Abstract: A solar deep well steam pump has a solar collector, a steam boiler in the collector's focus, a deep well bladder pump having an actuating tube and a water delivery tube, and a mechanism periodically injecting steam under pressure from the boiler into the actuating tube of the bladder pump, the mechanism having an expansion chamber connected to the actuating tube of the bladder pump, a long period pendulum swinging by gravity to a first position, a steam injection valve between the boiler and the expansion chamber, the steam injection valve being opened by the pendulum in the first position, an impulse bladder connected to the expansion chamber so that steam pressure in the expansion chamber inflates the impulse bladder against the pendulum in the first position to urge the pendulum against the force of gravity toward a second position, an exhaust valve leading from the expansion chamber to the atmosphere, the exhaust valve being opened by the pendulum in the second position, the injection of steam into the ex

Abstract: A Stirling engine has cylinders with closed upper ends and open lower ends. The cylinders are plunged out of phase into tanks of fluids at different temperatures. A connecting tube extends through the tanks and upward through the fluids into the cylinders to allow a working gas to be displaced between cylinders through the connecting tube. The connecting tube transfixes and mounts seals disposed within the cylinders and in the fluids. The seals may have a slight clearance between themselves and the cylinders as the fluids have a higher viscosity and inertia than the working gas to provide an effective seal while the engine is operating to displace, compress, and expand the working gas in a Stirling cycle. The fluids transfer and remove heat from the working gas through the connecting tubes, the cylinders, and direct fluid contact. If the seals are disks, have portions of their edges rounded, or are sections of a sphere, no crossheads are required for some configurations of this engine.

Abstract: A gas transport system for powder has a delivery pipe having an end portion of porous material having a pore size smaller than the particles of the powder. The porous end portion is surrounded by a jacket in which a vacuum is drawn to draw off transport gas and reduce filter capacity which would otherwise be required to remove it. Pulses of pressure are periodically introduced into the jacket to clear particles from the inside of the porous end portion. The vacuum is drawn in the jacket through a vacuum line containing a constriction through which a nozzle discharges high pressure gas at intervals to provide the pulses of pressure in the jacket. This system is particularly effective when used in the production of uranium oxide.

Abstract: An electric guitar has a neck and body formed from a solid metal rod. Fret bars are pressed in slots cut across the rod to extend outward from the rod in its neck portion. Combination pickups and tuners are longitudinally positioned adjacent to the body portion of the rod and secured by two positioning bars and a bridge.

Abstract: A motor mounting element of an aquarium pump mounts the pump motor and nests over the pump housing to position the motor over the housing and hold the housing together. Locking lugs on the motor mounting element orient the assembled parts of the housing to position the pump outlet in a desired direction.

Abstract: A set of guides are provided for setting up upper and lower artificial teeth on models. Each guide is a strip of flexible, non-elastic material. A center line is formed on each guide with a millimeter scale extending laterally therefrom on each side. The range or average width of the first anterior tooth is marked on each side of the center line, the range of the widths of the three anterior teeth on each side is marked on the guide, and the range of the widths of the four posterior teeth on each side is marked on the guide. An additional thickness is preferably formed at the top center of each strip, the additional thickness having two integral lobes intersecting at a downward facing angle at the center line to rest on the phrenum of a model. Generally longitudinal height lines parallel to each other are inscribed along the upper edge of each strip, and each guide strip has means provided to have it circle a model.

Abstract: A pump has a large upper chamber containing an outlet, a smaller lower chamber containing an inlet, a flared transition portion between the lower and upper chambers, a driven vertical impeller extending within the chambers and the transition portion, and an aeration device in the transition portion, the aeration device being a projection into the transition portion with an upward slope facing the movement of the impeller therepast and an edge in the direction of rotation of the impeller, and an air valve controlling air flow through a channel leading into the pump at the edge of the projection.

Abstract: An aquarium filter tank pump has a housing with a large upper portion and a small lower portion joined by a transition. A motor driven impeller generally conforming to the inside of the housing draws water into an inlet in the bottom of the lower portion of the housing and discharges it through a generally tangential outlet tube extending from the upper portion and containing an adjustable flow constriction control. A bypass tube extends downward from an opening in the transition so that restriction of flow through the discharge tube controlling pump output is balanced by flow through the bypass tube.

Abstract: A check valve for use in a tube has a closure element hinged in the tube which nests within one side of the tube in the open position and pivots to substantially block the tube in the closed position. The closure element has a bottom edge and an upward extending edge which intersect at 90 degrees at the diameter of the closure element, the edges meeting the side of the closure element at points disposed one above the other a distance apart greater than the diameter of the tube. A tubular seat with upper surfaces conforming to the edges of the closure element in the closed position may be inserted below it as a press fit in the tube and the closure element may be hinged to the seat.

Abstract: In a collating machine having paper bins with papers therein to be collated, paper ejection arms simultaneously moving the uppermost sheet in each bin with an ejection stroke, and a system collecting the upper-most moved sheets; a feed head on each ejection arm having a mounting bracket, rollers mounted on a shaft journalled in the bracket to roll on papers in a bin, and rachet means preventing rotation of the rollers during the ejection stroke of each arm. The shaft of each feed head is journalled in elongated slots so that withdrawal of an uppermost sheet moves the shaft in the slots to cause electrical contacts to indicate a sheet from each bin has been collated. The rachet means may be a rachet wheel mounted on each shaft and a pawl mounted on each bracket and the electrical contacts may be the rachet wheel and pawl which break contact as each uppermost sheet of a bin is withdrawn by the collection system.

