Abstract: A animal waste collection device consists of a scoop for picking up refuse, a handle to which the scoop is affixed for manipulation of the device and a removably attached refuse container carried by the handle. The refuse container can be attached and removed without touching the scoop of the device. The handle comprises at least two segments which are connected at their corresponding ends for full extension during manipulation of the device and which can be folded or disconnected in order to shorten the handle for storing the device. The lower end of the handle section to which the scoop portion is attached is adapted to removably attach a refuse bag for receiving the collected refuse.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for etching glass surfaces, particularly the windows of vehicles, which includes the steps of preparing a graphic image including a bar code; transferring the image to a tissue stencil by means of a plurality of cylindrical rods; applying the stencil over a glass surface to be etched; applying an etchant in a defined pattern across the rear surface of the stencil; applying a nearly uniform pressure to the etchant to distribute the etchant over the rear surface of the stencil and to force it through the impressions in the stencil to etch the image onto the glass surface and removing the stencil and residue left on the surface being etched leaving the image etched in the surface of the glass. The etched image is read by a CCD scanner to recover the information represented by the bar code.

Abstract: An outdoor game for a plurality of players who on a novel game mat having a flat playing surface which bears a plurality of position-identifying indicia. The mat also has a water distributor and a plurality of water spray orifices which are located at preselected positions on the surface of the game mat and connected to the water distributor whereby application of water under pressure to the water distributor forms a plurality of vertical water sprays about the playing surface. In the game, players call out particular commands to each other which are spontaneous or can be selected from randomly stacked game cards and which require the responding player to touch the location of the particular indicium on the mat, and to remain in contact with all previously identified indicia during the remainder of the play. The objective of the play is to disqualify players by causing an opposing player to become so tangled up as to fall, or to render performance of a command without falling impossible.

Abstract: There is disclosed a food steamer having a food tray with a stepped sidewall to provide a subjacent section of lesser cross-sectional area than its upper section. An internal cover is received within the upper section of the food tray and it is slidably received against the interior sidewalls of the upper section permitting adjustment of its level in the upper section whereby the volume of the food compartment beneath the internal cover can be fixedly adjusted. The steaming vessel also has an exterior cover that has a top plate with a peripheral downwardly dependent side walls which are received within the open upper edges of the food tray. In the preferred embodiment, the slidably adjustable internal cover is formed with an outer rigid frame to which is removably attached to a plastic or aluminum film permitting replacement and disposal of the film after use.

Abstract: An inhibitor composition of sodium hexametaphosphate and a water soluble orthophosphate, together with a pH adjusting, water-soluble alkali, effectively prevents corrosion of metal surfaces by sodium chloride brines. This corrosion inhibitor can be used to prevent corrosion of motor vehicles and steel reinforcing members and structures by brines formed by roadway deicing salt.

Abstract: Disclosed is a control unit for welding apparatus which feeds wire in the presence of a shielding gas to a workpiece at different rates with different heat inputs in accordance with the wire feed rate. The control unit is designed so that through a single control element the workman may adjust the wire feed rate and simultaneously and automatically adjust the heat input. When different wire types are employed in different welding processes, adjustments in the control unit are provided that allow the workman to reset the relationship between the wire feed rate and heat input in accordance with the type of wire being used. A hot-start feature is provided so that more power is applied for a predetermined manually adjusted time period during start-up.

Abstract: There is disclosed a latch mechanism for locking the drawers of items of furniture such as desks and file cabinets. The latch mechanism is manufactured of plastics using injection molding techniques. The mechanism includes an open sided housing having a oppositely directed pair of mounting flanges which extend from the opposite sides of the housing. A longitudinal slot is formed between the flange members and this slot slidably receives the latch member. The cavity of the housing receives a compression spring which protrudes from the open side of the cavity and is received in an aligned slot or through aperture of the latch member. The latch member has a forward and inclined ramp that is mounted opposite and adjacent to the upper cam post of a vertical slide member. The vertical slide member is received in a groove in a upright standard of the furniture, typically in a partition located between the center drawer and a vertically stacked set of lateral drawers of a desk.

Abstract: A tissue staining cassette includes a container for reagent, a slide retainer for securing a plurality of slides and for suspending the slides in reagent in the container with tissue specimens immersed in the reagent. The slide retainer consists of an open ended cylindrical body having channel containing inserts disposed in the body with the channels opposed for receiving the edges of slides. Depending spring arms corresponding to each of the channels are affixed in the cylindrical body and the end of each spring arm extends into its respective channel. As slides are inserted into the channels the spring arm is displaced and responsive to the displacement the slide is clamped between the end of the spring arm and a wall of the channel. In another embodiment resilient wall members extend across the bore of the slide retainer body to divide the bore of the retainer body into slide receiving areas corresponding to the opposed channels.

Abstract: Disclosed is a portable, compact sun visor adapted to be placed over the rearview mirror of an automotive vehicle. The visor comprises a generally rectangular member which is opaque and had dimensions which block sunlight from directly striking the driver in the eyes as the sun enters the windshield in the area surrounding the rear view mirror. The member is opaque and has a slot and hinge disposed along the central latitudinal axis of the member, enabling the member to be folded about the hinge and divided into two sections which are mirror images of each other. When unfolded and placed over the arm of the rearview mirror, the sun visor is balanced and blocks light entering the windshield in the vicinity of the rearview mirror.

