Abstract: A liquid-adhesive applicator has a hollow cylindrical reservoir formed of a somewhat flexible plastic material and closed at each end by rigid plastic end caps. A stiff but bendable rod axially rotatably supports the reservoir, and is bent to form the shank of a handle for the applicator. The reservoir has a plurality of pairs of slits parallel to the axis of the reservoir and angled inwardly midway between radial and tangential orientation. Molded-on protuberances between the pairs of slits cause the slits to open when the applicator is pressed against a surface, such as the edge of a two-by-four stud, to apply adhesive thereto. In a second species the cylindrical reservoir and the end caps are cemented, or are thermoplastically welded, together; and are further made into a sealed toroidal reservoir by an axial tube that prevents leakage if the reservoir unit is discarded for throw-away replacement by a new head unit.

Abstract: A combined shelf-support and easily detachable support for a clothes-hanger rod comprises a pair of angle-bar sections. The vertically depending wall-anchorable web of each angle-bar has a pair of struck-out tongues. A pair of flexible woven strips have their ends doubled-back and stitched to form loops snugly removably engageable over the tongues to define cradle-like supports for the ends of a clothes-hanger rod.

Abstract: A metal or plastic spoon for babies has, at each end of a generally flat handle, a generally flat head having oppositely facing food-holding concavities. The handle margins and the rims of the heads are safely rounded to avoid sharp edges that could injure the baby. The double-concave and double-ended construction facilitates self-feeding and accelerates its learning by making the spoon always functional when held in a closed hand.

Abstract: A veterinarian salve has an oil base (lard, petrolatum, castor oil), kerosene and flowers of sulfur, and it has sufficient creolin to tastewise discourage dogs from licking-off an application of the salve. The salve is especially effective for treating cuts and open sores in dogs and horses, but is not recommended for cats.

Abstract: A dial-type clinometer is fixed to a vise-type pliers-like clamp to position its indicator for swinging in a vertical plane which is substantially perpendicular to the pivot of, and which substantially symmetrically bisects, the clamp. At least one of the jaws of the clamp is adapted for insertion into the end of a pipe that is held horizontally in a pipe-bender preparatory to bending of the pipe in a vertical plane. The clamp is so positioned that when the jaws are locked closed upon the pipe wall, the dial of the clinometer will lie in a vertical plane close to the axis of the pipe. After the dial is set to zero, the pipe is bent until the dial index shows the number of degrees of bend desired. The clamp also has a second pair of jaws extending parallel to its pivot for fastening the clinometer with its axis parallel to the axis of the pipe before its removal from the bender, so that the pipe can be removed and replaced in the bender (rotated 180.degree.

Abstract: A fastener for anchoring a sheet-metal roofing panel to the top horizontal web of a roof-supporting sheet-metal beam, comprises a headed shank having an enlarged tip end constructed to penetrate said roofing panel and the underlying web of the panel's supporting beam, by being either percussively driven or rotatingly bored therethrough. In one species, an elastic plastic sleeve, which embraces the shank, has (1) a series of molded rings forming stepped seats engageable under the penetrated beam web and (2) a dome-shaped capping flange resiliently engageable down against the upper surface of the roofing panel. In a second species, a metallic sleeve, split for expanded slip-over engagement with the shank of the fastener, has vertical rows of struck-out anchoring fingers; and a resilient dome-shaped member is resiliently squeezed between the head of the fastener and the upper surface of the roofing panel. Said member may include a bowed spring-steel cross-shaped element.

Abstract: To prevent personal injury and property damage by accidental displacement of a hitch tow-pin, an easily mountable unit has an arm horizontally swingable to and from a position above the upper end of the conventional tow-pin of a clevis-type hitch. The pivot pin for the swingable arm can also serve as part of the unit's mounting structure by extending through a bore in, and anchored to, a draw bar. Or the pivot pin can be fixed to a sleeve slidable over a draw bar. Each species employs a detent device to prevent accidental arm movement away from its draw-pin-retaining position.

Abstract: A hanger-type ceiling-attachable support has a shallow pan engageable against a ceiling surface. A bellows or a piston-in-cylinder type of reservoir for liquid cement underlies the pan, and when it is compressed upwardly by a post depending from the reservoir, injects cement into the pan and against the ceiling surface. The depending post serves both (1) as an attachment device for a plural-section manipulating pole and (2) as a fastener for a suspension wire. The pole sections are inter-nestable for storing and carrying. A horizontally adjustable measuring rod aids in accurately spacing being-installed supports from previously installed ones.

Abstract: An on-land-type portable knock-down duck-blind comprises a frame formed of a plurality of arch-shaped metal or plastic tubes adapted to support a removable water-proof fabric cover. The tubes are held in parallelism by short spacing tubes, and are interconnected and are braced by a transverse inverted-U-shaped member having spaced U-shaped bends therein to receive sleeves which detachably connect the ends of each arch-shaped tube where medially divided for portable compactness. A pair of two-panel doors are mounted on rectangular frames which are detachably mounted on the central pair of parallel tubes by depending pins received in holes in the tubes.

Abstract: A thermally and sonically insulating and weatherproofing cover for the roofs of mobile homes or like buildings comprises preformed or molded-in-situ slabs of expanded polystyrene bonded to the original roof surface, and a Neoprene-impregnated-fabric lamina stretched over the slabs and having downturned margins fastened to the upper side surfaces of the side walls of the building. The lamina margins are preferably provided with reinforced selvages having grommets to receive screws to fasten the lamina in place. An obtuse-angled trim strip desirably is employed to cover the grommets and screw heads. A gutter channel may be provided and be positioned to receive the lower edges of the lamina and the trim strip.

