Abstract: A prepunched copper/dielectric laminate ground plane assembly is positioned on a metallized ceramic substrate having printed circuits on the surface thereof and provided with a plurality of circuit connection pins. Connection between the ground plane and the circuit connection pins is achieved by welding or soldering of bonding elements between selected pins, which also provides mechanical attachment of the ground plane to the substrate.

Abstract: An ink jet printer apparatus and method using ink carrying magnetizable particles, the ink being passed as a stream of droplets sequentially through an electromagnetic field and an electrostatic field, in that order. The droplets are selectively charged electrostatically. All drops are subjected to a time dependent magnetic flux field which effects scans of the drops at a recording surface. Drops not to be used are deflected by electrostatic deflection plates to a gutter.

Abstract: A fluid container particularly useful in a centrifuge system for separating the various fractions in blood. The container comprises two circular sheets of flexible material, having central openings therein. The outer peripheral edges are sealed together, as well as annular-like portions extending outwardly from the central opening. Concentric-like inner and outer annular-like channels are thus formed at the outer peripheral portion of the assembly. Radial arcuate portions are sealed off, thereby providing interrupted annular-like channels. At a first end of the inner annular-like channels, an inlet tube is provided, extending outwardly from the central opening and communicating with the first end of the inner annular-like channel. At the outlet or second end of the inner annular-like channel, there is provided a radially extending inter-channel connector, which comprises a sealed off portion extending between the adjacent ends of the inner and outer annular-like channels.

Abstract: A serial matrix printer has a print head mounted to move along a print line. The print head has means to change the relative vertical positions of some of the print wires with respect to the others. A first embodiment uses a pair of wire guides arranged so that one is translatable with respect to the other, thereby altering the relationship of the wires in the one guide with respect to the other, and a second embodiment employs a rotatable guide which positions the wires at angles such that the desired spatial relation between the wires is obtained.

Abstract: A fluid container particularly useful in a centrifuge system for separating the various fractions in blood. The container comprises two circular sheets of flexible material, having central openings therein. The outer peripheral edges are sealed together, as well as an annular portion extending outwardly from the central opening. A radial arcuate portion is sealed off, thereby providing an interrupted or discontinuous annular chamber. At one end of the interrupted annular chamber, an inlet tube is provided, extending outwardly from the central opening and communicating with one end of the interrupted annular chamber. At the other end of the interrupted annular chamber, there is provided a radially enlarged portion, which acts as a collection chamber for the various portions of the fluid separated by centrifugal force. The various portions, or fractions, will exist at different radial distances from the center of the bag.

Abstract: A forms bursting apparatus having a brake bar which grips a document to be separated, transversely holding the document during the bursting operation. A bursting bar assembly forces the leading document portion against a rotating burster roll. A bursting bar, which grips the document, is swingably mounted for rotation with the bursting roll during the bursting.