Abstract: An inductively operated heating apparatus for plastic materials in extruders or like machines has a steel housing with one or more passages for the material to be heated and two groups of laminated E-shaped iron cores which are magnetically coupled to the housing to establish a magnetic field. The legs of the cores extend toward the housing and the apparatus further comprises insulators which are interposed between the housing and several legs of each core. Each group of cores is assembled with a substantially V-shaped clamping device into a module, and the two modules are held together by coupling means which cause the resilient clamping devices to store energy and to bias the legs of the cores in the respective groups against the adjacent insulators which bear against the housing. The two clamping devices and the two groups of cores are mirror images of each other.

Abstract: A landing gear for semitrailers has a leg the upper end of which is connected with the semitrailer and the lower end of which is connected with a ground contacting member by a load transmitting device which can turn relative to the leg about a horizontal axis back and forth to opposite sides of a neutral portion and has a part cylindrical shell which can roll on a skid between two upstranding sidewalls of the ground contacting member. The axial ends of the shell are connected with end walls which are inwardly adjacent the sidewalls and carry followers serving to track V-shaped cam slots in the adjacent sidewalls. The load transmitting device is biased to the neutral position by two leaf springs which are located at opposite sides of the pivot axis for the load transmitting device and each of which is separably connected to the leg as well as to the skid.

Abstract: A shelf for storage of cylindrical and/or other merchandise in stores has a polygonal frame with two spaced apart inverted V-shaped frame members and a grate which slopes downwardly from the inner wall of one frame member to the inner wall of the other frame member at an angle of 5.degree.-10.degree. to the horizontal. The grate is or can be integral with the frame members and comprises a number of elongated parallel grate bars extending between the two frame members and having rounded upper sides. One or more partitions can be employed to divide the space above the grate into two or more compartments. Each such partition has extensions receivable in sockets adjacent the lower marginal portions of the inner legs of the frame members, and one or more clamps for attachment to one or two adjacent grate bars.

Abstract: Filter cigarettes are mass-produced in a machine wherein parallel groups of coaxial plain cigarettes and filter plugs are moved at right angles to their axes through a first station wherein their components are connected to each other by uniting bands, thereupon through a second station wherein the resulting filter cigarettes of double unit length are severed midway across their filter plugs to yield pairs of filter cigarettes of unit length which advance in two rows and are mirror images of each other, and through a third station wherein the filter cigarettes of one row are turned end-for-end and placed between successive non-inverted filter cigarettes. The mutual spacing of groups, filter cigarettes of double unit length and/or of filter cigarettes of unit length is reduced at least once, preferably twice, namely the first time between the first and second stations and the second time at the third station.

Abstract: Apparatus for transmitting torque in the power train of a motor vehicle has a first flywheel which is connected to the crankshaft of the engine and a second flywheel which is coaxial with and can rotate relative to the first flywheel and is connectable with the input shaft of the variable-speed transmission by a friction clutch. A composite damping device between the flywheels has an outer damper which is first to respond when the flywheels leave their starting angular positions relative to each other, and an inner damper which is in series with the outer damper and has an output element rigid with the second flywheel. The output element of the first damper is a coupling member having two discs which flank the output element of the second damper and one of which is centered by the peripheral surface of an annular part on the output element of the second damper.

Abstract: A paper cutting apparatus with several closely adjacent severing units wherein each unit includes a stationary counterknife and a mobile knife which cooperates with the respective counterknife to sever a stack of paper sheets between them. The mobile knives have holders which are connected to a common reciprocating member, and elongated blades which are bolted to the respective holders. The positions of cutting edges of the blades relative to the corresponding counterknives are adjustable by threaded bolts which are accessible at the end faces of the holders and can transmit motion to discrete blade-displacing elements by way of discrete wedges. The displacing elements are recessed into those side faces of the holders which are adjacent the respective blades.

Abstract: Apparatus for engaging, disengaging and otherwise regulating the operation of an automated friction clutch in a motor vehicle has a pedal which can be depressed in the same way as the clutch pedal in a vehicle without an automated clutch. The speed of movement and/or the position of the pedal is monitored by a sensor which transmits appropriate signals to a circuit serving to engage, disengage and/or otherwise operate the clutch by way of a hydraulic system by taking into consideration one or more additional parameters, such as the RPM of the engine, the RPM of the input shaft of the variable-speed transmission and/or others. If the circuit and/or the hydraulic system is out of commission, the clutch is operated by a bypass power train which is independent of the circuit. Depression of the pedal is resisted by a biasing element in imitation of resistance which is encountered by the clutch pedal in a vehicle not embodying an automated friction clutch.

Abstract: Apparatus for separately sharpening the two sides of cutting edges of knife blades in slaughterhouses, butcher shops and similar establishments has a housing for a ring-shaped flexible sharpening tool and a drum-shaped carrier for the tool. The carrier is driven by a reversible electric motor. A detachable wall of the housing in front of the tool supports two discrete V-shaped blade positioning members so that the positioning members extend into the space around an annular internal sharpening surface of the tool. One side of the cutting edge of a blade is sharpened while the blade is received in one of the positioning members in such orientation that the internal surface removes material in a direction from the back toward the cutting edge.

Abstract: A curved-mold continuous casting apparatus has a reciprocable mold with a curved casting passage and an arm which guides the mold for reciprocation. A secondary cooling unit is located downstream of the mold and is followed by a withdrawal-and-straightening unit. The apparatus further has a rigid, curved dummy bar, a piston-and-cylinder unit for moving the dummy bar between a storage position and a casting position, and a lever which is articulated to the dummy bar and guides the same. A support consisting of a bedplate with an upright stand holds the mold, guide arm, secondary cooling unit, withdrawal-and-straightening unit, dummy bar, piston-and-cylinder unit and lever in assembled condition and in alignment for casting. The support and the components carried thereby form a preassembled, transportable module which can be brought to a casting location or removed from such location.