Abstract: For amusement, and for utility as an article hanger, a molded plastic body simulates the head end of a full-size railroad-rail-anchoring spike. The head end of a relatively small screw is embedded in the molded body to extend therefrom for perpendicular insertion into a wall or partition or door, to create the illusion that a large spike has been surface-defacingly driven into the wall. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the screw extends perpendicularly from the beveledly truncated head-end portion of the spike to create the illusion that the spike has been driven angularly downwardly into a vertical structure. A smaller body, simulating the pointed end of a spike, is similarly constructed for aligned positioning on the opposite side of a partition or door to create the illusion that the spike has been driven downwardly-angled entirely through its supporting structure.

Abstract: An electric work-in-circuit tool has a pair of fiber-reinforced plastic arms connected in tong fashion and limitedly opened by a spring. The free end of each arm has an integral flange apertured to receive bolts for assembling with, and attaching to the arm, a plurality of centrally apertured metal discs which are spaced by metal washers to form a heat-dissipating unit. The heat-dissipating unit spacedly surrounds the rear part of a metallic conductor body which has an axial bore to receive the bared end of an insulated power supply conductor passing axially through each tong arm. The conductor body also has a reduced-diameter front extension supportingly received in either a longitudinal or a transverse bore in the rear end of a metallic electrode holder whereby the electrode holder may be oriented either longitudinally or transversely of the conductor body. Each electrode holder has a longitudinally extending rabbited seat for dove-tailed slidable reception of a tapered carbon electrode-block.

Abstract: The mounting bracket for the ring of a basketball goal is yieldably swingably movable downwardly, or both downwardly and laterally, responsively to application of potentially deforming or damaging forces. Strong magnets or equivalent structure firmly hold the bracket against movement by normal game-applied forces. Pivotal movement is provided by a hinge or a ball-and-socket connector. A coil spring behind the goal backboard and connected to the bracket by a flexible cable, or a leaf or coil spring, can be employed to automatically return the temporarily displaced goal to its normal position.

Abstract: A hitch element is fixed to the end of the piston rod of a horizontally disposed double-acting hydraulic cylinder. The closed end of the cylinder is swivelly connected to the bight portion of a horizontally disposed rearwardly open A-shaped frame underlying and fixed to the rear part of a truck chassis. An upright downwardly-open omega-shaped frame is rigidly connected at its ends to the ends of the A-shaped frame. A pair of upright double-acting cylinders have their closed ends swivelly connected to opposite upper corners of the upright frame, and have their piston rods connected, by X-connected bearing sleeves, to the piston rod of the horizontally disposed cylinder. A yoke prevents movement of the bearing sleeves away from the end of the horizontal cylinder. The upright cylinders co-operate to vary both vertical and lateral positioning of the hitch element.

Abstract: Paired adjustably closable arcuate jaws are relatively swingably mounted on an end of a stiff shaft of waist-height length (e.g. thirty to forty inches). The jaws are of a size, and are spring-biased, for gripping and lifting cans, bottles, ears of corn and other small cylindrical objects. The tips of the jaws can be rounded, but preferably are provided with large low-friction rollers, so as to be cammed open when pressed against the object being grasped. The shaft desirably has a cylindrical handle grip on its upper end. The grip may be partly or fully removable or displaceable to expose a pointed shaft end for picking-up penetratable objects. Also the shaft end can be threaded for detachable reception in an axial socket in the end of an extension rod. Further, the shaft may carry, at its opposite ends, pickup devices differently sized and/or adjusted for grasping objects of different sizes and/or weights.

Abstract: A wall-recessed electrical-outlet box is employed as a wiring junction-box, especially for burglar-alarm systems, and is camouflagingly concealed by a cover plate the face of which simulates an electrical device commonly found in such a location. The rear face of the cover plate carries a plurality of labeled busbar-like elements. Wires which enter the box from within the wall can be pulled out somewhat and have their ends soldered to the busbar-like elements while the plate is temporarily held conveniently spaced from the box.

Abstract: Instead of enclosing the space between a sky-light dome and a ceiling window by the usual custom-built box or shaft, the space is easily, economically and effectively enclosed by a section of large-diameter flexible tubing stretched between the dome and the window. The ends of the tubing section fit over short sleeves on or attached to the dome and the window, and can be fastened to the sleeves by cement and/or constrictable bands. The tubing is preferably formed of an outer plastic ply and an inner light-reflective aluminum-foil or an aluminized-plastic ply, which are adhesively laminated with a helically coiled spring-wire skeleton embedded therebetween.

Abstract: An elongated thin flat hard-plastic plate has a face sized to overlie and seal the rug nozzle of an energized inverted upright vacuum sweeper for testing and demonstrating the suction strength of the sweeper. The sheet is desirably provided (1) with depending marginal flanges to prevent its lateral sliding-off the nozzle, and (2) with upstanding ribs on its upper surface to rigidify the sheet and to form a block-shaped centrally located handle grip.

Abstract: A device provides free-wheeling four-wheel towing of an automotive vehicle without damage to its (especially automatic) transmission. It is easily insertable co-axially between the power-driven wheel-mounting structure and the removed and replaced wheel. It comprises a base plate, a shaft on the base plate, a hub rotatable around the shaft, and a second wheel-mounting plate fixed to the hub by short lug-screws. The free-wheeling can be locked-out by substituting long lug-screws for half of the short ones. The long lug-screws enter threaded bores in posts fixed to the base plate to lock-out the free-wheeling, and they are slightly thinner then the short lug-screws to facilitate their placement.