Abstract: This gas hot water heater has a storage tank with a vertical flue having an elongated tube surrounding the flue to form an inverted inner tank that is closed at its top portion while being open at its bottom portion to the storage tank. A service water inlet pipe is located at the upper portion of the storage tank to discharge cold water into the upper portion of the inner tank to flow in a swirling direction down and around the outside of the flue. This downward swirling action of the cold service water relative to the upward flow of the hot flue gases within the flue tube represents the counterflow action. A thermostatic control valve is located through the wall of the upper portion of the inverted tank so as to open the valve to the inner tank when the water temperature within the inner tank reaches a normal, predetermined high temperature at a stand-by mode when no hot water is being drawn. Hence, the control valve is normally-open during high temperature stand-by conditions.

Abstract: A fireplace screen fixture is shown for assembly to the front face of a fireplace opening. This fixture includes a metal frame capable of outlining a fireplace opening, and it has a supporting rod extending transversely across the upper portion of the frame from one side to the other. A plurality of ring members are threaded onto the supporting rod and they are capable of moving along the length of the rod. A pair of wire screen curtains are supported within the frame by being suspended at their upper portions from the ring members. The invention comprises a sheet metal locking strip attached to the vertical mating side edge of each screen curtain so that when these two screen curtains are stretched closed these two locking strips are interlocked with each other as a safety measure to keep logs or wood from falling accidentally through the screen while the fire is burning. Also, the screen curtains are prevented from developing a gap and allowing sparks to enter the room as a fire hazard.

Abstract: The design of a geometric instrument which is used during the construction of the various cake layers or tiers of the wedding cake so that each cake layer is centered on a common vertical centerline, and both the support posts that are embedded in each layer of the cake, as well as the ornamental support posts, are positioned on two diametrical lines that are perpendicular to each other. This cake tier aligner has a lower pair of parallel support rails, a vertical column rising at one end of the lower rails and an upper pair of parallel guide rails supported from the upper end of the vertical column directly over and generally parallel to the lower support rails. The lower support rails include side stabilizing means, and the upper guide rails include measured indicia. There is a separate centering platform for supporting a cake layer above the lower support rails of the aligner. This centering platform includes a diagonal indexing means on its underside which slips between the lower support rails.

Abstract: A multi-lifting weight apparatus is shown to enable the user to perform power squat lifts to develop leg strength throughout the hips, thighs and calf leg muscles, while at the same time eliminating back injuries to the user. The user is provided with a waist harness having a heavily padded belt furnished with both front and rear straps suspended from the belt down between the legs of the user. The lower ends of the straps are joined by a connector that supports a tension member that carries a roller assembly. This apparatus includes an elevated rack with a three-sided hand rail and a pair of platforms separated by a well section. The user stands on the platforms straddling the well section. Steps are formed at one end of the platforms serving as an entrance at the rear for mounting and dismounting the platforms. The front of the rack has a structural extension providing a raised horizontal pivot or fulcrum for an elongated lever that operates in a vertical plane that includes the well section.

Abstract: A friction heat generator is shown for use as the heat source of a furnace heating system. This heat generator has an oil-filled, cylindrical housing supporting a longitudinal auger in close-fitting, running relationship. The housing is substantially filled with oil, and an external motor is joined to the shaft of the auger for driving the auger at a high speed for moving the oil towards one end of the housing. An auxiliary pump is located adjacent that one end of the housing, and it is provided with a discharge port for carrying off the heated oil from the housing at an increased volumetric capacity. Cooperating with the friction heat generator is a heat exchanger that is joined to the generator by conduits to form a closed, recycling heating system. Several modifications of auxiliary pumps are provided in the form of a rotary impeller, as well as one including a plurality of piston pumps acting off a rotary cam.

Abstract: Several modifications of electrical connectors are shown for the quick connection of the bare ends of lead wires including all types of terminals such as flat ring terminals, or flag or right angle push-on terminals. One modification of this connector has a central elongated screw with a lower end that is adapted to be clamped into the hole of an insulating panel by a pair of adjustable nuts. The screw extends vertically from the panel, and it supports an elongated coupling nut that is threaded onto the screw. An inverted conical spring surrounds the coupling nut, where the lower end is the smallest end, and it is seated upon a flat washer. The upper end of the conical spring is the larger end, and it supports a large washer that slips down over the upper end of the coupling nut. A cup washer is seated upon the top of the coupling nut, and the top end of the screw is formed with a screw head that locks the cup washer to the coupling nut.

Abstract: An automatic latch is mounted on the front of a self-loading boat trailer to the fixed upright framework that includes a bow-receiving cradle. The latch member has a central transverse pivot. The rear end of the latch has an upwardly and forwardly inclined hook, while the front end of the latch has a counterweight normally urging the hook in a raised position. The forward loading movement of the boat onto the trailer causes a boat eye mounted on the bow of the boat to deflect the hook into a lowered position until the counterweight returns the hook to a raised position so the hook interlocks with the boat eye. An adjustable handle is mounted on the framework, and it cooperates with a tension spring, where the spring is relaxed during a boat-loading operation, and the spring is loaded during a boat-unloading operation so that the latch automatically disconnects itself from the boat eye during unloading.