Abstract: A barrel for a ball throwing machine using air to expell balls from the barrel randomly directs balls within a lateral range of directions. Upper and lower crowned and centered ball contact strips extend the length of the barrel which widens laterally toward its muzzle. Adjustable side contact strips may be provided to limit the extent to which a ball may travel down one side of the barrel or the other. Some few balls remain precariously centered between the upper and lower strips for a straight throw, but most slip from between the spring tension of the upper and lower strips to reach the muzzle displaced to one side or the other to different extents. Rigidly mounted deflectors having inwardly extending surfaces on each side of the muzzle deflect balls striking them in the direction of the opposite side greatly amplifying the deviation in direction with which the balls leave the barrel. The deflectors may be adjusted to set the lateral range of directions within which balls are expelled.

Abstract: A bite indicating fishing light clips on a fishing rod and has upper and lower hooks projecting from it substantially parallel to the rod through which the fishing line passes so that bite produced tension on the line pulls the hooks into contact lighting the light. A longitudinally sliding switch button flexes one hook toward the other to turn on the light and to set the light's sensitivity to line tension. The lower hook has a base extending through a casing to form a bulb holding clip at the end of the casing remote from the hooks and the upper hook extends into the casing to form a battery contact at the end of the casing disposed toward the hooks. The casing is formed in two longitudinal halves one of which is hinged to the other on a downward and longitudinally bent pin formed from the base of the lower hook.

Abstract: A scanning device has mirrors which reflect a beam of light between them to pass successively through the lasing medium of a laser. The beam is slightly deflected on each path between the mirrors to scan a pattern and the beam is amplified with each passage through the laser. One mirror is partially reflective and partially transparent so the pattern determined by the reflective path of the light beam between the mirrors passes beyond the mirrors to be modulated for information storage, information retrieval, and other uses. One embodiment of the invention has two parallel mirrors with the beam slightly angled to be reflected back and forth along a row and wedge shaped deflectors fixed to the mirrors to shift the beam to another row so that the beam scans a pattern as it emerges from one of the partially transparent mirrors.

Abstract: A locking electrical plug has a casing from which there extends at least one prong containing a longitudinal slot within which there is pivotally disposed a locking hook with a hook portion projecting laterally from the slot. A spring loaded release button projects from the casing and is connected to the rear portion of the locking hook. A receptacle for the plug contains an aperture to receive the at least one prong, the aperture including a lateral enlargement to receive the projecting hook portion when the prong is inserted therein thereby locking the plug to the receptacle. Depression of the release button pivots the locking hook retracting the hook portion to unlock the plug from the receptacle.

Abstract: A clothes hanger has a hook, legs extending downward from the hook, and laterally extending garment engaging arms, at least the hook and the legs preferrably being bent from a single length of spring wire. Each arm is urged outward by one of the legs which has its lower end connected or integrally formed with the inner end of the arm, and each arm is slidable supported by the lower end of the other leg. In all embodiments of this invention, the arms are connected to the legs to be resiliently urged outwards thereby so that the outer ends of the arms may engage the inside of the waistband of a garment to support it. Some embodiments of this invention are fabricated from a single length of spring wire bent and formed according to a given process, the center of the wire being bent double to form the hook with the remainder of the wire forming the legs, the arms, and even additional telescoping garment support bars.

Abstract: A heat source heats air which rises in a duct having at least a one hundred meter vertical rise. Cold air enters the bottom of the duct through one or more horizontal passages containing vanes driven by moving air as a power source. The heat source may be a heat exchanger connected to an atomic reactor, a fossil fuel plant, a solar collector, or a geothermal heat supply. The heat exchanger may be located in the duct or in the one or more horizontal passages. In some applications, solar energy may directly heat the duct or a grid therein to cause an air flow.

Abstract: A hand held board has a top spun thereon and then whipped to keep it spinning with a whip provided for this purpose. The size and density of the top is critical to provide a satisfactory whip top that can easily be kept spinning on a hand held board. While a dowel handle with at least a 6 inch soft string whip element attached thereto may be used to whip a top and keep it spinning, a 1/2 inch strip of sponge or foam rubber as a whip element between 6 and 12 inches long projecting from a suitable handle forms a superior top whip, particularly for a novice.

Abstract: Paper inserts, such as statements, payroll checks, and the like, are stacked on the downward sloping bottom of a hopper behind inward extending front stop plates that form a clearance over the hopper bottom. A pair of pinch rollers are constantly driven in front of the stop plates to pass on inserts delivered thereto. At least one front feed roller is disposed substantially below the stop plates and two rear feed rollers are disposed behind the stop plates. The front and rear feed rollers are of resilient material and project upward above the bottom of the hopper. A cylindrical gate is adjustably positioned above the front feed roller so that an intermittent rotation of the feed rollers advances the lowermost insert of the stack under the gate to be engaged by the pairs of constantly driven pinch rollers.

Abstract: An inflatable liner for a standard kitchen sink has a bottom, sides, and ends formed from contiguous inflatable ribs. The sides and ends are formed from horizontal ribs which extend above the level of the sink. An inflatable pillow with an air valve in its lower side extends from one end of the liner to rest on the sink top. A drain is formed in the end of the bottom of the liner opposite the pillow. The liner, when used with a sink, provides a tub for bathing infants.