Abstract: The invention relates to the manufacture of a violin (and other instruments of the violin family), in which the component parts of the acoustic box are made from sheet material. The sheet material is composed of substantially unidirectionally oriented man-made fibres, for example of carbon or boron, set in a matrix of epoxy resin. Thus the fibres are substantially all aligned from end to end in the front plate and in the back plate, we well as in the lengths of the side pieces and bass bar. Using this alignment of fibres that have a high modulus of elaticity, coupled with relatively low specific gravity and low flexural friction in vibration, a design for an instrument's acoustic box is specified which provides for instruments having vibrational systems, similar to that found in traditional instruments, but in which, for the same loudness of sound propagated, there are substantial economies in the proportional of force inherent in a vibration that is deployed in propagating sound.

Abstract: Disclosed is a welding gun which includes a mounting block, a motor mounted to the welding block and a barrel through which welding wire is fed by drive rollers turned by the motor. There is a passageway through the welding block which has a valve therein for controlling the flow of a shielding gas through the passageway and through the barrel. A speed control mechanism device is mounted within a removable casing that encloses the block, motor, and speed control mechanism. The speed control includes a knob which is turned by the welder and includes a tactile response element that better enables the welder to determine the correct setting for the desired speed of the wire even though wearing a glove.

Abstract: There is disclosed an automotive clutch in which frictional engagement faces of a clutch are provided with an organic composite facing and a sintered metal facing. By this combination, the benefits of both types of facings are obtained without any of the disadvantages that formerly plagued the use of these facings. In the invention, the organic composite facing provides the low temperature service for the clutch with a suitably high coefficient of friction which is relatively constant from ambient to several hundred degrees F. The sintered metal facing provides high temperature service for the clutch. Thus, when the organic composite facings reach their maximum service temperature of around 500 degrees F.

Abstract: There is disclosed a snap-on closure which has upper and lower annular beads on the inside wall of a peripheral skirt with a tear band defined by at least one score line in the skirt, located between the annular beads. The closure has a center corking skirt that is downwardly dependent from its undersurface and this corking skirt has sufficiently thin side walls to flex. The corking skirt is spaced concentrically within the outer peripheral skirt of the closure and is spaced apart from the peripheral skirt by an annulus having a width which is slightly less than the width of the inner lip found on the neck finish of conventional bottles. This ensures that the corking skirt will resiliently engage the inside mouth of the bottle and be deflected thereby, thus forming a seal in the mouth of the bottle. The corking skirt can have reinforcement gussets that project radially inwardly from its side wall and depend from the undersurface of the top disk of the closure.

Abstract: There is disclosed a method for the protection of metal surfaces against corrosion by the formation of a passivating coating of zinc silicate on the surfaces of the metals exposed to the water. The metal surfaces are preconditioned by contact with water containing a soluble zinc salt in an amount from about 0.5 to about 5 parts zinc per million weight parts of the water while the total alkalinity is maintained above 100 millequivalents by the addition of a water soluble alkaline material, as needed. The pretreatment passivates the metal surfaces with a coating of zinc carbonate, as can be determined by measuring the magnitude of external current flow between electrodes of a test probe maintained in the water.

Abstract: There is disclosed an edge-lit multiple image display device. The device utilizes a plurality of internal-reflecting-light sheets which are provided in a stacked array. Images are formed on the surfaces of the sheets with a coating of a material that changes the density on the internally reflecting surface of its respective sheet. A light source is provided to illuminate the edges of the stacked array of sheets, with a light shield that can be moved to selectively direct the light to one edge at a time of the edges of the sheets in the stack. As the light shield is moved to selectively and alternatingly illuminate the edges of selected sheets in the stacked array, the images displayed on each of the edge-lit plates becomes illuminated, appearing and then disappearing as the light source is applied and then removed from the edge of its respective plate. This can be used to provide an animated display.

Abstract: There is disclosed a document holder having a clip to secure one or several pages of a document, supporting the pages in a convenient position adjacent a computer keyboard, typewriter, and the like. The document holder has a universal base which is formed of first and second angle members that are joined along their vertical surfaces to form a channel. The horizontal sides are grooved their entire length and receive a coextensive relatively stiff but resilient strap. Each of the straps receives a continuous band of an elastic and resilient cushion that is coextensive its length. The angle members are joined with screw fasteners extending through aligned apertures in the vertical sides of the angles with the apertures of at least one of the angle members being elongated to provide adjustability in the width of the assembled channel of the base.

Abstract: Disclosed is a machine for moving bakery pans in a stepwise fashion to enable rows of cups in the pans to be filled with dough packets. The rows of cups are spaced apart a predetermined distance which will vary depending upon the type of bakery product being made. The pans are carried by a converter and an indexing device is used to prevent these pans from being moved by the conveyor until individual rows of cups are filled with dough packets. The indexing device includes a helical arm mounted on a shaft which is removably coupled to an indexing motor that revolves the shaft through a 360.degree. turn and then momentarily stops to enable the cups to be filled with dough packets. The flights of the arm are spaced apart a distance corresponding to the spacing between rows of cups, with each flight having an edge which will engage a raised lip along the perimeter of the pan. The edge of the flight bearing against the lip of the pan prevents the pan from moving until the arm is rotated.