Abstract: A guide which can be introduced into a narrow passage in a human or other animal body, such as into a narrow blood vessel in a human heart, has a flexible tube which is made of a plurality of helically wound and closely adjacent wires of a metallic or plastic material. An intermediate portion of the tube adjacent its distal end is permanently curved or is ductile so that its curvature can be changed in order to enable a person in charge to select the orientation of the distal end of the tube for convenient advancement from a wider passage into a narrower passage which is inclined with reference to the wider passage. The inserted tube serves as a guide for introduction of a dilatation catheter, another catheter, a cardiac pacemaker electrode or any other slender elongated flexible medical device which is to be temporarily or permanently introduced into the heart or into another organ or another part of an animal body.

Abstract: A photographic copying machine has a copying unit which must receive a web of unexposed photosensitive web material well above the floor level. The web material is confined in cassettes which must be lifted before they reach a level in which the web material which is confined therein can be drawn into the copying unit. In order to facilitate manual manipulation of a relatively heavy and bulky cassette, the latter is provided with handless and with one part of a separable coupling which constitutes a hinge and enables the person in charge to pivot the cassette to an upright position subsequent to manual lifting approximately to the chest level. If necessary, the pivoted cassette is thereupon pushed into a chamber of the copying unit. A cassette for reception and storage of freshly exposed photosensitive web material can be manipulated in the same way.

Abstract: A regulating mechanism for needle thread between a standard thread tensioning device in the head of the upper arm of a sewing machine and the eye of the reciprocable needle employs a lever-shaped takeup member which is oscillated in the head in synchronism with the movements of the needle, and a wire spring which is mounted directly on the takeup member. The spring has a U-shaped thread engaging portion which surrounds and cooperates with a hook-shaped arm of the takeup member to define a passage for needle thread. The spring tensions the thread during certain stages of each stitch forming step.

Abstract: A copying apparatus has a receiving station, an exposure unit, a developing unit, an inspection station and a pricing unit with a memory. A master to be reproduced arrives at the receiving station together with an order for the reproduction thereof. The order has a coded order number which is read by a scanner at the receiving station and entered in the memory to establish a data set. The exposure unit is inoperative upon arrival of the master at the receiving station and is activated only upon entry of the order number. The master is then drawn into the exposure unit where copy material is exposed to light which has illuminated the master. The copy material is developed in the developing unit and the resulting copies are delivered to the inspection station where they are inspected for quality. The number of copies made is entered in the memory and incorporated in the data set with the order number.

Abstract: A mast for use in sailboats and other sail-propelled craft has two elongated solid or hollow sections with confronting at least partially concave internal surfaces, and a plurality of transversely extending crosspieces between the internal surfaces. If the sections are hollow, they can be at least partially filled with foamed polyurethane and/or with elongated wooden or metallic tubes.

Abstract: A connector which can couple a first profiled member having an internal compartment behind a slotted wall with a tubular second profiled member has an open-ended housing which is installed in the second profiled member and a one-piece profiled plate-like coupling member in the housing. The coupling member has two integral prongs with mirror symmetrical claws at their free ends, and followers adjacent the claws. The housing has integral cams which can stagger the claws by way of the followers in response to longitudinal displacement of the coupling member in the housing as a result of rotation of an eccentric which normally extends into a window of but is depressible into the second profiled member to permit insertion or removal of the connector. The claws can be introduced through the slot in the wall of the first profiled member to be thereupon staggered by the followers in cooperation with the cams in response to rotation of the eccentric in a direction to move the claws toward the housing.

Abstract: Apparatus for admitting metered quantities of a liquid into discrete containers in the form of bottles, cans or the like has a rotary annular tank which carries at its underside a ring-shaped set of filling units each of which has a discrete metering vessel serving to receive a metered quantity of liquid from the interior of the tank for admission into a container which is placed into alignment with a centering and sealing sleeve movably mounted on each metering vessel. If the liquid is to be admitted into the containers at an elevated pressure, the supply of liquid in the tank is disposed beneath a plenum chamber and each filling unit is designed to admit compressed gas from the plenum chamber into the aligned container prior to admission of a metered quantity of liquid. The liquid which flows into a container expels the compressed gas which is returned into the plenum chamber or into a separate receptacle.

Abstract: A band of exposed and developed photographic film is transported longitudinally along a predetermined path. The film carries a series of images and each of the images has a pair of edges which are spaced longitudinally of the band and extend transversely of the latter. Transverse, strip-shaped segments of the band are photoelectrically scanned to detect abrupt density changes associated with the edges of the images. In addition, the band is sensed at a predetermined location of its path in order to ascertain the length of the band travelling by the predetermined location. The density and length data are sent to a microprocessor which uses the data to assign a position coordinate to each detected edge and its corresponding image. The position coordinates represent the positions of the images longitudinally of the band.

Abstract: A warehouse has several levels. Each level has a series of storage channels for items to be stocked in the warehouse. The storage channels are parallel to one another and have respective inlet ends located at a first side of the warehouse and respective outlet ends located at an opposite second side of the warehouse. Each storage channel is equipped with a device for guiding items along the channel in a direction from the inlet end towards the outlet end. Every level is further provided with at least one return channel which is parallel to the storage channels and has an inlet end at the second side of the warehouse and an outlet end at the first side of the warehouse. The return channel is again equipped with a device for guiding items along such channel in a direction from the inlet end to the outlet end thereof.