Abstract: This automatic apparatus is for use by cigarette smokers who may be in danger of going to sleep with a lighted cigarette near at hand, to possibly cause fire and both personal and property damage. This apparatus is for use with an ashtray, and there is a socket in the top wall for receiving a cigarette lighter for storage therein. The apparatus includes an electric switch associated with the socket for detecting the presence of the lighter therein. In series with this switch is an ON delay timer that is in series with an audible alarm device. Also associated with the switch is a spring-biased plunger with a feeler pin that is capable of engaging the lighter. When the lighter is removed so that the user may light his cigarette, the plunger is allowed to move to close the switch thereby energizing the ON delay timer for a given timed cycle. A cigarette crusher is mounted adjacent the front of the apparatus.

Abstract: A long length of large plastic sheet tubing is stored in a cardboard storage cartridge having a hollow, box-like, flattened housing with a large circular opening in the top wall and a large circular opening in the bottom wall aligned with the first opening. A hollow center core is integral with the top wall and is present within the cartridge, and it is of generally cylindrical form. Both the top and bottom walls of the cartridge are of generally square form, and the top wall has downturned side flanges that have a height slightly greater than the height of the hollow center core. A long length of large plastic sheet tubing is loaded into the cartridge when the bottom wall is opened and the cartridge is inverted, where the plastic sheet tubing is folded lengthwise or compressed into the area bounded by the hollow center core and the side flanges and the top and bottom walls of the cartridge housing. Means are provided for sealing the bottom wall to the cartridge to confine the plastic sheet tubing therein.

Abstract: A battery power handle is shown for use with a photographic camera, and it is provided for use with an electronic flash unit as well as a remote shutter release device that is capable of being fastened to the shutter release button of the camera. When the power handle energizes the shutter release device, it trips the camera. The power handle includes a hollow housing containing a plurality of batteries that are joined in series-parallel circuit. The top of the power handle includes a wiring compartment having an electrical connector on its top wall for receiving and holding a mating electrical connector of a standard electronic flash unit that may be attached thereto. The wiring compartment includes a printed circuit board having a DC-to-DC inverter circuit to step up the low voltage DC from the batteries into high voltage DC to power the flash unit.

Abstract: This low friction rotatable electrical connector is for use with coiled telephone cords to prevent the cord from becoming twisted and knotted-up during use. This connector is generally of insulating material formed with a hollow housing having a first electrical female socket built into one end wall, and a circular opening in the opposite end wall for supporting a rotor assembly that is also of insulating material. The free end of the rotor assembly has a male phone plug. The innermost end of the rotor assembly has an enlarged head with a transverse face supporting a plurality of concentric electrical contact rings that are insulated from each other. A circuit board is clamped within the housing, and it has a first plurality of spring wire contacts that are each urged into continuous wiping contact with a separate one of the concentric rings. A second plurality of spring wire contacts are mounted to the circuit board within the female socket for making contact with a standard male phone plug.

Abstract: A weight lifting apparatus is shown to enable the user to perform power squat lifts to develop leg strength throughout the hips, thighs, and calf leg muscles, while at the same time eliminating back injuries to the user. The user is provided with a waist harness having front and rear straps suspended from a heavy belt down between the legs of the user. The belt has interior padding that extends above the top edge and below the bottom edge of the belt. The harness is connected to a weight holder by an adjustable chain so that all of the weight is carried by the lower half of the body. The weights remain below the user's body, and the center of gravity of the weights remains below the user's center of gravity. This apparatus is formed as an elevated rack having a pair of elongated platforms separated by a well section. The user straddles the platforms and the weights remain within the well section.

Abstract: The low friction rotatable electrical connector is for use with a coiled telephone cord to prevent the cord from becoming twisted or tangled during use. This connector is generally of insulating material formed with a hollow housing for supporting a rotor assembly therein. This rotor assembly is a hollow cylinder that is positioned within the housing for relative rotation therein. One end wall of the housing has a circular opening in which one end of the rotor assembly is supported for rotation. The rotor assembly has a single longitudinal split for nearly the entire length thereof, but the split does not include the journal at one end that is located within the circular opening or bearing in the end wall of the housing. The rotor assembly supports a plurality of continuous conductive rings on the exterior thereof, and there is an insulating washer positioned between each pair of conductive rings to serve as a spacer between adjacent rings.

Abstract: This portable sound speaker system has an elongated cylinder supporting a layer of acoustically absorbent material lining the interior surface thereof. The cylinder has an open, raised platform as its support in a vertical position, where the platform has a first base plate carrying a plurality of spacers on which is fastened a second plate having a large central hole open to the interior of the cylinder to allow the bass sound to radiate radially outward therefrom. A first, low frequency loudspeaker is fitted down into the upper end of the cylinder, and it radiates upwardly. A second, high frequency loudspeaker is mounted above the first loudspeaker, and it radiates in a generally horizontal direction. A cylindrical speaker grille is fitted over the second loudspeaker and mounted to the top end of the cylinder.